When comparing Slingshot (Elementary OS) vs DockbarX, the Slant community recommends DockbarX for most people. In the question“What are the best app launchers for UNIX-like systems?” DockbarX is ranked 10th while Slingshot (Elementary OS) is ranked 25th. The most important reason people chose DockbarX is:
DockbarX has inbuilt settings that allow the user to easily customize the look of the dock, from changing the text color to the background color.
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Pros
Pro Clean and simple design
Pro Easily customized
DockbarX has inbuilt settings that allow the user to easily customize the look of the dock, from changing the text color to the background color.
Pro Great plugin to help blend in to XFCE4 panel
DockbarX has an available plugin called "DockBarX Xfce4 Panel plugin" that allows DockbarX to blend in seamlessly with the XFCE4 panel, which is great for XFCE users due to the limited options of the default panel.
Pro Easily the best Win 7 taskbar functionality
If you want a combined launcher/manager, a la Win 7, this is it.
Cons
Con Not maintained for use outside of Elementary OS
Con Only launches applications
Con Not actively updated
Less than a dozen updates since 2014: https://github.com/M7S/dockbarx/commits/master