I've came to a happy balance for myself.
I have a doc at top and one to the right(hidden). I have the taskbar hidden(i can access it when I need it)

I'll try to find a good systray program and I should be set. but I have a problem
the text in the dropdown list is too big. It's using the same font and size that I set for the dock itself. What I'm after is to have the list of programs in a small font, but changing the font  does nothing unless I change the dock font too.

heres a screenshot:
Screeny

I'm wanting to remove the windows taskbar all together and was wondering if it's possible to have a dock in lbc where open windows would sit like the taskbar ?

I have my taskbar  on the left side of my screen. when I have a window open  the button is a small square on the taskbar. Is there a way to make the button vertical