I would like to create an application similar in appearance with the popular docks for linux - awn and especially docky - the GUI should be customizable using user provided images and maybe have some nice effects. I would like to use gtkmm so it would be great if a solution that considered only this library existed. Also I'd like to avoid using something as low level as GDK.

Could someone provide some pointers to the best way to achieve this ? Also if GDK is the best way to go could someone provide links to tutorials or some starting points ?

Any help is greatly appreciated.