Is there an order for startup programs ubuntu and cairo

[#1]

Just wondering if certain things startup in a certain sequence? I'm running metacity fallback mode on ubuntu 14.04. When I start Cairo dock on a booted system it runs flawlessly however if I run it from startup I get the black band across the bottom rather the desktop background.
Wondered if maybe some part of the compositing hasn't kicked in before Cairo does, if I shut down Cairo and open again the black band has gone. I came across some information here regarding setting startup times and thought maybe having Cairo start 10 seconds after everything else has booted in might be an option but Cairo doesn't start at all.

sleep 10; cairo-dock start –I

[#2]

You could try adding that command to the end of

/etc/init.d/rc.local

It will then run at every boot.

[#3]

Do you mean running

/etc/init.d/rc.local sleep 10; cairo-dock start –I 

from terminal or opening that file and editing it with that line at the end?

[#4]

It won't work by editing rc.local because commands in there are executed as root, and won't have access to your display.
The method in the How-to Geek article you found might not actually work, I don't think you can put shell script code there.
But you could put this in:

bash -c "sleep 10; cairo-dock start -I"

[#5]

Definitely by editing; rc.local is intended for running bash commands (as root) after everything else has started being initiated (but not necessarily finished starting). 
The supplied version doesn't actually do anything until you amend it.
Initiation of your system takes place in a complicated series-parallel manner.

[#6]

Does Ubuntu have a "startup applications"? (like Mint)
If so add it in there, with a delayed start of 10sec.
I do this with vlc so it will start after the desktop has loaded and start playing a radio station.

[#7]

It does mate, check the link I put in the original post but that doesn't appear to work.

[#8]

The Mint version has a startup delay built in, that you can specify.
See the attachment,  it shows my vlc delayed by 10 sec.
You could try creating a batch file to delay the startup, or try
sleep 10&&cairdock start -I
instead of your current ";" version. NB 2 &'s not 1.

[#9]

Nothing was working then I came across.

sh -c "sleep 10; /usr/bin/cairo-dock"

and entered in the startup applications, also seems to work for any other startup program.

The Mint way of going about things is far better IMO, I often find with ubuntu there is some part of the OS that should be a click of a mouse but needs some manipulating. Other than that, compared to the other day this has been a money supermarket day for me and I think I've finally got my favourite DE. Gnome fallback with Cairo.