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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Applications > Solution to messy desktops: DeskShade

Solution to messy desktops: DeskShade
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Jan Van Boghout
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Jul 7, 2002, 03:30 PM
 
I made a little app that solves the problem of not seeing much of your desktop when you have too many icons on it.

More info and download at <a href="http://www.janvb.com/deskshade/" target="_blank">http://www.janvb.com/deskshade/</a>

Tell me what you think!
     
kovacs
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Jul 7, 2002, 04:10 PM
 
Sorry Jan but the app didn't work for me, I got this message on start up: DeskShade could not get your current desktop picture and will now quit...
     
Jan Van Boghout  (op)
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Jul 7, 2002, 04:31 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by kovacs:
<strong>Sorry Jan but the app didn't work for me, I got this message on start up: DeskShade could not get your current desktop picture and will now quit...</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">The only thing I can think of that would cause this is a not running Finder� Are yo using Snax and not the Finder?
It works with all the people I have asked
     
darkcore
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Jul 7, 2002, 04:32 PM
 
Seems to work. My only gripe is that if your current desktop picture is smaller than your current screen resolution, it's not scaled up to fill the entire space.
     
Jan Van Boghout  (op)
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Jul 7, 2002, 04:38 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by darkcore:
<strong>Seems to work. My only gripe is that if your current desktop picture is smaller than your current screen resolution, it's not scaled up to fill the entire space.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Fixed
     
darkcore
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Jul 7, 2002, 04:54 PM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Jan Van Boghout:
<strong> </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by darkcore:
<strong>Seems to work. My only gripe is that if your current desktop picture is smaller than your current screen resolution, it's not scaled up to fill the entire space.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Fixed </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Indeed you fixed it, no more gripes from me. =) A most excellent piece of software. =)
     
Gul Banana
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Jul 7, 2002, 09:25 PM
 
Well, it certainly works. But alas, if you use the Desktop as _very_ temporary storage (I'm constantly putting things on and off it) it's not very helpful to have to constantly quit and reopen it. Nice idea, though.
[vash:~] banana% killall killall
Terminated
     
AKcrab
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Jul 7, 2002, 10:44 PM
 
Yes, it would be better if it was a toggle of some sort. It is a cool idea.
     
Jan Van Boghout  (op)
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Jul 8, 2002, 01:37 AM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Gul Banana:
<strong>Well, it certainly works. But alas, if you use the Desktop as _very_ temporary storage (I'm constantly putting things on and off it) it's not very helpful to have to constantly quit and reopen it. Nice idea, though.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Well actually you can just hide it too
But I agree, it's not very obvious. I'll try to do something about that in a next release�
     
AKcrab
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Jul 8, 2002, 03:08 AM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Jan Van Boghout:
<strong> </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Gul Banana:
<strong>Well, it certainly works. But alas, if you use the Desktop as _very_ temporary storage (I'm constantly putting things on and off it) it's not very helpful to have to constantly quit and reopen it. Nice idea, though.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Well actually you can just hide it too
But I agree, it's not very obvious. I'll try to do something about that in a next release�</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif"><img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> Indeed you can! Now it's just a plain old neat idea, with no problems.
(sorry for missing the obvious... <img border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" title="" src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" /> )
     
kovacs
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Jul 8, 2002, 04:47 AM
 
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by Jan Van Boghout:
<strong> </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by kovacs:
<strong>Sorry Jan but the app didn't work for me, I got this message on start up: DeskShade could not get your current desktop picture and will now quit...</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">The only thing I can think of that would cause this is a not running Finder� Are yo using Snax and not the Finder?
It works with all the people I have asked </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Nope, I am still running the good old finder, maybe it's because my desktop picture is located on an external firewire drive... I will do some more testing to see if I can locate the problem..

Edit: Hmmm, the problem seems to be gone after I restarted the finder... I agree that the idea is nice but you should find a faster way to switch the desktop on and off, maybe a little toggle switch in the menu bar or something like that ?

<small>[ 07-08-2002, 09:58 AM: Message edited by: kovacs ]</small>
     
beachgerl
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Aug 2, 2003, 10:23 PM
 
I'm using latest Deskshade Plus version. But for some reason it does not work even if I had a check turned on to hide icons on desktop. I even tried to quit this program, it wouldn't budge at all. It's like it's stuck up there. What happened? Is it conflicting with theme that I changed recently (DeskShade was installed before I changed theme)? I don't understand why it's locked and isn't doing anything. The icon menu is up on the taskbar. How do I remove that from it? Thanks, I'm still learning how to manipulate my Mac.
     
Jan Van Boghout  (op)
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Aug 3, 2003, 06:49 AM
 
Originally posted by beachgerl:
I'm using latest Deskshade Plus version. But for some reason it does not work even if I had a check turned on to hide icons on desktop. I even tried to quit this program, it wouldn't budge at all. It's like it's stuck up there. What happened? Is it conflicting with theme that I changed recently (DeskShade was installed before I changed theme)? I don't understand why it's locked and isn't doing anything. The icon menu is up on the taskbar. How do I remove that from it? Thanks, I'm still learning how to manipulate my Mac.
Here is what happens: There is the application DeskShade Plus and it opens a little menu extra that's inside its bundle. On quit , the app asks the menu item 'server' to remove it, but apparently that doesn't happen when you do a log out or restart. So the menu item stays there without an app to do the actual desktop hiding. I have a version on my HD that hides the menu item as long as there is no app it can control, but I haven't done an official release.
Here's what to do: first remove the current icon from the menu bar by command-dragging it, then open the DeskShade Plus app again. If you want to run it all the time, add the app to your login items.

That was long but it's simple to do
     
Spliff
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Feb 18, 2004, 08:10 PM
 
The website for DeskShade Plus mentions that it's compatible with OS X 10.2. But is it compatible with 10.3?
     
Spliff
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Feb 19, 2004, 03:19 PM
 
Is anyone running this under 10.3?
     
Jan Van Boghout  (op)
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Feb 19, 2004, 03:55 PM
 
Originally posted by Spliff:
Is anyone running this under 10.3?
I am, and you remind me that I need to release 1.2 ASAP. I sent it out to the users a while ago, and I almost forgot it still had to be released. *starts working on release *
     
headbirth
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Feb 21, 2004, 08:49 AM
 
Jan, a multiple desktop utility similar to Deviant Menu, but more powerful might be a more useful workflow tool ... I love CSSEdit by the way :-)
     
   
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