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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > a crowdy desktop is bad for Mac users?

a crowdy desktop is bad for Mac users? (Page 2)
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kick52
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May 28, 2006, 04:22 AM
 
Originally Posted by Salty

***~~Image deleted for space.~~***

My current desktop background.
thats nice. didnt you draw that? i saw that in "The Work You Are Proud Of" thread. it looks like half of it is drawn on a real pic. nice.
     
Cadaver
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May 28, 2006, 09:26 AM
 
Originally Posted by Sourbook
I never thought of that. Could that justify the purchase of the 30-inch Cinema HD Display? Hmmmm.
The 30" holds a lot of stuff
     
quangdiggity
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May 28, 2006, 09:45 AM
 
about the crowded desktop making the computer slower......
it may be true- 2 days ago i cleaned my very messy desktop, now it just has
Macintosh HD, 3 Folders, and two apps-alias's (i cant find a nice place for them on the dock.. no match)

i noticed tht everything went quicker- though not by so much
     
I WAS the One  (op)
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May 29, 2006, 09:34 AM
 
Originally Posted by Gio-mania
about the crowded desktop making the computer slower......
it may be true- 2 days ago i cleaned my very messy desktop, now it just has
Macintosh HD, 3 Folders, and two apps-alias's (i cant find a nice place for them on the dock.. no match)

i noticed tht everything went quicker- though not by so much
Macintosh HD? you didn't change the default name for something more personal??
why? almost everybody named their Macs...
Enjoy My Mac Comic @ BLAST COMICS
     
jamil5454
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May 29, 2006, 09:56 AM
 
Here's my current Windows desktop:


And my current iBook's desktop:


It's not really fair since I use my PC mainly for games and surfing and my iBook for the real work.
     
jwoods
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May 29, 2006, 10:29 AM
 
Everyone works differently. I usually have just a couple of icons on my desktop on my mac. HDD, WoW, and Pac the Man X. Everything else is tucked away.

My windows machine OTOH, has probably 40 or 50 icons on the desktop
     
Ruddigger
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Jul 2, 2006, 11:24 AM
 


Nice and clean. CD's and DVD's do not load on my desktop either.
Proud owner of the Original Macintruck
     
stefanicotine
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Jul 3, 2006, 04:39 AM
 
The only icons I ever had as a PC user was the Recycle Bin (until I found out how to remove it), and SOMETIMES one other icon. Like My Documents.

Then I switched to Mac and got a G4 Mini. I had the Hard drive icon but that was it. Now I can't stand any icons on my desktop. I can't even stand to see the menubar!

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amru
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Jul 3, 2006, 05:35 AM
 
whoa.. gotta full size of that wallpaper? simply awesome.
     
TheSpaz
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Jul 3, 2006, 10:10 AM
 
Originally Posted by Gavin
Hell, with one of those HD projectors and a big wall you could have a desktop nine feet wide.

You wouldn't even need a filesystem. Need more space? Just back the projector up a few inches.
That wouldn't give you more space... that would just make everything larger.
     
stefanicotine
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Jul 3, 2006, 01:38 PM
 
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Gavin
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Jul 4, 2006, 01:15 AM
 
Originally Posted by TheSpaz
That wouldn't give you more space... that would just make everything larger.

That's why it's funny.
You can take the dude out of So Cal, but you can't take the dude outta the dude, dude!
     
Judge_Fire
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Jul 4, 2006, 05:33 AM
 
A friend of mine has a Folder Script attached to his Desktop folder, so that when he drags clippings (pics, text) from browsers or downloads stuff (files, apps, music), they automagically go into their own folders.

Hard to mess up the Desktop when it's self-cleaning

J
     
Agent69
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Jul 7, 2006, 02:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by stefanicotine
The only icons I ever had as a PC user was the Recycle Bin (until I found out how to remove it), and SOMETIMES one other icon. Like My Documents.

Then I switched to Mac and got a G4 Mini. I had the Hard drive icon but that was it. Now I can't stand any icons on my desktop. I can't even stand to see the menubar!
How are you hiding the menubar?

Oh, there is a hint on Mac OS X Hints that talks about speeding up things by removing icons from the desktop. Evidently, each icons is a little quartz window and, therefore, uses some memory. I suspect is isn't as noticable on systems with fast CPUs or lots of memory, but it is interesting. You can read it here:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...51117154624368
Agent69
     
stefanicotine
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Jul 7, 2006, 08:30 PM
 
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imitchellg5
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Jul 7, 2006, 09:05 PM
 
Here is my desktop on the iMac, which is currently more cluttered than normal.
     
gnomexp
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Jul 7, 2006, 11:46 PM
 
Great pan shot from the gigapixel project.

Right now, mine is worse than usual because of some genetic research. Screenshot linked because of native 1680x1050 resolution.

     
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Jul 8, 2006, 03:50 AM
 
I can't bear cluttered desktops. In fact, I can't bear a cluttered Mac. My entire life is a total mess, as is my office, but the Mac is the place that I can keep tidy. I need the entire desktop to be free of any icons. At points throughout the day I may put something on there just to work on it later, but it's rarely there for mor than a few hours, and by the time work time is finished it will be filed. I like to look at the desktop picture properly - Icons tend to ruin the image. Me? Obsessive? No....
     
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Jul 8, 2006, 05:56 AM
 
2.0 Ghz MacBook 1.25GB Ram

     
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Jul 8, 2006, 11:33 AM
 
I like to start off with a clean desktop at the beginning of every month. I move everything into a new "Desktop Sweep" folder. Right now I have more than a years worth of files to sort through.
     
AppleJockey
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Jul 8, 2006, 11:50 AM
 
my mac desktop is mostly clean.
currently 3 folders that need to go somewhere


my windoze machine is full of shortcuts
     
WetcoastBob
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Jul 8, 2006, 12:44 PM
 
I put my "very frequently used" stuff on the desktop. This consists of 5 documents and 4 websites. Anything I am working on or downloading also goes on the disktop. This is the "in" pile. It irritates me so much that I deal with it almost immediately. My desktop background is, at the moment, a logo of a sunflower centered on a white background. It is so bright that it turns off my keyboard lighting (MacBook Pro). The white background makes the text next to the icons look great.
Cheers:
PS- anybody know how to move the iDisk icon off the desktop?
     
imitchellg5
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Jul 8, 2006, 03:12 PM
 
Originally Posted by gnomexp
Great pan shot from the gigapixel project.

Right now, mine is worse than usual because of some genetic research. Screenshot linked because of native 1680x1050 resolution.

Thanks I love the gigapixel project. Nice dashboard icon.
     
stefanicotine
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Jul 8, 2006, 03:15 PM
 
I don't know about iDisk, I've never had that on my desktop. But to remove the Hard Drive, CD's etc you go to your Finder preferences and click on the General tab.
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mr_noodle
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Jul 9, 2006, 10:50 AM
 
I hate to have to plug my own product here but it does address this very issue. You can set up rules to automatically file stuff for you. While it can't handle every case (it's hard to anticipate every workflow that people come up with) it takes care of a good number of them. In the end, whatever files don't get moved you can set color labels on based on how long it's been there or whether you've opened them since you added them, amongst other things.

It's still in beta testing. You can check out the post here:

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=299066

I could always use more beta testers so give it a try if you get a chance. And sorry about the shameless self-plug.
     
Mr. Strat
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Jul 10, 2006, 03:23 PM
 
The only thing on my desktop is the mouse pointer. No useless drive icons or folders. Keep it clean, folks.

When I worked in a computer store, we'd have people bring in computer for repair that had so many icons cluttering the screen, you could barely see the wallpaper.
     
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Jul 10, 2006, 03:52 PM
 
Well I just think its taht Windows doesn't have a dock that you can hide icons in. But here is my comparison. Both were sized down to 800X600.

My PC:



My iBook 12":

     
SLiMeX
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Jul 10, 2006, 05:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by stefanicotine
The only icons I ever had as a PC user was the Recycle Bin (until I found out how to remove it), and SOMETIMES one other icon. Like My Documents.

Then I switched to Mac and got a G4 Mini. I had the Hard drive icon but that was it. Now I can't stand any icons on my desktop. I can't even stand to see the menubar!

Holy cow where can I get your desktop background?!?
BlacBook | 2.0ghz core duo | 2x320gb | 2gb ram | mba superdrive
     
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Jul 10, 2006, 08:24 PM
 
Sieb
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sieb
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Jul 10, 2006, 08:25 PM
 
Originally Posted by gnomexp
Great pan shot from the gigapixel project.

Right now, mine is worse than usual because of some genetic research. Screenshot linked because of native 1680x1050 resolution.

[/url]

What note taking app is that?
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Judge_Fire
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Jul 11, 2006, 04:00 AM
 
The idea of the Desktop has suffered strange neglect.

It was supposed to be the place where you kept things that you're currently working on. You moved, say, a project folder there for a few weeks, then used the 'Put away' command to automagically send it back where it belonged in your file hierarchy.

The introduction of aliases changed all this. No need to move the actual item, when you could create a shortcut.

Still, there's something nicely clean and concise I like about the original way.


Aliases changed the nature of the Desktop into an application launcher, too. People would create shortcuts, or often, drag the actual applications there for quick access.

This began the first wave of The Cluttering. The desktop of the mid-nineties would be a mess of actual files, aliases to files and apps, broken aliases leading nowhere, actual applications and most painfully, duplicates of all these things - the results from copying from other disks.


The Internet then brought on the second wave. Downloaded zip files expanded into dmg files opened as disk images, with newbie users making Dock shortcuts to the apps inside the disk images. Movies, pics, songs, clippings, pdfs, docs...


The Desktop has been subject to evolution, a blind process that mutates every now and then, leads to nowhere in particular and mostly leads to failure.

It appears that for many users, who find this clutter appalling, the Desktop has become a backdrop. Desktop pictures are great, as they personalize and create ambience, but somehow the whole concept seems underutilized. It's a big in-your-face area and I can fully understand how it lead Microsoft to develop Active Desktop. "Let's put stuff there!"


To me, the Desktop is part of the Finder, and more precisely a part of the FTFF! agenda. In some ways, I'll always be measuring Apple's future UI efforts through the coherence of the Desktop metaphor.

Will it continue as confusing clutter, will it degenerate into a picture frame or will it be a smart piece of something new?

J
     
stefanicotine
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Jul 11, 2006, 10:08 AM
 
You're an excellent writer, yet somehow your abilities seem wasted on a post like that It's just a desktop. Haha! Awesome post though
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gnomexp
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Jul 11, 2006, 10:54 AM
 
Originally Posted by sieb
What note taking app is that?
The apps running are OmniOutliner (comes with new pro-level Macs), 4peaks (free), and EnzymeX (free). OmniOutliner is the program you specifically are looking for.

www.omnigroup.com
     
sieb
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Jul 11, 2006, 01:37 PM
 
Doh, I told it not to install when I did the reload of my new Mac. Thanks!
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jay3ld
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Jul 11, 2006, 02:26 PM
 
Originally Posted by Agent69
How are you hiding the menubar?

Oh, there is a hint on Mac OS X Hints that talks about speeding up things by removing icons from the desktop. Evidently, each icons is a little quartz window and, therefore, uses some memory. I suspect is isn't as noticable on systems with fast CPUs or lots of memory, but it is interesting. You can read it here:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...51117154624368
If anyone just read that and did it like I did. I found out by scrolling down that Dock creates a window for each of the icons in there as well. Glad I only got 9 Apps, 1 folder and trash can in my dock.
For those who run Adium.. Omg.. Thats all I got to say about that.
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Jul 18, 2006, 03:21 PM
 
Mine rocks, I get around really fast on my machine. I have some 11 sticky notes tabbed closed at the top with the last slot for the horizontal CPU bar. I have some 42 other folders, photoshop droplets and text edit documents. All lined up nice and organized. The folder icons are all custom colored and are matched for my homemade desktop image My dock is on the right side with some 30 apps that I use often.

My desktop folder is only 3.2 MB. I use aliases and get things done super fast.
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gigaflop sandwich mister"
     
Brass
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Jul 18, 2006, 08:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by Judge_Fire
The idea of the Desktop has suffered strange neglect.

It was supposed to be the place where you kept things that you're currently working on. You moved, say, a project folder there for a few weeks, then used the 'Put away' command to automagically send it back where it belonged in your file hierarchy.
Originally, (ie, before Macintosh System 7) you could not place any items on the desktop at all. Only the disc icons and trash were on the desktop. The idea was that it as supposed to be like a well organised office desk, with a trash can underneath, and filing drawers (disks) down the side containing folders of files. You could open a disk, and its folders and see the file icons that way.

Other than that, the desktop was entirely for working with the contents of files (ie, through applications, and only 1 at a time, unless you had Multi-Finder installed), not for file icons.

But that's all a looong time ago.
     
MrForgetable
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Jul 18, 2006, 10:41 PM
 
Originally Posted by FireWire
In my case, it quickly becomes crowded because it's faster to hit Command-D then save a file than reach for the mouse and select another folder. When it gets to the point where it takes too much time to redraw the desktop, I put everything in a folder called "Old desktop X". Currently I'm up to Old desktop 3 (310, 222 and 253 items, respectively) ... And Safari and my instant messaging clients are not even setup to download on the desktop!
haha i thought i was the only one who did that. Desktop 1, Desktop 2, Desktops imbedded in Desktops
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Jul 20, 2006, 02:19 AM
 
Is it possible to create customized desktop folder icons with different images? That way, one could put desktop stuff into categories inside neatly labeled, folders with cute little representative images. I did that with my Windows desktop. It makes finding things so much easier.
     
- - e r i k - -
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Jul 20, 2006, 11:59 PM
 
Originally Posted by Judge_Fire
The idea of the Desktop has suffered strange neglect.

It was supposed to be the place where you kept things that you're currently working on. You moved, say, a project folder there for a few weeks, then used the 'Put away' command to automagically send it back where it belonged in your file hierarchy.

The introduction of aliases changed all this. No need to move the actual item, when you could create a shortcut.

Still, there's something nicely clean and concise I like about the original way.J
Well, the sidebar basically has taken care of that job now.

[ fb ] [ flickr ] [] [scl] [ last ] [ plaxo ]
     
Brass
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Jul 21, 2006, 12:35 AM
 
Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -
Well, the sidebar basically has taken care of that job now.
and the Dock
     
iPond317
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Jul 21, 2006, 10:27 AM
 
I know I am this way. My desktop is set to show drives and servers only. If I start getting a bunch of files and folders building up it drives me crazy! It must be a Mac user thing though, because I've never seen a really cluttered Mac desktop - Windows users, now that's different.

One thing I have noticed since the dawn of OS X, is that Mac users now have a ton of applications and Finder windows open. Thankfully we have Expose!
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philc
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Jul 22, 2006, 11:15 AM
 
I don't even keep an icon for my hard drive on the desktop I don't see the point. I very rarely need to access the hard drive, I access my Home folder the dock.
     
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Jul 22, 2006, 01:43 PM
 
The only thing that is on my desktop is my hard drive icon. Once in a while my iPod, backup firewire drive, or camera memory card icon will be there, but that's temporary.

If I'm working on a website or some 'project' there will be a folder for it on the desktop since it's quicker to save to command+d than browse for the folder. When I get to the end of the first session of working on said 'project' the folder will be moved to where it belongs in my Home folder.
     
 
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