Flickr pool: Your computer desktop

[AngerBoy]

For those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, check out
the Lifehacker pool on Flickr, where folks are documenting their
computer desktop setups.

Worth a look (and drool) or two.

Here's my entry:
http://flickr.com/photos/angerboy/73888048/in/pool-lifehacker-desktop-showandtell/

[Mark Hurd]

Here's mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flatline/73955831/

[GTD Wannabe]

Oh, I like it. You're on windows? But you have the coolest looking
Kitchen Timer widget. Where from? Must have! :) Great idea too,
I'll have to post mine in a coule of days.

[AngerBoy]

All my widgets come from the Konfabulator storehouse. Tons of stuff
there to clutter up your desktop and make it wonderfully distracting.
:O)

I also posted my home setup here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angerboy/74010352/

Would love to see everyone else's!

[GTD Wannabe]

I'm inspired. Here's mine:

http://flickr.com/photos/21632131@N00/74161876/in/pool-lifehacker-desktop-showandtell/

[Mark Hurd]

You're gonna love Slickrun.

[MsBlueBells]

Here is my desktop online with the free tool protopage

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76303641@N00/74229832/

[Mitch Wagner]

Looks like everyone here likes to have several windows open on the desktop at once. Doesn't anybody else but me work so that their current application is maximized to the desktop at all times?

When at home, I use an assymetrical two-monitor set up. The big external monitor is where I have the application I'm currently using. The laptop monitor, which is smaller and harder to see at the distance I keep it, gets used for IM and, recently, for a little e-mail notification window and a few Yahoo Widgets.

Mitch Wagner

[Bryan Ewbank]

I'm with you, Mitch; I prefer the third dimension for multiple
windows. Even when I'm using linux, I use "ratpoison", which is a
full-screen x-server that avoids using the mouse.

I do confess that I've been using SlickRun[1] as a very nice addition
to my WinXP setup. Anything to avoid the mouse :-)

- B

[1] http://www.bayden.com/slickrun/

[Juan]

I think much of that is for demonstration purposes. If you're making a
screen shot...

But then again, I don't really want my IM popping up either.

[Bryan Ewbank]

Thanks, AngerBoy!

I was looking through the pool, and saw this one...
http://flickr.com/photos/bigelow/74534202/
Does anyone know what the grid of boxes towards the upper right
corner? Looks like a visual task list, or something like that.

Or, more concisely... Ohhh; shiny :-)

- Bryan

[S. William Schulz]

On 12/18/05, Bryan Ewbank <ewb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks, AngerBoy!
>
> I was looking through the pool, and saw this one...
> http://flickr.com/photos/bigelow/74534202/
> Does anyone know what the grid of boxes towards the upper right
> corner? Looks like a visual task list, or something like that.

It's an EleeNo G clock... based on [1]. That particular
implementation is one of the Konfabulator/Yahoo Widgets [2].

SWS

[1] http://www.tokyoflash.com/viewwatch87W1Sci-Fi-Watch.html

[2] http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/view.php?widget=37748

[Mark Hurd]

Take a look at mine... the 1024x768 screen on the right is for iTunes,
Trillian, and miscellaneous stuff.

Whatever I'm working on at the moment is on the larger left screen.

On many occasions, however, I'll have one application maximized on each
screen. For client work, it may be a text editor and Photoshop, for
school stuff, maybe Word and some PDFs I'm referring to. Glancing
back and forth saves so much more time than clicking items on the task
bar.

Mark

[Bryan Ewbank]

Thanks for the details; not nearly as GTD-cool as I expected :-(  Oh well...

[Ella E-L]

mine is here: http://flickr.com/photos/ella/74578102/

not that fascinating from a gtd point of view, but I have a couple of
little lifehack/organisational-type tweaks that you can see. And it's
seasonally festive! ;)

[roguecl...@gmail.com]

Here's mine ... genuine 43 Folders desktop I put together today:

http://flickr.com/photos/76671363@N00/?saved=1

[Carol Leather]

Hi,

I'm new to the group and run a Windows PC. I love the look of your desktop
and wonder if you could give me a hint on how you get the section on the
right of your screen? I know how to change the background picture but not
how to do the quick launch or file browser sections etc. to show on the
screen.

I would really appreciate any help you could give me.

Regards,

Carol

[Mitch Wagner]

I had that question myself, because as soon as I saw rogueclassicist's desktop I said to myself, That Is Way Cool And I Must Have It.

I noticed the name at the top said "Sidebar," so I Googled Windows XP Sidebar, and came up with this:

http://www.desktopsidebar.com/

which I have now installed and have running and I've been meaning to thank rogueclassicist and now I have.

Mitch Wagner

[Neal Dench]

I uploaded mine a few days ago, but since everyone is posting direct links to theirs, here's mine:

http://flickr.com/photos/ndench/73455992/in/pool-lifehacker-desktop-showandtell/


--
Neal Dench | http://porkpop.blogspot.com/

[Katy Whitton]

Here's may take on using my destop to improve my handling of GTD:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68853526@N00/74083332/

Katy

--
Katy Whitton
http://www.flippingheck.com

[Nik]

On Dec 19, 2005, at 11:10 AM, Katy Whitton wrote:

> Here's may take on using my destop to improve my handling of GTD:

Katy, is there a reason why you don't just use folders for actions/
read-review/whatever rather than line up icons on your desktop? Is it
just to get the "heads up display" of what's going on?

Just curious.

Yours,

Nik

[roguecl...@gmail.com]

Since someone has already posted the link to the desktop sidebar, I'll
just comment on how useful that quicklaunch thing has turned out to be
... all those icons used to be on my desktop and, as you can probably
guess, took up a lot of real estate. (and yes, those are all programs
that I use frequently enough to merit being there). Now they only take
up a couple of square inches (if that) ...

One little tweak to this 43 folders desktop (which worked incredibly
well when put through its paces in 'real life' yesterday) is that I
change the icon of the folder if I put something in it (so I know there
is, in fact, something in the file). I think this will make weekly
reviews a bit easier.

... another thing I did yesterday was make a bunch of open office
templates for various things I regularly do (I'm a teacher, so I made a
template for lesson plans and for the form I used for health and safety
inspections/reports) ... a 'save as' renaming the thing with the date
and putting it in the desktop file seems rather more efficient than
actually physically going to the file cabinet (which might not be in
the same room as my laptop) and digging out the file ... this has
incredible potential.

[Mitch Wagner]

At Tue, 20 Dec 2005 10:31:20 -0000, roguecl...@gmail.com <roguecl...@gmail.com> said:
>
> Since someone has already posted the link to the desktop sidebar,
> I'll just comment on how useful that quicklaunch thing has turned
> out to be ... all those icons used to be on my desktop and, as you
> can probably guess, took up a lot of real estate. (and yes, those
> are all programs that I use frequently enough to merit being
> there). Now they only take up a couple of square inches (if that)
> ...

You can include them in your Windows taskbar--the long gray strip at the bottom of the screen. Right-click on the taskbar, select "Properties," then the "Taskbar" tab, and then check "Show QuickLaunch."

That's where I keep my most frequently used program. I don't really use the desktop on my main monitor for anything; it's almost always completely covered by one application window or another.

Mitch Wagner

[beelers]

On Macs, exploit Exposé, which can temporarily shuffle windows off
the desktop if you want to expose it, or shrinks the open app windows
so you can select the app you want to bring to the front.

By default, F9 shrinks the windows and F11 clears a view to your
desktop. F10 will shrink the windows of your frontmost app. Key
shortcuts can be edited in the System Preferences:Desktop and Exposé.

You can also set corner triggers, so Exposé triggers when you move
the mouse to a corner. My hard drive is in the top right corner, so I
set my preferences to clear my desktop when the mouse cursor moves to
the top right, exposing my hard drive icon practically underneath the
cursor.

I'm also a big fan of DragThing (http://www.dragthing.com), a
launcher that allows you to set custom shortcuts to launch apps (or
bring them to the front) among other things.

[Chris]

On 12/20/05, beelers <bee...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Macs, exploit Exposé, which can temporarily shuffle windows off
> the desktop if you want to expose it, or shrinks the open app windows
> so you can select the app you want to bring to the front.

There are a few copycat apps for Windows:
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-G6Nll88yc7Su5XVV7sPeOxP8sUw-?p=17

[Chris]

Anyone know of a Windows app to make sure a bunch of windows are in
the right place and sized right? I'm having some issues running two
monitors...

[Mitch Wagner]

I think UltraMon is exactly what you're looking for:

http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/

Mitch Wagner

[Matt Sweeney]

Since there seems to be a lot of Windows users in this thread, a
question that has been bugging me for a long time.

For Win2K, is there anyway to get rid of the icons for Outlook, IE, My
Documents, My Computer, or Network? Either remove them from the
desktop all together, or shove them into a folder or something?
Everytime I've tried to do something with them, I've gotten an error
message.

Matt

--
Matt Sweeney
mattws...@gmail.com
http://www.tsuibhne.net/

[JHBoise]

Question for the Mac: My icons are lining up from the right column and
fill the screen towards the left. Surely there's a way to stop this or
at least to change it...but I don't know what it is. Someone?

Janet

.. .. .. .. .. ..
Janet Holmes
Director, Ahsahta Press
http://ahsahtapress.boisestate.edu
.. .. .. .. .. ..

[Tyrone Mitchell]

Matt, Try the windows XP powertoys:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
there are some options in there to allow you to remove some of those
icons off of your desktop, and a LOT more.

Tyrone Mitchell
http://www.mitchellonline.com
AIM: trexatplay

Note: Please spare me the forwarded
emails and chain letters in mass.

Quotation of the week:
"I don't use drugs; my dreams are frightening enough."
- M.C. Escher

[beelers]

You can edit those settings in the Finder. While in the Finder,
select the View menu and click Show View Options (or hit Cmd-J). It
sounds like your icons are snapping to the grid, which you can
disable there among other things.

To further customize the Finder, click Preferences under the Finder
menu (Cmd-,).

Good luck!

[Nik]

On Dec 21, 2005, at 11:47 AM, Matt Sweeney wrote:

> For Win2K, is there anyway to get rid of the icons for Outlook, IE, My
> Documents, My Computer, or Network? Either remove them from the
> desktop all together, or shove them into a folder or something?
> Everytime I've tried to do something with them, I've gotten an error
> message.

There are some registry hacks that can do it. But it is dependent on
your having admin access to your PC.

If you're in XP, you can just customize your desktop in the desktop &
monitor properties. (Right click on desktop - properties - appearance
- advanced; or something like that.)

--Nik

[Matt Sweeney]

On 12/21/05, Tyrone Mitchell <mitchel...@mitchellonline.com> wrote:
>
> Matt, Try the windows XP powertoys:
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
> there are some options in there to allow you to remove some of those
> icons off of your desktop, and a LOT more.
>

Like I said, I'm on Win 2K, not XP. Anything for 2000?

[Michael Langford]

You want to download TweakUI from Microsoft. It will allow you to do
that and much more

Make sure you get the correct version of TweakUI for your systme.

--michael

--
Michael Langford --- 404-386-0495
The demon that you can swallow gives
you its power, and the greater life's pain,
the greater life's reply --Joeseph Campbell

[Michael O'Henly]

Take a look at Windows PowerPro. PP is a "Swiss army knife" and the single
most impressive utility I've ever seen on any platform. It does incredible
things with a tiny footprint, including hiding desktop icons.

http://powerpro.webeddie.com/

M.
--
Michael O'Henly

-----Original Message-----
From: 43Fo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:43Fo...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Matt Sweeney
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 7:34 AM
To: 43Fo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [43F Group] Re: Flickr pool: Your computer desktop

[Andrew Murray]

Hi Matt,

I have used XTeq for many years on 95/98/me/xp, nt4.0/2000/server2003 and would have to say it does everything the "others" say plus many hundreds of other tweaks.

Homepage: http://www.x-setup.net/
They now charge $8.00 for what was originally a community contribution, but probably still very good value anyway.

The latest version is 7.2, but I keep an older / free version 6.6.300.Final1 in my backups, as it is still handy for all the versions I mentioned above.  The latest one is only marginally better and the only improvements are for xp.

The file is 4.54MB (winRAR) and I can post it if anyone wants it :)

zenb

[Michael O'Henly]

A bit more on Windows PowerPro. This is mature, well-supported,
frequently-updated software and -- amazingly -- absolutely free!

Windows PowerPro incorporates these features:

* Small-footprint button bars (e.g. fit over title bar of maximized window).
* Use of any mouse button to launch commands.
* Drag and drop files to start commands.
* User-configurable command launch menus with submenus.
* Multiple button bars.
* Floating button bars, choice of many resolution-independent standard
positions, or place in active window caption.
* Direct access to start menu or other desktop shell groups and their
commands.
* Hot key, tap key, and screen corner activation of commands.
* Hot keys which depend on the active program.
* Activate commands by mouse actions including press and hold, click
caption, horizontal/vertical movements.
* Show menus from hot keys, mouse actions.
* Menu subsections which are displayed only if a given program is active.
* Display menus built dynamically from folder contents.
* Switch to or close any active task, from a button bar or a menu.
* Text label, icon, clock, date, timer, or resource display on any button.
* Built-in commands for screen saver, windows exit/restart, browsing and
running files (with history), moving the button bar,playing sounds, and
others.
* Control of Caps Lock/Shift and Scroll Lock.
* Scrolling with the middle mouse.
* Tray minimization.
* Virtual desktops.
* Alarms, regular chimes, and scheduled activation/termination of commands.
* Wallpaper display and switcher/randomizer.
* Save and restore desktop icon positions.
* Screen saver switcher/randomizer.
* Randomization and testing of system and application sounds.
* Send a sequence of keys to a running program or to a program that you
start with Windows PowerPro.
* Tool tip (balloon) help to display the commands for any button.
* Wizard to help enter commands.

[David Douthitt]

beelers wrote:
> You can also set corner triggers, so Exposé triggers when you move the
> mouse to a corner. My hard drive is in the top right corner, so I set my
> preferences to clear my desktop when the mouse cursor moves to the top
> right, exposing my hard drive icon practically underneath the cursor.

I used to use CornerClick for that; now, with QuickSilver, I can use
Mouse Targets and utilize them for the same things (including Exposé).

> I'm also a big fan of DragThing (http://www.dragthing.com), a launcher
> that allows you to set custom shortcuts to launch apps (or bring them to
> the front) among other things.

I never could get used to DragThing. I've tried it many times, but it
just doesn't do it for me somehow. I found the tabs hard to hit, and
other things.