I like Wallpaper Master Pro for multimonitor desktop, and it does loads of other cool stuff. It's probably going a little over the top if you find the desktop completely useless though!
(http://jamesgart.com/wallpaperchanger/download.html)

Personally I like art and photos on my desktop, and as it changes every 10mins it never gets boring.

That Ubuntu Background is actually the default background. It was not picked specifically for the screenshot.

I personally never bothered with desktop backgrounds. I usually leave the default because you should see your desktop only during startup anyway.

I love my desktop... It's my best friend! Not because I like looking at static wallpaper art (I have a job.. and and life) but because for me the desktop is the perfect application launcher.

I have my most used apps (and many not so used apps) positioned in groups according to their basic function i.e. Development, Office, Multimedia, System, Reference etc.

My brain is now naturally programmed to just hit "windows key" + D and then my app launcher is there to lauch the required app. This really doesn't work on auto-arrange which is something I hate to see on other peoples monitors! Arrrh! :)

See my work PC screenshot as an example...
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2353/1798527426_73b7a1c0de_b.jpg

For me, the desktop background used to be something that was visible when my machine was locked. With Vista that's not even an issue anymore.

I don't even like any icons on my desktop. Keeping things on the desktop is a perilous road to travel, and can lead to all kinds of organizational problems.

I've got my Visual Studio layouts configured to cover every pixel with some kind of information about the project. Very often, it bothers me if I have to alt+tab as well, because that means that something wasn't on a monitor that should have been. Maybe I need more monitors...

Gidday Jeff from New Zealand,

Well I totally get what you are trying to say, and to be frank I held a similar view til about three days ago.
Now my backdrop is set to black with my all the folders I use along with a few sparse most used applications on the backdrop. The whole icon arrangement is a mindmap of sorts with areas which a related next to each other.
I just press Win+D and quickly select what I want to get to.

If this take anyone interest I'll send them a screenshot. :)
asturneresquire at msn dot com

For really cool fractal desktop backgrounds including multi-monitor backgrounds, http://exoteric.roach.org/.

They are truly beautiful - you can study their intricacies for hours if you want, but equally they can be non-distracting abstract backgrounds. Also, they appeal particularly to computer geeks as they're testament to the beauty of computing power applied to mathematics!

P.S. Despite the blatant hard plugging, I'm nothing to do with the site - I just love the backgrounds and always use them on all of my computers.

I tend to use most of the desktop for apps, but I have some program icons I use a lot (for several purposes) stashed on left/top side of desktop. Those icons might be visible only for few pixels worth, but that's because I tend to use several programs to edit some same files. This way I can quickly drag & drop file to program I want (not default app. for that filetype) and get it open as fast as possible...

You don't need an extra tool to have a single image span multiple monitors. Just set the background "position" to "Tile" in the display properties of Windows, and an image of the proper resolution will be displayed as you would expect. I have a panoramic view spanning two monitors as my background, and don't have UltraMon or something similar installed.

I was expecting a post on the attempted desktop-to-web covergence, i.e. conversation around Mozillas recent Prism announcements (do we really need to break down webapps into desktop icons?). Fancy diving into that one, Jeff?

I thought long and hard about what folder I open up most, and decided it was my documents. So I junctioned/sym-linked my desktop to my documents folder. I now get some vague use out of it.

Hi Jeff, I disagree completely. The desktop serves exactly the same purpose as a clean whiteboard. It is a clean slate from which to start working and is therefore a necessity.

In fact you could think of it as a "destination" - the one you go to when you need to start from scratch. As such maybe it is better to clear it of all images and icons.

Then again maybe it is also an area of calm in the blitz of information and as such should have some calming wallpaper.

> it is fun to have a unique desktop background

Yep. Totally agree. That's why I always create my own backgrounds.
Right now, it's totally black, with the orange outline of Hurricane Polymar Logo (old japanese anime...)

If your desktop should never be visible and is not "a destination", then doesn't that mean that the whole desktop metaphor is failing us?

If we tried to be true to the real-life desk metaphor, then the documents/files that you are currently working on would be sitting on your desk (next to your calculator, coffee mug and photo of your kids).

In real life, writing a new letter means placing a blank sheet of paper on the desk and getting your pen out. Only when it is finished would it be placed in the filing cabinet.

Likewise editing/reviewing existing documents means going to the filing cabinet, taking the files out and laying them out on your desk.

However, the "correct" way of working with documents on a PC means that they should be immediately filed to "My Documents" (or your fileserver) and subsequent edits performed from there.

This might make sense to the mild OCD/Aspergers-like minds of us geeks, but to Grandpa Joe the physical metaphor has completely broken down. Why would you sit inside the filing cabinet to write letters, while your desk remains empty?

This is why we see so many novice PC users with desktops covered in clutter. As usual its not "stupid users", it is "stupid interface".

And no, I'm not suggesting that Microsoft Bob was a better interface. I think rather that we have outgrown the desk and filing cabinet metaphor.

Is it me, or is the default Ubuntu background very reminiscent of the Apple Aqua images, coloured brown?

My favorite desktop wallpaper site is: http://www.desktopography.net/
There are a lot of fantastic and mind blowing wallpapers in this web-site.

Thanks for pointing out the Flickr groups; I do a fair bit of photography on top of being a geek, and I make my own desktop wallpapers quite a lot (having something you've created yourself as a wallpaper can be quite inspirational...) Anyway, I've now started contributing a few of my wallpaper-worthy images to that group :)

I tried that displayfusion thing but I like another freeware .NET wallpaper app "John's Background Switcher" for local nested pictures. It also has direct integration with Flickr like displayfusion. This is for my home system.

At work, no "switchers" allowed so I go with a default XP pic and Sysinternal's "BGInfo.exe" which writes network interface information statically on top of your pleasant background. I like to see my uptime right there.

I suppose you would be interested in those gadget/widget applications. I tried putzing around with Samurize, which seems to pixel-level customizable.

I'm also a no-icon-on-desktop person, but that's probably because I like to see them wallpapers.

I also prefer a clean desktop, but you might be proselytizing a bit much here; sometimes what you're working doesn't fill up even one monitor, much less three, in which case you're better off having a lot of exposed desktop than opening random applications to fill up the screen with noise. Make effective use of the screen real estate available, but don't fill it with stuff just for the sake of filling it with stuff.

There's a false dichotomy in your post as well: computers can be both tools *and* fashion accessories, kind of like what mobile phones have become. There's nothing wrong with making a tool look and work just the way you want it to.

Finally, you found some good resources for desktop backgrounds, but there's one really good site you didn't find: http://customize.org/ has been around since 1998 and includes, among a lot of other things, a great wallpaper repository (13,000 and counting).

For abstract wallpapers I suggest to visit these sites: http://www.stevetruett.com/wallpaperpages/wallpaper_home.html, http://www.caedes.net/, and http://exoteric.roach.org/bg/index.html

Jeff- This post should be required reading for every idiot working at software companies (especially those companies that make installation software) who thinks it is a good idea to shove their icons on my desktop. I either end up fighting the installer or I'm forced to go back to the desktop and remove the icon after the fact.

Two things about Macs: First, using Leopard, your desktop images influence the way your menu bar looks, so they do have an always-visible influence. Second, using Exposé, you can quickly get all windows out of the way, which will show your desktop picture.

I use win Vistas dreamscape.
Its all living flowing water in the background making the screen 3D.
Finnaly I am happy watching deep underwater fishes at my desktop without the need to load a video.

I albait admit, I dont use the computer to much for tools, its most for fun ;)

I wished they added a fireplace dreamscene, so I could bring out the marshmallows. Nothing beats a fire in the woods and a pan of coffe.

The desktop IS a destination, albeit a temporary one. I thought the analogy was relevant, and I use my Windows desktop like I use my physical desktop. It's where documents live after I first create them and while they are most actively being worked on. After that, of course, they're filed away in a good folder scheme (though even then, I most often use Google Desktop search to find them).

To me, the desktop metaphor is complete bull (a legacy from the past, when people needed a desktop metaphor).

I'd rather have system info and smart shortcuts instead. Let's call it a 'Control Board'. You can have your task manager available, 'my documents', 'My Programs', etc. Just dump the bleeding Desktop, it's not needed anymore.

Yes, I feel strongly about this. I hope you noticed.

I use a plain, black desktop too. I don't see it often and when I do, it's to click an icon. Having a desktop image makes the icons harder to sort out. This may not be the case any more, but wasn't desktop wallpaper a machine resource drain too?

Hello Jeff,

I feel rather the same way, but felt that as the desktop metaphor is so ingrained in the modern OS and is essentially unavoidable, it's worth using that space productively. My current wallpaper is a table of ascii hex/oct/HTML codes. I think if you have a concise cheat sheet that you find yourself referring to frequently, the desktop is a fairly good place to put it -- Win+D to refer, and Win+D to return to your task.

On my Fedora VM I even found a way to hack a few config files to get a desktop which was an instance of Firefox! That was groovy...

well,
it seems at all you don't use much your desktop.
I personally use it a lot, to create/delete/organize/launch stuff.
For me the wallpaper, must not be too distractive,
and at the same times not "too" uniform.
I think the "non uniformity" help the eyes to position easier icons,
and at the same times it's less boring.
Also, colors have a psychological impact, and I would find depressing to always have a black background.

I always minimize everything to desktop when I have to be away from my desk. Right now I'm using this wallpaper from Portal: http://www.hamsteralliance.com/wallpaper/cube-teal.jpg (more options in the root directory)

Oh, also: http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/32516

Window managers like wmii and ratpoison are great for exactly this reason:
With regular windowing systems, I spend a fair amount of the time dragging windows around so they are not overlapping, ratpoison/wmii are tilling window managers.
With wmii, if you want a new terminal open, you hit alt+return, the existing windows in the column are shoved up, and the new one is created in the space. You don't ever see the desktop (Well, unless you float the only window you have open, which is only necessary for applications like "GIMP")

I really wish there was such a tiling system for OS X - I've compiled wmii to run inside X11, but since I can't run OS X applications inside X11, it's fairly useless.

Oh, wmii site: http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii

Jeroen Bouwens is correct about setting an image's position to 'tile' will allow a large resolution image to stretch across multiple monitors without distortion.

I'd agree with Andy; my laptop's desktop works like my physical desktop does: it's a KIV location for latest files, things I intend to look at later, or things which are meant for a quick look-and-throw.

It's also one of the most accessible folders on my computer (using XP tablet PC edition since I don't have the kind of time to tweak linux for tablet usage) - Win+D to access a folder, Win+D to put all your windows back.

The desktop background thus serves a similar purpose - to decorate my KIV folder with whatever image I'm obssessed with at the moment. It's definitely not overated, I don't want to have a desktop that's so cluttered I can't see the bottom!

I use my desktop as just that, a desktop. It holds shortcuts for frequently used applications, temp files/downloads, etc. I also have a background picture (of my wife). If I need to access something quickly, I just press Windows+D, and double-click.

So, yes, it is a destination, just as my real desk is. Once the temp item is used, it's trashed. If it needs to stay longer, it gets moved from the desktop to a permanent place (My Documents or somesuch).

I don't have "Show Desktop"-button in my computer. Its a shame, because I use it to clear everything down while I perform some sub task.

But what really annoys me is the lack of skins in programs. For example WinAmp and even Firefox have skins. But Google and YoutTube doesn't have an option to change the white background to black - or at least I have not found such an option. YouTube Channel has some settings for colors though.

Also the skins could be flashy like they got the look and feel from some fractal generator. That way all the frames, buttons, tabs, and widgets would look and feel eg. "dark and bluish stars with shiny blue widgets" or "black soft round forms with green widgets" or "pink and furry" or "black & yellow with gothic styles".

It would be easier to use precreated skins like in WinAmp than to use random fractal like styles. Also it would be real hard job to integrate the support of dynamic fractal look and feels into every application. Some applications have their own look and feel, like Nero CD Burner.

Some programming languages and environments have look and feel concept in them to some extent. Java Look And Feel is per operating system, where developer can edit the L&F somewhat.

If I could choose my style and if everything from the desktop to Google would automaticly use that style, I would call that progress.

My boss has got IT to set a desktop background and it's configured to disable background customization by the user. It's a custom design that says, "If you can read this you're slacking off!"

So, I guess he agrees with you Jeff...

[Gratuitous self-link warning!] If one likes abstract patterns for desktop wallpaper, one may enjoy Starfish, available for Windows:

http://starfishwindows.webhop.org/

and Macintosh:

http://homepage.mac.com/mscott/starfishx/starfishx.html

I see your point, although personally I think that too much information (browsers etc) on my desktop is as distracting as any desktop wallpaper I've ever had. In fact, probably less so. The reason we (yes, I do it :) ) like to change wallpaper is because we realise it's become invisible and needs a change to make us see it again.

I'm not a multi-mon user (yet), but it's not too much trouble because I'm better when I only have one thing to focus on, so tend to maximise *everything* and use alt-tab to navigate around. More than one task at hand makes my eye wander and I then start the long road to procrastination. Now, that's not to say that sometimes the task at hand would make use of more than one monitor, but as long as only the thing I'm working on is what I can see, I'm fine.

Silly post (trying to keep up with your 4 per week?). It's personal preference -- and sometimes people close their windows to reduce mental clutter while they think.

I enjoy the waterfall that comes with Vista's dreamscene.

And you are wrong. You can't ALWAYS stare at information. Your brain needs a rest and your subconcious needs something to keep your front brain idle on occasion. Some times you just need to sit and THINK. Then, information can be worse that an distraction.

I believe that I mentioned to you that I have a fish tank by my desk that also works towards this goal.

Plus it gives me something else to look at, and constantly changing your visual focal distance is very, very important for people in our profession - it keeps your eyes healthy.

And remember. All work and no play makes Jack a nutjob.

I do agree about the icons however. I use my desktop as a scratch pad. Things may go there for work, but eventually they need to find there way into a more permanent archive or the trash can. I can't stand a desktop with a trillion icons on the desktop that you'll never use.

My desktop is completely void of icons. I don't even have a recycle bin icon. My boss pointed out how silly it was to have to minimize everything I was doing to launch a new application and I haven't gone back since. Pin your most used applications to the start menu and use the quicklaunch bar for anything that you would like to launch from a single click. That's what those two features are for in the first place.

Oh how I long for the ability to change my desktop background. But the gov't sees fit to lock down my PC (and those of my employees) to the point that we can't even access the date/time control panel... or any control panel for that matter.

So, every PC in the office has the XP Bliss background, and we all get the standard USDA screen saver of pictures of Ag products...

When I want to install a new component in to VS or add a plug-in to eclipse, I am supposed to get the Net Admin to do it for me. The government is full of ways to waste time and money.

WA

I pay much more attention to my cellphone background than to my computer.

Like you said, I barely see my Windows desktop. But since my phone has translucent menus and applications, even when I'm doing something I still see the background.

It's actually pretty nice to look at.

The best desktop I've found so far -- and I've been using it for almost a year now -- is gray and white diagonal stripes:

http://morgansutherland.net/images/desktop2.png
(At the moment, I'm using a version with lighter-gray stripes)

It's perfectly balanced in terms of luminosity, texture, distracting-ness, aesthetic appeal, and visual cohesion.

Make your own here: http://www.stripegenerator.com/

http://www.sexydesktop.co.uk/ is the only desktop site anyone really needs.

(However, I'm also in the "black-never-see-my-desktop" crowd.)

There are utilities to do this, but the only use I have for the background is the server name so I don't "forget" which server I am using. Saved me and colleagues from installing the new untested patch/software/driver on the PROD instead of DEV!

I am hard pressed to find somebody, even a non-techie, who would spend time mesmerizing over their desktop. Most people just drop files there, which is quite honestly more efficient than opening up Windows Explorer and looking through folders for stuff. So the pattern is exposing the desktop long enough to locate and use a file, and back to whatever word processor or browser activity prior. whatever wallpaper that exists in the background serves precisely that purpose - a wallpaper that does not make the "wall" look so bland. That's all there is to it.

That said, i never keep files on my own desktops.

You'll notice that when you go to the 'Display Properties' and select 'Desktop', that the wallpaper selection is labeled 'Background'.

Yes, that's right, 'Background'. It's contrast, it's subliminal, it's decoration. Personally, if I find my desktop covered by anything other than a program window it just means I'm behind in my work.

After all, the desktop is a terrible place to put anything that needs proper organization.

I'm not a big wallpaper/desktop fan either (although at the moment, I have a photo of a moray eel I took from about 2ft away). I used to have a nearly solid background, in a color that complemented my color scheme. The non-solid part were rectangles of arbitrary sizes, centered and docked in each corner. The 'arbitrary' sizes were 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768. Of course, that was more useful back in the client-server days, than it is in these days of browser-based applications.

--dang

Using a leaky analogy here: compare Fitt's law for interfaces with your desktop for the file system. It's simply a folder you can always see with what you need within direct reach. Each icon has a fairly large clickzone (unlike Quick Launch), each icon can be found quickly - no need to keep a window with Recent Downloads open, and it's trivial to clean up the mess once in a while. Also, it jumps in your face every time you boot; there are few better reminders of "these were the things you were working on yesterday". Yes, it's too bad that it's on the system disk instead of on a separate disk so if the computer tanks your files still may be safe, but hey.

What's the faster way to download content, study it, then file it away? To put it in a download folder means an extra click. Few put it in the right place the first time, because it also means more work; navigating to the right folder.

As for applications, I agree; it still takes work to sort out favorites that are immediately put in the start menu.

I'm aware that there's Launchy, but the usability of it goes away when you have to search through large masses of documents.

Also, wmii - ye gods, I'm glad I don't have to use that. It works for code. I don't see it working that well for say, making music with plugins.

Although I feel similarly, I have found that (under Mac at least) I can get a great desktop use with GeekTool (http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/). You have the best of both worlds: a nice background, and plenty-o-data, albeit, not always usefull, makes me feel less guilty. IIRC, you can use Samurize to do the same under windows. Another tip is to make icons on the Mac's desktop 128x128 and select a nice icons for your drives. This makes sure I never get too much clutter, as 'too much' is 6 icons, and keeps my scripts' outputs visible.

I use kdesktop to change the background every 2 mins, the randomly selected pool includes xkcd, Garfield, and some random imagery I stumbled upon on the Net, e.g. Lena.

Jeff,

If you want to stretch a single image over multiple monitors in Windows, you don't need Ultramon or anything like that. Just set the image to "Tile", and it should do the same thing. Works for me in Win2K.

I don't have a 'Desktop'. There is no point in it.
I run dwm which launches irssi and firefox at startup.
Programs are launched through shortcut keys or dmenu.

if Johns BackgroundSwitcher has not been mentioned yet it should be :

http://www.johnsadventures.com/software/backgroundswitcher

has support for :

0) update time
1) local repository
2) flickr/yahoo/phanfare photo albums so you caa pull stuff off the web
3) multi monitor support - same image everywhere, diff on each monitor (very cool)

I always found it curious that MS left this kind of thing out of Windows but Apple did not.

p.s. anyone know why the CAPTCHA is always the same ?

I think I'm in some weird hybrid mode. I crave a very clean desktop, but I want a cohesive gadget reference and a nice initial image to get the creative juices flowing.

I'm running dual monitor at work and I have some core google desktop gatdgets on the far left sidebar, no icons (minus recycle bin) on the far right, barely any quick launch apps (thanks to Launchy/Google Desktop) and I feel right at home....streamlined yet innovative.

Oh, current wallpaper (have to give props) is the Teocava sheep, in dual monitor form: http://www.dual-display.com/pages/posts/sheep9.php?p=30

I find the desktop background is a great office chatter point. I typically have my background set to something "interesting" and it sparks many a conversation when people see it.

http://www.morningtoast.com/index.php/2006/04/desktop-differences/

I enjoy dual monitors and pixel real estate as much as the next nerd, but I see wallpaper as place to kick start your creativity. Sometimes I'll minimize everything, look at my bg and get an idea. Other times, it's the conversation that stems from my background that generates the ideas.

Of course, I'm also the guy that has the lost Toys R Us aisle in cubicle. Enjoying my environment is just as important to me as enjoying my work.

...and if you're looking for some sweet simulated walnut finish for your desktop, this is the place. See the Woodn'U set.
http://www.9031.com/downloads/wallpapers.html

The desktop as we think of it may not be such a great idea, but it was originally made to serve a purpose: to give you a working space.

That need is still there. GUI Junky just mentionned something about the need for a 'Control Board', smart shortcuts and quick access to system info. That need of a "desktop" is still there; it just isn't served very well.

Perhaps we really should replace the desktop with a bunch of windows organized around a mondrian pattern. This would make the future of the desktop look into a grown version of that WinSplit Revolution utility you mentionned earlier.

Dear Lazy Web, wouldn't it be great if your desktop was a grid you could snap any window in? You could snap in a clock, a mail reader, application monitors, a command line, a phone, or any other widget of your liking. You could switch between grids when you move from an entertainment center to a development environment. What else could it do?

Do you also hear the sound of necessity is calling?

I want my Mondrian Gridtop.

Oh...and Pixelgirl Presents is a regular stop for me when I'm looking to change up the ol' wallpaper. Lots of photos/genres.

http://www.pixelgirlpresents.com/desktops.php

I'm not a big photograph background fan either, but abstract stuff sometimes gets boring.. A good compromise is HDR photography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDR . Look it up on flickr. It's surreal enough to not be distracting, but complex enough to be interesting.

Regardless of your desktop philosophy, a background image is a nice thing to have when you lock your pc. A locked pc shows the background image so I see my background image every time I sit down at my desk and everyone else sees it when they walk by my empty desk.

I currently have 178 wallpaper images (after some pruning), which switch out randomly every 15 minutes. I don't think I'm spending too much time obsessing about my desktop. It's frequently visible when I'm navigating files, but I don't feel like I'm wasting space. It's not like I need all that space to find a file. When I'm browsing the web or using some other application, I generally fill the screen with it. It's not because I think the desktop is wasted space or anything. It's just that I need as much space as I can get, and I have a small 12.1" 1024x768 monitor.
Isn't this very entry just another way of obsessing over your desktop? If you weren't, you'd just leave it alone instead of always fiddling with it like you describe. I've set mine the way I like, and it does it's job. I don't have to bother with it anymore. I do occasionally drop another image in the queue if I happen to find one I like, but I'm not staring at my screen and figuring out how I can make the best use of my pixels. Instead, I waste that time on the Interwebs.

Mike Johnson -- According to an old post, The CAPTHA is always the same because it is still stopping bots. Until they figure it out Jeff has said it will stay like this.

I've had this background for about a year now:

http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/details.php?id=1223

But to be honest it has probably only had an effect for the first couple of days. hehe

*Correction*, half a year. :)

I'm a fan of xEarth for a background http://hewgill.com/xearth/ windows port even shows almost realtime earthquake data.

Desktop backgrounds are especially fun on my media center PC, especially now with my new 46" TV :) Right now it's using a cropped-to-16x9 version of the new E92 BMW M3 from the website. Vroom vroom drool ...

Following this theory I shouldn't be able to see the wood grain on my real desk top or my chopping board pattern as it has food on it or even my bath as it has water in it (with bubbles).

In fact we don't need a desk top, just call it something else like "carpet" or "tv screen" and there you go, the nightmare's over.

Rob -> You could extend that logic to the fact that you can still see the carpet on the floor as an inefficent use of space. Apparently messy people are just more efficent. Who knew? Any argument can be taken to the absurd extreme. Amazing how little distance that can actually be.

Two reactions:

1. I doubt seriously that desktop fiddling causes many people to waste much time, especially as compared to the perfect time-wasting machine of the Internet. (and blogs like yours -- damn you!)

2. It can actually be useful to clutter your desktop up with random files that you generate in the course of one task or another. Then they're in your face and you realize that you should delete them. Just depends on your own workflow.

> You don't need an extra tool to have a single image span multiple monitors. Just set the background "position" to "Tile" in the display properties of Windows, and an image of the proper resolution will be displayed as you would expect

True, I should have mentioned that. But Display Fusion and Ultramon also offer a "stretch" option for images that aren't exactly the right size.

> If your desktop should never be visible and is not "a destination", then doesn't that mean that the whole desktop metaphor is failing us?

Exactly: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000595.html

> Most people just drop files there, which is quite honestly more efficient than opening up Windows Explorer and looking through folders for stuff

Sure, using the desktop as a scratch area is OK, but that means you have to keep some fragment of it visible-- it's sort of a catch-22. I'm not against this, I do it myself, but I wonder if it's just a throwback to the bad old days.

My desktop wallpaper is a picture of my daughter. Which changes as she does. It's nice to be able to hit window-d or F-11 and get an instant battery recharge.

We usually install a desktop wallpaper on the servers we have to manage. (I say 'we', I mean 'people I currently work with and people I've worked with in the past). Each server gets it's own color and the wallpaper has the server name + IP + any relevant contact information about whoever owns that server. Makes it easy when you are using remote desktop to know you got the correct servername/ip when you clicked "connect". Linux/Unix/OS X servers get a specific MOTD.

I'm a fan of turning the last image that left me in stitches into my new wallpaper.

Another tip to make your desktop a destination in Windows: Windows + M key combination. It minimizes all of your active Windows so your desktop is revealed. Very handy if you want to dismiss all the clutter and have no intention of returning to the active task with Windows + D.

On my Linux machine at work (and soon on my Macs at home, as soon as I get 10.5 installed), I make heavy use of virtual desktops/workspaces. I usually have different apps in different workspaces (not necessarily one app per workspace, but bunched together by functional group), and some of those workspaces just have some terminals or other non-full-screen apps, so my background image peeks through.

I think of my desktop as a staging area. I've got a couple app shortcuts that I might choose at startup; I also put shortcuts to often used files there and it's the target for my downloads.

It does take some vigilance to keep it clean but since it's "in my face", I tend to stay vigilant. When I used to think like you and try to keep everything in "My Documents", it turned into crap because I was rarely reminded of how many worthless files were out there.

Also, I keep a recent photo of my son on my desktop because it's nice to be reminded of priorities during especially stressful days.

The tile option works if your primary display is on the left but it transposes the left and right sides of the photo if your primary display is on the right. That's why apps like Display Fusion are still useful.

i think lcds are more efficient at displaying white. make your desktop all white to save on electricity when some of your desktop is showing. that way you dont have to feel as bad about it :)

(missed the point on purpose)

I subscribe to the "desktop-as-a-workspace" philosophy. Anything I'm 'currently' working on that I want persisted through reboots I put there as a to-do reminder. Since I like to keep a 'tidy' desktop, I'm always processing/filing stuff on it to get it off.

I also like having a spacial perception of where stuff IS such that I can arrange it like a tac board. Unfortunately, it sucks when you change your resolution (via remote desktop or graphics driver updates) and your icons get completely rearranged.

Ultimately though, I hate the usability standard that the current Windows Desktop is stuck in. It's so... Windows 95. Microsoft has completely dropped the ball on developing the functionality of the desktop + toolbars.

No one should have read this far down... Go back to work.

I never use a background because of its performance impact!

I go a long time between views of the desktop as I work in various programs. Inevitably, the image data gets swapped out to disk while I consume memory for other purposes. When I eventually need to render the desktop again, Windows has to swap in 3200x1200x3 bytes of image data, which always seems to take about a year.

And on the subject of "desktop-as-a-workspace", who the heck works on one file, or a small number of files, at a time? Even if I'm doing something mundane like editing a document, I end up chasing images and charts across many directories. Spewing all of your working data onto a flat desktop strikes me as insane. Once I get down to real work in Visual Studio, the thought of trying to use the desktop as any kind of useful interface to the hundreds of relevant files is completely laughable. If your work maps to files on a desktop, it is either trivial or horribly organized.

I do prefer dark backgrounds for my desktop, but not because they save energy on a LCD-- they don't.

http://techlogg.com/content/view/360/31/

My desktop is a photograph I took on my honeymoon and then photoshopped a bit. Frequently I see it when I'm switching between windows. Since it was a picture from a very good day and it's very a peaceful picture; it helps me maintain that zen-like calm that is needed then running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

This is exactly why the Windows Vista Sidebar is a useless feature.

>>It's also one of the most accessible folders on my computer (using XP tablet PC edition since I don't have the kind of time to tweak linux for tablet usage) - Win+D to access a folder, Win+D to put all your windows back.

This is precisely how I use my computer. I have, uh, 13 windows open right now, but I can get to my desktop with one key combination, and then a double click to launch one of my most active files.

In comparison, a filed document is: start menu click or keypress -> start menu shortcut click or keypress -> appropriate folder click (possibly with scrolling) -> double click on filename.

I *never* go to My Computer when I'm working. It spins up the DVD drive, which costs me valuable seconds.

On Windows, the desktop is just a painful reminder that you had to logout or reboot for some reason. For example, maybe you can't connect to a network share at work because your password expired and you need to log out and back in again to change it. Another possibility is that the program you were working in crashed, which is also annoying.

Also, what's wrong with the sidebar? Isn't the whole point of the sidebar that it pops up over what you're working on, but then goes away?

One of my qualms with Vista, it is very rude in terms of desktop, dafault reard giant icons and that thing on the side that takes up a 7th of your desktop to display a clock, I know they are things that can be corrected but its just too much damn hassle.

I never have program shortcuts on my desktop, they are all in quicklaunch which is in a bar along the top of my screen, along with my computer giving me quick acess to any drivers, the desktop is covered in some documents and media files i am working on or with atm but its not an issue because i never see my desktop, unless i am acessing one of those files.

It's all about personalization. I love great wallpapers on my desktop as they serve as an inspiration and reminder of great things. Example, having a USAF background, I love fighter jets. It's motivating to rotate through great wallpapers (example: see http://freewidescreenwallpapers.blogspot.com ).

Some ideas for replacing the current desktop-as-a-directory paradigm:

1) A "persisted" application space. That is, I could take an application(or a group) running on the taskbar, freeze its state, and save it for a later time (and have that be visually represented on the desktop).

2) Desktop AS explorer. It would behave somewhat like a maximized explorer window so that whatever folder you click on moves the desktop into that context.

I find that this article relates to your previous article on blogging. In fact this article (for me) relates to any task that you might set out for yourself - be it a software project, blogging, weight loss, ... etc.

To say it simply, when I plan to do something (anything) I write notes. I put down bullet points and _see_ what I'm thinking. Somehow doing that makes mt thoughts clearer - my brain is stupid like that, as I find just thinking in my head to be rather a poor way of thinking. Then I'll clean my notes down to a handful of key points that I can use to guide my in my task.

How does this relate to desktops? Well I take a plain image and write these notes on them. On startup the background is there - reminding me of my goals. Since I use a Mac I can hit expose and show my background. With the notes there I can then remind myself of them at idle moments.

Having a desktop with no information seems like a waste. The desktop might be obscured most of the time which is why a bullet point list of your plans and goals would be perfect as this is something that you only need to see ocasionally.

There is an option in some operating systems and desktop environments to run programs in the "root window", that is, the desktop layer.

For example, some people run Fluxbox with no desktop icons (the default) and a command shell as the root window. "Minimize all windows" is then equivalent to "get me to a shell".

Surprised no one has mentioned Fyre yet. It's a nifty open source program that makes OSX style backgrounds.

http://fyre.navi.cx/

here's a gallery of example output

http://flickr.com/photos/56529747@N00/sets/72157600306325564/

Actually, since the desktop is easily accessible (button ShowDesktop in the QuickLunch or other toolbar, or Win+D) it makes sense to put there something useful, e.g. I have a bitmap with a map of the USA with the state names/abbrevs, cities and time zones, codes for entering some chars with Alt+0xxx (like © — ± ² etc), calendar for three months.

One thing about shortcuts on the desktop is it takes a whole lot less mouseclicks and time to access them.

You could even add a fourth monitor to your setup and just use it to access them.

Come on, you really really want to have 4 monitors don't you?

Mac users actually get to see their desktop every now and then. There's this handy F11 key which when you hit it slides all your windows to the edges of the screen with about 10 pixels of each window left visible for visual identification. So when you need to grab something from your desktop, you just hit F11, grab this something, hit F11 again and drop it into your app. Or you can immediately hit F9 and drop it into another app through Expose. Or (in Leopard) you could hit whatever key activates your Spaces and then hit F9 to show Expose in all spaces or F10 to show all windows of active application (again in all spaces). It's very nice.

Myself, I like to keep the projects I'm working on in folders on my desktop, or if they consist of a single file right there on the desktop. All because of F11/F10/F9 magic.

The desktop for me is just a temporary workspace, but I rarely actually see the desktop itself, just the folder. I prefer not to chew up resources needlessly with wallpaper images that I never see.

Ditto for screensavers - the only time I see 'em working is when I'm not working - and if I'm not working on the PC, I'm not in front of it.

Graham is right - we've outgrown the notion of our Windows "desktop" being analogous to our actual desktops.

This post somehow reminds me of Microsoft's Active Desktop :) Probably the biggest failure after Microsoft Bob :)

The desktop for me is like an easy to access temporary storage space, like my real desktop. It contains things that I'm currently working on, or things I need to deal with. For example:

- Items recently downloaded
- Email attachments which I need to read / modify and email back
- Photos which I've recently downloaded from my camera

Once I've installed my downloads / read my attachments / sorted out good photos from bad photos from my camera, then I file them away into the hierarchy which is the My Documents folder.

A few notes:
- The desktop is not an app launcher. That's what the Start Menu, or the app launcher bar next to the Start Menu and Task Bar, or keyboard shortcuts, are for
- I only ever maximise my windows when they need to be maximized and those windows which aren't, I always try and leave the left hand side of the desktop showing, which makes it easier to deal with recent downloads, etc

Just use wmii or a similar window manager (xmonad, dwm, ion3...) and you'll never see your desktop's bottom again.

I periodically replace my desktop wallpaper with an image that relates to my current main project. It reminds me of what I should be focusing the bulk of my attention towards, which keeps me on schedule.

Thanks for the links. Anyway, my desktop contains stuff I need to get done. That's it!

For a mondrian-grid-style desktop with no background, try a tiling window manager; there are several available. I use rfigura's branch of dwm (which is one of the most beautiful C programs I've ever read).

My desktop background is frequently visible for this reason: nosy co-workers who 'stop by to chat' when really what they're interested in doing is reading whatever is up on my screen (be it personal email, a web page, code, etc). When anyone stops by my cube I minimize everything.

I have a minimal amount of icons on my desktop, but have access to them in a unique way. I simply created a 'toolbar' on my taskbar which links directly to the desktop. I then minimize the space it takes up by pulling it tight to the start button, allowing only the word 'desktop' to be showing. This allows me to access the desktop (and anything I choose to put on it) by pulling up a 'drop list' of its contents. I can also use it to search through 'my computer' without opening any folders. It takes a bit of maneuvering to situate the toolbar beside the start button, but it is definitely worth a test run.

"I worry that if we spend too much time obsessing over our desktop backgrounds, we'll start treating our computers like fashion accessories instead of tools. We should be filling our screens with information, not distracting ourselves with pretty frippery."

I've been thinking about this attitude a lot lately. Why is it exactly that you worry about this? Especially worry that /we/ rather than just /you/ do this? This is a persistent attitude in my home country (USA) and it seems to me to have very deleterious effects on the moral of the populace.

I also find the argument that utilitarian objects are somehow mutually exclusive with pleasing objects to be specious. In your linked essay, you have the bit about screwdriver vs. outfit. I like to use nice tools. What is wrong with tools that in addition to being highly functional are also pleasing? What, at base, is wrong with "pretty frippery"?

I think this attitude suffuses american business and culture so thoroughly that it turns a lot of daily experience into drudgery. I'm honestly curious about your attitude.

Its good use of desktop space, if dialogs are big enough. But many dialogs are very tiny and not even resizable.

In Visual Studio 2005 there are news or such in the middle of the start page. I would like to hide the news so that I have a clear desktop in the studio. But I have not found a way to hide the news except by starting a project.

Don't the One Laptop Per Child people use the desktop to show what is currently being worked on and what nearby people are currently working on?

My desktop backgrounds are culled from the Hubble Telescope's collection at http://hubblesite.org/gallery/wallpaper/

The galaxy and nebula images are amazing! The great part is that the images (especially the deep field views: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/wallpaper/pr1996001a/) constantly remind me of just how insignificant I am in this universe. Good for keeping a sense of perspective.

These days, I don't usually have a desktop background at all. It's not used for shortcuts as I much prefer keyboard quicklaunch apps such as Launchy or SlickRun, to name but two.

However, I used to have a job where people would frequently come to my desk and the desktop background often provided an interesting talking point if I was to minimize everything and click on a shortcut (which was often necessarily the case at the time). You'd be amazed how long some accountants would voluntarily talk about glowing blue mushrooms!

I agree.
Often I see topics like "show us your desktop" on forums but I never post mine. Because there very little interesting to see on it. All the interesting stuff on my desktop is things you dont see: I start my applications with keyboard shortcuts, or automatically at login. They are placed at the right positions by default so for most windows (based on parameters like fullscreen, is it a popup etc) I don't even have window decorations. This is something you can do with compiz fusion btw: configuring stuff like window decorations, transparancy, based on the title, state, size and all other parameters of your windows. Also with things like the scale plugin etc you can easily drag windows without needing decorations for them. Compiz fusion is a great productivity helper, even though it is most known for it's visual effects.

In my honest opinion the desktop is one of my favorite features in windows. I like to keep my most used docs/apps right there for easy launching, and I also like to have my downloaded files go right to the desktop so that I don't have to search for them since I will probably be using them right away.

I have never been a big fan of the start menu, it is great for holding programs that I won't be using very often, but it ends up being filled with junk, since most programs insist on putting a folder into it.

As far as the background image goes, I have had this laptop for nearly 6 months now, and it still has the default Windows Vista background, although I am now thinking of wasting some time and downloading a new one while I wait for Blizard to finish their weekly maintenence on my realm (I hate when days off fall on Tuesdays).

Great post Jeff, you never seem to be at a loss for something interesting to talk about, and I love this blog because even if the topic is something that I never thought I would be interested in, I still end up getting sucked in and reading the whole thing. Keep up the good work.

Not sure if I agree that all of your screen(s) should be covered with windows all of the time. It depends what you are working on, but often I find myself using the Show Desktop shortcut (Win-D) to hide all that information and data so that I can concentrate on what I am working on at the moment. I tend to work in txt files a lot (from todo lists to coding) and filling up your screen just isn't needed. Plus I usually have a couple RDP sessions going and reserve one monitor for that.

With that said, I tend to always have unique background going and change it every couple weeks or so. I often make a custom background that "shows" what project I am currently working on (either a logo or abstract layout/colors). That helps me stay focused as I get started each morning, plus customers seem pretty excited about it during demos.

The best part about backgrounds? Locking your screen and letting them distract your co-workers.

I always you something other than the default wallpaper for windows. It comes in handy when you have your desktop open and multiple virtual machines (VMWares) open at the same time. It can become confusing if your machine and the virtual machines have the same background and/or wallpaper. If mine is different, then I know at a quick glance if I am on my local machine or a virtual machine. So, I use the desktop wallpaper as a kind of marker to where I am.

Come on! Next you'll be fretting that looking out the window is also a potential waste of time. And while staring at computer screens can become an entrancing time waster, I find that a soothing, uncluttered desktop is often a great way to focus my thoughts and un-frazzle my nerves.

The good news about desktops is that, for Windows users, they replace the junk that MS supplies by default. A nice bridge between abstract and realistic images are from Astronomy Picture of the Day (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html). Huge archives, and a good reminder there is a bigger reality out there than your computer -- really.

I agree the desktop is not a destination however it is my starting point. Its what you start the day with, every day. I like to see something personal that will put me in a good mood, so that I'm in the right mindset. I change me background almost weeks to keep the feeling fresh.

I use the desktop as a dumping ground, downloads, samples, videos, random white papers or a tool I'm trying out. But i have a rule. Anything found to be useful gets placed somewhere. I periodicly select all and delete everything on the desktop about once a week. Anything that is on my desktop that hasn't found a home isn't worth keeping.

I find the desktop metaphor frustrating to use.

On a normal physical desktop, you will pull out a file, start working on it from your desk, then once you're finished put the file back in.

This would be stupid to do on a Windows machine, simply because no one I knows will take a file from a folder (eg. My Documents), move it on their desktop, work on it, and then move it back. It simply easier to jump straight to the file. But wait, what if I have hundreds of files in neatly organized directories:

- How do you find a particular file I wanted?

- How do I find the album/music I purchased off iTunes yesterday?

- What if I didn't know the file I wanted (e.g can't remember the name), but wanted to search for specific words regardless of format of the file (e.g. OpenOffice, Word, etc)

This is where tools like Google Desktop and Vista's Index service come in as they try to tackle this problem that we all have to much information on our computer to manage.

For me, I want to access information instantly without having to think.

If you put a picture that is cool you can sometimes act like you have a view outside of your wall-less office then peek out from your work every once in a while. Something like that is cool.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/London_%2C_Kodachrome_by_Chalmers_Butterfield_edit.jpg

Kashif: You could also create folders on your C:\InProgress like Important, Recent, Todo etc. Then you could drag shortcuts to those from the original files, that are located in the proper archiving folders through out your machine. That way all the files would be where they belong, but you could have shortcuts to them somewhere else than on your desktop so that you remember what you were doing.

http://www.xmonad.org/ (or wmii or something similar).

I know you are a windows man - but xmonad is like using an IDE for ALL your work. Not having to think about window placement consciously is the greatest! Xmonad also works with multi-monitor setup :)

Jeeva - I'm not sure about xmonad, but I AM intrigued by the keyboard they have in the screenshots on their website. I've never seen that before. Anyone know anything about it?

I don't agree that you should never see the background. I have two 19" monitors, and *usually* they're both covered with something, but occasionally all that whiteness hurts my eyes, and I have to minimize everything on one of my monitors.

Frank, that looks like a Cherry keyboard.. not sure which model, but the flat / low profile type http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/cid_index.htm

> back in 2004, I used this 3200 x 1200 image of the entire first level of Super Mario brothers as my desktop background.

I'd love to grab that pic, but it looks like you might have blown this guy clear off the internet!

Here's a local copy of the original version. The one hosted on that site is a little nicer because it adds a smooth blue to black gradient at the top, but it's essentially the same.

You may need to resize to taste, of course..

The complete first level of Super Mario Brothers as a background image:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/MarioBrothers-3487x1280.png

Pattern: http://www.mkzdk.org/

/fashion whore

I wonder, by the same logic, would you also insist on covering every inch of your physical desk with information?

There's times when I've been close to that, but not any more thank goodness. Too much information and clutter is distracting and tiring.

Then again, maybe the desktop is more for the average user who isn't hammering away at the PC each minute of the day, and doesn't know their way around too well. Then a desktop with pictures of the grandchildren and a few handy shortcuts to useful stuff that they would otherwise be groping around to find might be just the thing.

Well it works like that for my father.

> I wonder, by the same logic, would you also insist on covering every inch of your physical desk with information?

The physical world isn't the virtual world; we shouldn't project the limitations of one on the other.

Since you mention this neat idea of filling you desktop with information, I've started using a new window manager on my desktop called xmonad (http://xmonad.org/) that implements the idea of all windows being full screen at all times. There are no window borders, default menu bars, etc. It's a very neat idea to mess around with.

By the way, I love your site. Keep up the excellent work.

There are no physical limitations stopping people covering their entire desk in paper. Or their floor for that matter.

Some people actually do that, and I used to be one.

There are limitations to the speed with which physical stuff can be opened and closed, but that's an even stronger argument for leaving it all open on your desk. And yet there may be a downside to it.

The question I asked was meant to be more about the psychology that leads to thinking that a bit of empty screen is "wasted space", esp when you have three monitors.

And I wasn't questioning anyone's right to feel that way, just
probing the thinking a little bit.

So to probe some more... as I'm reading the comments on this blog, there are two big blocks of empty white space in the sidebars. Is that a waste of space? Would it be better if the sidebars were full of some info or other all the way down to the bottom? Or is there advantage in the screen not being too busy and too full?

Feng Shui for monitors? :)

I'm actually interested to know what people think about that.

Maybe the post's point wasn't really about wasted space at all, but about "not distracting ourselves with pretty frippery".

I used these fractal backgrounds for a while:
http://exoteric.roach.org/bg/index.html

From those, I prefer fractal flames (like those made with Apophysis).

I occasionally used to fret about the perfect desktop and window manager, until it finally clicked: 1024x768 blue pixels. You want an app? Click on it for a menu (1st entry: a terminal; I never call anything else). I haven't changed it in years, and spend my time doing work inside applications.

So yes, indeed.

M

Actually, I have 4 desktops (on one monitor) and decided to use 4 background images. However, most of them I see seldom to never, as I am completely against having icons on your desktop. However, at my work I found a use to having icons on the desktop - there are some tasks I have to do on shutdown time (register my hours) so I created shortcuts to the excel files and I get a visual reminder after closing all programs and just before shutting down. at home, on my linux boxen I don't shut windows before closing, so I rarely see the desktops 1 and 2 (because of all the windows) and 3 and 4 (because I never go there)

My desktops:
- Desktop 1 is my "play" desktop, not as in gaming but I do my normal surfing here. Desktop changes regularly (every month or so) with usually one of my own more artistic/industrial photos.
- Desktop 2 is my "work" desktop, for long-term projects. Background here is a picture of Berlusconi resting, which won the world press photo a few years back (http://fototapeta.art.pl/2003/i/wpp/09-KRABBE.jpg) which inspires me to take a short break.
- Desktop 3 and 4 see few usage. Desktop 3 is a very nice picture of some military in a hailstorm, and desktop 4 is a cell-shaded manga renderinf. I think they have been on there for 2 and 6 years, respectively. 6 years is longer than I have this computer.

there is this really useful "show desktop" button. I hardly ever use it but many people don't have it in their quick launch button so I teach it to many people who have their desktop cluttered with icons.

Another good site is http://browse.deviantart.com/customization/wallpaper/

I too have four desktop on a single 21 inch monitor. I used to have two 19 inch monitors at my previous workplace, and I usually had one application maximized on each of them. In my current settings, desktops are separated according to subject, so I have a work, fun and reading desktops.
While working I usually have two applications tiled side by side (IDE and reference, IDE and another IDE, IDE and command line, etc..), so I usually don't see the background. It is however sometimes uncomfortable to have one application maximized on all of my monitor, so I sometimes happen to see the background when only browsing\reading something, and I don't consider it bad in any way.

Regarding backgrounds, I usually go with something abstract and dark blue. (Microsoft's "Prairie Wind" tiled is usually my choice)

If you're writing blog entries about desktops, you are also not making good use of your monitor pixels. Go do some actual work.

Holy Christ. All you people debating the coolest desktop are total tools.

Sorry everyone. I was drinking way too much kool aid when I made that post. I'm a tool for calling you guys out.

I like leaving mine blank, since I dont have the internet, so there's never anything interesting to put there anyways... PLus it distracts me and sometimes it slows down my computer, for no real reason I can think of.