Desktop Beautification

Roffles

Pitcairn19291 Posts

September 02 2009 03:39 GMT

So after reformatting my computer, I find my desktop rather bland. I haven't been much into aesthetics and crap as I've always had a white background, but after browsing the Desktop Threads, some people's desktops are just totally kickass. Especially the docks at the top and bottom, and sidebars which are pretty cool.

So I come asking for a little help. What steps should I take to make my desktop look a little nicer? Wallpaper? Sidebars? Skins? Where to start/What do I really need/not need. Stuff of the sort.

Any suggestions/feedback would be greatly appreciated. Any program/skin recommendations?

Athos

United States2484 Posts

September 02 2009 03:42 GMT

I assume you are using Windows vista which I don't know too much about ( I still cling to XP) but one of the things I do is cleanup my desktop and remove all program shortcuts. It makes everything much nice to look at. Other than that, I would suggest getting kickass wallpaper (see September Desktop Thread).

JeeJee

Canada5652 Posts

September 02 2009 03:43 GMT

let's start off with asking what OS you got

also, what are you looking to get out of your desktop? i thought i needed all those cool gadgets and all, but after actually setting them up, i realized they kinda suck and took em down..

on my linux, i set up conky (sysinfo that's kind of embedded in your desktop) which was somewhat neat but also in the end pointless.. and plus linux blows anyway

in the end, the only customizations i'm left with (that stood the test of time and usefulness) that directly affect how my desktop (winXP) looks is 2 things:
-just a generic darker skin (slanxp2)
-putting all commonly used programs into c:\windows so that i can run them in 2-3 keystrokes, without any need for shortcuts cluttering up my desktop

Roffles

Pitcairn19291 Posts

September 02 2009 03:46 GMT

On September 02 2009 12:43 JeeJee wrote:
let's start off with asking what OS you got

also, what are you looking to get out of your desktop? i thought i needed all those cool gadgets and all, but after actually setting them up, i realized they kinda suck and took em down..

on my linux, i set up conky (sysinfo that's kind of embedded in your desktop) which was somewhat neat but also in the end pointless.. and plus linux blows anyway

Well, first of all I'm on Vista. Second of all, I'd like to get rid of all my icons on the desktop and hopefully throw my most used ones onto a dock up top or bottom. And secondly I'd like to have a sidebar that has the capability to keep me organized (Calendar, Weather, To Do List, Maybe CPU Performance, stuff of that sort). Not too fancy, but still aesthetically pleasing .

Athos

United States2484 Posts

September 02 2009 03:48 GMT

on my linux, i set up conky (sysinfo that's kind of embedded in your desktop) which was somewhat neat but also in the end pointless.. and plus linux blows anyway

I used to be a linux user. Having my own cube was nice for a while, but the inability to play most games combined with a shitty response from my wireless card ultimately made me switch back to windows exclusively.

JeeJee

Canada5652 Posts

September 02 2009 03:50 GMT

Vista is actually a good operating system, I don't know where all the hate comes from. Word of mouth is a powerful thing i guess.

In vista, what you're asking for is actually simple, there's a lot of widgets/gadgets/whatcha-ma-callits that can do the lists/clocks etc.

And to get rid of the icons on the desktop.. I must be missing something, since I'm sure simply deleting them has occurred to you. I believe the C:\Windows trick also works in Vista, you can take a look at that and see if it's something that works for you (so that you can run programs without needing shortcuts), but if not then you will have to find another way around it

edit:
@athos, haha that about sums up my nix experience as well
did you have to fuck around with ndiswrapper? that's some fun stuff

Fr33t

United States1128 Posts

September 02 2009 04:00 GMT

Rocketdock is awesome along with a good icon set and the stack docklet if you want to get rid of icons.

OrderlyChaos

United States1115 Posts

September 02 2009 04:05 GMT

The main tool that people seem to use for the desktop widgets and such is rainmeter. http://www.rainmeter.net/ It's a fairly powerful program that's pretty customizable. It also comes with a set of themed features. I've tried it out a couple times, but have been too lazy really to play around with it and make things perfect. It has a lot of the features you seem to be looking for though. You could also just try to find random widgets for the standard vista sidebar.

As far as docks, there are a few programs for that. Objectdock http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/ and Rocketdock http://rocketdock.com/ pretty much do the same thing. I've used both, and I liked them pretty much equally. Objectdock is technically commercial, but the free version does the big things. I now use launchy as my application launcher though, but that's just preference (I like being able to alt-space, type a few letters, enter and have my program go).

For wallpapers, there are a lot of sites out there. I like Interfacelift, which offers some good HD desktops. http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/downloads/date/any/

If you browse through lifehacker.com's featured desktops ( http://lifehacker.com/tag/featured-desktop/ ), you might find some others you might like. I keep telling myself I'm going to be beautifying my desktop, but I never actually do it... Hopefully this is helpful.

DivinO

United States4796 Posts

September 02 2009 04:07 GMT

www.digitalblasphemy.com Has good desktops.

Athos

United States2484 Posts

September 02 2009 04:14 GMT

#10

On September 02 2009 12:50 JeeJee wrote:

edit:
@athos, haha that about sums up my nix experience as well
did you have to fuck around with ndiswrapper? that's some fun stuff

Yup

It sucked because the wireless would always disconnect and once that happened I had to restart. Otherwise I could never I never figure out how to get back on the internet. Ndiswrapper was a nightmare to use and it sucks that there isn't a high end professional version that does all the work for you.

That was one of the benefits of using Linux, it makes you less lazy.

caldo149

United States469 Posts

September 02 2009 04:39 GMT

#11

A very simple thing that I do is use the Quick Launch Toolbar. I put my most used programs there and it's in a pretty convenient place right there next to Start, but you can move it if you so desire.

jodogohoo

Canada2533 Posts

September 02 2009 04:47 GMT

#12

a good idea is to open task manager and shut down the process "explore.exe"
it makes i so you can't open folders and everything on your desktop is gone, but it looks real nice if you have a good wallpaper, btw don't get stupid shit the clouds up your desktop.
tldr if its clean it looks nice

Lyriu

Canada108 Posts

September 02 2009 04:51 GMT

#13

On September 02 2009 13:05 OrderlyChaos wrote:
The main tool that people seem to use for the desktop widgets and such is rainmeter. http://www.rainmeter.net/ It's a fairly powerful program that's pretty customizable. It also comes with a set of themed features. I've tried it out a couple times, but have been too lazy really to play around with it and make things perfect. It has a lot of the features you seem to be looking for though. You could also just try to find random widgets for the standard vista sidebar.

As far as docks, there are a few programs for that. Objectdock http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/ and Rocketdock http://rocketdock.com/ pretty much do the same thing. I've used both, and I liked them pretty much equally. Objectdock is technically commercial, but the free version does the big things. I now use launchy as my application launcher though, but that's just preference (I like being able to alt-space, type a few letters, enter and have my program go).

Yup, I'd advocate for both Rainmeter and Launchy as well (used to use rocketdock, hassle to make all the icons though =/). I believe the latest version of Rainmeter by default comes with the Enigma configs, you would have fun playing around with those I hope =).

Other than that, try going through the customization section at deviantart. If you want to change the look of your task bars and stuff without any 3rd party programs, check out the Visual Styles section under Windows Vista utilities.

Hope that helps =D.

MrHoon

10183 Posts

September 02 2009 05:06 GMT

#14

wait I wanna join this thread too!!!!!!

I have an XP, how can one reskin my XP so it looks cool :O

lac29

United States1485 Posts

September 02 2009 05:34 GMT

#15

http://www.desktopography.net/ released their 2009 pack some time ago.

doktorLucifer

United States855 Posts

September 02 2009 07:05 GMT

#16

On September 02 2009 14:06 MrHoon wrote:
wait I wanna join this thread too!!!!!!

I have an XP, how can one reskin my XP so it looks cool :O

Get the UXTheme.dll patch.

This will allow you to reskin the windows file explorer/taskbar/etc with visual styles. (.msstyle files.)

You can find it here. Be sure to read at least the first two posts, since the method in post 1 might not work. Manual might be better.

VSstyles har.

Old as hell style-manager, which I still use for some reason:

ofc, you can use WindowBlinds to manage the standard VS style files, but I haven't bothered with that. Styler, if used, will load all the default color/size settings every time, but will save font settings. If you use the display properties menu for font/size settings, you probably won't have this issue.

Other things you can do for aesthetics/functionality: install meters/widget apps like rainmeter/samurize or install a custom shell, like blackbox for windows, or litestep.

GL HF.

Roffles

Pitcairn19291 Posts

September 02 2009 16:24 GMT

#17

I wanna thank all those who've helped in this thread. Greatly appreciated! Off to try out some things here and there now.