Ok, so I have been getting a few questions about how to make your desktop/windows look like mine. So I thought for the good of the community I would post a step by step guide to turn this:
into this:
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A clean desktop is a nice desktop
And for this you will need an alternative to all those icons cluttering up your desktop. This alternative is Rocketdock.
This is a very low resource program (uses less resources than xfire) which will give a dock which you can customize to your hearts content. You just drag and drop shortcuts onto the dock and wallah! you have a much slicker looking desktop already.
However, there is an add-on to Rocketdock which improves this even more - the stacks docklet. This is like a widget for Windows Sidebar - it expands functionality of the dock. To set this up, follow these steps.
I am assuming anyone reading this is tech savvy enough to work it out from there, but if it is too confusing I can possibly give more detailed steps.
Once you have done all that, rather than deleting all the stuff on your desktop, you can just right click it, go to "Arrange Icons By" and then un-tick "Show Desktop Icons". Thats the smart way
Don't stick to those boring boxes representing your different folders!
Now to take it one step further from "wow thats neat" to "thats awesome!". The best site I have found so far in regard to icon packs is www.interfacelift.com - however, I am in no way an expert, so look around (the rocketdock site has various icons as well). www.deviantart.com is also a good icon site (Thanks Gawwad)
http://forums.bf2s.com/viewtopic.php?pi … 5#p1957715 - that is a few pages on in this thread, with members posting some great icons. Thanks FunkyFinny and mitch212k_2!
Wallpaper is the most critical addition
This sounds obvious, but a wallpaper can make or break a nice desktop. There are thousands of sites out there that offer wallpapers, so I won't pretend to know which is the best period - I can just recommend main ones that I use.
www.interfacelift.com
www.wincustomize.com
www.deviantart.com
Once again there are thousands more, but those are the ones I use mainly.
The right resolution wallpaper is also critical
I am sure many people do not realise this or don't care, etc - but it is essential. Your wallpaper needs to be the right resolution (size) as the resolution of your screen.
AND NEVER STRETCH A WALLPAPER THAT IS TOO SMALL!
eg. Horrible vs Beautiful
Sorry, that is just a pet hate of mine .
And the final piece - Skinning
There are a couple of ways of going about this. I use WindowBlinds, however that actually costs money, unless it is obtained by different means so it doesn't suit the purposes of this guide. Suffice to say you just install it, then cruise over www.wincustomize.com and use the WindowBlinds sectio n to look for skins.
There are other alternatives of course. Vista users might just like to leave theirs the way it is, which is fair enough - remember you can change transparency and colours from right clicking on your desktop and then "Personalize".
XP users who want a Vista look can go for BricoPack Vista Inspirat Ultimate 2, which is a once install package that skins your OS completely to look like Vista. It has lots of warnings about not being able to change back etc, but I changed back and nothing untoward happened.
Past that I don't really know, as I use WindowBlinds which is much simpler - I suggest just using that.
Final Words
Well I think thats it. Hopefully you have got something out of this guide and it hasn't been a complete waste of time
Copyrighted by me, don't steal etc and I take no responsibility for your being a douche and fucking your computer.
Edit: Forgot to mention that Tazz was the one who put me onto stacklets, so kudos to him.
into this:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A clean desktop is a nice desktop
And for this you will need an alternative to all those icons cluttering up your desktop. This alternative is Rocketdock.
This is a very low resource program (uses less resources than xfire) which will give a dock which you can customize to your hearts content. You just drag and drop shortcuts onto the dock and wallah! you have a much slicker looking desktop already.
However, there is an add-on to Rocketdock which improves this even more - the stacks docklet. This is like a widget for Windows Sidebar - it expands functionality of the dock. To set this up, follow these steps.
I am assuming anyone reading this is tech savvy enough to work it out from there, but if it is too confusing I can possibly give more detailed steps.
Once you have done all that, rather than deleting all the stuff on your desktop, you can just right click it, go to "Arrange Icons By" and then un-tick "Show Desktop Icons". Thats the smart way
Don't stick to those boring boxes representing your different folders!
Now to take it one step further from "wow thats neat" to "thats awesome!". The best site I have found so far in regard to icon packs is www.interfacelift.com - however, I am in no way an expert, so look around (the rocketdock site has various icons as well). www.deviantart.com is also a good icon site (Thanks Gawwad)
http://forums.bf2s.com/viewtopic.php?pi … 5#p1957715 - that is a few pages on in this thread, with members posting some great icons. Thanks FunkyFinny and mitch212k_2!
Wallpaper is the most critical addition
This sounds obvious, but a wallpaper can make or break a nice desktop. There are thousands of sites out there that offer wallpapers, so I won't pretend to know which is the best period - I can just recommend main ones that I use.
www.interfacelift.com
www.wincustomize.com
www.deviantart.com
Once again there are thousands more, but those are the ones I use mainly.
The right resolution wallpaper is also critical
I am sure many people do not realise this or don't care, etc - but it is essential. Your wallpaper needs to be the right resolution (size) as the resolution of your screen.
AND NEVER STRETCH A WALLPAPER THAT IS TOO SMALL!
eg. Horrible vs Beautiful
Sorry, that is just a pet hate of mine .
And the final piece - Skinning
There are a couple of ways of going about this. I use WindowBlinds, however that actually costs money, unless it is obtained by different means so it doesn't suit the purposes of this guide. Suffice to say you just install it, then cruise over www.wincustomize.com and use the WindowBlinds sectio n to look for skins.
There are other alternatives of course. Vista users might just like to leave theirs the way it is, which is fair enough - remember you can change transparency and colours from right clicking on your desktop and then "Personalize".
XP users who want a Vista look can go for BricoPack Vista Inspirat Ultimate 2, which is a once install package that skins your OS completely to look like Vista. It has lots of warnings about not being able to change back etc, but I changed back and nothing untoward happened.
Past that I don't really know, as I use WindowBlinds which is much simpler - I suggest just using that.
Final Words
Well I think thats it. Hopefully you have got something out of this guide and it hasn't been a complete waste of time
Copyrighted by me, don't steal etc and I take no responsibility for your being a douche and fucking your computer.
Edit: Forgot to mention that Tazz was the one who put me onto stacklets, so kudos to him.
Last edited by TimmmmaaaaH (2008-03-09 19:56:04)
