The Room Of Shapes Desktop

@StevieQ: I completely agree.
It would be so cool if people shared the wallpaper that they had with others in the community....

itb

@Phoshi: Not when you actually use your desktop as a temporary file storage. No changes of icons can help that, especially when you consider how thumbnails of images work very well in finding a file.

I do agree that most desktops here are for people who hides their applications all the time just to see the pretty desktop.

i almost never see the inside of my wardrobe, except for 10 sec a day, i still want it to be pleasing. i see my desktop longer each day, so there you go...

Tim Schönfeld

I don't get it... I never see my desktop.

this is the page of the artist that did the installation...

[www.estherstocker.net]

but there are no high res images either.

i wrote her an email to see if we can get a high res pic.

Tim Schönfeld

@Scoops: I enjoy having the ability to see what I actually already have opened and what programs are running...sometimes I'll forget to close a program and it helps to have an indicator on my dock

jesuswhammy

@nitzua: Alright, I get it, these aren't to your tastes. You're coming into a church and shouting at people for not worshipping Allah. Stop treating "Featured Desktop" as deskmodding, and you'll be much happier :)

I must say, this is a very nice desktop. I wish I had a percentage of the design skill used in this. :( /emo

Another carbon-copy of past Featured Desktops. This one isn't worth your time either, readers.

LH, until you stop telling EVERYONE to use the Enignma installer, most EVERYONE is going to use it, resulting in strikingly similar desktops over and over and over and over and over.

You don't employ this technique on ANY other area of your site, why fill the Featured Desktop section with stale, old crap?!?!

i like that you have a lot of stuff on there that does overtake each other. neat and clean, i like it...

Whats up with all the featured desktops lacking in the wallpaper link department? Or was that small resolution picture re sized?

@EveningStarNM: Replace icons with a keyboard launcher, and you don't -need- icons. A PC can look good, AND be productive :)

@BrianB: I agree, that would be great. Sadly there aren't very many submitted.

@Scoops: I find it much easier to aim for something if I can see it, though having said that I don't have a taskbar, and can't remember the last time I even needed to switch windows (dual monitors and winroll) without seeing them.

I always have too many windows open to care what my desktop looks like. Besides, that wallpaper would make it harder to find the particular icon that I'm looking for -- even though I've only got about a dozen that I keep on the desktop. The little black lines going this way and that just seem to clutter things up. Maybe this design is good for a machine that's used only for music and movies, but what good is it if you do actual work with your computer?

I realize that these "featured" desktops are meant to be primarily decorative, but it would be nice to see featured desktops for an ergonomic working environment once in a while. How about different themes? You might try showing different desktops for network administrators, bookkeepers, personnel managers, purchasing agents, etc. Computers, after all, are used for much more than merely playing music and movies.

EveningStarNM

We need some Linux featured desktops for once :)

BrianB

@iNiz: But will it teach you kung-fu? =)

@StevieQ: Thirded! It's actually fairly time-consuming to try and hunt down all the links to everything. Would be much more helpful if people would include them in the first place =)

@Phoshi: Mine pops back up when I mouse over... when else do you need the taskbar, unless you're clicking on it?

background's too bright, but the controls are arranged in a nice, tight design.

Beautiful, but a semi-transparent taskbar would do wonders for this desktop.

brainshred

Reminds me of the Intersect Room from Chuck...

iNiz

@Scoops: I'm not one for reducing functionality for the sake of looks :)

@Phoshi: Or just auto-hiding it...

@StevieQ: Seconded. Better links to wallpapers please?

WindPowa

Neat. The taskbar ruins the illusion for me, may I suggest switching to emerge desktop, and using another config to emulate a similar bar, except more in line with the rest of the desktop?

The link to the wallpaper was only to a low-res image. A lot of these featured desktops have interesting wallpaper,but it is usually difficult of impossible to find what the contributor used.

StevieQ

@Phoshi: he's entitled to his opinion, same as the rest of us.

And I have to say, I'm inclined to agree.
The prevalence of the likes of Enigma and the favour that seems to be shown towards people who have huge amounts of system stats on their desktop is a little disappointing IMO - it would be nice to see some real variety on here.

But, again, that's just my opinion and I don't wish to take anything away from what is clearly a very polished and stylish desktop, even if it is a little too cluttered for my liking.

@TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H.: the sarcasm seemed a little unnecessary - all he was doing was expressing an opinion.

Anyway, even if he were to submit his own desktop, there's no saying that it'd be selected, even if it was very good - if there really is a preference towards this style of desktop by the Lifehacker team (be it conscious or unconscious), then merely offering up his own screenshot would not be enough.
Also, just because he doesn't like the type of desktop that has been on show here, that doesn't mean that it falls to him and only him to fix that - he could be looking for inspiration from someone else's desktop but none of the ones featured so far have caught his eye.

@nitzua: I've just realised as I've typed this that I've assumed you're a guy and I can't be bothered going back and adjusting my grammar, so my sincerest apologies if I have mis-labelled you.

@The How-To Geek: Hmm, I will have to work on that. Thanks for the response!

BrianB

@nitzua: You know you can always submit your own (apparently awesome) desktop if you actually wanted to get some variety. Words are cheap...

Greetings!

Thanks so much for the feature! I only found lifehacker very recently and have already got a lot out of it, the discovery of the programs used in this desktop being my favourite thus far!

I have updated the desktop's flickr page due to the comments here! Among other things, there is now a link to a 1600x1200 background image and to the page of the original artist!

As for the taskbar, I would be happy to be rid of it (autohiding feels very clunky to me). Anything that replaces it would though would have to be very lightweight and not reduce the functionality of the systray, and I haven't found that yet! If anyone has any recommendations . . . Although the computer is a quad core beast, I mix and edit extremely complex musical projects on this rig and am very protective of the system resources :D Rainmeter and are only using 6-7 MB of RAM each!

As per Eveningstar's comment, there is also a 2nd monitor shown on flickr with a grey area that is for desktop icons, almost like a manual version of stardock fences :) Icons are not allowed on the image itself ever! The idea being that i only let a small number of files build up on my desktop before being organised into their respective folders . . for me this is primarily
"an ergonomic working environment" and I personally find a computer that spends 90% of it's time creating original music just as unique as that of a 'purchasing agent'.

In reply to Nitzua's comment, I wasn't particularly trying to re-invent the wheel, just create something that appealed to my own needs and design asthetic, enigma just happened to fit that requirement. To be fair I only used enigma for the HDs and CPU!

And yes, Senethior, that is an apple logo :D Why? I don't know really. Apple envy I have not, I do love the way their great design pushes other companies like microsoft to get step up their game!!

Cheers

Red Black (A State of Flux)

noob question but how do you get that taskbar in XP?

SeemaEscardadente

@nitzua: A shortcut to the desktop, just to clarify.

@037: Hide your desktop icons and make a shortcut thats accessible through Launchy, a Samurize pop-up, Litestep pop-up, etc, etc, etc.

@Senethior459: No, there is no Apple logo.

@Phoshi: It shouldn't be called the 'Featured Desktop' then. It should be called the 'Enigma Based Desktop of the Week'.

THTG is literally copy-and-pasting the text that follows the creators description of their shot.

3-D Tetris anyone?

srqueso

@037: Actually, my Drop Box folder (I made it before DropBox was cool) is just as efficient, perhaps moreso, as I can tab through the folders quickly. Thumbnails help for images, there's nothing better, but else, give me a CLI with wildcard support any day.

@jesuswhammy: Alt+Tab... mouse-over the taskbar... whatever. It was just meant to point out that there are alternatives.

Really, if you're worried about efficiency, I'd say nothing beats keyboard shortcuts.

what skin is that for CD Art Display?

karan1003

@Tim Schönfeld: Let me know if you find anything.

Jordan10la

Do I spy an Apple logo in that taskbar? I think someone is envious...

@[quilime.com]

slightly higher res, but I could not find any thing else.

Very nice, but the taskbar could do with a bit of transparency, and maybe Start Killer and Iconised Taskbar.

taipan_snake

Do I see a Playstation 3 hovering in the background?

Mykie Gunderson

@nasa geek: the full-res image A State of Flux used is here:

[img43.imageshack.us]

He actually provided the link -- you just needed to dig a bit in the Lifehacker Desktop Customization Flickr group.

Moordryd

I do wonder how a desktop set up correlates with its owner's productivity. How many people with fancy desktop has great productivity? Or how many productive people have fancy desktops?

I'd like to see the computer screens of people who actually produces huge amount of work out of their computer, say, some DJs? Or CEOs of some companies? Whatever the desktop of Facebook's CEO vs MySpace's CEO? Or how about digital artists like Jenny Holzer or Joshua Davis? Doesn't need to be anyone computer-savvy. That will be much more interesting than these much of the same, as we can actually see how a computer integrates meaningfully with their workflow. I don't mind a gigantic mess or a plain uncustomized installation - if that's what makes one productive.

I like the architect office featured earlier, as it was a real workspace where real work was produced.

@Phoshi: Accessing Desktop is still faster than any subfolders in the system, no matter how many shortcuts you do. Say, save a file from browser. Either you have to put your folder in favorite links, or simply find desktop at the top of the breadcrumb or folder tree.

Windows Taskbar itself allows adding any folders including Desktop as a quick menu, without the need of any addons.

Surely, if you don't work with photos or images on daily basis, you don't need thumbnails or icons then. It's not the case for me. I'd rather have file thumbnails as big as possible to let me differentiate one picture from another.

What I meant is, without the need of installing any add-ons, the Windows Desktop is the most convenient folder. I have no problem cluttering it up during a big project to give me a big picture of what I'm working on every time I log in the OS, as I clean it up from time to time.

gimme a download link that install all at once...then ill try!
btw, looks awesome, congrats!

antoniomax

Nice work! What's your DeviantID?

Simieski

Just do a search for Esther Stocker - you'll also find quite a few others in that style that make for great 'depth' desktops.

DallasHermione

@nitzua: What does it mean for a desktop screen capture not to be worth my time? Too late, I looked at it long before I read your ridiculous rant.

What would constitute a very different yet interestingly customized desktop? I suspect there isn't a whole lot different one can do. Do you have the first scented desktop?

nortexoid

@nortexoid: different?

How about no dock for a start, I mean seriously, what is the obsession with them?
It offers me nothing I can't do in, at most, half a second longer with a properly laid-out start menu.

And try removing the litany of system stats.
Can anyone put their hand up and tell me that they really, honestly, desperately need to know precisely how much space is left on their HDD that much? Or to exactly what percentage their CPU is being used?

Function. Check.

Style. Check.

@nitzua: Could you please explain why that is more complete than the ones I've been seeing here lately? It seems like the same kind of thing to me. I'm not being sarcastic, btw. Just tryin to learn a little something

surlyscarab

@Samurize, a UI/HUD program that allows for huge amounts of customisation) are certainly both Win2000-compatible.

They may not be the most commonly-used programs here on LH but they're certainly very powerful - if you want an idea of what they're capable of, this is my current desktop.
And, yes, that spectrum analyser does move.

@ThirzaComfy: Switch to 98 and there's a bunch of possibilities.

@037: Yeah, putting a Quicklaunch link to the desktop or a desktop menu on the taskbar would work. That (along with the methods I described, which of course take 3rd-party apps) would definitely be faster than having to minimize all your open windows and poke around the contents of your desktop for the right file.

@[customize.org]

@Red Black: Hey, I completely respect what you've done here. You were inspired by Enigma and LH's helpful articles and created this desktop. If my comments sounded like a dig at you, I apologize. I just feel these posts could be much more well-written and contain a bit more variety. Enjoy your desktop mate :)

@nortexoid: For the record, here is the only desktop LH has ever featured that represents a complete effort:

[lifehacker.com]

Yes, it was submitted by a long-time customize.org member, AlbinoAsian, who started customizing on WINDOWS 98 SE. He knows his stuff. I'm NOT saying everyone who customizes their desktop should strive for such amazing and complete results, but if we're going to try to provide examples that incite inspiration, why not pick high-quality examples??

@nortexoid: See, you SUSPECT. I KNOW there's a bajillion different styles, combinations, and schemes that are possible in customizing. Sure, the Enigma installer is handy for someone just starting to use Rainmeter or Rainlendar, but it's far from the only option out there. A customized desktop can be truly inspiring to all different types of computer users. Kaelri's Enigma desktop was, I'm sure, inspiring to some individuals, but there's no reason we need to see 35 iterations of different people installing Enigma and picking a wallpaper they like.

Again, here's my screenshot Flickr set [www.flickr.com] I'm definitely not saying my screenshots are the cream of the crop, but they are an example of some of the thousands of other possibilities of customizing.

@TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H.: Hey, I've submitted no less than 14 screenshots to the Flickr pool. A few of them have literally won awards in screenshot contests on other sites. I've been customizing and taking screenshots for around 8 years now. Also, I know a few of my constituents from customize.org and deviantart.com have submitted shots as well. I wouldn't dare criticize The How To Geek's picks without offering a better alternative. I've even offered to write the Featured Desktop articles.

Here is my screenshot Flickr set: [www.flickr.com]

@nitzua: This comment needs more attention. Please stop the enigma clones!

aperson

That's admittedly one of the best desktop layouts I've seen in a long time. I'm a little jealous. I only have Windows 2000 and can't use a lot of those cool desktop-altering programs. Anyone know of any good (and lightweight) custom desktop programs that work on Win2K?

ThirzaComfy

Greetings! Thanks so much for the feature! I only found lifehacker very recently and have already got a lot out of it, the discovery of the programs used in this desktop being my favourite thus far! I have updated the desktop's flickr page due to the comments here! Among other things, there is now a link to a 1600x1200 background image and to the page of the original artist! As for the taskbar, I would be happy to be rid of it (autohiding feels very clunky to me). Anything that replaces it would though would have to be very lightweight and not reduce the functionality of the systray, and I haven't found that yet! If anyone has any recommendations . . . Although the computer is a quad core beast, I mix and edit extremely complex musical projects on this rig and am very protective of the system resources :D Rainmeter and are only using 6-7 MB of RAM each! As per Eveningstar's comment, there is also a 2nd monitor shown on flickr with a grey area that is for desktop icons, almost like a manual version of stardock fences :) Icons are not allowed on the image itself ever! The idea being that i only let a small number of files build up on my desktop before being organised into their respective folders . . for me this is primarily "an ergonomic working environment" and I personally find a computer that spends 90% of it's time creating original music just as unique as that of a 'purchasing agent'. In reply to Nitzua's comment, I wasn't particularly trying to re-invent the wheel, just create something that appealed to my own needs and design asthetic, enigma just happened to fit that requirement. To be fair I only used enigma for the HDs and CPU! And yes, Senethior, that is an apple logo :D Why? I don't know really. Apple envy I have not, I do love the way their great design pushes other companies like microsoft to get step up their game!! Cheers Red Black (A State of Flux)

ValenciaJalookhi

has the best windows XP visual style ever made. areao4 FTW.

I would be so happy to have a working one for windows 7

@nitzua: Adding to that, I really wish Cara (heylove) would start skinning again. She was an out-and-out goddess with StyleBuilder. When it comes to that program, she may be the best ever.

@hagane_no: It certainly is one of the best visual styles ever. I've entertained the argument of 'which is the best all-time' in countless ways, but in the end all it comes down is a essentially a top 10 or 20 list.

@surlyscarab: Everything matches, for starters. Anyone can download and install a program, and installing an already-made skin for said program isn't much harder. Picking or making a stylish scheme to build off of and making all the parts of your high-productivity desktop to that scheme will put you well on your way to a more complete effort. In AlbinoAsian's shot, you can see that even the tray icons are matched to the overall color scheme. His shot would also look superb with NO OPEN WINDOWS. This is perhaps the most overlooked aspect in the picking of the Featured Desktops. 90% of the FDs show no open windows, but rather a sprawling array of often completely unnecessary system stats. These system stats are usually black or white in color, which we all know match with literally anything, so it's clear no effort has been made to bring the screenshot any congruence.

Again, when I say that FDs don't have these qualities, I'm not saying, 'if you can't produce an elite-level screenshot, you may as well not customize your desktop at all'. I'm simply saying that if LH is going to try wow and therefore inspire people, do so with elite-level screenshots.

@hagane_no: nah mate, Waning Luna by dobee.

@nitzua:

hey nitz... thanks for the props.
Though alot of these desktops look cool, I do tend to agree with you as far as how "same, same" they look. Anywayz keep up the sweet work with your desktops. Whether they get featured or not, I know that I've learnt from, drooled over, and been inspired by so many of your screenshots.

Speaking of myriad... I'm working on an even more minimal suite called myriad_base. =)

AlbinoAsian

@nitzua: I think he was referring to the apple logo on the drive icon on the dock

lqdswrds

This desktop is very interesting. I like the over-all look of the desktop and it's a very good example of how Object-Dock can spruce up your desktop.

P.S. Cool visual style!

MarkBirn