The Offshore Desktop

Flickr user headwhop26 crafted this wallpaper to be informative, accessible and beautiful. Commonly used apps on the side, a huge time and date display overlay with a world clock and a built-in Google search bar all make for a Windows desktop that looks sharp and helps you get right to work.

If you like the look of this desktop and want the same effect, here’s what you’ll need:

• The rightmost segment from this 2008 Panorama of the Hong Kong Skyline, available at Wikimedia Commons
• Rainmeter, a system monitor and customisation utility for Windows
• The Omnimo UI and Enigma for desktop widgets like the search bar, calendar and world map
• The Cowon Clock for Rainmeter for the large desktop clock overlay
• ObjectDock to pin icons to the left side of the screen
• The Suave icon pack for apps in ObjectDock

If you need help getting all of the components to look just right, head over to tutorial on setting up Rainmeter to get started, or ping headwhop26 on his Flickr page. If you have a Mac or are running Linux, you can approximate some of the same effects using GeekTool or Conky, respectively.

Another Wallpaper [Flickr]