The Translucent Desktop

If you’re going to have widgets and status boxes and RSS feeds on your desktop, most people would agree they should at least be unobtrusive and not a distraction from the wallpaper or the overall theme. In some cases, they can even compliment your HUD, like the Rainmeter theme that Flickr user Adrian Lupas used to create this simple but informative desktop.

All of the translucent widgets live around the borders of the desktop, out of the way but easily accessible if he wants to lock his display, search the web, see how his system is performing, or get to his favourite applications. If you want the same look for your Windows desktop, here’s how you can get it:

• The Calm wallpaper by elisive, from DeviantArt.
• The Rainmeter system management and monitoring utility for Windows.
• The Speed theme for Rainmeter by minhtrimatrix, from DeviantArt.
• The RocketDock application launcher.
• The Windows Phone 7 Icon Pack for Rocketdock.
• The InfoSystem widget from Adni18 for system information in the bottom right.

A number of the components of this one are a bit old, so you can take or leave them as you choose, but I specifically liked the fact that Rainmeter and the one theme will get you most of the way towards duplicating the look and feel above. If you’re not sure how to get started making this desktop your desktop, check out our guide to getting started with Rainmeter, or stop by Adrian’s Flickr page to ask how he did it. Don’t forget to let him know how much you enjoyed it, too!

1 [Flickr]