Derrick
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There is peace and inspiration to be found in a desktop image. If peace and inspiration isn’t quite your cup of tea and a good dose of adrenaline and self assertiveness amongst other emotions can also be found in the perfect desktop background. A desktop is a personal space for most. No matter if your computer is a clunky old office machine that needs a good kick in the morning to get the CPU fan going, or a state of the art media churner in a creative video studio somewhere, the odds are there is something on your desktop.
Sure, a picture of the family or loved one will do the trick, but sometimes pictures like those are better suited to a proper picture frame on the desk than behind the icons filling what is supposed to be a functional workspace, but there are some important taste aspects to a proper desktop image that will make any computer just a tad more comfortable for the soul occupying the seat facing the screen.
Look I am by no means a master of Feng Shui but I have made it my business on your behalf to find out and ponder the art of filling the desktop with something proper that will suit the mood of your working environment or ideal working environment. There are a few basics you need to know.
The basics
It doesn’t matter in which OS environment you may find yourself in, be it MAC, Linux, Windows or other GUI supportive OS with a desktop that can be filled with pretty pictures, you need to put something there that will suit you and the environment your in.
The desktop size matters. You don’t want a picture that is too small as it will pixelate when you make it fill the desktop. You don’t want one that is too big either as it will be a waste for memory that you can use for efficiency.
The image needs to be in line with the taste requirements of your environment. No use putting up a picture of Carmen Elektra when you work at the HQ of the world food programme. There are a number of incongruencies that will lead to questions better left unasked.
The image needs to help you do what you need to do. If it needs to help you focus then a serene natural scene might be suitable. If it needs to motivate you for some deadline or financial goal, then a picture that envelopes that goal like a picture of a Ferrari might do just fine.
The image should allow icons to be clearly visible. An image should always be just so structured or taken that it allows the desktop to remain functional and clear. It should be a thing of beauty and function. Thus it’s secondary but extremely important function that cannot be left by the wayside is to allow icons to live alongside it. Clean flowing colours on the spaces where the icons live is a must. Plain blues, blacks or whatever colour can work wonders. White and other bright colours aren’t always that functional, but a little bit of tweaking with desktop colours could make it work.
Where to find a great picture?
There are numerous sites around the world wide web that will cater to your desktop beautifying effort. Some are better than others and many claim to be for a specific OS crowd, but they all work on eachother, so just take a picture you like and let it do it’s thing.
Here are a couple of places I found that have some great desktop pictures:
http://www.fantom-xp.com
http://www.caedes.net
http://pixelgirlpresents.com
http://www.digitalblasphemy.com
http://www.gigapxl.org/gallery.htm
http://interfacelift.com
http://www.shiftedreality.com
There are plenty more online for you to find with a simple Google search.
The magic resize
Should you encounter a brilliant picture that is just a tad too big for your desktop, simply use an image resize tool to make it fit your desktop size before setting it as the desktop background. That little bit of memory saved might be well worth it. Use software like Google Picasa to do this.
You will in all likelihood not find that magic picture in the first go, but keep at it. That perfect picture is out there somewhere. Even if you find the perfect picture, chances are you will grow tired of it in some time… Change is part of the deal. Have fun!
Sure, a picture of the family or loved one will do the trick, but sometimes pictures like those are better suited to a proper picture frame on the desk than behind the icons filling what is supposed to be a functional workspace, but there are some important taste aspects to a proper desktop image that will make any computer just a tad more comfortable for the soul occupying the seat facing the screen.
Look I am by no means a master of Feng Shui but I have made it my business on your behalf to find out and ponder the art of filling the desktop with something proper that will suit the mood of your working environment or ideal working environment. There are a few basics you need to know.
The basics
It doesn’t matter in which OS environment you may find yourself in, be it MAC, Linux, Windows or other GUI supportive OS with a desktop that can be filled with pretty pictures, you need to put something there that will suit you and the environment your in.
The desktop size matters. You don’t want a picture that is too small as it will pixelate when you make it fill the desktop. You don’t want one that is too big either as it will be a waste for memory that you can use for efficiency.
The image needs to be in line with the taste requirements of your environment. No use putting up a picture of Carmen Elektra when you work at the HQ of the world food programme. There are a number of incongruencies that will lead to questions better left unasked.
The image needs to help you do what you need to do. If it needs to help you focus then a serene natural scene might be suitable. If it needs to motivate you for some deadline or financial goal, then a picture that envelopes that goal like a picture of a Ferrari might do just fine.
The image should allow icons to be clearly visible. An image should always be just so structured or taken that it allows the desktop to remain functional and clear. It should be a thing of beauty and function. Thus it’s secondary but extremely important function that cannot be left by the wayside is to allow icons to live alongside it. Clean flowing colours on the spaces where the icons live is a must. Plain blues, blacks or whatever colour can work wonders. White and other bright colours aren’t always that functional, but a little bit of tweaking with desktop colours could make it work.
Where to find a great picture?
There are numerous sites around the world wide web that will cater to your desktop beautifying effort. Some are better than others and many claim to be for a specific OS crowd, but they all work on eachother, so just take a picture you like and let it do it’s thing.
Here are a couple of places I found that have some great desktop pictures:
http://www.fantom-xp.com
http://www.caedes.net
http://pixelgirlpresents.com
http://www.digitalblasphemy.com
http://www.gigapxl.org/gallery.htm
http://interfacelift.com
http://www.shiftedreality.com
There are plenty more online for you to find with a simple Google search.
The magic resize
Should you encounter a brilliant picture that is just a tad too big for your desktop, simply use an image resize tool to make it fit your desktop size before setting it as the desktop background. That little bit of memory saved might be well worth it. Use software like Google Picasa to do this.
You will in all likelihood not find that magic picture in the first go, but keep at it. That perfect picture is out there somewhere. Even if you find the perfect picture, chances are you will grow tired of it in some time… Change is part of the deal. Have fun!