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Edit: much thanks to Lifehacker. :)
Featured Desktop: Lightning at Sunset
How To: Roll Your Own Lightning at Sunset Desktop
This is a minor update to my previous desktop. As before, every bit of software in the shot is freeware, sans only the copy of Photoshop used to put it together.
Mouseover the icons on the left for a description of the new additions, D-Color and Xentient Thumbnails. The rest, as listed before:
Theme:
- SlanXP 2.0. Requires patched uxtheme.dll - patcher here.
- Wallpaper: "lightning in sunset" by ddoi.
Startups:
- Autohotkey. See the note in the upper-right corner.
- Launchy. My beloved.
- Yod'm 3D 1.4. Last free version before it became Deskspaces. Probably the closest thing to Compiz Fusion you can get for Windows.
- Taskbar Shuffle. I swear, it's worth it just for middle-clicking to close windows.
- Start Killer.
Programs usually running:
- Samurize. I made the config myself, which you're welcome to download here in a few different resolutions.
- Google Desktop. Solely for the gadgets.
I've added a few other details as notes. And I'd be happy to answer any questions. I love talking about this stuff.
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UPDATE: Much thanks to Lifehacker for the featured article. :) As requested by some of the commenters over there, here follows a brief tutorial on getting this setup for your PC.
Theme. Download the above Uxtheme.dll Patcher. You'll have to restart your computer; do so. Then, download "SlanXP2.msstyles", and run it; Windows will know what to do. Customize it however you want (I use the third color scheme). Hit Apply. You may want to keep the ".msstyles" file in a safe place; I placed a copy with my other themes in "C:\Windows\Resources\Themes".
I'm sure most of you know how to move the taskbar to the top of the screen.
Launchy. I love Launchy so very much. Download, install and run it. The default hotkey to access it is Alt+Space, but I use Win+Z. Right-click to access options. From here, there are so many ways to go that I'm just going to refer you to Lifehacker's numerous articles on customizing Launchy. But the gist is this: use the hotkey to bring it up. Start typing what you're looking for, until Launchy finds it, then hit Enter to run it. The more you use it, the more Launchy will learn what you use most often, and you'll have to type less and less. By default, it will index your Start Menu, Control Panel, and bookmarks, so feel free to get rid of those application icons on your desktop. Just go for it. Go!
Yod'm3D. This is actually a portable application, meaning you don't have to install it. Extract the folder from the ZIP you downloaded to somewhere safe, like "C:\Program Files". Manually add a shortcut to "Yodm3d.exe" in your Start Menu. Run it, and right-click the tray icon to open options.
I kept most of the defaults. I enabled "Auto turn cube when window move out of screen." I also disabled the tray icon (you can access options without it just by launching the shortcut again). In the Mouse tab, I enabled the bottom two corners for activation, with a delay of 250ms. In Zoom, I have the following numbers down the side: 0.00, 1.00, 1.00, 0.00, 0.12, 0.10.
To use it, just move your mouse to either bottom corner of the screen, which should suddenly become a translucent cube. To rotate it, click and drag, or just use the arrow keys. To select the face you're centered on, middle-click or press Enter. Using the numbers I gave you, it won't zoom at all by default, but if you want to zoom out a bit and visualize the whole cube, press the Up arrow. Yod'm can remember a different wallpaper for each desktop, but you have to set it through the Display dialogue.
D-Color. This one's pretty self-explanatory. Download, install, run. Right-click the tray icon to select the icon style you want (tiles, in my case). Click "Configure" to customize the text color; I just have white text and a transparent background. (No shadows, annoyingly, which means this works best with a darkish background.)
Taskbar Shuffle. Another easy one. Download, install, run. As noted above, I don't even really care about moving the window tabs around; I keep this around because it lets me middle-click to close windows. You will be amazed at how much you miss it on other computers. I disabled the tray icon with this one; as with Yod'm, you can just run the program shortcut again to bring it back.
StartKiller. Even easier. Download, install, run. Start button is gone. Done. (You can still access the start menu using the windows key button, or Ctrl-Esc.)
Google Desktop. Download, install, run. If I recall, it will open a browser window for you to start setting options. With Launchy, I have no need for GD's primary function, desktop search, so I went through and disabled every option I could find related to indexing. When you're done with this, right-click the tray icon and select "Sidebar." Said object should promptly appear on the side of your desktop, if it hadn't already. On the top, click the middle of the three corner buttons, with the triangle. Select "Auto-hide," then "Add gadgets" to browse Google's immense library of widgets. Once they're added to your sidebar, you can click and drag to pull them onto the desktop in whatever arrangement you like. Now, you can just tap the "Shift" key twice to hide or reveal them, ala Dashboard.
Samurize. Samurize is the one program here with a bit of a learning curve, particularly because my config doesn't fit all resolutions by default. Samurize's website has a good comprehensive tutorial. For more information, see Lifehacker's How To article on this desktop.
Basic instructions for this config are included in the download. I provided for a few different resolutions, mainly on request; I'm working on a way to make it auto-conform to any resolution, so keep an eye on this post.
Autohotkey. Download, install. You can run the program if you want to look at a sample script, but all you really have to do is create a new ".ahk" file somewhere safe (mine's in My Documents). You can create a start menu shortcut to the "whatever.ahk" file itself; it will launch Autohotkey with that file, or "script," and to edit it, you can right-click the tray icon. When you're done editing, save the file, right-click the tray icon again, and click "Reload script."
As for what you actually put into your script, you have free reign. Autohotkey's website has a tutorial to get you familiar with the format. I'll give you a few examples that I use regularly - in fact, you can copy and paste these if you want.
#f:: Run firefox.exe
; Win+F launches Firefox.
#+n:: Run notepad++
; Win+Shift+N launches Notepad++.
^!d:: Run C:\...\Todo.txt
; Opens my to-do list; Samurize reads from the same file.
#1:: WinSet, Transparent, 255, A
#2:: WinSet, Transparent, 217, A
; Win + 1-2 sets transparency of active window to 0%/15%. (255 is opaque.)]
#3:: WinSet, Transparent, 255, ahk_class Shell_TrayWnd
#4:: WinSet, Transparent, 217, ahk_class Shell_TrayWnd
; Win + 3-4 sets taskbar transparency.]
!F2:: WinMinimize, A
; Alt+F2 minimizes active window.
!F3::
WinGet MX, MinMax, A
If MX
WinRestore A
Else WinMaximize A
return
; Alt+F3 maximizes/restores active window.
For more information, see Lifehacker's How To article on this desktop.
The vintage items you see here aren't part of a deliberate theme on my part. Everything simply came together over time.
1. 20-inch Dell 2009w LCD monitor. I bought this in 2008. It's great for text, but the color isn't up to snuff for production work. (Oh, and hiding behind that lovely illustration by Carolyn Arcabascio, is the working draft of The Murk, which I am currently editing.)
2. Western Electric model 500 telephone (sold from 1950 to 1984). This is my high-tech communications system. I picked it up at a yard sale ($5) several years ago because I was getting tired of buying new batteries for my cordless phone. It still dials out, but when confronted with an automated message system and asked to press "4" or whatever, I just have to hang up.
3. Panasonic Electric Pencil Sharpener, model KP-77 S (probably early 70s, with Auto-Stop!). My trusty friend, bought by my wife for $3 at a church bazaar. Amazingly, you can still buy replacement parts for this model.
4. Sony MDR-V700DJ headphones. My portable orchestra. I bought these in 2001, shortly after purchasing an iPod, because said iPod couldn't pump out enough juice to drive my old AKG 260s.
5. 15-inch Apple Macbook Pro (Winter 2006). Tucked behind the monitor, Graphic Mayhem rests in a little wooden bracket and runs in closed-lid mode when it's not doing color work.
6. Apple Pro Keyboard (2000). The computer this came with is gone now, but I kept the keyboard because Apple built it to outlast the sun.
7. Apple Mighty Mouse (2005). I have no clear memory of how I acquired this mouse, but it's still on the job.
8. Picture of an Egyptian chariot (gift from a friend), because chariots are cool.
9. Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition (1938). Yes, it's old, but it still beats the hell out of any other dictionary I've ever used.
10. Two Rinn. These were a Christmas gift, hand-made by my wife and children. They are more precious to me than my weight in 1st edition hardbacks of The Princess Bride, by William Goldman (Fine in Fine dust jackets). And THAT, my friends, is saying something.
11. Placebo coffee (or sometimes placebo tea). It's hard to see in this photo, but it's right here on the corner of this middle shelf.
It is beyond me why so many flickr people like looking at other people's macs, but this is my 2nd most viewed photo ever. It would still be first if it weren't for the Flickr Colour Contest
A fun post today - my desk at work!
Also, I found this great site today called Blingo. If you are a heavy Google user like I am, this is for you! It uses the Google search engine, but you have the chance to win one of many prizes when you do a query. Not only that, but you can add "Friends" - and when they win, so do you! Click the link below to join and become one of my Blingo contacts:
I wanted to experiment with making my own diffuser. In this example I set the white balance to tungsten (on my camera), then held a sheet of A4 white paper in front of the light source (hence the 1.5 second exposure time despite the bulb being inches from the subjects). This allowed me to get the 'sexy' highlight on the headphones which were previously over exposing and looked blown out. I used an F2.8 aperture to get some subtle Bokeh/DoF, a custom Photoshop action to give everything a nice blue/grey look and feel then a serious use of the healing brush to remove all the specs of dust. I was really impressed with the difference that made, even on the iPod's screen which includes the LCD's quite complicated texture.
The camera was tripod mounted and given a timed shutter response to make sure there was no 'camera shake'. Next year I'm definately buying a macro lens, I'm so looking forward to that.
I am, paradoxically, posting this desktop both despite and because of the fact that my setup has not changed in any meaningful way for several months now. "Despite," in that I feel bad about not posting more often. Most of my spare time has been annexed by another large creative project, and I miss the unbroken hours of Rainmeter tweaking I used to do. "Because," in that there is still some value in taking stock of this setup: it has proven itself as a highly practical, unobstrusive, and all-around great arrangement. I just love it the way it is, and like all the best designs, it makes me feel like I want to use my notebook, and that it's going to do exactly what I want it to do.
For the first time since Lightning Sunset, I'm going to go through my entire arsenal of core applications and detail how they're being used and why.
(By the way, there's another reason why I feel like showing off my computer today: I just received a RAM upgrade, from 1 GB to 2 GB. I swear, it's halfway to a brand new computer. Even with all of the stuff below - every single one, running simultaneously - I don't break a 50% memory load. It is geekily glorious.)
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As anyone who follows my desktops knows, I go through wallpapers pretty rapidly, while having a few favorites that I regularly return to. This has become one of them. I love the style of having a single crisp, asymmetrical object surrounded by a simple, subtle gradient. It's a great synthesis of the functional and the aesthetic; fresh and stimulating, without being distracting or gaudy. (Via cain.)
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I really love this visual style for XP; it's become one of lassekongo83's most popular, and deservedly so. Its most distinguishing feature, one which is inexplicably rare among Windows shell themes, is that it inverts the colors, giving Explorer, Notepad, etc. a dark-gray background against light-gray text. It is wonderfully soft on the eyes, especially late at night.
Of equal importance, it also finally makes Windows itself match the light-on-dark theme common to my Rainmeter, Firefox, et al. I think it was nitzua who pointed out that some of the most carefully-crafted desktop themes are shattered the minute you open the start menu. So it's a real pleasure to have a genuinely customized work environment, not just the illusion of one.
Aside from those, I'm just enamored of its simple grays. Lakrits is a legitimately minimalist VS, and I'll miss it muchly when I make the jump to Windows 7.
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Startups
- Start Killer.
- D-Color.
These really haven't changed since the Lightning Sunset days. I wrote an individual paragraph for each of them before I realized that I was just repeating myself from 16 months ago. The common thread here is that they're all tiny apps which enhance the taskbar and the desktop in extremely logical, intuitive, "I can't believe it didn't do this by itself" ways.
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Virtual Shell
- Autohotkey.
- Rainmeter. Skins: Enigma 2.6, customized.
It's these three apps which really change the way I use my notebook. As you probably know, I use Autohotkey to
- Launch core apps, documents and settings with universal hotkeys. (Firefox is Win+F, Thunderbird is Win+T, Notepad is Win+N, Google Wave is Win+W, etc.) In addition, the other two get very prominent hotkeys as befits their status: I can start up Launchy with Win+F11, and Rainmeter with Win+F12.
- Adjust the transparency of the active window and taskbar.
- Minimize, maximize, restore, and Alt+Tab using only the Alt key and the mouse.
- Control iTunes with universal hotkeys.
- Send certain commonly-used phrases when triggered, ala Texter.
Launchy, meanwhile, does pretty much everything else. My devout adoration of Launchy has never wavered. Summoning any app, folder, document, control panel module, song, picture, video, theme, log, and search engine in less than ten keystrokes? Win. (And I still use Calcy all the time, too.)
Rainmeter, by now, speaks for itself. See the notes for more details. The only thing that deserves specific mention is that Rainmeter no longer requires assistance from a third-party app like Desktop Coral to reserve space at the edge of the screen. You can now redefine the coordinates of Windows' desktop work area in your theme file. Basically, I used to require three apps - Rainmeter, CD Art Display, and Desktop Coral - to achieve this effect. Now I can do it in one.
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With my new RAM upgrade (and please accept my half-hearted apology for going on about it), it really costs me nothing to keep this light, attractive three-dimensional desktop manager running at all times. It activates when the mouse enters either bottom corner, so the overall perception is one of physically rotating the cube - very intuitive, I've found.
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Trillian
Trillian, like Launchy, may as well be a startup app. I keep it running all the time, even when playing games or watching movies. I can't stand being out of digital contact; it's like living without a phone. These days, I use Trillian to connect to Skype and Twitter, as well, which only reaffirms its value to me: the more tasks a single app can cover, the more I love it.
The reason I can't abide Miranda or Pidgin is that neither (as far as I can tell) is capable storing logs in a plaintext, single-file format. This is a necessity for me, since I'm constantly looking up messages from old conversations, even months or years later, and nothing beats bringing it up in three strokes with Launchy and searching directly in Notepad.
- - - - - - -
Dropbox
I've tried a lot of synchronization and backup services in the past. Before Dropbox, I was a big fan of a Firefox extension (I can't remember the name) which let you upload files directly to your Gmail account space. My desire for this genre can be summed up as "a USB stick in the cloud," and Dropbox is the first one that I've kept and used for over a year. It's perfect, and as the storage capacity increases over time, so does my loyalty.
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iTunes & Last.fm
I know you all hate iTunes. I don't blame you, I'm just convinced that we're not actually using the same program. I don't know what I'm doing differently, but on my laptop, iTunes and its library (3500+ songs now) load in under 5 seconds, handle just as smoothly as Firefox, and do virtually everything I want a media player to do. I keep trying alternatives - I actually haven't yet uninstalled Songbird after trying the new version last week - but as long as iTunes ain't broken, I have no desire to fix it.
Last.fm, on the other hand, is an experiment. I'm simply interested in keeping track of my music listening habits and comparing them with others'. The scrobbler does its thing and never interferes with my work in any way, so for the moment I'm happy to give it a home. It loads automatically with iTunes, too, which is nice - one less thing to worry about.
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Thunderbird 2.0
I have not upgraded to Thunderbird 3. I kept trying it with each beta release, and then the final version, and I was quite disappointed each time. As it stands, the interface is quite bulky, the folder labels are inexplicably verbose. The "Smart Folders" really bulk up the "unread" view, too, which is pretty ironic, since I've always relied on it to serve as my condensed, consolidated reading list. As if that wasn't enough, it also insists on synchronizing virtually all of my email, including the spam folders - which also appear in the "unread" view. I admit, I'd like to be able to view flash applets without having to open feed items in Firefox, but it's just not enough to beat the cons.
So I'm sticking with 2.0 for the time being. Like iTunes, Thunderbird simply meets all my requirements. It is my consummate message center: all five of my email accounts synchronized via IMAP, plus my RSS feeds, all together in one simple view. I use exactly one extension: Minimize to Tray, which lets me keep Thunderbird available at all times without taking up valuable taskbar space.
At some point, I do hope to have Thunderbird (email/RSS), Trillian (IM/IRC/Twitter) and Google Wave integrated into a single elegant client. I'm sure the day is coming. But for now, I feel I've brought them together on my system in the most efficient way available to me.
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Until Thunderbird or Trillian get a Wave plugin, I can't say no to this lovely little tray app. Like Last.fm, it does its job and minds its own business, and it does both so damn well that it passed my stringent filters with surprising ease.
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Firefox
My Firefox is still pretty much as seen here: just a box with an address bar. I use keyboard shortcuts to toggle my bookmarks and menubar, and, naturally, back/forward. Additionally, I use keywords to access search engines - for example, to Google "Lifehacker," I just type "g lifehacker". Once you get used to it, it saves an awful lot of time.
While I did jump on the Awesome Bar bandwagon for the first few months, I'm now trying to bookmark more aggressively. This is because, when my history and cache are clear, Firefox loads in under one second. It beats Chrome on my system. You just can't beat that.
I do want to mention something to users of Lazarus Form Recovery, an extension that I heartily recommend. It's saved me, on numerous occasions, from losing hours and hours of writing. However, 99% of the time, it's something I'd written just minutes prior, and lost due to a crash; I've never needed to recover something days or weeks after the fact. So I strongly recommend clearing your Lazarus cache (which is kept separately from the main Firefox cache) and setting it to purge saved forms if they're older than a week or so. Before I realized this, Firefox sometimes took up to a minute and a half to load, no matter what else I tried to speed it up. Now, as I mentioned, it freaking beats Chrome at its own game.
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I am currently running virtually all of these apps. Firefox has a dozen tabs, I've got four conversations in Trillian, and iTunes is playing the score of The Thin Red Line. And I'm clocking in at a whopping 40% memory use. RAM is cool.
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Merry Christmas. :)
(please note: this is now an old office - a desk I used to rent!)
I didn't want to do another bloody meme, but John tells me he's got more of my clothing from Malarkey, and suggested that I should comply, if I didn't want more dirty linen aired on ebay. Please forgive me.
This is my new deskspace, and I love it to bits. There are notes aplenty on this, so hover away for all the geek details
I'd now like to inflict this meme on the following:
MacBook Pro Mid 2012 + Intel i5 + 12gb RAM + 1.5gb Video + Samsung Evo SSD
Samsung CF390 27"
Nikon D3200 - Nikkor 18-55mm
PlayStation 4
Edifier 2.1
Logitech mk520 keyboard + Logitech m535 bluetooht mouse.
This time I went for something more custom-maid, if one can say that.
I took the regular (previously) white desk top, and covered it in self-adhesive plastic wrap in walnut effect and fakes the walnut tabletop.
Then, I paired it with two adjustable legs from IKEA, on the left side. On the right, I decided -since my iMac died and now I'm stranded with a full-fledged PC with a huge tower and everything- that I should build something that would make the tower less obtrusive and would be sturdy enough, too. Hence, I built something similar to this, with much less money and enhanced features, suchh as "open back for cables", no hinges=better airflow, plus an extra shelf on top.
I've got a new MacbookPro to replace my old iMac and decided to take the opportunity to go all minimalist.
So new rack shelving has also been installed to house my various bits and pieces.
A tidy desk, a tidy mind.
Enigma
I'm going to work on another update to Enigma, either next week or the following. The feedback on 1.1 was overwhelming. Which is good - you guys know what you want, and thus, I know what to give you.
On the to-do list:
- .EXE Installer. (You'll still need Rainmeter itself as a base, of course.)
- GUI Widget Manager. Inspired by Vista Rainbar. It'll be crude at first, but better than clicking through six menus every time.
- Templates. Basically, a couple alternate versions of Rainmeter.ini with prepackaged arrangements. Just to make it easier to get started.
- Inverted colors. Taking a cue from HUD.Vision, I'd like to provide for a black-text version. I'm not sure if that will be in the form of separate .INIs, though - that always seemed really messy to me. At the very least, they'll be in the same folder as the originals.
- Collapsible Notes, Reader and MoxaWeather. Either show/hide buttons or mouseover display; haven't decided yet.
- Individual story links for Reader.
- Solid backgrounds for ecqlipse2's icons, so it's ok to click the space between the lines.
- Some of you wanted the Gmail widget to simply tell you if you have new messages, rather than how many, so I'll provide for that.
- Getting rid of the "Tray" set and just expanding Taskbar with one-line versions of each widget. Accordingly, you'll now have the option of the usual 33px taskbar, or a compact 22px, which is the same size as the Windows taskbar in most of lassekongo83's themes.
- NET icon will show WiFi in addition to Ethernet activity.
Also: I'm going to remove the Samurize version and offer it as a separate download. It's old, obsolete and redundant, and based on the IMs and emails I've gotten, it's just confusing people.
(I'll still keep Arcs, though. :)
Do post a comment if you've got another request.
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Desktop
Theme:
- NOOTO VS. Requires patched uxtheme.dll - patcher here.
- Wallpaper: Dsngr.
Startups:
- Autohotkey.
- Launchy.
- D-Color.
- Start Killer.
Programs running:
- Rainmeter. Skin: Enigma, experimental build.
- Yod'm 3D 1.4.
Up early this morning, sifting through Google Reader, marking stuff to follow up on, making notes for client's project and drinking coffee before heading to a client's premises for the day.
Tuesday is the day when I earn 75% of my income for the week.
I hope you'll find this one a little more original. It follows the same principles as the LiS style, but I tried to ratchet up the eye candy without sacrificing productivity.
The obvious centrepiece is the Samurize config, which I started ages ago after being inspired by this. It's very sci-fi, of course, but in the best sense: everything has a purpose. Those arcs are actually displaying the time and date, my CPU, RAM, battery and network usage, the space on my laptop, external drive and iPod, and iTunes' song progress.
That black strip on the left has a purpose, too. Care to guess?
You can see a few other Rainmeter widgets scattered throughout, including the fake border on the bottom. The track info is a CD Art Display skin stripped down to the bare necessities.
Finally, the icons on the right are an experimental auto-hidden Rocketdock layout. I'm still in the process of trying to make Rocketdock do something useful, so for the moment, consider it a visual placeholder.
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Theme:
- CleanGlass VS. Requires patched uxtheme.dll - patcher here.
- Wallpaper: not publicly available, I'm afraid. I made it using Children of the Night by Digital Blasphemy, and a render that has since disappeared from the Internet.
Startups:
- Autohotkey.
- Launchy.
- Yod'm 3D 1.4.
- D-Color.
- Start Killer.
Programs usually running:
- Rainmeter. Skin: Enigma, with inverted colors on Border.
- CD Art Display. I'm still on the lookout for an iTunes plugin for Rainmeter. For the moment, I've taken a CAD skin and made it blend right in with the rest of the Rainmeter layout. It wasn't hard, but I'd be happy to walk you through it.
- Rocketdock. Icons: "ecqlipse 2".
Questions welcome!
This is my dream work space
www.hearthandmade.co.uk/2011/06/home-office-facil-y-senci...
Blogged under a creative commons license - full copyright belongs to ADM Facil y Sencillo Blog and photography
When it comes to my new PC, I am so very proud of it. I had the iMac for 4 nice, smooth years. When it broke down, I had to build a new PC that would be more powerful, but as silent as possible, and with a screen as good as the IPS panel of my iMac.
In this picture, you can see:
1. LG Flatron IPS231, IPS 23" monitor
2. Logitech K230 wireless keyboard
3. Microsoft Touch Mouse
4. Genius 2.1 Speaker Set
5. Generic 2MPixel Webcam
I hope it wasn't too pretentious to put this little presentation together - that's just what happens when I start having fun in Photoshop.
Fellow Lifehacker readers will be interested to know that every program in the shot, visible or under the hood, is free. I spend a lot of time tweaking my desktop, so what you see here has survived a pretty rigorous natural selection process. As listed in the image:
Theme:
- SlanXP 2.0. Requires patched uxtheme.dll - patcher here.
- Wallpaper: "Reverie" by Digital Blasphemy.
Startups:
- Autohotkey. See the note in the upper-right corner.
- Launchy. My beloved.
- Yod'm 3D 1.4. Last free version before it became Deskspaces. Probably the closest thing to Compiz Fusion you can get for Windows.
- Taskbar Shuffle. I swear, it's worth it just for middle-clicking to close windows.
- Start Killer.
Programs usually running:
- Samurize. I made the config myself, which you're welcome to download here in a few different resolutions.
- Google Desktop. Solely for the gadgets.
I've added a few other details as notes. And I'd be happy to answer any questions. I love talking about this stuff.
This is my dream work space
www.hearthandmade.co.uk/2011/06/home-office-facil-y-senci...
Blogged under a creative commons license - full copyright belongs to ADM Facil y Sencillo Blog and photography
Another minor update to my now-infamous desktop. (Please see that post, and the accompanying Lifehacker articles here and here, for more details. And thanks again. :)
I've taken my Samurize config and completely reproduced it in Rainmeter. In fact, as you can see, I've added a few tidbits. The only thing I have yet to find is a plugin for iTunes song information. (It's been two years, people! Two years! There must be a way!) So I've added a temporary media player widget to Google Desktop while I work on uncovering Rainmeter's secrets.
If you want to use my theme on this new platform, the good news is that this is far, far easier to set up. Just download the ZIP and extract the folder inside to your "C:\Program Files\Rainmeter\Skins". All you have to do then is add the configs one by one and drag them into place. And to edit the borders for a different resolution, all you have to do is tweak three little numbers - instructions included.
I basically went from knowing nothing about Rainmeter to completing this theme in 24 hours, which should tell you something about its capabilities. It's harder to build something from scratch than it is in Samurize, because there's no GUI editor; every element has to be hand-coded. And Samurize, frankly, has a lot more out-of-the-box capability than Rainmeter, which hasn't had an update in years and has neither a website nor any developer support; it's really been adopted by the modding community and warped beyond recognition.
Rainmeter's real strength is that it's modular. You're not restricted to a single cohesive theme; you can mix and match virtually whatever you want, and drag it around whereever you want. As for editing, the learning curve pays off; because it doesn't rely on a rigid editor application, Rainmeter enables creativity and customization one level deeper than Samurize.
Rainmeter's only limitation is its neglect. Its potential relies on plugins, many of which have yet to be written. Maybe I can use my tiny little bully pulpit here to encourage some more talented developers around here to make some. :)
Wallpaper in this shot is purebred Aqua. You can find it all over the place, but here's a link. I use it on my "clean" Yod'm desktop, for sandbox-type tasks like this.
I'm not dead.
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Sorry for the long absence. It may not yet be over, sadly; I still have some other projects on my plate, and desktop modding just isn't a priority. I have no intention of abandoning it entirely, however. There are still plenty of ideas that I want to play with, just don't expect a blitz for a while.
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Enigma
Anyone who's e-mailed me about Enigma deserves my deepest apologies. I'm doing my best to respond to as many of you as possible, but there are still hundreds of messages that have gone unanswered, some of them for months, and I feel terrible about that. If I ever run into some money, I'll hire an assistant to respond to them all. I know it's become cliché to say something like this, but it's humbling to see how passionate and genuinely appreciative you are, and I really have read each message.
Since interest clearly has yet to die, I'm making it a goal to release Enigma 3 by the end of the year. Rather than piling on with new functions, I want to keep the focus on making it easier to set up and use:
- As I've talked about in the past, my chief objective for this is to make Enigma part of a fully-developed Litestep theme. Beyond the eye candy, this would ideally let the user switch between skins, profiles and templates using shell-integrated controls. (For those who aren't interested in a shell replacement, don't worry - the package will still and always be available as a Rainmeter module.)
- Setting modesty aside for a moment, I believe a lot of Enigma's success comes from its detailed documentation and its (albeit crude) installer tool, which made it far more accessible to the average user. The only other Rainmeter suite I've seen with any such automation is Vista Rainbar. This has been a successful policy, and if possible, I hope to continue it by streamlining the installation of Litestep and the Enigma theme as much as possible.
- I realize the existing version has some problems that need fixing. The Location skin is still plagued by servers thinking it's a web crawler and cutting it off, so the search is still on for a permanent provider. I also realize that MoxaWeather is no longer working - this is the fault of Weather.com, who shut down the convenient XML feed that we've all been using. I know there are talks going on between Weather.com and the Rainmeter community, and they've asked that skin developers refrain from exploiting a well-known loophole to fix the problem until they've worked out a deal. I'm happy to oblige.
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Liquid Crystal Discourse
still exists, technically. I got to write one post, and then, naturally, Real Life™ swept in and buried it like a hurricane. I've heard from a few people who were disappointed about that, so I'm now reaffirming my commitment to the blog. My plan is to post at least once a week.
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Desktop
As you can tell, another reason I haven't posted in a while is that very little has changed. I'm no longer running Google Desktop, because, well, I don't use it anymore. Autohotkey, Rainmeter and Notepad pretty much joined forces to render it obsolete.
I'm really looking forward to Windows 7, which shall, I'm sure, initiate a new stage of evolution for my dear laptop.
See the notes for more trivia.
Theme:
- NOOTO VS. Requires patched uxtheme.dll - patcher here.
- Wallpaper: Remnants, by freelancah, resized and rotated.
Startups:
- Autohotkey.
- Launchy.
Programs running:
- Rainmeter. Skin: Enigma, customized with Amana Icons.
- Yod'm 3D 1.4.
This is my dream work space
www.hearthandmade.co.uk/2011/06/home-office-facil-y-senci...
Blogged under a creative commons license - full copyright belongs to ADM Facil y Sencillo Blog and photography
Here's something most people don't know about me: as much as I love technology, and follow the latest news from Google, Apple, et al, I actually don't buy gadgets very often. I can't stand spending money needlessly, accumulating crap that I don't know how to get rid of, and, especially, retiring a tool before I've gotten all the value out of it. I just bought my first smartphone this year. And last week, I finally retired my faithful Dell Inspiron B130, which has been my exclusive machine since September 2006.
Now, some of you may scoff. A budget laptop marketed for college students is not the kind of choice you expect from someone who is fairly tech savvy and who uses a computer pretty much 24/7, for work and for play. But after nearly half a decade of constant use, I have nothing but praise for the Little Notebook That Could. Somewhere around here, I've told the tale of how, after I accidentally deleted the boot sector during a botched Linux venture, she miraculously healed herself without the use of a Windows disc or recovery software. I never once had to reinstall the OS, never had to contact Dell support, never had a serious virus or hardware malfunction, never experienced the sluggishness, overheating and physical cruft that my friends have had with their notebooks. Guys, if you take care of your computer, your computer will take care of you.
Nonetheless, the Dell was showing her age. While the very-worn battery and hard drive could probably be replaced, a 1.7 GHz single-core processor just doesn't cut it anymore, especially if you're looking to upgrade to Windows 7. So I've switched to an HP G62x, and after a little over a week of full-time use, I have no regrets. While less mobile than a netbook, and less powerful than, say, a MacBook Pro, these mid-range workhorses can really serve you well as a primary machine, and you can get some surprising deals if you do your homework. I got this thing with half a terabyte of internal storage (no more juggling external drives to watch my movies!) and an ATI Radeon Mobility video card, which, while it wouldn't satisfy a hardcore gamer, has been a real treat for me - not least because it unlocks some Photoshop features that I could never use before. This for under $600. And since I can install up to 8GB of RAM and (someday) an SSD, I'm thinking I can make this one last even longer than its predecessor.
Anyway. This desktop post won't have anything new for the customizers. I'm just marking my switch to a brand new platform. All of my desktops up to this point - throughout all the Lightning Sunset, the browser tinkering, the Rainmeter revival - were done on that little Dell. I'm looking forward to seeing where this new vessel will take me.
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Before I get into my customization details, I have to say, straight off, that Windows 7 is a fantastic operating system. I know I'm a little late to the party here, but it needs to be said. The taskbar is a sheer joy to use. Jump lists are brilliant, especially pinning files, which eliminates the need for a lot of my old hotkeys. The redesigned Windows Explorer is an incredibly sleek, refined application. Networking just works now. And there are so many little touches: if you click and drag down on the title bar of a maximized window, it will restore the window and move it with your cursor, all without lifting the button.
Really, I'd write a whole review of Windows 7 alone, if there weren't already hundreds of them. Suffice to say, I'm no longer embarrassed to be a Windows user. Not that I really was before, but you know how it is - Linux people telling you you're an ignorant slave, Mac people telling you you have no taste. Especially looking at the directions that both OS X and Ubuntu are going these days, I can say with full confidence that Windows 7 is the OS I would choose from a cold start.
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Desktop
Theme:
- Visual Style: Shadow for 7 by krissirk. I tried the big names, including Appows and Shine. But this one just hit the mark. So many VS designers like to add their little frills around the edges, but Shadow is just clean, consistent and simple. The subtle Aero transparency is very professional - it makes Google Chrome look gorgeous, among other things. Just a real quality VS. I doubt it'd be much different if I'd made it myself.
- Wallpaper: Big Sky by Fifty Foot Shadows, one of my favorite wallpaper sources. I'm an incurable romantic, so the fact that this is an actual photograph, when a simple Photoshop gradient would have been just as easy, makes it somehow special to me.
Startups:
- Autohotkey, though Windows 7's built-in features have rendered many of my scripts obsolete. But I'm still using keys for window transparency, text replacement, and the How-To Geek's Alt+Drag script. I've also remapped those app keys along the side of the keyboard to make them more useful - for example, one of them summons Launchy with one press, and another shows/hides my Trillian contact list.
- Launchy. The new Start Menu search, which is really wonderful, has allowed me to streamline Launchy's index a bit. (Which is good, because the current Launchy beta is a real memory leaker, unfortunately. Hoping for a fix soon.)
- 7 Taskbar Tweaker. This thing has a bunch of features, but I use exactly one of them: middle-click to close windows on the taskbar. I used Taskbar Shuffle back in XP to do the same thing, and I still strongly believe that this should be a native function for all taskbar-oriented OSes, especially since it's become a standard in every web browser.
- StartKiller. Removes the start button. I already have one on my keyboard, thankyouverymuch.
- Dropbox. No explanation needed, I think.
- Lightscreen. Very, very handy for taking screenshots - stays out of the way and gets the job done.
- http://www.stereopsis.com/flux. Which Flickr doesn't want to turn into a link, for some reason. Hmph.
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I still haven't figured out what kind of Rainmeter theme I'm going to use on the new OS, and sadly I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to muck around with it. Too busy with work, another side project that moved up about a year ahead of schedule, and some other poorly-timed events... 2011 has been a challenging year thus far. But we'll see where I end up on the currents.
One more minor update on the setup I've been mucking with.
In practice, I'd never be using all of this at once. I don't like redundancy, so having three clocks, two system monitors, etc. isn't something I'd do. But I think this is a good portrait of the suite that I've built for myself.
In terms of progress, I've finished converting almost all of the "Enigma" Rainmeter objects into compact widgets that will fit within the pseudo-taskbar on the bottom. (I actually made the bar by stretching a screenshot of the real taskbar, and I have to say, it's nice for everything to be consistent.) Both are set to 80% opacity.
I'm not sure where the "Notes" skin's place is in this setup. I might end up having it invisible except on mouseover.
The wallpaper, which I'm sure will turn some heads here as it did mine before, is Flaws of Fancy by derekprospero.
Again, all software information is listed on the original Wing (Desktop 14) page.
Like Fata Morgana, this isn't what I'm using, so much as a prototype of what I'd like to use. Imagine if Launchy popped up with a broad HUD like this - like an ultra-light version of Dashboard. Between that and the taskbar - which I toggled off in this shot, but would probably keep visible in practice - I'd have very few unsatisfied desires.
Full-size view recommended for this one.
- Wallpaper: Bloom.
- Rainmeter theme: Enigma, modified.
- Icons: "ecqlipse 2", modified.
- Launchy.
- Yod'm 3D 1.4.
In the near future, I'd like to try a fuller, situation room-esque config in tribute to jacquesblondes' submission this morning. So maybe I'll think of this as a temporary exorcism of my minimalist muses.