In the Background: Some Thoughts on Desktop Simplicity
Long ago I watched an episode of MacBreak Video titled The Distracted Mac. The episode featured Merlin Mann giving some tips by which you could minimize distractions while working at your computer. Mann listed a few apps to help you do this, but what stuck with me more than anything else about the presentation was his use of a purely black desktop background. I have used this on my own computer, or at least a variation of it, ever since first seeing the video.
Now, of course, this is purely a matter of taste, but if you want to give it a try, here are a few of my favorite shades of darkness. You can easily create new shades or modify mine using almost any image editing software.
The hex values of the three shades are 020202, 050505 and 0E0E0E, which I use on my own desktop. At this small size, it’s difficult to see much difference between the three, but at full screen the opposite is true. Just experiment to find the color you like.
The easiest way to set one of the above shades as your background is to simply open Desktop and Screensaver Preferences and drag the color right from this Safari window into the preview box (see the screen shot at the left). If you want to save it for later, drop the shade into a folder somewhere and point the Desktop preference pane to it by hitting the little ‘+’ at the bottom of the window. In fact, I keep all of my favorite desktop artwork in a single folder in my Pictures folder for easy access. For the shades, just make sure you set the display mode to ‘Tile’ or ‘Stretch to Fill Screen.’
Again, it’s a matter of taste, and I’m skeptical whether a it contributes to a distraction free environment in any significant way. Nevertheless, with a black desktop your screen will compliment the elegant simplicity of the machine itself. Give it a try and see what you think.
Embed a Plain Clock on Your Desktop
Since Panther it has been possible to embed your screen saver as your desktop background. This obviously has a great ‘wow’ factor by which you can show off the power of your Mac to friends, but it can make it quite difficult to concentrate on serious work. However, with an appropriate screensaver, the effect can be quite compelling.
Try the Fliqlo Clock Screensaver. Simple and clear numbers, Fliqlo is great as a stand alone saver, but even nicer when run beneath your desktop. Moreover, because of its simplicity, it is very easy on your processor and doesn’t hinder the performance of your Mac very much.
For a fast way to toggle the saver on and off, try the Wallsaver dashboard widget. Simply click the button to activate your saver or switch screensavers from within the widget by selecting from a dropdown list. Hit the button again to turn it off.
