To many, a pc is just a utility, however to a few, one’s computer is the ultimate in beauty and admiration. Desktop customization has grown up substantially. It no longer suffices to merely change one’s desktop wallpaper and think you have a pimped interface. Generally an operating system’s default theme is generic, and in some cases quite displeasing, changing every part of systems graphic user interface isn’t to hard a task with a multitude of online resources available. Unfortunately on Windows systems, one has to hack and patch the operating system in order to be able to use themes, other than those provided by Microsoft, on one’s computer. Thankfully this is not the case on Gnome (Linux), KDE(Linux) and of course Linux’s distant cousin, Apple Mac.
The good people over at LifeHacker.com have created a desktop customization Flickr pool and Google group which aims to inspire customization and interface exploration. Who says a user interface has to look they way the operating system vendor’s design it to look like. The members of these groups have managed to design quite unique desktops, that bear absolutely no resemblance to the generic system’s theme, using free and available software and art work. Social website’s such as DeviantArt.com and GnomeLook.org, have accumulated huge databases of user submitted (mostly GPL) artwork of high standard and quality which are avalaible to download and use. There are many other sites around that offer guides and resources to achieving desktoptopia, many with a specific orientated theme, a quick Google Search for “desktop customization” or “desktop themes” will yield quite a few valuable results. However, note, that it isn’t advisable to Google words such as “wallpaper” or “screensaver” as these links are usually of low quality and possibly contain malicious scripts and software.

Desktops Of Merit

See how they did it here

Tags: Design, Desktop, GUI, Interface, Wallpaper

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 23:13 and is filed under Design. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.