Poll: Does your Operating System Desktop contain...

[MacRumors]

Vote: Poll: Does your Operating System Desktop contain... (http://www.macpolls.com/?poll_id=219&ref=forums.macrumors.com)

[alset]

A mess. All the time. I organize and rid myself of the mess every few weeks, but it's just like my apartment... stuff gathers. Quickly. It's just convenient to leave items on the Desktop for quick access. Next thing you know....

Dan

[Cochrane]

I have rather few Icons on my Desktop. I only use it to put some files there that I got from my ZIP-Drive. For quick access I only use the dock. However, even though there are only few files they are quite messy and not in any particular way arranged at all.

[iGav]

I have 2 icons... my 'Macinosh HD' one and my 'Firewire HD' one...

Both use the standard Apple HD icon.

Minimal and organised.... ;) :D

[tazo]

on my mac i have 3 icons, and on my pc i only have 16 icons. then again the PC doesnt have the dock :)

[medea]

I generally only have my HD and maybe my iPod on there, whenever I fill it up with documents or files I clean it up and organize those pretty quick.

[Bengt77]

I only have icons on my desktop when a Zip disk or cd is mounted, or when I'm connected to a server or my iDisk. Other than in those situations, I have none on my desktop. Like it clean.

[Nermal]

I've got my HD, whatever I'm working on, and downloads that I haven't put away yet.

[mac15]

As of now, I have 4 on my desktop. My 2 HD icons, my WWDC keynote stream link file , and a text doc with some mp3s I must aquire

[hvfsl]

I have only 3 icons on my desktop, but around 20 in my dock, I just put stuff in there I want to use a lot.

[homeshire]

nothing but the desktop picture, a winter scene in the forest i snapped myself. and that's how i like it. i am one of those weirdo freakos that hates icons. i'd love for a system-wide ability to turn off all icons in favor of text. was thrilled the day i stumbled upon the fact that i could turn off the HD icon for the desktop in system prefs!!!:D

[wtv]

Only volumes appear on my desktop. Generally, I am of the opinion that the ergonomic benefits of the Mac OS 9 Apple menu is greatly underestimated. And for me Mac OS X is unusable without Classic Menu :cool:

The Dock is as useful as the tear-off window of the OS 9 Finder menu :)

WTV

See also http://www.groninger-museum.nl/index.php?section=tentoonstellingen&subsection=tentoonstellingen&itemID=1398

[cc bcc]

I always make a huge mess out of my desktop, can't help it. Every now and then I drag all files to a folder named "June 2003" or something, et voila it's clean again!

WTV: If you like the classic Apple menu, you should really try MaxMenus, it's excellent!

[Freg3000]

Originally posted by Bengt77
I only have icons on my desktop when a Zip disk or cd is mounted, or when I'm connected to a server or my iDisk. Other than in those situations, I have none on my desktop. Like it clean.

Exactly. I don't even have the hard drive icons. Totally clean.

[MacManDan]

I used to not have anything on my desktop .. but lately I've had a few "temporary" documents there, just until I get the time to do whatever is I'm supposed to do with them and get them off my desktop

[wdlove]

I have a lot of icons on my Desktop, but in an organized manner. My problem is that I've run out of space to back them up to a Zip. What I need is to have a super drive!

[MacFan25]

I have one icon - my HD on my desktop, and then I have 13 apps in the dock.

[Mr. Anderson]

Just a few icons for all the drives (4 at home) and 1 or two other things that change from time to time.....

My mac at work just has the drives, nothing else.

The docks all have about 30+ items that I use frequently.

D

[C14ru5]

I have nothing on the desktop. No documents, no hard drives, no servers, no removable media. And I have nothing in the Dock but the Trash and an inactive Finder icon. It's all Path Finder and LaunchBar for me, baby!

The only time I get documents on my desktop is whenever I do a screen grab, and then I move the PDF as soon as it appears.

*note to myself: Buy Snapz Pro X real soon*

[Giaguara]

casual files, but not a mess.

[scem0]

on pc: big mess of icons

on mac: neatly organized icons

I don't use my mac barely ever though.

I plan on using my G5 when I get it.

scem0

[eyelikeart]

I have my couple hard drive icons, and maybe a download or two if they haven't been stashed. I cannot stand a cluttered desktop.

My dock, on the other hand, has the list of programs I use on a regular basis; about 20 icons at most). ;)

[bousozoku]

When I used Mac OS 9.x, it was extremely organised. As the Finder window almost always hides the desktop, the desktop becomes more messy.

I only really notice how bad it becomes when I don't see the DVD or CD-ROM show up on load.

[senseibiz]

I have nothing on my desktop.
all my icons are on the Dock...

[frozenstar]

Zero icons on the desktop. Twelve icons in the dock.

I'm a minimalist. Less is more.

[arn]

As of yesterday I have 162 icons on my desktop

not neatly organized.

will have to get on that.

arn

[King Cobra]

iBook: Nothing on desktop, over 15 dock items

Cube: Just the Hard Drive, 11 dock items, more on right side than left

[job]

i have nothing on my hard drive, save the odd disk image or cd.

the dock is hidden and i don't have any hard drive icons. my dock contains 23 apps.

[King Cobra]

Originally posted by job
i have nothing on my hard drive, save the odd disk image or cd.

Nothing on your Hard Drive? Cool. But what about your desktop? :D

A friend of mine (PC) has over 50 items on his desktop.

[bograt]

I just have revolving pictures, however I have never managed to get them all to stay the right size, Jaguar automatically resizes them to how it sees fit, anyone know a hack/crack to get around this. If so please e-mail bograt_ (AT) talk21.com cheers.

[job]

Originally posted by King Cobra
Nothing on your Hard Drive? Cool. But what about your desktop? :D

A friend of mine (PC) has over 50 items on his desktop.

ah crap. :p

nothing on the desktop. ;)

[Kwyjibo]

i have 6 icons right now but this is right after a clean install so they will grow...the weird thing is i often find them under my dock or in them iddle of the screeen where you never see them

[wsteineker]

Two icons on the Desktop (HD and iPod), and 27 in the Dock. I LOVE the Dock. :)

[edenwaith]

25 icons on my desktop currently.

When I first used OS X beta, there were no hard drive icons, and when I closed the lone Finder window, I panicked for a little bit in my search to open up a new Finder window. I like having the option to either have the drives appear on the desktop or not. It actually helped clue me in to getting the My Computer icon back on a Windows XP desktop. I did a little searching and finally found an option to get My Computer back on the desktop (which was nice to have).

[trebblekicked]

i always keep six folders on my desktop; each one contains a neetly arranged file system, and that is where all my documents live; i hate the way the documents folder in home organizes files. recently, i had to add three other folders when i used virtuallab to recover about 600 accidentally deleted word and excell files. i haven't gone through them all yet, so those folders sit on the desktop as well. but usually, it's just the six folders and the HDD icon.

[wdlove]

Currently I have 33 icons on my desktop. Too many for my taste, it's kind of annoying.

[niar]

I like my innocent desktop.

[peteMG]

Since I'm a born-again evangelical column view fanatic, I only keep 1-3 file icons on the desktop - they're usually things that I've downloaded to read at a later time. After a day or two they migrate into other folders or get deleted.

My dock holds 16 apps (11 of which launch at login) and 3 shortcuts (a chat server, versiontracker, and the Applications folder).

[XnavxeMiyyep]

I have 2 icons (including my hard drive) on my desktop, and a little over 50 icons in my dock(changes from time to time).

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by frozenstar
Zero icons on the desktop. Twelve icons in the dock.

I'm a minimalist. Less is more. i'm close. hard drive icons on the desktop, old habit, but only 9 icons, including the trash, in the dock. so i ended up with fewer net icons :p.

also, i am very particular about the order of those 9 icons and what each looks like. every single one, except the trash, is a custom icon.

[frozenstar]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
i'm close. hard drive icons on the desktop, old habit, but only 9 icons, including the trash, in the dock. so i ended up with fewer net icons :p.

also, i am very particular about the order of those 9 icons and what each looks like. every single one, except the trash, is a custom icon.

That's interesting.... I'm also very particular about the placement of icons in my dock. They are grouped into four categories - internet, PIM, multimedia, and system.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by frozenstar
That's interesting.... I'm also very particular about the placement of icons in my dock. They are grouped into four categories - internet, PIM, multimedia, and system. mine aren't especially grouped categorically, but the order has become important to me. i like the way the icons look in the arrangement i have compiled, and i spazz out, so to speak, when i take one out or get them out of order.

just one of the ways i make my OS user centric. i like doing it, and i wish apple would stop thinking it's their job before they start acting like MS.

[MacFan25]

the icons in my dock are organized alphabetically. didn't have much to do, so thats how I arranged them one day. :D

[shadowfax]

do they all fall between the letters F (finder) and T(trash)?

[wdlove]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
do they all fall between the letters F (finder) and T(trash)?

That's a good one Shadowfax! :p

[MacFan25]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
do they all fall between the letters F (finder) and T(trash)?
those are the only exceptions. ;)

[Mercury]

I voted for "few or no" icons, but I'm a binge purge kinda guy on this...

Download bazillions of stuff, install it all, and after a week or so of getting tired of it all cluttering my desktop, into a junk folder or the trash can they go...

[frozenstar]

Since everyone is being so open about their docks, I'll go ahead and divulge the exact method by which icon placement is determined for my dock.

* There are four groups - internet, PIM, multimedia, and system.

* Icon placement within each group is determined by the frequency of use for the icon, starting from the left, in descending order.

* Group placement in the dock is determined by the frequency of use for the group (which is an average of the frequency of use for all of the icons in the group), starting from the left, in descending order.

Using this system also conveniently arranges the groups by the total number of icons in each group, starting from the left, in descending order. It also maintains the default placement of System Preferences as the right-most icon.

In case it's not already obvious.....
I'm obsessive compulsive.

[Steradian]

my Desktop is sooo messy right now...I think i am gunna stop writing this and do some cleaning...you will thank me later...

[SilvorX]

my desktop used to have 100+ icons on it :eek:, but now i have a folder on it called d-top so everything goes there now so it makes it all neat :), and i set it so i dont have any cds/hd/external drives show up on the desktop :D

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by SilvorX
my desktop used to have 100+ icons on it :eek:, but now i have a folder on it called d-top so everything goes there now so it makes it all neat :), and i set it so i dont have any cds/hd/external drives show up on the desktop :D so your desktop folder is now /users/yourname/desktop/d-top? kind of elaborate :p