Can I display and Alias' Icon On Desktop Without Its Filename?

[knidsrok]

Hi, all.

I've had my MacbookPro for over a year now, but I'm only just now getting serious about customizing it to look and work just how I want it to.

I've got a couple of 'alias' shortcuts I'd like to keep on my desktop, and I was wondering if there was a way I could have the icons be visible, but not the file names. You know, so they'd just look like buttons.

Here are some more details that might not be relevant, but I suppose could help someone suggest a possible workaround:

I've got a MacBook Pro, Intel, running Leopard 10.5.6.

The aliases in question go to the 'music', 'movies', 'tv', and 'desktop' directories on an Ubuntu PC on my local network that I'm using as a media center & library. The icons I'm using make the alias' respective functions self-evident -- all the file name text beneath it does is look out of place and awkward.

If there's another way besides aliases to get four 'buttons' on my desktop that take me to my Ubuntu PC's media folders, I'm game.

Thanks in advance, y'all.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Sure. Just change the alias' names to a single space. (I guess since there are four of them, one gets one space, another two, and so forth.)

 

[pixproff]

You can rename an alias to anything you want and it will still open the original file, but it must have some name attached to it. Replace the name with a space and it will not show when the icon is not selected and give the appearance of not having a name. Since you cannot have the same named file at the same location, use 2 spaces and 3 spaces and so on for button looking icons.

 

[knidsrok]

You can rename an alias to anything you want and it will still open the original file, but it must have some name attached to it. Replace the name with a space and it will not show when the icon is not selected and give the appearance of not having a name. Since you cannot have the same named file at the same location, use 2 spaces and 3 spaces and so on for button looking icons.

Thanks for the suggestion, and I might just do that. My only concern is that, while I do want to have links available on the desktop, I'm also a quicksilver user -- is there a way I can give the aliases spaces for names, and still have quicksilver recognize them? Or am I asking to have my cake and eat it too here?

 

[BlueRevolution]

Quicksilver should be indexing the original files, not the aliases. That's what's so brilliant about it!

And what're you using the mouse for when you've got Quicksilver?

 

[sucer]

converting aliases to original files

Hi, I heard there was a way to convert the aliases back to original files. I don't know how the files I brought over to my mac folder from backup cd's became aliases. It was the path I used to get them here, either dragging them from the CD to the open screen in the folder or something that I did incorrectly. How can I make them back into icons that show the pictures instead of white icons with little arrows?

 

[miles01110]

Hi, I heard there was a way to convert the aliases back to original files. I don't know how the files I brought over to my mac folder from backup cd's became aliases. It was the path I used to get them here, either dragging them from the CD to the open screen in the folder or something that I did incorrectly. How can I make them back into icons that show the pictures instead of white icons with little arrows?

Well, you need to find the original files on your computer...