Does anybody know how to get applications in center of desktop like at Apple Stores?

[gjortega]

I read this article and the author put large application icons in the middle of his desktop screen. Scroll about halfway down the article to see the picture of his desktop: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/before-after-the-reborn-macbook-for-mom-167671

This is similar to the icons on Macs at the Apple Stores that allow you to schedule genius bar appointments. But this guy totally got rid of his dock and it all seems to be very straight forward - perfect for my grandma! Does anybody know how I would go about doing this? Thanks!

 

[tyrell456]

If you read that article, the author actually described what he did to have those icons behave that way. He simply made aliases to the apps to be used (right click -> Make Alias), and put them on the desktop. Then he bumped up the icon size to 128x128 (When on the desktop, View -> Show View Options -> and then change icon size to 128x128). Then he arranged the icons to a grid (also in View Options, Change "Sort By" to "Snap to Grid"). Then he hid the hard drive from showing on the desktop by going to Finder -> Preferences, and unchecking "Hard Disks" under "Show these items on the desktop."

Finally, to hide the dock, go to System Preferences -> Dock -> Automatically show or hide the dock. I would also remove everything from the dock (besides Finder, because you can't) in case she accidentally calls it up.

 

[Mal]

Have you looked instead into Simple Finder? You may find it easier to manage. It's in Parental Controls.

jW

 

[r0k]

It never occurred to me to try to find out what they were doing at the Apple stores because those things get on my nerves and I'm always greatly relieved when the dock still works and I'm not really restricted to a dumbed down "kiosk" that can only make genius appointments and play in-store demos.

Have you thought about cmd-tab to see if that menu thing is in the process list? You can also open terminal and type "PS" and look for something called "store demo". As a precaution, I would think they have it hidden away but it's not such a big deal as they can re-image those machines every night to undo whatever swear words some 12 year old typed in to the screen saver or put back applications somebody thought it would be cool to delete.