Chapter 2: Giving Your Desktop the Personal Touch

In This Chapter

Picking your own background

Adding and selecting a screen saver

Choosing menu colors and highlights

Keeping track of things with Stickies

Customizing the Dock and using Dashboard

Getting in the game with Game Center

Cleaning and sorting the OS X Desktop

“Tweak! Tweak!” It’s not the cry of some exotic bird — that’s the call of the wild Mac Power User. Power users like to tweak their OS X Desktops just so, with that menu color, this background, and those applications on the Dock. Noncomputer types just can’t understand the importance of the proper arrangement of your virtual workplace: When things are familiar and customized to your needs, you’re more productive and things get done faster — just like the layout of your physical desktop in your home or office. In fact, if you’ve set up multiple users on your computer under OS X, the Big X automatically keeps track of each user’s Desktop and restores it when that person logs in. (For example, when you use the Mac, you get that background photo of Farrah Fawcett from the ’70s, whereas your daughter gets Justin Bieber.)

In this chapter, I show you what you can do to produce a Desktop that’s uniquely your own, including tweaks that you can make to the background and your Desktop icons. I also show you how to use Desktop Stickies instead of a forest of paper slips covering your monitor.

With your OS X Desktop clad in the proper harmonious colors — yes, that can be your favorite photo of Elvis, himself — and your new Dock icons ready for action, you’re indeed prepared for whatever lies ahead in your computing world!

Changing the Background

You might be asking, “Mark, do I really need a custom background?” That depends completely on your personal tastes, but I’ve yet to meet a computer owner who didn’t change his background when presented with the opportunity (with one exception — an editor friend of mine, who has favored a plain white background for years!).

Favorite backgrounds usually include

Humorous cartoons and photos that can bring a smile to your face (even during the worst workday)

Scenic beauty

Solid colors (relaxing and distraction-free)

Photos of family and friends (or the latest Hollywood heartthrob)

The company logo (not sure it does much for morale, but it does impress the boss)

If you do decide to spruce up your background, you have three choices: You can select one of the excellent default OS X background images, choose a solid color, or specify your own image. All three backgrounds are chosen from the Desktop & Screen Saver pane, located within System Preferences (as illustrated in Figure 2-1). It’s easy to get there, too: Simply right-click any empty spot on your Desktop and choose Change Desktop Background from the menu that appears.

Picking something Apple

To choose a background from one of the collections provided by Apple, click one of these groups from the list at the left:

Desktop Pictures: These backgrounds feature scenic beauty, such as blades of grass, sand dunes, snowy hills . . . that sort of thing. You also get close-up backgrounds of plant life. I especially recommend the green grass.

Solid Colors: This is for those who desire a soothing solid shade (and like their icons easily visible). More on this in the following section.

iPhoto: Choose an image of your own from your iPhoto Library.

Folders: Click the disclosure triangle next to the Folders entry, and you can display the images saved in the active user’s Pictures folder, as well as any folder containing photos that you’ve added to the list. (I demonstrate how to add folders shortly.).

If you see something you like, click the thumbnail, and OS X displays it in the well (upper left of the pane) and automatically refreshes your background so that you can see what it looks like. (By the way, a well is a sunken square area that displays an image, color swatch or even a sound file icon — in this case, the background image that you select.)

OS X automatically manipulates how the background appears on your Desktop. If an image conforms to your screen resolution, fine. Otherwise, open the pop-up menu next to the well and make some tweaks.

This pop-up menu appears only if the Desktop picture that you select isn’t one of the standard Apple images. All the pictures in the Apple Desktop Pictures and Solid Colors categories are scaled automatically to the size of your screen.

Tile the background. This repeats the image to cover the Desktop. This is usually done with pattern images to produce a smooth, creamy, seamless look.

Fill the screen. This can be used with a solid color to get uniform coverage. The original aspect ratio of the image is preserved, so it’s not stretched.

Fit to screen. Choose this option to resize the height or width of the image to fit your screen, keeping the original aspect ratio.

Stretch the background to fit the screen. If your Desktop image is smaller than the Desktop acreage, this works, but be forewarned: If you try to stretch too small of an image over too large a Desktop, the pixilated result can be pretty frightening. (Think of enlarging an old Kodak Instamatic negative to a 16 x 20 poster. Dots, dots, dots.) The original aspect ratio of the image isn’t preserved, so you might end up with results that look like the funhouse mirrors at a carnival.

Center the image on the screen. This is my favorite solution for Desktop images that are smaller than your resolution.

To change your Desktop background automatically on a regular basis, select the Change Picture check box and then choose the delay period from the corresponding pop-up menu. To display the images in random order, select the Random Order check box; otherwise, OS X displays them in the order that they appear in the pane. You can also select a translucent Finder menu bar, which (almost) blends in with your background. If you prefer a solid-color, matter-of-fact workman’s menu bar, clear the Translucent Menu Bar check box.

I just gotta have lavender

As I mention earlier, for those who want their favorite color without the distraction of an image — even solid white — you can choose from a selection of solid colors. You can choose from these colors the same way that you’d pick a default OS X background image (as I describe in the preceding section).

To choose the exact color you’re looking for, click the Custom Color button, then use the Color Picker dialog to find just the right match.

Selecting your own photo

Finally, you can drag your own image into the well from a Finder window to add your own work of art. To view thumbnails of an entire folder, click the disclosure triangle next to the Folder entry in the list at left. From here, you can display the contents of your personal Pictures folder, or any folder that you’ve added already. Speaking of adding a folder to this list, click the Add button (bearing the plus sign) at the lower left of the Desktop & Screen Saver pane to specify any folder containing photos on your system. Click the desired thumbnail to embellish your Desktop.

Changing the Screen Saver

Screen savers are another popular item. Because I cover the Screen Saver preferences in Chapter 3 of this minibook, I simply illustrate here how to choose one. Open System Preferences and click the Desktop & Screen Saver icon; then click the Screen Saver tab to display the settings that you see in Figure 2-2.

To add a third-party screen saver module so that everyone can use it on a multiuser system, copy it into the Screen Savers folder within the top-level Library folder. To selfishly keep that saver all to yourself, copy it into your user account’s Screen Savers folder (which is located within the Library folder in your Home folder). To access your Library folder, hold down the Option key while clicking the Go menu on the Finder menu bar, and then click the Library menu item that appears.

Click one of the thumbnails in the column at the left to display a preview of the effect. If you choose one of the Slideshows screen savers, you can click the Source pop-up list to choose a default photo collection, or choose a folder of your own images. Selecting the Random thumbnail at the end of the list runs through ’em all, naturally.

To keep tabs on the current time, select the Show with Clock check box. Mountain Lion adds a clock display to any screen saver.

Many screen savers allow you to monkey with their settings. If the Screen Saver Options button is enabled (not grayed out), click it to see how you can change the effects.

Changing Colors in OS X

I can’t understand it, but some people just don’t appreciate menus with purple highlights! (You can tell a Louisiana State University graduate a mile away.) To specify your own colors for buttons, menus, and windows, follow these steps:

1. Open System Preferences and click the General icon to display the settings, as shown in Figure 2-3.

2. From the Appearance pop-up menu, choose the main color choice for your buttons and menus.

3. From the Highlight Color pop-up menu, pick the highlight color that appears when you select text in an application or select an item from a list.

4. Press +Q to exit System Preferences and save your changes.

Adding Stickies

Stickies are interesting little beasts. I don’t know their genus or phyla, but they’re certainly handy to have around. To be technical for a moment, a Sticky is actually nothing more than a special type of document window, but these windows remain on your Desktop as long as the Stickies application is running.

I use Stickies for anything that a real-world sticky note can handle, including

Reminders that you don’t want to misplace

Snippets of text that you want to temporarily store while your Mac is turned off (without launching a behemoth like Word or digging for TextEdit)

Boilerplate (repeated and standard) text that you’re constantly including in your documents, such as your address

A quick note that includes someone’s e-mail address or phone number

Today’s Dilbert cartoon from www.dilbert.com

A Sticky can contain data pasted from the Clipboard, or you can simply type directly into the active Stickies document window. Sticky windows can include graphics and different fonts and colors. You can even locate specific text from somewhere in your vast collection of Stickies by using the Find command within the Stickies application. Just press +F while the Stickies menu is active to display the Stickies Find dialog. (And you don’t use up our bark-covered friends of the forest, either.)

In Book I, I discuss the OS X Services menu. You can make a Sticky note from the Services menu in many applications as well, like Safari and TextEdit.

Follow these steps to stick your way to success:

1. Click the Launchpad icon and click the Utilities folder, then click the Stickies icon to display the new window that you see in Figure 2-4.

The text cursor is already idling in the new window.

2. Type text in the window or press +V to paste the contents of the Clipboard into the window.

You can also import the contents of an existing file into a Sticky. Just choose File⇒Import Text to display a standard Open dialog.

3. (Optional) Add text formatting, change the text font, and change font color from the Font menu.

From the Note menu, you can also choose to make the Sticky translucent. (No pressing reason; they just look cool.)

4. To change the Sticky color, open the Color menu and choose the appropriate hue.

5. Resize and drag the Sticky window to the desired location.

Press +M to toggle between a miniaturized view (showing only the title bar) and the expanded view.

To automatically run the Stickies application each time you log on, open the Users & Groups settings in System Preferences and click your account in the list. Click the Login Items button and add Stickies to the list by clicking the plus button.

To delete a Sticky, simply click the Close button at the upper-left corner of the Sticky window. Or click the Sticky to make it the active note and then click Close. Stickies display a dialog to confirm that you want to close the note; click Save to save the contents in a file or click the Don’t Save button to close the note and discard its contents.

To close the Stickies application completely, click any note and press +Q. The application remembers the position and contents of each note for when you launch it again.

Customizing the Dock

In terms of importance, the Dock — the quick-access strip for applications and documents that appears on your Desktop — ranks right up there with the command center of a modern nuclear submarine. As such, it had better be easy to customize, and naturally, OS X doesn’t let you down.

Adding applications and extras to the Dock

Why be satisfied with just the icons that Apple places in the Dock? You can add your own applications, files, and folders to the Dock as well.

Adding applications: You can add any application to your Dock by simply dragging its icon into the area to the left side of the Dock (that’s to the left side of the vertical dotted line that’s visible in the Dock). You’ll know when you’re in the proper territory because the existing Dock icons obligingly move aside to make a space for it.

Attempting to place an application directly on the right side of the Dock sends it to the Trash (if the Trash icon is highlighted when you release the button), so beware. Note, however, that you can drop an application icon inside a Stack (more on that in a bit) or a folder that already exists at the right side of the Dock. (If you’ve repositioned the Dock to the left or right side of the screen, consider the top of the Dock as the “left side,” and the bottom of the Dock as the “right side.”)

Adding individual files and volumes: Individual files and volume icons can be added to the Dock by dragging the icon into the area to the right side of the Dock. (Attempting to place these to the left side of the Dock opens the application associated with the contents, which usually doesn’t work.) Again, the existing Dock icons will move aside to create a space when you’re in the right area.

To open the Dock item you’ve added in a Finder window, right-click the icon to display a Dock menu, where you can open documents, run applications, and have other assorted fun, depending on the item you choose.

Adding several files or a folder: Mountain Lion uses a feature called Stacks, which I discuss in a few paragraphs, to handle multiple files or add an entire folder to the Dock.

Adding websites: You can drag any URL from Safari directly into the area at the right of the Dock. Clicking that icon automatically opens your browser and displays that page. (Safari gets the treatment in Book V, Chapter 5.) Now that, my friends, is genuine sassy!

To remove an icon from the Dock, just click and drag it off the Dock. You get a rather silly (but somehow strangely satisfying) animated cloud of debris, and the icon is no more. Note, however, that the original application, folder, or volume is not deleted — just the Dock icon itself is permanently excused. If you like, you can delete almost any of the default icons that OS X installs on the Dock; only the Finder and Trash icons must remain on the Dock.

To set up a Dock icon as a Login Item — without the hassle of opening the Users & Groups pane in System Preferences — just click a Dock icon and hold the mouse button down until the pop-up menu appears. Select Options, and then select the Open at Login item from the submenu.

If you can’t delete items from the Dock, you’re using a managed account — meaning that your account is configured with Parental Controls turned on, and your administrator has deselected the Can Modify the Dock check box in your account. To delete Dock items, you’ll need an admin-level user to log in; then visit the Users & Groups pane in System Preferences, click your account, and deselect the check box. For more information on user accounts, see Chapter 5 of this minibook.

Keeping track(s) with Stacks

Mountain Lion offers Stacks, which are groups of items (documents, applications, and folders) that you want to place in the Dock for convenience — perhaps the files needed for a project you’re working on, or your favorite game applications. For example, I have a Stack named Wiley on my Dock that holds all the project files I need for the book I’m currently writing.

To create a Stack, just select and drag the items you want to include to the right side of the Dock. As always, the Dock opens a spot on the right side of the Dock to indicate you’re in the zone.

To display the items in a Stack, just click it:

If the Stack holds relatively few items, they’re displayed in a really cool-looking arc that Apple calls a fan (as shown in Figure 2-5), and you can click the item you want to open or launch.

If the Stack is stuffed full of many items, the Stack opens in a grid display, allowing you to scroll through the contents to find what you need.

Mountain Lion provides a number of display and sorting options for a Stack. Right-click the Stack icon, and you can choose to sort the contents by name, date created or added, date modified, or file type. If you’d prefer a grid display (no matter how many items the Stack contains), you can choose Grid mode. Choose List to display the Stack’s contents in much the same way as List view mode in a Finder window. List mode also allows you to view folders within a Stack as nested menu items. Choose Automatic to return to the default view mode.

You can remove a Stack from the Dock by right-clicking the Stack icon and choosing Options from the menu that appears. Choose Remove from Dock from the submenu that appears. Alternatively, just drag that sucker right off the Dock.

You can also display the contents of a Stack in a Finder window. Right-click the Stack icon and choose the Open item at the bottom of the pop-up menu.

If you add a folder full of items, the Stack is named after the folder; otherwise, Mountain Lion does the best job it can in figuring out what to name the Stack.

Apple provides two Stacks already set up for you. One, the Downloads folder, situated next to the Trash, is the default location for any new files that you download using Safari or receive in your e-mail. Mountain Lion bounces the Download Stack icon to indicate that you’ve received a new item. Next to the Download Stack is the Documents Stack, which conveniently displays the contents of your Documents folder.

Resizing the Dock

You can change the size of the Dock from the Dock settings in System Preferences — I explain this in more detail in Book II, Chapter 3 — but here’s a simpler way to resize the Dock, right from the Desktop.

Move your cursor over the vertical solid line that separates the left side of the Dock from the right side; the cursor turns into a funky line with arrows pointing up and down. This is your cue to click and drag while moving up and down, which expands and shrinks the Dock, respectively.

You can also right-click when the funky line cursor is visible to display a menu of Dock preferences. This allows you to change your Dock preferences without the hassle of opening System Preferences and displaying the Dock settings.

Stick It on the Dashboard

One of Mountain Lion’s most popular features is Dashboard, which you can use to hold widgets and display them with the press of a button. (Okay, I know that sounds a little wacky, but bear with me.) Widgets are small applications — dubbed by some as “applets” — that typically provide only one function. For example, Dashboard comes complete with a calculator, dictionary, clock, weather display, and quick-and-simple calendar. You can display and use these widgets at any time by pressing the Dashboard key; by default, that’s F12 on older and non-Apple keyboards (and F4 on current Apple keyboard models), but you can modify the key on the Mission Control pane within System Preferences.

Dashboard appears as a desktop within the Spaces strip on the Mission Control screen, an icon on the Dock, and as an icon within Launchpad. (Personally, I prefer clicking the Dashboard Dock icon to display my widgets. Geez, that sounds kind of racy. Best not to pursue it.)

Figure 2-6 illustrates Dashboard in action. Press the Dashboard key, and the widgets appear, ready for you to use. You can add widgets to your Dashboard by clicking the Add button (which bears a plus sign, naturally) at the lower-left corner of the Dashboard screen. Then, Dashboard displays your entire collection of widgets, and you can click a widget to add it directly onto your Dashboard. It’s also easy to rearrange the widgets that are already populating Dashboard by dragging them to the desired spot. After you finish customizing your Dashboard display, click the Dashboard background to return to your Dashboard. When it’s time to go back to work (or play), press the Dashboard key again to return to your Mountain Lion Desktop, or click the button with the right arrow at the lower right of the screen.

Care to add multiple copies of a widget? Go right ahead! In fact, if you often need to check the time around the world, I highly recommend a bank of World Clock widgets, each displaying the time in your favorite city. (The same goes for the Weather widget.)

Most widgets have an option button that allows you to change things, such as borders, ZIP codes, display columns, and the like; look for a tiny circle with a lowercase letter i. Click this information icon, and you can then tweak whatever options are available for that widget.

To remove a widget from the Dashboard display, just click the Delete button (which bears a minus sign) and you’ll notice a tiny X button appears next to each widget on your Dashboard. Click the X button next to the widget you want to remove, and it vanishes from the display. Note, however, that deleting a widget doesn’t remove it from your Mac entirely! You can add that deleted widget back again at any time by clicking the Add button.

While you’re adding widgets, you can also click the More Widgets button, which jumps directly to the widget download area on the Apple website.

If you need to use a widget for only a second or two, press the Dashboard key and hold it. When you release the key, you’re back to your Desktop.

Apple offers additional widgets that you can download on the OS X download site (www.apple.com/osx ). Third-party software developers also provide both freeware and shareware widgets.

You can also modify the Dashboard key by turning it into a key sequence, trackpad gesture, or mouse button action, which is A Good Thing if you’re already using an application that thrives on F12 (or F4, depending on your keyboard). Visit the Mission Control pane in System Preferences, and use the Shift, Control, Option, and keys in conjunction with the Dashboard key to specify a modifier, or choose a gesture or mouse button to activate Dashboard.

Oh, did I mention that Mountain Lion allows you to create your own Dashboard widgets? That’s right, this feature is sure to be a winner amongst the In Crowd. Follow these steps to create a new WebClip Dashboard widget from your favorite website:

1. Run Safari and navigate to the site you want to view as a widget.

2. Choose File⇒Open in Dashboard.

3. Select the portion of the page you want to include in your widget and then click Add.

Some web pages use frames to organize and separate sections of a page, so this step allows you to choose the frame with the desired content.

4. Drag the handles at the edges of the selection border to resize your widget frame to the right size and then click Add.

Bam! Mountain Lion displays your new WebClip widget within Dashboard.

A WebClip widget can include text, graphics, and links, which Dashboard updates every time you display your widgets. Think about that for a second: Dynamic displays, such as weather maps, cartoons, even the Free Music Download image from the iTunes Store, are all good sources of WebClip widgets! (That last one is a real timesaver.)

If you click a link in a WebClip widget, Dashboard loads the full web page in Safari, so you can even use WebClips for surfing chores with sites you visit often.

Getting Social with Game Center

If you’re the proud owner of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you’ve probably already joined the Apple Game Center community on your device. If not, a short introduction is certainly in order. Apple’s Game Center (shown in Figure 2-7) is one part leaderboard (a gamer term for a central scoreboard that displays everyone’s scores for a game) and one part social network (where you can add friends and challenge them to multiplayer games).

To launch Game Center, click the Game Center icon within Launchpad. To use Game Center, you must have an Apple ID, which I discuss in Book I, Chapter 3. You’re also prompted to enter a nickname (and optionally, a photo) when you join.

If you use the same Apple ID on Game Center on your Mac as you do on your iOS device, you’ll be able to access all the friends and scores already on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. However, you must purchase and download computer applications specifically created for OS X — your iOS games will not run on your Mac. Likewise, the OS X versions of your games will not run on your iOS devices.

From the Me pane of the Game Center window, you can see your personal vital stats — how many Games Center–enabled games you’re participating in, how many Game Center points you’ve accumulated, and how many friends you’ve added. You can also change your Game Center account photo. Click the Apple ID account displayed on the Me pane, and you can view or sign out of the current account.

The other Game Center panes include

Friends: Click this button to add friends (who may be using another Mac or any Game Center–compatible iOS device) to your list. You can compare scores with your friends, or even challenge them to multiplayer games. To see those folks from your Contacts database who may want to join you on Game Center, click the Get Friend Recommendations button.

Games: This pane displays the games you’ve downloaded and installed that support Game Center. Click the App Store button to automatically open the App Store and browse Game Center–compatible titles.

Requests: From this pane, you can monitor the status of friend requests you’ve made and also add friends (in the same manner as the Friends pane).

Click in the Search box to search for specific friends or games (depending on the pane you’re using).

Arranging Your Precious Desktop

Consider the layout of the Desktop itself. You can set the options for icon placement from the Finder View menu; choose View⇒Show View Options, or press +J. Just as you can with the options for Finder windows that I cover in Chapter 1 of this minibook, you can clean up and arrange your Desktop by name, date, size, or kind.

The View Options for the Desktop are different in two ways from the View Options for a Finder window in Icon view (which I discuss in Chapter 1 of this minibook):

You choose a background for the Finder from System Preferences.

There’s no Always Open check box. Your Desktop always opens in Icon view!

A quick Desktop sort is always only two clicks away! If you need to sort the contents of your Desktop by name, type, date modified or created, size, or the label you’ve assigned, just right-click any empty section of the Desktop and then choose Clean Up By from the menu that appears.