An Irrational Fear of Files on the Desktop

http://prog21.dadgum.com/163.html

by LVB • 14 years ago

40 48 14 years ago

prog21.dadgum.com

Main reason not to have stuff on the desktop: I never see it (the desktop) anyway.

malkia• 14 years ago

Same here. Far commander is my desktop on Windows, and same goes for Midnight commander on OSX/Linux (even sometimes just for fun in cygwin).

I only wish Windows got more sane HOME paths, at least in Windows 7 some of them are accessible without spaces, but Program Files still have them :(

Brajeshwar• 14 years ago

For me, it much like how I treat my Inbox. Act on it - file it, store it, delete it - just do something with it. I've been able to keep a clean desktop (nothing on it) since 2005/2006.

derleth• 14 years ago

I use Ubuntu, and Window Maker (my preferred desktop environment) doesn't have a desktop in the way the default Windows shell does.

fudged71• 14 years ago

I dislike that OSX automatically saves screenshots to the desktop rather than the Pictures folder, but the line of thinking here makes a lot of sense: if you're going to use a file immediately, it should go straight to your desktop; your working area.

iamdave• 14 years ago

sudo defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Full/Path/To/Folder

lukeholder• 14 years ago

This is a great idea in combination with storing them in dropbox. Simply visit your ~/Dropbox/Screenshots directory and right click "Copy Dropbox Link" to easily share screenshots.

Edit: I use https://droplr.com for screensharing mostly which make the above moot.

nate_martin• 14 years ago

If you use shift+ctrl+cmd+4 it puts it on your clipboard instead of your desktop.

gte910h• 14 years ago

I store stuff there, then periodically push it off elsewhere.

eclipxe• 14 years ago

The real irrational fears come from folks that see a cluttered desktop and worry that "all those files are slowing down my computer".

pretoriusB• 14 years ago

Not that irrational.

Lots of filesystems slow down with tons of files on the same folder.

And your window manager has to draw all their icons and potentially render (and hopefully cache) previews when you see your Desktop, which is also costly.

I've seen OSs take their sweet time (4-10 seconds) to render all icons on a cluttered Desktop.

unimpressive• 14 years ago

Removing icons from my desktop sped up my old XP install. Noticeably.

sspiff2• 14 years ago

In the past, each file/folder/icon on the OS X desktop consumed an additional non-trivial amount of memory. So it wasn't irrational then.

Today, almost everything is a trivial amount of memory.

rtpg• 14 years ago

At the very least this seems like an incentive to get a bit more organized about files. I've been finding that my workspaces (namely stuff in Dropbox) have been getting messier and messier.

Andrex• 14 years ago

To be honest, if I want to work with files, I'll use a file manager -- a program ostensibly optimized to do such a task. I also heavily favor Gnome Shell, which doesn't display anything in the desktop folder by default.

When I'm working on Windows, very occasionally will I save to and work from the desktop, but honestly, I've found the Downloads folder on both operating systems has replaced that purpose. I basically now use Downloads as a temp folder/cache for stuff I'm immediately working on and/or plan to discard. This is also regardless of whether I've actually downloaded the file I'm working on, sometimes I'll put stuff in the Downloads folder from my SD card, save a file to it I eventually plan to delete, etc.

Downloads in my use case has replaced the Desktop and has almost sort of merged with the "recycle bin" metaphor, but with a little more permanency. I'm curious if anyone has a similar workflow as me.

wingerlang• 14 years ago

I don't really work inside the download-folder, but I do think if it as a temporary cache folder where stuff get dumped-used-deleted.

hjay• 14 years ago

Oh gosh. Seeing this title was so fitting for me. For the past few years, I've completely removed the existence of the Desktop out of my use.

Right click -> View -> Show desktop icons. I don't even miss it anymore, and have been a lot more organized since.

snogglethorpe• 14 years ago

One little nit that annoys me about modern desktop environments is they keep creating the stupid Desktop directory...

I don't use a desktop at all, and always disable it entirely, so I remove the directory as well... next time I notice, whoops, it's there again! !#@$& grumble

It's not just desktop environments, many other "big apps" seem to create this directory as well... argh.

eqyiel• 14 years ago

If you use GNU/Linux, check out: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs Setting these env vars will prevent Firefox and other apps from thinking they have to create those directories.

drivebyacct2• 14 years ago

gnome-tweak-tool, get nautilus to leave your desktop alone. I no longer put stuff there that I wouldn't see anyway.

sideproject• 14 years ago

but I just can't stand having files laying around on my desktop! (in my naive days, I used to delete all the files from the desktop thinking they slowed down my computer)....

monksy• 14 years ago

This is one reason why I like using KDE4. If you don't want files on the desktop, just don't include the widget. Also, you have multiple folders as your desktop.

namank2• 14 years ago

But what if I like to have my tools and artefacts visible at all times?

Think of it like a workspace or a garage where all the mechanic's tools are hanging off the wall. This lets the mechanic keep a visual inventory at all times and decide which one to use for the next job.

arthulia• 14 years ago

Yeah but nobody hangs the things they make with the tools on the same wall.

namank2• 14 years ago

Right but the difference here is between work-in-progress and a finished thing.

hamidnazari• 14 years ago

My desktop is my workbench. With the trash sitting right there in the corner I do my stuff and at the end I keep the artefacts I want and throw the rest away.

It might look messy but it actually keeps reminding me of the things I need to get done.

johnpowell2• 14 years ago

Yeah.. I have porn. I will admit it. And I use my desktop for frequently used things. Fling my mouse to the lower right and I can see stuff.

1st monitor: http://i.imgur.com/jRNxp5M.png 2nd: http://i.imgur.com/6Kki0X2.jpg

bstar772• 14 years ago

Not judging here, but that's an awful lot of porn to be in frequent use.

johnpowell2• 14 years ago

At least the Obama on a lion picture is rad. To be honest I am more ashamed of watching Moonshiners than porn.

kaichanvong2• 14 years ago

Lose the awful, then you'll sound like you're not judging!

will_brown• 14 years ago

I think the article uses "File" and "Icon" interchangeably. I would agree that fear of having to many icons/shortcuts on the desktop is irrational, because visual single click icons/shortcuts were created specifically to be on the desktop.

However, machines can be formatted to run more efficiently based on organization of file types, so you would not want to save various files types directly to the desktop. For example in Windows files can be customized to run optimally for files containing music, video, documents or pictures. Checking my Windows 8 the Desktop itself can not be customized to run optimally for any particular file type, nor would you even want to if you were saving multiple file types on the desktop.

digitalengineer2• 14 years ago

(Designer here) Not so irrataional unless you work on an deserted island and no one touches your files. I work in teams and as such everybody follows certain guidelines how to set up and work on a project, how to store the files, how to save the communication with the client and what not. Working on the desktop is a sure thing to lose sight of your versions and a sign of a bad backup-policy.

DeepDuh2• 14 years ago

There are tons of files that are created one-off and then sent by e-mail or attached to database systems. These files are usually exports (pdfs, screenshots, lower res images) from the actual working document that needs to be accessible by other people. IMO the desktop is the perfect place for that junk - it's easily accessible from any program, the files are not needed anymore after a short while, yet they keep staring me in the face so I won't forget to delete them at some point.

Also, it's kind of a neat ritual to scan through and delete all your desktop stuff right before starting a new project.

digitalengineer2• 14 years ago

Perhaps I'm paranoid but if it's for a client we keep the export files as well. Mostly becasue there are several versions of design going to the client and they reponds to those files. What's on my desktop right now is (indeed) exported stuff for my own little side projects, some logo's I need to check, some completed and archived projects that I need to borrow from and a copy of some handy UI stuff I keep using for new designs.

But if my PC crashed right now, no projects would be harmed. And if I need a older version of something it's all on the server. If I accidentily delete an entire project I can get it back in 5 min.

kaichanvong2• 14 years ago

Desktop is literally just the tmp dir for my home directory. If I scp stuff from another box, Desktop.

If I'm not sure what will happen to a project (just a play app or will become a real app), new folder in desktop and work from there.

I do dislike it becoming > 10 folders just for the sheer scan-ability of things.

Oh and there's a link to a wireless printer there too!

sspiff2• 14 years ago

Same here. When I'm working on something of which I'm not yet sure where it should end up, it's on the desktop. Anything that fits into a number of predefined categories/projects goes into the Documents folder.

roryokane• 14 years ago

Older versions of Mac OS X created separate window objects in memory (just like for app windows) for every file icon on the Desktop. If you had many files showing on the Desktop, it could slow the computer down significantly.

You could verify that the icons were separate windows by hitting Shift-Command-4 and then pressing Space to prepare to take a screenshot of the window under the mouse – each icon lit up in blue individually when you moved the mouse over them. If you try it in a modern version of Mac OS X, you’ll see that the Desktop is all one window now – the problem is fixed.

roel_v• 14 years ago

I have all my frequently used files on the desktop too, but with that out of the way... there used to be a 'real' reason not to do it, and that was Roaming Desktop. It's basically an Active Directory-fueled way of taking one's files with them across computers in an AD forest, and it basically copied files to a central server and then to a local computer once you logged on. It's completely standard and expected nowadays (at the very core it's what Dropbox does across the internet), but AD had it back when 10mbps networks were quite fancy. So in those days, not copying too many files (it didn't have smart sync - change a single character in a 5 mb file and it would copy the whole file over again) was in some cases a real concern.

Yaggo• 14 years ago

Desktop would be more useful if you could map any directory onto it, e.g. ~/ or ~/code. The mapping could per virtual desktop. Maybe a symblink would work (depending on the system), but no regular users can do symlinks.

stuaxo• 14 years ago

This is kind of true, though my gf's one has so many they've actually started to overlap each other from the beginning again which is something I'd never seen before..

agumonkey• 14 years ago

One of my favorite Help-desk anecdote is the one with the user complaining about hard drive being full because there isn't any space left. On the screen that is. I really love the interpretation.

Personally I don't think folders are good, they're 'early-on' categorization that scales badly. Somewhere down the road you'll wanna have easy access to a diagonal query against all things of date D, type T, name 'N'. Nowadays tags should be the main interaction point, folders being an predefined and indexed query. Additional queries allowed(), and maybe suggested based on navigation patterns.

() Microsoft tried 'virtual' folders, but I never got them to work ~_~;

cpursley• 14 years ago

Several linux distributions don't even allow you to save to the desktop. This is something that I've given a lot of thought after observing non sophisticated computer users for years. They just don't understand files - where to save them, where to find them, how to name them, organize them, etc.

I think the approach used on mobile devices is the correct way forward. Files should be associated with applications and not savable to the desktop. I also think that desktops/laptops should have a 'files' browsing menu next to the 'applications' menu like this distribution (Elementary OS)

http://elementaryos.org/sites/default/files/user/5/Screensho...

nsxwolf• 14 years ago

I hate desktop clutter. This article did not sway me.

I don't use icons on the desktop, ever. I do, however, save a lot of files there - inevitably a lot of stuff ends up there because of application defaults and/or my own laziness and lack of discipline. Sometimes I can't think of a better place to put something and the Desktop folder is so ubiquitous and convenient in file choosers and whatnot.

I've gone to the other extreme. On the Mac, you can completely disable desktop icons with this default:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false

Now my Desktop is just the background for my windows and nothing more. On the rare occasions I do catch a glimpse of it, I can see my lovely unobstructed wallpaper instead of hundreds of unused icons.

kstenerud2• 14 years ago

Think of it this way: when you were a kid, were you told to keep a clean desk or a messy desk? Why?

If there is a place for you to put your books and stationary and papers and periodicals, does it make more sense to put things in their place, or pile them on top of the desk?

Eventually, you're going to have to clean up your mess. Eventually, things will have to be put in their place. Is it better to put them in their place now at a small inconvenience, or let those small inconveniences pile up into a big one later?

And are those who always put things away irrationally fearful? That sounds like an awful big stretch.

summerdown2• 14 years ago

> Think of it this way: when you were a kid, were you told to keep a clean desk or a messy desk? Why?

I was told there were two types of people: those who were messy and those who were tidy, and that I should discover which I was and become comfortable with it.

I'm also not sure it's a good idea to metaphorically base life lessons from what people teach kids. I remember one kid being hit for using the wrong hand for writing. What was that meant to teach him? To value other people's judgement over his own?

Here what I mean, in a quote from the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:

> Inside I see that Bill is a mechanic of the “photographic mind” school. Everything lying around everywhere. Wrenches, screwdrivers, old parts, old motorcycles, new parts, new motorcycles, sales literature, inner tubes, all scattered so thickly and clutteredly you cant even see the workbenches under them. I couldnt work in conditions like this but thats just because I'm not a photographic-mind mechanic. Bill can probably turn around and put his hand on any tool in this mess without having to think about where it is. I've seen mechanics like that. Drive you crazy to watch them, but they get the job done just as well and sometimes faster. Move one tool three inches to the left though, and hell have to spend days looking for it.

kstenerud2• 14 years ago

> To value other people's judgement over his own?

I was probably not clear enough. What I meant to imply was that judging those who clean their desktop as "fearful" and "irrational" is disingenuous, precisely because there are different kinds of people, who approach desk cleanliness in a different way.

An Irrational Fear of Files on the Desktop

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