
An Irrational Fear of Files on the Desktop - LVB
http://prog21.dadgum.com/163.html
======
fudged71
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
sudo defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Full/Path/To/Folder

~~~
lukeholder
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.

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Andrex
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
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.

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

~~~
malkia
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 :(

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roel_v
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.

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

~~~
sspiff
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.

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roryokane
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.

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hamidnazari
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.

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johnpowell
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>

~~~
bstar77
Not judging here, but that's an awful lot of porn to be in frequent use.

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

~~~
bstar77
Now thats some seriously good tv. I figured cake boss would be the one you'd
hope we'd gloss over.

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

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

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hjay
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
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
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.

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monksy
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.

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cpursley
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...](http://elementaryos.org/sites/default/files/user/5/Screenshot%20from%202012-06-20%2015%3A55%3A20_0.png)

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will_brown
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.

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nsxwolf
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.

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agumonkey
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 ~_~;

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kstenerud
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
> 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 cant even see the workbenches
> under them. I couldnt work in conditions like this but thats 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 hell have to spend days looking for it.

~~~
kstenerud
> 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.

------
Brajeshwar
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.

------
digitalengineer
(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.

~~~
DeepDuh
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.

~~~
digitalengineer
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.

~~~
DeepDuh
I see where you're coming from and it makes sense in your case. The way I work
I've never needed an exported pdf or screenshot twice. Our servers are
redundant and if all of them would fail I'd just go home. ;) I'm often working
home office anyway.

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kaichanvong
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!

~~~
sspiff
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.

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Yaggo
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.

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rtpg
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.

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stuaxo
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..

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sideproject
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)....

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gte910h
I store stuff there, then periodically push it off elsewhere.

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

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drivebyacct2
gnome-tweak-tool, get nautilus to leave your desktop alone. I no longer put
stuff there that I wouldn't see anyway.

