I have used several applications to keep a Calendar of my daily events. I started out with iCal, which came with my Mac. It is still sufficient but I decided to try other calendars over the years. This list is a compilation of the top 10 calendars I have used the most. I am currently using BusyCal because it has uses the same interface as iCal but has extra features. I am also using MenuCalendarClock, which sits in my menu bar and syncs with my iCal. Continue reading for my top 10 favorites.

ICAL (FREE AS PART OF MAC SYSTEM)

http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/mail-ical-address-book.html

iCal is already pre-installed on your Mac and ready to use out of the box. It has many useful features.

View: there are three different ways to view your calendars in iCal: Day, Week, and month.
Multiple Calendars: You can use several ‘Calendars’ to represent different areas of your life. Don’t forget to color code your calendars so that they don’t become confusing when viewing them all at once.
Sync: with your MobileMe account or to your iPhone through iTunes.
Adding Events: double click on a day you want to add an event and type your event information.
Notifications: set up a notification for either the time of your event or for a certain time period. A pop up will display a screen with details of your event at the time you set the notification. You can also have notifications sent to you by email. These are also known as alarms.
Address Book: is integrated into iCal so that you can send invitations to people from your address book by email and they can respond back to you regarding your invitation.
To Do: allows you to enter items that you need to do but don’t have a set day or time to do it. Click the ‘push pin’ icon in the lower right hand corner and it will display a list of your current To Do items. To add a new item, just right click and select ‘New To Do.’

BUSYCAL (FREE trial/$49 One User or $79 Family Pack)

http://www.busymac.com/

BusyCal uses the same iCal interface, making it simple to use. There are many other features that make BusyCal very unique. Some of the features you will find in BusyCal are:
Syncing with Bonjour: use Bonjour to sync calendars with others on your local area network.
Syncing with Google Calendar: sync your calendar with your Google Calendar to access from any computer, anywhere, anytime.
Syncing with iPhone: sync calendars with your iPhone through iTunes or MobileMe.
Multi-User: your calendar can be shared and edited with full read-write access and the changes made are synced instantly.
Recurring To Do’s: create repeating To Do’s that display in the calendar view and carry-forward until completed.
List View: customize a list view to sort events by date, event type, calendar, etc.
Live Weather: view live weather forecasts along with sunrise/sunset times, and moon phases right from your calendar.
Sticky Notes: add virtual sticky notes in your calendar and share or sync them with others in your network.
Rich Text: style the events in your calendar with customizable fonts, sizes, styles and colors.

MICROSOFT ENTOURAGE (Part of Microsoft Office:Mac 2008)

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/Office2008/default.mspx

Entourage is part of the Microsoft Office:Mac 2008 package. The calendar is part of the email, address book, and project management included in Entourage. It is a decent Calendar application but does not sync with iCal or with Google Calendar.
Views: Day, Work Week, Week, and Month views. The default view shows one work week.
Custom Calendar Views: You can filter the settings to create a custom calendar view.
Mini Calendar: see a quick view of the current and upcoming months by clicking on the arrow on the bottom left-hand side of screen.
To Do List: you can view and manage To Do items here.
Color Coding: you can color code events by category or event.

MOZILLA LIGHTNING (THUNDERBIRD) FREE

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/

Lightning is part of an add-on for Mozilla Thunderbirds email client.
Views: include day, week, multi-week, month, and task views.
Tasks: you can add or edit tasks by clicking the task button or just click on the ‘Click to Add a New Task in the Task window (if open). If the Task window isn’t open, click on the ‘Today Pane’ button in the status bar.
Add-Ons: since Thunderbird is a part of Mozilla, and Lightning itself is an add-on for Thunderbird, you can also add other add-ons for use with Lightning.

PREMINDER (FREE during BETA may become Shareware)

http://www.hairyhighlandcow.net/software/PreMinderMain.html

This is a different type of calendar app which uses multiple windows instead of one window. It takes a bit of getting used to, but has many features that would be nice if it were incorporated into iCal like the scrolling views and spans. Since it is currently free, I’d hate to see it go to Shareware status. Also, there is no syncing with Google Calendar.
Views: You can switch between weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, yearly and multi-week views in the calendar window.
Reminders: a reminder for one day is able to show text in different fonts, colors, and sizes. You can even display small images.
iCal Import/Export: Save your calendar to a file in iCal, then import it to PreMinder (you can also import any standard vCalendar file type).
Import Birthdays: Birthdays stored in your Mac OS X address book can be imported directly into PreMinder and create an alarm for them. PreMinder also will calculate people’s ages for you if necessary.
Click and Type: click on a day that you want to add an event and just start typing (you will see the type in the large central field in the Reminders window.
Spans: create multi-day events with a simple drag and drop. Adjust the days by dragging the edges or move around the Calendar window.
Repeating Events: you can define events that repeat over a period of time or indefinitely.
Scrolling View: scroll through the months of the year and show the end of one month at the start of another in your month view. There are also month indicators in the scrollbar to show you where you are and where to scroll to.
Fast Time Travel: jump to any point in time with buttons that let you glide between months or years. Use the scrolling slider at the top of the Calendar to go to any month of the year and push the slider to the edge to scroll into the next year. To return back to today, click on the Target button.

MENUCALENDARCLOCK (menubar calendar) FREE/$19.00

http://www.objectpark.net/mcc.html

This is a very handy application that sits in your menu bar. It has some really cool features, especially adding an event without having to open iCal. They offer a free version which has limited capabilities.
Font: the font, style, and color along with where to display the MenuCalendarClock icon are in the Preferences.
Navigation: navigate between months using left/right arrow keys.
To Do: click on the button that has lines in it next to the ‘X’ to view your To Do items in iCal.
Add New Event: click Control+N and it opens a panel to enter new event information which will then be placed in iCal.
Add New To Do: click Control+K which opens a window to enter a new to do item which is also placed in iCal.
Search: if you want to do a search, click Command+F and it will add a spotlight search bar in the display. Type in your query and it will display the information if available.
Hover: when you hover over the menu bar icon, it will display upcoming events.
NOTE: you will probably want to disable your OS X time/date display through the Date & Time pane in your System Preferences.

GOOGLE CALENDAR (online) FREE

http://www.google.com/calendar/

Out of all the online calendars, I like Google Calendar the most. Especially since I am able to sync with my BusyCal (or iCal) calendars. Not to mention that I use GreaseMonkey and Stylish user scripts to tweak the interface to my liking.
Views: Google Calendar offers Day, Week, Month, 7 Days, and Agenda views.
Create Event: click on the Create Event in upper left-hand corner of the screen. Fill in all the information and Save.
Quick Add: use for quick event entry.
Scrolling: to view other months, scroll up or down to desired month.
Colors: change the colors of the different calendars set up.
Add Other Public Calendars: by going to settings, Browse Interesting Calendars at the bottom of the settings. The next window will display a list of available calendars you can subscribe to.
Tasks: are located on the right side of the screen. If it is not open, click on Tasks from the left hand of the screen and it will open on the right of the main calendar view.
Drag and Drop: move events that you have changed to a different date by dragging and dropping into the new date.
Import/Export: from Settings, then Calendars, you can import/export your Google Calendar.

YAHOO! CALENDAR (online) FREE

http://calendar.yahoo.com/

Yahoo! Calendar is fairly decent but doesn’t have as many features as Google Calendar. It has a bland appearance to me, but others swear by Yahoo! Calendar. So it is all in the preference of the user.
Views: offered in Yahoo! Calendar are Day, Week, Month, Year, Event Lists, and Tasks.
Add Event: click Add Event in upper left-hand corner of screen. Fill in the information in the next window and hit Save or Save and Add Another button.
Add Task: located in upper left-hand corner next to Add Event. Fill in your information and hit Save or Save and Add Another button.
Search: events from the search bar located under Tasks on the left hand of your screen.
Photos: can be added above the mini calendar for inspiration.
Import/Export: to Palm Desktop or Outlook. No syncing with Google Calendar or iCal.
Sharing: with friends or anyone, event sharing private, shown as busy, or public or by sending your URL of your calendar with friends by their Yahoo! ID.
Print: your calendar by clicking on the Printable View in the upper right-hand side of your screen.

WINDOWS LIVE CALENDAR (online) FREE

http://calendar.live.com//calendar/

Fairly decent calendar. Again, I think it could use more though. Also, I am unable to share between my iCal calendars.
Views: offered are Day, Week, Month, Agenda, and To-do List.
Add Event: by clicking on the New button above the calendar, then select ‘Event’ and fill in your information in the pop up window.
Add To-do: by clicking on the New button above the calendar, select ‘To Do’ and fill in your information in the pop up window.
Birthday: added by clicking on the New button above the calendar, select ‘Birthday’ and fill in your information in the pop up window.
New Calendar: by clicking on the New button above the calendar, select ‘Calendar’ and fill in your desired information in the next window provided.
Import/Subscribe: to another calendar by clicking on the Subscribe button above the calendar and fill out the information on the next screen.
Sharing: by clicking on the Sharing button above the calendar and either selecting ‘don’t share this calendar (private)’ or ‘share this calendar.’
Print: by clicking on the printer icon above the calendar.

30 BOXES (online) FREE

http://30boxes.com/

This is a cool online calendar which has some cool features added in. I like that it allows you to share your calendar with Buddies and the ability to incorporate social networking. Add this to the Google Calendar and it would be awesome.
View: 30 boxes in view which can be changed to 4, 5, 6, or 8 weeks. You would still see 4 weeks on the screen but you would scroll down to see the other 4 weeks. You can also change views by clicking on the View button in the left hand side of screen and scroll down to View and select either Day, Week, Agenda, Webtop, or Map.
To Do: Click the check box in the upper left hand corner of the screen and start typing out your to do list. It will then show a number in the top right corner of the icon indicating how many to do items you have in the list.
Messages: There is a little box next to the check mark which indicates if you have any messages waiting.
Buddies: you can add buddies to share your calendar with and this icon will display if any of your buddies have made any updates.
Facebook: icon allows you to update your information with your facebook account.
Find: button gives you a search bar to find people.
Share: gives you a multitude of ways to share your 30 boxes with others.
Overall, this online application has lots of cool features. I of course still use BusyCal the most out of all the items listed.

As you can see, there are many calendar applications to choose from. These of course are the ones that I have used more frequently over the years. They share some common features and others have features that would be great with iCal. I especially like the Google Calendar syncing, the scrolling through the month views, the span views, birthdays from your address book, use of sticky notes, syncing between Mac and a few others. If you have a calendar application that you use that isn’t on the list, feel free to leave a comment and share the wealth with our fellow readers.

If you liked this article leave a comment.

Many of you know about QuickLook functions. For those of you who don’t know about QuickLook, here is what QuickLook is:

QuickLook allows you to take a sneak peek of entire files, including multiple documents and video, without having to physically open them. To do this, you just select a file in Finder and press the Space bar. You will then see a transparent window, showing you the contents of the chosen file.

You can also use QuickLook in Apple Mail. This is used for messages that contain attachments. To view an attachment without having to physically open it, just click on the Quick Look button.  You can even use Quick Look to view photos as a slideshow.

Quick Look works with most files on your Mac. These include images, text files, PDF documents, movies, Keynote presentations, Mail attachments, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to name a few. To view files, simply select the file and then hit your Space bar. You can even open the file from within the Quick Look window by double clicking and view a file in full screen. And you don’t even have to have the application that the file was created in to view.

Another really cool feature is that you can also listen to mp3s and .avi files by clicking the space bar and it will play.

To close the Quick Look preview, just press the Space bar again, or click the x in the preview window’s upper-left corner.

Here are a few tips from the Apple web site to get the most out of Quick Look:

• If you want to view more items, don’t close the preview window. Highlight a new file in the Finder, and it will be the next displayed item. You can use the up/down arrow keys to view the previous/next items.
• You can also view multiple-page documents in Quick Look. For files that are multiple-pages, you will see a navigation scroll bar along the preview window’s right margin.

There are also a variety of Quick Look plugins available on the Internet. Two really good directories with the best free Quick Look plugins are:

www.quicklookplugins.com

www.qlplugins.com

Here are the Quick Look plugins that I currently use:

BrushViewQL

BrushViewQL allows you to see the contents of Photoshop brush files.

ColorXML

ColorXML QuickLook is a simple QuickLook plugin which enables the display of XML files with indentation and XML syntax coloring.

QuickLook Folder View

Folder View allows you to see the contents of a folder using Quick Look. Just click on any folder, hit the Space bar and Quick Look will display items in the folder.

SneakPeak Photo

SneakPeak Photo displays detailed information of photos. On the top of the Preview window are basics like the type of file, its size, f-stop, focal length, color Sfile (sRGB, ProPhoto, etc) and a mini histogram. You will also see buttons which display Exif data, all the camera settings, a Loupe View with high resolution zooms and a larger Histogram to see the blueprint of your shot. If your photo is geotagged, you will see the coordinates and a nifty map of where the picture was taken, along with a link to a more detailed map online. This plugin costs $9.95 and there is a free trial available for download. Click on the icon to go to their website.

SneakPeak Pro

SneakPeak Pro allows users to view Illustrator, InDesign, Swatch Exchange (ASE), EPS, and Freehand documents in Quick Look.
You can also view fonts, images and colors used in many CS3 and CS4 documents. You can preview your graphic files in Cover flow, see previews of graphic documents within any open dialog box, and much more.

This plugin costs $19.95 and there is also a free trial to download. Click the icon to be directed to their website.

I have found Quick Look to be really useful but adding the plugins mentioned above make it even more useful. If anybody has any other plugins, experiences, or ideas about Quick Look or plugins for Quick Look, please feel free to leave a comment and share the wealth with our fellow readers.

This weeks Appleviews Flickr Pool desktop is by Alex (something1138). He used GeekTool for weather conditions, GT usage, RAM, music, day of week, month, day number, and year. He got the wallpaper from http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/details/2000/sacramento_tower_bridge_passing.html and the icons he got at http://www.flickr.com/photos/30460784@N04/3839526599/. (NOTE: the link to the download doesn’t work…sorry everybody.) Check out his other desktops at http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexlielz/. Great desktop Alex!

Have you ever been on a web site that you registered for a while ago, only to get there and realize that you don’t remember the username and password you had set up? Or have you ever needed pertinent personal information like your social security number, credit card information, or driver’s license? I used to write this information into a notebook, and it filled up very quickly, especially when I started putting web site information in it. This became frustrating when trying to find my user information. Now, I use a great 3^rd party app from Agile Web Solutions. I am talking about 1Password. This stand-alone application handles all of your usernames and passwords plus more! In fact, I use it every day when using new forums or online sites that require registration. It is an extremely versatile application. I have it installed on my Mac, my iPhone (yes, they have an app for the iPhone), Firefox and Safari. Check out the video to see what the program looks like first hand.

ABOUT 1PASSWORD:

1Password is a password manager, which also hosts a strong password generator. You only need to remember one password (as the name implies). That is the Master Password. All of your information is stored locally on your OS X keychain or in an Agile Keychain (created specifically for 1Password). This program allows you to store the following types of information:

Login Information:

• You can store this information manually via 1Password or
• You can use 1Passwords browser extensions, which will prompt you ‘Would you like to save this login for later use?’ In this prompt, you can change the save as name and add any notes within the prompt, then click Save to save the information into 1Password.

Wallet:

• Financial Information (Credit Cards, Bank Accounts, Credit Unions, etc.)
• Membership Information (Reward Programs or Memberships)
• Online Services (email accounts, instant messaging, FTP, MobileMe, iTunes, Amazon S3, or an ISP)
• Government Certificates or Licenses (Passport, Social Security, Driver’s License, Hunting License)
• Computer and Network Information (Software Licenses, MySQL Database, AirPort Extreme, UNIX Server)

Identity Information is where you store your personal information which include your name, sex, birth date, occupation, company information, address, phone numbers, internet information, etc.

A strong password generator in which you can change the settings for length of characters, how many digits it contains, how many symbols it contains, add hyphens, change letter-case, etc. and it will generate the password for you. Then you copy and paste the information where needed.

iPhone or Palm syncing. If you have the 1Password app on your iPhone or Palm, you can sync it with the stand-alone app on your Mac.

You can change the preferences and change the toolbar to adjust to your needs.

To purchase 1Password, you can go to the link at the end of the article. You can try it FREE for 30 days. Here is the cost:

Single License (single user license): $39.95

Family License (5 users): $69.95

Upgrade to Family (from single user): $32.95

If you have 1Password and want to upgrade to 1Password 3:

Single License (single user license): on sale for $19.95 (as of 10/11/09)

Family License (5 users): on sale for $29.95 (as of 10/11/09)

For the iPhone:

1Password: $4.99

1Password Pro: $7.99

Sometimes, you want some of your useful apps to be handy. There’s an app for that. One that will stay in your menu bar, always ready for you. This is a list of what’s in my menu bar.

GeekTool
This is an awesome System Pref Pane tool for Mac OS X which allows you to display lots of different bits of information directly on your desktop. It comes with three modules: the file,  shell, and image plugins. Each of these can be used to display the contents of files on your desktop (like log files), the output of shell scripts, and image graphics (like RRD or MRTG graphs). I use this tool for ALL of my desktop customizations.

Anxiety
This is probably the quickest way to view your iCal to-do list. Just click on Anxiety’s menu bar icon and it will display your lists on the desktop. You can also add items to your list through the use of this tool.

aLunch
This menu bar tool is an application and file launcher. You can set up different folders for certain applications. I have all my Adobe apps in the Adobe file, iWork and iLife apps in its own file, Microsoft with its apps, etc., etc. It also shows Active apps in the top of the drop down menu and you can customize this tool to your liking.

AllBookmarks
This tool gives you quick access to all of your bookmarks. All your Safari, Firefox and Flock bookmarks are shown and can be selected from within the menu bar and opens in your default browser.

WeatherDock2
This tool has many features that allow you to display weather information any way you like.
You can have your weather display in a window, in the menu bar, in the dock, or on the desktop with full customization. It works by displaying weather information based on xml-feeds from weather.com®. It displays textual weather information as well as icon-based information. This tool has so many features, I can’t list them all!

Bowtie
This tool allows you to control iTunes with shortcuts. It also submits your latest songs listened to in iTunes to your  Last.fm account (if you have an account with them). There are also a few cool themes for Bowtie.

Growl
This tool is a notification system for Mac OS X that allows applications that support Growl to send you notifications. (Notifications are a way for your apps to provide you with new information without having to switch from an application you are already in.) You have complete control over what notifications are shown and how they are displayed. If you don’t want to receive any notifications from an application, just uncheck it and it turns off the notification for that app. It automatically starts when you start your Mac (which can also be shut off, but that would defeat the purpose). All of your notification preferences are centralized into its preference pane (which happens to also be in system prefs) which makes it easier to control them all in one place.

Yahoo Widgets
This tool is similar to Dashboard widgets, except they stay on your desktop (if you want them to). Yahoo has a HUGE list of widgets that you can choose from. You can also have the Yahoo dock which houses all of your widgets start up with your Mac. This dock can be moved wherever you’d like in its preferences. There are lots of cool widgets to choose from.

iStat
This tool provides you with a quick glance of your CPU, Memory, Network, Disk, and Heat Sinks all from the menu bar. You can decide what you want to display in the menu bar inside your System Prefs.  This is a very cool system monitoring tool.

F.lux
This tool makes the color of your display adapt to the time of day. When the sun sets, F.lux makes your computer look like indoor lighting.  In the morning, you have the sunlight effect. When you install it, you can set the kind of lighting you have in the preferences and thats it. F.lux does the rest automatically. You also have the option to disable it (when you’re watching movies or designing works of art – LOL).

All of the menu bar applications mentioned are FREE!!! To go to the link to download an app, just click on the name of the app and you will be directed to the download page of the application. Also, as usual, you can click on the thumbnail of the pictures to view them larger. This concludes my list of menu bar apps, what’s on YOUR menu bar?
-TINA

Have you ever had a time where you wanted to add a picture to a web site, but needed it to be an exact pixel size? I know I have. I used to open up PhotoShop and set the dimensions in a new document to the size that I needed for the picture being placed on the web site I was using.  That was a lot of extra work! Then, I found Pixus in the Adobe Market Place. Best of all, it was FREE!!! So, I installed the application and it takes a lot of work out of trying to get the right sized images for web sites. Pixus is basically a ruler for screen objects. Below are some key features along with screenshots. (Words with underlines will display a screenshot when clicked.)
Pixus is a measurement tool used to measure screen objects in pixels using both mouse and keyboard control
You can measure the screen object size with an overlay mode (the box).
You can also use presets for your measurements and preview how your design/image will look in the real environment.
You can measure the screen object size by dragging the ‘dragging button’ until you are at the position you are happy with.
Click on the cross hair for Multi-Screen support.
You can toggle the guide color by pressing the Spacebar.
The preferences window contains 5 panels, accessible by right clicking above the word Pixus. Inside the preferences window are Presets, Skins, Options, Help and About.
The Presets panel displays various preset sizes and allows for New Presets.
The Skins panel displays the skins available and allows for finding new Panels.
The Options panel displays General Options and Quick Guides Options.
The Help panel displays Keyboard Controls for Mac OS X
The About panel displays information about the application.
This application does require Adobe Air. To download the application, click on the Px image to be directed to the Adobe Air Market Place for Pixus.
Overall, this is a very handy tool for graphic designers, web designers, etc. If anyone has used this application and has suggestions, feel free to leave a comment to help others interested in it. Hopefully, this article has helped you gather a better understanding of this application. Thanks!
-TINA

I have been using GeekTool for a couple of months now and I find it to be a really useful tool. When you want to display certain types of information on your empty Mac desktop screen, this tool will allow you the ability to make it more personalized through the use of commands, scripts and other tools being used in the program. Here is a little bit of information as to what GeekTool is.

GeekTool is a PrefPane (System Preferences module) for Mac OS 10.5+. It allows you to display different blocks of information on your desktop screen. The tool provides 3 default modules (or Geeklets) which each have their own uses. They are as follows:

The File module is primarily used to monitor MacOS X activity with /var/log/system.log, or any file that you want to follow. It is used to display live content of an arbitrary file.  The content will scroll live with the latest lines at the bottom. It also handles log file rotation as well.

The Shell module is the most powerful module. It is used to launch custom scripts or commands like “df” to check space left on file systems, “uptime” to monitor load of your machine, and many other scripts. It allows you to display the output of any unix shell command.

And the Image module helps you monitor bandwith usage, CPU loads, memory availability of your server, via tools like MRTG or RRD. The image module is used to display graphs issued from monitoring systems like MRTG or Cacti.  You can also display slideshow images from a folder (or pick random ones). The results are displayed on the desktop between the finder icons and the desktop picture (although you can have them set to “keep on top”), they are contained in a square frame on any screen and sticks to that screen, they are visible on all spaces, they are organized in groups (you can choose to display as a group or alone), and they are easy to export and share with friends.

To install GeekTool, (of course after you have downloaded it first), you open the GeekTool prefPane icon and the system will open in System Preferences, asking you if you would like to install GeekTool for all users on the system or just for the current user.

After that, the GeekTool settings window is opened and you can start having fun with it. It’s that easy.

Here are some tips when first using GeekTool:

In the main area of the window, you will see the three modules which you can use (file, shell and image).  To create your first Geeklet, pick the shell icon and drop it somewhere on your desktop. There will be an empty black translucent area that sits on your desktop screen and the inspector palette will be ready for you to configure. Set “date” in the Command field and the result should be displayed in the selected translucent window. You can change the text, color, font, alignment, etc…

Here are some of the scripts that I am currently using in the Shell Module:

For the day number, I use the following script: date +%d (enter it exactly like that).

For the month, I use the following script: date +%B (again, enter it exactly like that).

For the actual day (whatever day of the week you are on), I use the following script: date +%A (you know how to enter it).

And for the time of day, I used the following script: date +%l%M (same thing, enter it exactly like that).

That is just a few of the scripts that you can use with this tool. There are many others out there. Just type in GeekTool user scripts in Google and I’m sure some will show up.

NOTE: The version of GeekTool used in this article is GeekTool v2. There is a newer version of it at their website. Just click on the picture below to download their latest version.

My latest customized desktop was an idea that my husband came up with. He wanted to add dimension to the desktop giving it a look that seems to be moving inward. He custom made the wallpaper on Adobe Illustrator and came up with this background. Then, I just used GeekTool for the time, day, day number and month with the Dagny OT font. Then, I used Rainlendar for the vertical calendar. I tweaked the colors of the vertical calendar to match the desktop. The skin for the calendar at the Rainlendar site is Sidewall. I will post the link for Rainlendar in my Links of Interest to the right. I really like the overall feel of the design as it is simple and clean. As always, keep on checking for other designs. I am constantly changing my designs. Thanks for visiting!
-TINA

For my second Mac desktop, I created myself. I used a photograph that my husband took of a lake here in New York. We were at Evangola Park and my husband took several pictures. I liked this one the best so I used it in PhotoShop and added a frame to it. I did several variations of the frame but chose this frame as the end result. Then I added different icons. The icons I chose for my desktop folders are the AI Book icons that I downloaded from interfacelift.com and then I used my usual GeekTool for the Time, Date, etc. and iCalBuddy for the script for my iCal to show on my desktop. I used DateLine for my horizontal calendar. That is all there is to it. You can find the link to GeekTools, DateLine, and interfacelift in my links. Hope you enjoy!
-TINA

My husband is a wonderful designer. I started messing around with a variety of Mac desktop tools to enhance my own user experience. I’ve seen articles in LifeHacker about a variety of desktops that users have created and I decided to make my own. All from messing around with tools like GeekTool, Docks, Magnifique, Drag Thing, Img2Icns, Rainlendar, Screeni, and SuperDocker. These are all wonderful tools for the noob like me who wants to change their user experience with their Macs. I’ve downloaded icons off the internet and didn’t really care much for some of them for this desktop design so my husband made the post-it note icons for me using .psd and the Img2Icns for my icons. Pretty cool – right?!? I wanted something that you would see in a normal home office. A bulletin board is usually what people see. So I thought it would be cool to make my desktop background a bulletin board – with my husbands help with .psd of course. He’s a genius at this. Anyways, this is the finished look. What do you think? I LOVE IT!
-TINA