It's possible to quickly and easily skin your desktop to make it look more attractive. Making the desktop look better is not just a frivolous thing – there are a number of benefits having an attractive workspace.
Skinning a desktop is just the same as adding a potted plant to your cubicle at work and adding a couple of nice pictures. The change in visual stimulus helps provoke different thoughts, different feelings, and in so doing enhances creativity.
Wraith Theme on WindowBlinds
The first application worth looking at is Windows Blinds. Though it's commercial, it's not all that expensive and there is a large number of themes available for it through the Win-Customize website (www.wincustomize.com). Windows Blinds is available from the stardock website (www.stardock.com). It also has the advantage of not requiring lots of dll patching, or anything else that could go wrong like some of the other solutions out there.
Using a theme is as easy as downloading themes then adding them to Window Blinds by double clicking them, then selecting them from a list. The preview it gives is really effective; a large window inside the configurations screen that shows what the desktop would look like skinned (against the wallpaper you have selected).
There are also several options to change the look of the theme including everything from changing the colour, hue, brightness, saturation, and transparency. It is also possible to set up different skins for different programs and this is exceedingly useful as some programs manage to break certain themes. WindowBlinds also has a wallpaper selector and an option to choose from a random wallpaper at certain intervals (such as whenever the user logs on).
The second application worth looking at would be something to sort out the vista style side bar, useful for all those who are sticking to their guns (and XP) until windows 7. There are a number of different options here, from the Thoosje Sidebar to Yahoo widgets, and a vista side bar ported to windows XP.
The third, if you're still using XP is a handy application that acts as an Alt-Tab replacement, giving the 3D switcher of Vista. This is available from Otaku Software (www.otakusoftware.com) and is called TopDesk. Unfortunately it doesn't work well with some Window's Blind's skins, and it's also commercial. There are free options out there as well. Microsoft have an Alt-Tab replacement as part of their powertoys for Windows XP as well as others that can be tracked down with a little work. The best of the free alternatives is a little Japanese application called 'Madotate'. This window manipulation tool started life in 1999, and works in a similar manner to the defunct Microsoft Task Gallery.
Also from Otaku Software is the best of all, a 3D cube that opens up multiple desktops to the user, and does the best job of improving productivity. To get anything better you would have to switch to Linux. Though the version from Otaku Software looks awesome and performs brilliantly, it is nevertheless commercial, and some users might not have the money to fork out for flashy effects. Luckily there is also a free alternative called Yod'm 3D, though it can be quite tough tracking down a link.
Also it's a shame to go to all the trouble of making the desktop look awesome only to let the whole thing down with garish yellow windows XP icons. Fortunately Star-Dock also offer a program called Icon Packager that allows the user to download and replace whole sets of icons at a time.
Finally, it's worth noting that the desktop we're using these days might look nice and shiny, but it's the same old thing that's always been around. Let's face it, it's time for a revolution! Bump Top is a new kind of desktop that takes inspiration from real life desks and allows new levels of interaction with the desktop that goes beyond point and click icons and drop down menus. From throwing around icons to stacking them, spreading them, tiling, pinning them to the sides of the desktop, and even crumpling them up, Bump Top adds something new to desktop interfaces and about time too. As such it's well worth checking out. It's in closed beta at time of writing but should hopefully be out soon. (http://bumptop.com/)
So as we have seen there's no need to be using an ugly desktop in this day and age, and improving one's workspace can only help improve productivity.
