Leopard’s New Desktop
When I first start up Leopard, I am greeted with a familiar yet distinctly polished new look. There are a few key innovations we will review that go beyond just a new stylish look for Leopard. The largest additions to the new Desktop are Stacks and Spaces. Spaces allow me to have more than one desktop and select various desktops by pressing F8 (this must be turned on in System Preferences). Stacks is a new organizational feature that will hopefully clean up the desktop and help to organize files. Did you know keeping files on the Desktop slows down your OS X system? I was told that by a Mac Genius during a stop at the Apple Store. This is why Apple created Stacks and reorganized the Desktop in Leopard. So, get out of those old habits of placing files on the Desktop and start using Stacks today!
Translucent Menu Bar
The first thing I noticed was the translucent Menu Bar. This new look helps the menu bar blend in with any photo I choose for the Desktop image. The Menu Bar is relatively the same in function, with the exception of a slightly different look to the Help and Airport menus. All drop down menus now have rounded corners.
Reflective Dock
The Dock has a 3 dimensional appearance now. The floor of the Dock reflects any windows that are close to it. The bubbles that announce each Application or Folder have a fresh new look. So does the activation light below every open Application.
Stacks and Downloads
In an effort to clean up everyone’s Desktop, Apple now offers Stacks in the right side of the Dock, just to the left of the Trash. When I first start up Leopard, a Stack called “Downloads” will already be ready to accept new files. All Downloads from Safari, iChat or Mail will go to this Downloads Stack (I need to set this for 3rd party Applications like Firefox in Firefox’s Preferences).
I can drag and drop a folder to this region of the Dock (to the right of the pedestrian crosswalk) and a Stack will appear. If more than 9 items make up a stack, it will turn into a grid.
Options for the stack appear if I Ctrl + Click or Right Click any Stack. I can sort items in a Stack by Name, Date Added, Date Modified, Date Created, Kind or Label Color. Ctrl + Click or Right Click a file in the Stack and go directly to that item in the Finder. I can also click Show in Finder among the items in the Stack.
Delete a Stack just by dragging and dropping it right outside of the Dock. Deleting a Stack will not delete the original files associated with the Stack. A Stack is merely just an alias for a set of files.
To make a Stack into an App Launcher, it takes just a few steps. It might be good to sort Application stacks by function. I have different Stacks for Web Apps, Abode CS3, and Video Editing. Create a new folder that will be the stack (I have a Stacks folder inside the Applications folder). This folder will contain aliases of the Applications I want to include in the Stack. In the Finder, Ctrl + Click and Application to bring up a menu. Select Make Alias from this list. Now drag the Alias for the Application to the Stack Folder you originally created. When you are finished filling up the Stack folder, drag the folder to the right side of the Dock. This will create the Stack. Now a Grid filled with your Applications will appear with a cool transparent black background. To open a file with an Application in a Stack, similar to the drag and drop nature of the Dock in previous OS X versions: Drag the file to the stack, wait for the stack to open, then drag the file to the Application icon.
Spaces
To turn on Spaces: Navigate to the System Preferences from the Apple Menu, Click the Expose and Spaces icon, in the next window pane Click the Spaces Tab, and then Check Enable Spaces.
Now Press F8 (or on a MacBook, press Fn + F8). Welcome to Spaces. Click and drag Application windows between Spaces using the mouse and select a space using the mouse. The easiest way to switch between spaces is by holding down Ctrl + Arrow Key for the direction of the space I wish to travel to. This is a huge time saver for switching between spaces.
Trashy Look
The Trash now has a more unique look, to differentiate it from an ordinary Finder window. Click Empty to empty the Trash.
New Desktop Pictures
Go into the Desktop System Preferences by Selecting Apple -> System Preferences and Click Desktop and Screen Saver in the resulting window. Here I will find new nature and plants desktop images or even add my own by clicking the plus sign.
