I've always had this small obsession with making sure my desktops (duel monitor display) look great, good colour scheme, matching skins and matching wallpapers, but lately I have been slacking. If you take a look at the shot above (click to see full version) you probably see I was doing none of what I just said I did do. (Get that one?) So I'm home early from work, got some time on my hands, lets whip up a new desktop in a few minutes.
First step for me is always to get your wallpapers set up, as the wallpapers usually drive the colour, feeling and mood of the desktop setup. For example, if you were to choose a dark, scratched looking wallpaper, it would be a really angry or depressive mood, or a bright and clean could show a clean conscious. But regardless, I would grab a wallpaper first. But where do you go for great wallpapers? My first stop is mandolux, followed by DeviantArt.
The next step involved making sure that any programs that are skinnable are done in a way that fits or compliments the wallpapers. Again, I would head to DeviantArt, but I usually take a quick peek at Customize as well. The programs I ended up skinning were Winamp 5.05 and Rainlendar. I picked iTunes Mini Snow, which was created by ijaxx for Winamp 5.05 due to the cool white, smooth feeling of it. For Rainlendar, I have always had a favorite, and it seems there is a little bit of a cult following. It's a skin called Moderna Blend for Rainlendar that is apparently nowhere to be found on the net. I searched all over google to find dead links, and 404'd sites. I happened to remember Michael's post a year or so ago where he posted a link to download. You all might as well enjoy the fruits of my "labour", if you want to download Moderna Blend click here.
So what now? You've got a sleek new wallpaper(s), some matching skins and your desktop(s) are looking as spiffy as ever. Could you do more? Yes of course, you could skin your OS, change the login screens, well, practically anything and everything. But I tend to stop after skinning, as I'm not looking to take all the resources from my box. I have a great new desktop setup, a clear calming blue. What can I say, work has been hectic.