TUAW Desktops of the week for 9/10/06

Being that this is the first official TUAW Desktops series roundup post, we couldn't force ourselves to chose just one. You readers have found some pretty creative uses for your desktops, and our new TUAW Desktops Flickr group is shining proof. As a result, we decided that in order to get this party started, we should round up a few desktops from different ends of the spectrum; some busy, some minimal, and some in a class of their own. First up is quite possibly the busiest Dashboard we've ever seen from Flickr user Z6p6tist6, pictured above. We're sure Apple would be proud of the little bit of business mixed with a little bit of play that's happening on this desktop.

Read on for a few more desktops that made this week's roundup, and be sure to submit your own unique take on the desktop to our TUAW Desktops Flickr pool, as we'll round them up in this new series each weekend.

Next is a really interesting way of making a desktop useful from Gabriel Radic. Layered Desktop (a darker version here) is meant to be downloaded and used as an actual desktop wallpaper, and the idea is that the 'real world' desktop resemblance is meant to be used as an organizational tool for any files and folders lying around on your desktop. Gabriel lists some tips with these two images for implementing this clever use of screen space.

Last but by no means least is ghettochild's use of a set of icons at deviantART called Reflections that allows users to essentially swap out all their dock icons for text-based equivalents. This, along with the wallpaper and small iTunes controller via Butler (a tool similar to Quicksilver from Paul Maurer, the original author of Textpander) creates a refreshingly minimal yet functional Mac OS X desktop experience.

And there you have it; our first roundup of your Mac OS X desktops. There are already over 200 more creative, cool and interesting submissions in our Flickr group like the ones we've highlighted here. The final image to the right by Flickr user constantin82 receives a personal thumbs up from me, due to the awesome use of the call sign of the Laughing Man, a character from the Ghost in the Shell TV series airing (at least in the U.S.) on [adult swim].

If you'd like to see your unique desktop featured here on TUAW, submit it to the TUAW Desktops Flickr group and we'll round up the best submissions each weekend.
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