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Mac 101: Change your desktop picture

by Dave Caolo Aug 6th 2009 at 1:00PM



Welcome back to Mac 101, our series of posts aimed at novice Mac users and veterans who like the occasional refresher.

Many new Mac owners want to customize their Mac's look and feel. A simple place to begin is the desktop picture. It's easy to change and there are several options, from the images that come with the OS to freebies from the Internet and your own photos. Here's what to do (this post assumes you're using Mac OS X 10.5.x).

Open System Preferences from either the Apple Menu or the Dock and click Desktop & Screen Saver and then the Desktop tab. If you're in a hurry, you can also get there by right-clicking on an unoccupied area of the desktop, and choosing "Change Desktop Background." On the left you'll see several options. Click Apple Images to browse some of the images that shipped with your Mac. To set any as your Desktop picture, simply click it. The Nature, Plants, Black & White and Abstract folders also hold options from Apple. Personally, I like some of the black & whites.

If you've got iPhoto installed, you can browse your albums just as easily. Select the album on the left and click any image on the right to select it. Some of you may maintain your own folder of images. To access it from the Preference Pane, click the "+" and navigate to the photo that contains your images. Finally, you can simply drop an image into the well at the top of the Preference Pane window.

There are additional options at the bottom of the window, like changing the picture at regular intervals and disable the translucent menu bar (my personal favorite). Finally, if your image is too small, you can opt to tile or stretch it.

Now that you know how, go and grab some images. The Iconfactory, Pixlegirl Presents and Mac Desktops are good places to start looking.

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Welcome back to Mac 101, our series of posts aimed at novice Mac users and veterans who like the occasional refresher. Many new Mac...
 

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amanda

thank you for your article,
i like maing wallpaper on mac
this article will help you to learn how to make wallpaper on mac: http://www.imediacreator.com/tutorial-photo/use-wallpaper-template-to-make-wallpaper-on-mac.html#175

October 15 2009 at 5:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chad

I am a big fan of Spacesuit. It allows you to have different background images in each of your spaces.

http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/29876/spacesuit

August 10 2009 at 10:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
AndyJ

I would like a way to take one big wallpaper and span it over two monitors.

There was a Google App project called MultiScape but it appears to have fallen off the planet.

Any ideas folks?

Cheers.

August 07 2009 at 9:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
scot

And for our flickr-loving friends out there, I recommend installing a sweet little piece of software called Desklickr http://desklickr.isnot.tv/

It turns your desktop into a constantly changing window into your favorite photos from flickr.

Whether through your own photostream, another user's photostream (thomashawk comes to mind), your favorites, or a specific group, all are available to display as your desktop wallpaper.

August 07 2009 at 9:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alva Elver

ElectricSheep ... hands down best screensaver for the Mac.

August 07 2009 at 8:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jsw

I actually subscribe to the InterfaceLIFT RSS feed for appropriately sized desktop images, which is where most of mine are from now.

August 06 2009 at 3:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Greg Coogan

Here is my problem. I love the ability to rotate my iphoto pictures through my desktop. It's like a time machine to see things from the past every few minutes. I have many thousands of pictures on my hard drive. But how does the mac handle this? Well it seems to rebuild the photo file every time I start up, and takes many minutes to do so before my machine boots. That seems unnecessary to me, and is almost bad enough to have me not use the feature. Anybody know how to fix that?

August 06 2009 at 3:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tom

This article is very, very basic to say the least. But I guess it's useful for fresh mac users who just bought their mac... 50 seconds ago.

August 06 2009 at 3:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Tom's comment
gib

you mean the Mac users who have yet to discover TÚAW and will never read the "Mac 101" articles?

August 06 2009 at 3:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Le Big Mac

Or remind people that "___ 101" is introductory material for people unfamiliar with the Mac.

(what about a "turn off 101 lessons" as you have for iPhone?)

August 06 2009 at 2:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dave

You should do a post informing the readers on how to click the mouse button.

August 06 2009 at 2:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Dave's comment
Le Big Mac

How do I right-click?

August 06 2009 at 3:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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