Are NGU faculty computer desktops woefully cluttered or precisely optimized?
Joshua Boulet, Features and Entertainment Editor
October 21 is National Clean Your Computer Desktop Day. To celebrate this holiday, let us take a look at the many computer desktops of NGU’s faculty. Some of them are immaculate, others are littered with unnecessary icons. The computer desktop is all that matters.
Lisa Snyder, Sociology Professor, sports a somewhat cluttered desktop.
“At least it’s all in one corner,” she said.
However, people don’t say a floor is clean just because all of the dust, crumbs and dirty clothes have been put into a pile. The pile must be sifted through, and items must be removed to be considered truly clean. My number one suggestion here would be to make some folders to remove much of that time spent trying to find a singular document.
Web Drake, Dean of the College of Communications & Fine Arts, has a wonderfully clean desktop. It contains only important applications along with documents that he needs to use on a regular basis. Computer desktops should aspire to be like this one. The only thing I would change is to make the icons into a rectangle. This would be incredibly beneficial, because rectangles look professional.
Atari Jarrett, Director of Student Conduct, fills her desktop with far too many icons.
“It’s not so bad. Ok well some of this stuff is from 2007,” she said.
Jarrett may have professionalism, a good job and a great attitude, but she doesn’t have a cleaned-up desktop. Similar to Snyder’s desktop, there are several shortcuts that could easily be compiled into a single folder. Also, google chrome links can all be stored in bookmark folders inside the browser. Plenty of ways to tone down the clutter.
Some may say professors have more important work to do. But a clean desktop is a welcoming hug. Being greeted by a clean room is much better than being greeted by a room full of stuff that should have been moved ages ago. A computer desktop should be the same way.
Haley Gambrell teaches several English courses. She presented the desktop that sets the standard. She only has a few important programs on her desktop. Everything else is tucked away into the folders where they belong. Gambrell has put thought into how her desktop looks, and it gives her computer a welcoming cleanliness.
Christopher Davis seemed more confused than anything else when I asked to see his computer desktop. Too busy teaching students the intricacies of jazz to worry about it. Unfortunately, there is too much clutter and the icons are scattered. However, I do appreciate that he does make the use of folders for many of his documents.
Andrew Stevens lives a busy life. At NGU, he teaches broadcast media. Elsewhere, he practices what he preaches at a local news station. He may be talented, but his desktop doesn’t feel the love. Icons fill more than half the screen. Files beg to be placed into well-organized folders. Another desktop that only wants some time to be neatened up.
If I’m going to throw stones, I need to show where I’m throwing them from. Here is a picture of my own computer desktop.
My desktop has no icons whatsoever, until my mouse hovers over the little drawer
Using a program called Fences, I place all of my desktop icons in drawers that stay closed until I need them. This gives me the convenience of desktop icons and the comfortable feeling of a clean desktop. Fences comes with a $10 price tag, but the experience is worth every cent.
For this Clean Your Computer Desktop day, try to clean up some of the unused icons on your desktop. Your life will be better for it.
