Altering the appearance and the environment of your computer's desktop, according to your personal tastes and preferences, is called desktop customization. Desktop customization can be achieved on different types of operating systems including Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Ubuntu. However, the process of customizing on each of these platforms would be different.
The most common way of customizing a desktop is to change the background image or wallpaper on it. The theme of your desktop, which determines the appearance of the window, the applets and the panels, can also be changed. When you change the theme, the background image, the scrollbars, the buttons, the windows, the font, the cursors and other applications will automatically change in appearance.
However, the appearance of each of these individual applications can be changed singularly, without having to change the theme. Themes can also be customized to suit your preferences. For example, you can set a theme, and change the background image of the desktop, without changing the appearance of the icons, the windows and other components.
Adding widgets is another form of desktop customization. Widgets are "graphic user interface" software applications, which intend to make it easier for the user to access and control basic utility functions like messaging services, mailbox, clock, calendar, news etc.
Desktop customization also includes customization of the "quick launch bar" for easy access of your most frequently used applications. In addition to that, personalizing the appearance of the "Start menu" in Windows, modifying the screensaver, and altering the logon screen are also part of the desktop customization process. |
