DeskTidy a versatile Desktop file organiser

by Jo Calcraft


DeskTidy is designed to help with the organisation of
objects on the Desktop. It provides a dozen dummy
applications into which files and directories can be
grouped, each sporting an appropriate icon.

Put all your games into !Games, all your DTP files and
software into !DTP, all you images into !Images, and so on.
If you keep these dummy applications in the root directory
of your hard disc, you will easily be able to find any file
that you want. To find a game, simply double-click on
the Games icon, and all your games will appear. To write
some correspondence, double-click on the Correspondence
icon, and so on.

Another advantage of using this system is that you reduce
the time taken to power up, and to open root directories,
because you will only be opening directories as you need
them.

Getting Started
To put DeskTidy to work, begin by copying to the root
directory of your hard disc (or your work disc if you do not
have a hard disc) the dummy applications that you want to
use (remembering that they can be renamed as required - see
below). Just click on the DeskTidy icon in the menu system,
or double-click on it from a directory viewer. This will
reveal the full set of dummy applications. You can now drag
them individually to the required destination.

Now you need to group your resources together. As an
example, suppose you were organising your games.
Double-click on the Games icon from its new location on your
hard disc or work disc. This will open the Games dummy
application. Now look for all the games on your hard disc,
or whatever. When you find one, hold down the Shift key, and
drag the game into the !Games directory. This will move it
from its present location to the new one. Repeat the
procedure until you have collected all of your games
together, then move on to the next topic.

If you feel that you have too many items for one dirctory,
you could split them. For example, intead of !Games, you
could use !DeskGames, !Adventure & !Arcade, either using the
same sprite for each, or stealing or designing others to
suit.

Into !Acorn you could either put things like Acorn Apps 1 &
2, or maybe printer drivers, or even !System & !Scrap. But
in the case of the latter two, you will need to make sure
that these applications get 'seen' by the Filer at power-up.

Renaming a dummy application
If you need dummy applications with names other than those
provided, you can change a name as follows: first change the
name of the sprite to that required. Open the dummy
application, and drag the !Sprites file into Paint. Click
Menu over the sprite in the Paint window, and select Rename,
typing in the new name in lower case, and with an
exclamation. Thus if the new name is to be !My_Images,
type !my_images, and press Return. Then save the !Sprites
file back to the original application. Now simply click Menu
over the application in the Filer window, and select Rename,
and give the required name (e.g. !My_Images). Once you
press Return you should see both the name and the
application sprite change. If not, check that you have the
correct names.

!Boot and !Library
!Boot and !Library are special applications that require a
degree of familiarity with booting and the use of libraries.
To use the former, you will need to rename it from !Boots to
!Boot, and place it in the root directory of your work disc.
The !Run file of !Boots can then be used to set up your
computer at each reset. Note that !Boots conatains an
alternative boot design, in a file named welly.

To use !Library for your library directory, you will need to
tell the OS about it. You can either do this in your normal
boot file, or by using the !Boot file within !Library to do
the job for you (though of course the library will only be
known about once !Library has been seen in that case).



 Copyright RISC User 1994
