Mac OS X Lion: The Missing Manual

Desktop & Screen Saver

This panel offers two ways to show off Mac OS X’s glamorous graphics features: desktop pictures and screen savers.

Desktop Pictures

Mac OS X Lion comes with an expanded collection of desktop pictures, ranging from National Geographic–style nature photos to plain solid colors. To install a new background picture, first choose one of the image categories in the list at the left side of the window, as shown in Figure 9-6.

Your choices include Desktop Pictures (muted, soft-focus swishes and swirls and a couple of nature shots); Nature (bugs, water, outer space); Plants (flowers, soft-focus leaves); Art (a new collection of famous paintings by Monet, Dégas, Seurat, and other canvas superheroes); Black & White (breathtaking monochrome shots); Abstract (swishes and swirls with wild colors); Patterns (a pair of fabric closeups); and Solid Colors (simple grays, blues, and greens).

Note

Lion Watch: For the first time, you can choose any solid color—not just one of the preselected shades Apple gives you. Click Custom Color and go nuts.

Figure 9-6. Using the list of picture sources at left, you can preview an entire folder of your own images before installing one as your new desktop picture. Use the button to select a folder of assorted graphics—or, if you’re an iPhoto veteran, ...