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Mac Makeovers: How to search for and apply backgrounds to your desktop
by Erica Schaapveld
 

Look at all of the ISTE technology standards you meet!

I. Technology operations and concepts.

VI. Social, ethical, legal, and human issues.

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as your computer become your second home? If so, then maybe you should think about redecorating. Get ready to make your computer’s desktop reflect your personality, and make working at it much more enjoyable. Learn how to use a search engine to find free backgrounds just right for you. Then, whether you own an older or newer Mac, discover how to apply the background images to your desktop.

How to search using Metacrawler

MetaCrawler is one of the first metasearch engines on the Internet. It searches a number of engines simultaneously, such as Altavista, Excite, Google, GoTo, LookSmart, MetaCatalog, and WebCrawler. MetaCrawler ranks the results by relevance. Though MetaCrawler is not a kid-safe search engine, I recommend its use by adults, because of its dynamic capabilities.

The image below shows MetaCrawler's setup.

Notice the highlighted writing in the image above. Enter your keyword or phrase there.

irectly under this text box, three radio buttons offer the options: any, all, and phrase. Clicking on any of these buttons will affect the way in which Metacrawler searches.

For example, say you typed "Free Backgrounds" in the text box:

Any
MetaCrawler searches for Web pages that have one or more of these words present. For our example entry, choosing any retrieves any Web sites that contain either "Free" or "Backgrounds."

All
MetaCrawler searches for all the words in any order. For our example entry, choosing all retrieves any Web sites that contain both the words "Free" and "Backgrounds" in any order.

Phrase
MetaCrawler searches for the words occurring together. For our example entry, choosing phrase retrieves any Web sites that contain the phrase "Free Backgrounds".

After you have entered a keyword or phrase and selected the appropriate radio button, click Submit to begin.
 

ext, you receive a Results page. Directly under the search box on the Results page, is a list of words similar to the ones you used. MetaCrawler offers these other hyperlinks as options for a more focused search entry. This is shown in the image below.

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If one of these options better fits your needs, then you may simply click on the link as shown in the image above.

Otherwise, scroll down to begin viewing your results.
 

he image below depicts how the results are listed in Metacrawler.

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The results list a hyperlinked title, Web site description, URL, which search engine in Metacrawler found the site, and an option to find more sites like the one shown.

To view the Web site, click the linked title. Review the site and see if there is anything that attracts your interest. Use the back arrow to return to your Metacrawler Results page.

We will now use these search procedures to find backgrounds.
 

ackgrounds, also known as wallpaper, fill the desktop of your computer, but do not alter the appearance of your icons. While searching, it is important to look for free images or those that their creators have deemed available to the public. If you use an image that is copyrighted you may be in violation of copyright infringement. Follow the directions below to find a background that best reflects your interests.

How to find and save backgrounds

Go to MetaCrawler, and enter the words "Free Background Image".

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1. Choose the phrase option, and click Search, as shown above.

2. View the results of the search to see if any sites spark your interest.

3. In the image below, I have selected the Sidetrips.com Web site.

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4. Click on the title of any resultant sites to view possible background patterns.
Remember, like book covers, don't judge a site by its appearance. For example, the Sidetrips.com site is simply a list of graphics, as shown below.

Some of the plainest sites have the best images. It is also best to find a site that downloads the image for you, but there is another way to retrieve the image if this option is not available.
 

nce you have found a background image you like, there are two ways to get the image.

1. Hold down your mouse button while the cursor is positioned over the desired image. A window, resembling the one below, appears. Select Download Image to Disk.



Save the image to your desktop. You may wish to rename the file before saving. Click in the highlighted area, shown in the image below, and type the desired file name.



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2. Push the download button if one is offered. At Sidetrips.com, the file names are hyperlinked, as shown in the image below. Click the hyperlink to begin the downloading process.



In most cases, after you push the download button a separate window with only the image appears. When this happens go to the File menu, and select Save as.



A browsing window appears asking where you would like to save the image. Again save it to your desktop, since this is one of the easiest places to find it.

How to apply backgrounds to your desktop

ollow these directions if you have an older Macintosh computer:

1. Go to your Apple menu, select Control Panel, and its submenu Desktop Pictures, as depicted in the image below.

2. A browsing window like the one below comes into view.

Make sure you selected the Picture setting on the left side, directly under Pattern. If there is already a picture on your desktop, select Remove Picture. Otherwise, click Select Picture and navigate your way to the desktop, as shown in the image below, to find your downloaded background image. Click Open to retrieve your image.

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3. Once opened, decide which is the best position for your image. Usually, it is best to tile the image on the desktop. After you have selected your position, click Set Desktop to apply the image, or you may elect to install a pattern behind your background image, especially if the image was fairly small, or if you decided to position the image in the center of the screen. To do this, click on Patterns and browse through the available textures. After you have finished, click Set Desktop.

ollow these directions if you have a newer Macintosh computer:

1. Go to your Apple menu, select Control Panel, and its submenu Appearance, as depicted in the image below.

2. In the Appearance window remove any old desktop pictures by clicking Remove Picture.

3. Next choose select Place Picture,as shown below.

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This will bring up a browsing window like the one below.

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Navigate through the files until you have found your image on the desktop. Select the image file and click Open.

4. In the Appearance window, decide how you would like your image positioned on the screen. Do this by clicking on the drop down menu (in the image below it is already set to Center on Screen).

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Tip: Notice in the image above you can choose to have a pattern behind your image. First, add your image and then click through the pattern list to find a background for your background image!

5. Once you finish your new desktop click Set Desktop to apply the changes.

ow your desktop is a unique reflection of yourself. Change your backgrounds weekly or monthly. You may even decide to correlate your desktop with the holidays. For some examples of possible desktops, click on the images below.

Fun Fish	Sailing
Image with pattern	Image with pattern
4th of July	Tiles
Image with pattern	Image tiled on desktop