Mac Gems Weblog: A Solid Background

#1 Macworld.com

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Posted 04 October 2004 - 04:50 PM

Backdrop helps you take picture-perfect screenshots. [more]

#2 Nobody

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Posted 19 October 2004 - 12:31 AM

Why not creating an empty folder in the finder, customize the background color and stretch it up until it fills the whole screen? You can even overstrecth it and hide the folder's title, icon, and buttons. Keep it on the dock and click on it when you need it. Not a fancy solution but it works. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

#3 Dan Frakes

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Posted 19 October 2004 - 12:54 AM

In reply to:

Hmmm... that's not a perfect solution -- even if you hide all the buttons, etc., you still get a window border -- but for some people it might be adequate.
On the other hand, Backdrop gives you more options, is easier to use, and is free! I could understand trying to figure out a "kludge" if Backdrop was expensive, or if it didn't work well, but free and better is a tough combination to beat /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

#4 MacGizmo

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Posted 20 October 2004 - 11:02 AM

I'm sure you know this already, and I'm not sure it applies to what you are doing, but you can also hit Command Shift 4 which brings up the crosshairs to select an area to capture. But instead of dragging the crosshairs, you hit the space bar and click on the window you want which will give you a nicely cropped screenshot of ONLY that window. The nice thing is that it also works on toolbars and palettes, just the menu bar, individual icons in the dock, just the desktop, etc...

#5 Dan Frakes

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Posted 20 October 2004 - 11:32 AM

Yep, and there are a whole bunch of other keyboard shortcuts for screenshot-taking in OS X. The Backdrop tip is for when you're trying to take a screenshot of the entire screen.

#6 smumac

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Posted 26 July 2007 - 10:46 AM

I may not get it, but couldn't you just do CommandOptionH to hide everything else?

#7 griffman

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Posted 26 July 2007 - 10:50 AM

That won't hide icons on the desktop. I use Backdrop to set a desktop image, which floats above the desktop layer -- so all the cruft on my desktop is hidden, too.
-rob.