[David Braue]

I understood what you meant and my comment stands: use the Finder sidebar and the Dock.

I am one of those who puts misc files I'm working on -- screen shots, documents, apps I'm trying out, etc -- on the desktop all the time. The key is to remember to put them away or delete them when I'm done.

How would you move these files using the Finder sidebar and Dock? I have a number of extra, commonly used folders in the Finder sidebar and Dock, but I find that nothing beats having active files right there in front of me when I need them.

[mickdevlin]

• To put an files and/or folders in the Finder's sidebar, just highlight it/them and use the Add to Sidebar command (⌘T.)

• To put an item in the Dock, just drag it from the Finder (or Desktop) to the Dock but to the immediate left of the Trash. If you still have the Downloads folder in the Dock, that is the area where you place files and folders.

[Molecule]

Well, personally I never have icons on my desktop, unless I insert some kind of removable storage device (such as a thumbdrive or a disk) or if an application installer comes in a DMG, and even then it only stays there until I'm done with it.

In my opinion the dock rendered the desktop obsolete.

Molecule

[Anthony Caruana]

I am one of those who puts misc files I'm working on -- screen shots, documents, apps I'm trying out, etc -- on the desktop all the time. The key is to remember to put them away or delete them when I'm done.

How would you move these files using the Finder sidebar and Dock? I have a number of extra, commonly used folders in the Finder sidebar and Dock, but I find that nothing beats having active files right there in front of me when I need them.

I'm messing with Evernote for that sort miscellaneous information store. Has lots of promise. I have their bookmarklet on all the computers and browsers I use so that I can file research easily and then retrieve it from wherever I am.