It’s not an infrequent event for me to have long, tiring arguments with others over the true meaning of minimalism. And coming from me, you could call that odd. I used to be what I now call a “mainstream minimalist” – that is, one who sacrificed usability in the name of minimalism. And boy was I dumb! I’m not trying to indirectly say everyone who does that is dumb, and everyone who “custo’s” they’re computer is dumb (as I’ve seen the word been flung around here and there without much thought). I had auto-hide taskbars. I had auto-hide systrays. I had visual styles which had auto-hide buttons. I was crippling myself and I didn’t know it.
Usability? Give me a break.
But, you say, how can this NOT be usability? You’re used to it, so you can use it just as much as you can use a desktop that is uncustomized. Simply put, it’s not logical. Would it be logical to auto-hide the wheels on your car? Or auto-hide door-knobs? Or remove them altogether?! I think not. How about this. We all drive miniature cars with no pedals, just a handbrake, and call it minimalism. After all, handbraking continuously at certain intervals would reduce the speed of the car, and who needs big, bulky seats anyway? Let’s have antique cardboard boxes!
Look ma, Art Nouveau!
I believe screenshots should not be van goghs, or Rembrandts. Screenshots are just that – shots of your desktop screen, just as it is, with 5 billion visual styles or not. I just don’t buy into this whole “let’s artsify your desktop” thing. It’s just not me. But if you can do it without sacrificing your time, resources, and usability, you’ve hit the spot.
I’m fine with nitpicking over 3dc and bbstyle colors. That’s great. But when it comes to arguing about how many “un-custo’d” icons you have (MAN I hate that term), or your firefox looks bad because you show all the buttons, or your miranda looks horrible because you have icons showing. GIVE ME A BREAK. That is NOT minimalism. Minimalism means keeping the essentials without sacrificing usability. It does NOT mean h4xx0ring your computer by reshacking ever application on earth with a matching icon. That’s not only pointless, it’s damaging. Perhaps I should have minimal-guru post about the dangers of reshacking applications. I admit, I’ve done it before, and I still have reshacked applications in my system. But reshacking is one thing – wasting hours on end on fixing what ain’t broken is another. I’ve heard many people comment on other’s screenshots, “Oh, if only all *nix’s looked like that…” Good job, pick operating systems by how they look. No thank you.
Lol…
And I’ve also heard people claim their desktops stripped of all essentials are “usable.” It just doesn’t make sense. That miniature car is NOT usable, you can’t get in the door, much less find the handle. Why why why why WHY would you want a desktop stripped of all essentials in the first place? I’ve seen people bashed at for not “customizing” their desktop enough. Apparently it’s a sin to have default icons, or a wallpaper that doesn’t necessarily match the current style, etc… It’s just amusing to see the big cheeses of the so-called “customization community” think of themselves higher than everyone else, so far “customization” is concerned. I believe the term is used way too much, and it shouldn’t be. Get a life. Customization is fine for them, but I really don’t take it well when they start ranting and raving about other, “lesser” screenshots. At most, it’s amusing. So please, stop the madness. If you still haven’t given in to the so-called minimalism rage, don’t. You’ll never get out of it, or if you’re lucky and you do, you’ll have battle scars for life.
