Comments on: Desktop Icon Screenshots

By: Jeff Flowers

Jeff Flowers — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 13:43:27 +0000

I remember a hint at Macosxhints.com where this was mentioned. It basically talked about keeping the desktop clear of unneeded icons because each icon was its own little window that consumed some memory.

Of course, this behavior has its benefits, especially for things like Safari downloads where the icon has a download progress indicator.

By: Krishen

Krishen — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 03:15:30 +0000

"My guess is also that this is the explanation for the really poor performance that people see when having gazillions of icons on their desktop."

That would explain it.... yikes. That's kind of scary really. Other folders can do it without a window for each... why not the Desktop?

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 23:24:39 +0000

Yikes! That's the kind of thing X-Windows would do.

By: foresmac

foresmac — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 23:21:46 +0000

Gah, that's what I was just about to say.

By: ssp

ssp — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 21:58:08 +0000

That's probably a straightforward consequence of each icon technically being a window of its own (just look at the window list in QuartzDebug!)

My guess is also that this is the explanation for the really poor performance that people see when having gazillions of icons on their desktop.