Keep background image same when creating new workspace

Question

Hi and thanks in advance for any input,
Up until I plugged in a mini-display port to HDMI connection/dongle I would have the same background when I created a new workspace (OSX 10.7 Lion).
Now, when I create a new workspace, the background set's itself to the first picture in a set folder with a default option of rotating the background image after a set period of time.
My question is this: how do I get back to the use case that I am familiar with, where a new workspace has the same background image as the original 'Desktop 1' background?
Thanks for looking,
Jordan from CO

Answer 1

Hey Richard,
What are you Desktop properties set to?
This is an interesting question. My initial (Desktop 1) properties are as follows:
// Properties are set to keep the same background image
However, when I add a new Space, to create Desktop 2, my desktop properties default to:
// Properties of 'New Desktop' (Space) default to Change picture every 10 minutes.
// When I am connected to an external display, the background image of Bonaroo shown in the screen shot becomes the new default; what is odd is that when the external display is not plugged in, another background becomes the default. Odd.
So, replying to your comment made me think of something which ended up being the answer that I have been looking for:
•Why not duplicate the background and place it in its own folder? This way, there would be no other images for it to default to and to change the properties away from, as the folder has not changed.
Indeed a workaround, but the answer to my problems:
One more thing to address:
Even if you don't have random backgrounds set, I would think it a good design idea to make them random.  Otherwise users could easily become confused about which desktop they are looking at.
My rebuttal to your design philosophy is that I love the consistency a single background presents. Think of iOS: one background, multiple pages. Users look at the content presented on the page. I regularly use the four finger gesture to enter the 'Exposé' feature of OSX Lion, and this gives me further indication of which desktops arrangement.
I have read other reviews stating that the feature you noted is a great idea, so you are not alone (to have multiple desktop backgrounds for color coding what workspace/desktop/space you are in). My experience was somewhat jarring, however, as I was used to a specific use case of a consistent background; thus I have been posting in an effort to find a solution to my problem. Again, thank you for your insights; you are the one that lead me to a solution, afterall.
// Separate note: expose will rearrange your windows/spaces/workspaces/desktops when you utilize command+tab. This design feature has a distinct iOS feel; as in iOS, your spaces and apps are dynamically rearranged based on the order or applications used.
// Here is a quick photo example illustrating the point:
// (I would have taken a screen shot of the command-tab interface but I cannot take a screen shot while holding down command; I use command-shift-3 for a full screen shot)
1) Apps open in order (for this purpose I am sticking to one application per space and am including two fullscreen apps ): Finder, Safari, System Preferences, Mail
// If I command+tab over to the full screen Mail app, my spaces are now rearranged as follows:
// So now, to further illustrate the point, I can get 'Desktop 2' to be next to Desktop 1 by command-tabbing from Finder [Desktop 1] to System Preferences [Desktop2]; when I enter expose, the spaces are again rearranged to this:
// This is similar to iOS' multitasking where a users multitasking list is dynamically rearranged based on the app that was used last in order to allow the user to gesture to the last app with ease.
Message was edited by: jordoapp