Like many Mac OS X users I have discovered the benefits of staying at home. Keeping all of my documents, pictures, music, movies, web projects, and preferences in Mac OS X’s default location for user created content, the Home Folder.

Benefits

The first benefit of staying at Home is the difficulty involved with leaving the house. Apple has made the default location for every open and save dialog box a room within my Home folder. I have to navigate elsewhere if I want to open or save files outdoors. Applications like iTunes, and iPhoto don’t even ask me if I want to save my music and photo collections outside my Home Folder, and application preferences and system settings are always saved into my Home’s Library. Even the default view for a new Finder window is a glimpse into the floor plan of my Home Folder. I would have a tough time moving to a different neighborhood without taking my whole Home Folder with me and telling Mac OS X my new address because so many applications and services depend on knowing where I live.

Despite living in a nice neighborhood my Home Folder provides me with isolation and the ability to customize my computer environment as I see fit. Files I save into my Home Folder are kept private from other users, and the settings and preferences I make about my computing experience remain unique to my log in. No other user with standard privileges can delete the document I wrote today, or change the desktop pattern I set last night. By staying at home my computing experience remains uniquely my own.

Staying at Home means saving all of my files under one roof. When disaster strikes I know my Home Folder contains all of my documents, pictures, music, movies, web projects, and preferences that make my computer unique. By backing up my Home Folder I am preserving the most valuable part of my computer, the work I put into it to make it mine.

Rooms

My Home Folder has eleven rooms, two of which are additions I constructed. Mac OS X provided the nine original rooms for me as a way to organize my files. Part of the time I spend staying at Home includes keeping my files organized in their proper place. This is how I manage my Home Folder.

Desktop

Anything I place or store on my Mac OS X Desktop will be visible in this room. Since I take the time to clear off my Desktop at the end of each day this room is usually empty.

Documents

Apple decided this is the ideal location to place documents, but what is a document? Different users perform different tasks and almost anything they produce or collect could be called a document. I organize my Documents folder by work and personal, and keep word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and PDF documents in this room.

Downloads

By default downloads from the web are placed in this room. I am quick to process and organize the files I download from the web so this room like the Desktop across the hall often remains empty.

Library

Inside each Home is a Library. The Library is user specific and holds files and settings specific to individual’s preferences, recent items, web bookmarks, Address Book entries, keychains, installed Widgets and so on. I regularly inspect the contents of this room and delete tomes and volumes which are outdated or obsolete.

Movies

This room is used to store movies and videos. If you use iMovie, Mac OS X will save your iMovie projects within this folder by default. I don’t edit video often, but in order to better diversify my Music room I move purchased iTunes Movies and TV Shows here.

Music

In this room Mac OS X places music files. In fact, if you use iTunes a folder will be created here called “iTunes” containing all of your iTunes media. With the exception of the Movies and TV Shows I move to my Movies room this folder contains my iTunes Library perfectly organized by artist.

Pictures

This is the room for storing photographs and pictures. If you use iPhoto, Mac OS X will create an iPhoto folder to store and organize your photograph collection here. I don’t use iPhoto, but I keep all of my Lightroom RAW files in this room organized by the location the photograph was shot. I also keep separate folders within this room for personal photographs, web clippings, and interesting screenshots.

Public

I would use this room for files I want to share with other users, but thanks to Dropbox I have a better solution. In the past I have used this room for archiving software installers and applications updates.

Sites

This room is the default location to store personal web sites. If you have enabled Personal Web Sharing on your Mac, you will be able to access the folder with a web browser, and other users can always read the contents of this folder. I keep all of my personal and professional web projects in this room. Each project is organized in its own separate folder including all of the collateral and source files that go with it.

Additions

In addition to the nine rooms Mac OS X has constructed for me my Home folder has two additions.

Applications

The first is a private applications directory where I store all of the applications on my computer that can be installed via drag and drop instead of an installer. Not only does this technique keep my favorite applications close at hand, but it ensures I backup most of the applications I have installed on my computer every time I make a copy of my Home folder.

Dropbox

I backup, share, and sync almost every file in my Home folder by linking it to Dropbox. This folder exists as a placeholder only. It contains symbolic links that connect my real Documents, Music, Pictures, and Sites rooms with every other computer on my Dropbox account.