[alabut]

I agree that the desktop is annoying, so that's why I forked out cash for Deskshade, from the makers of Espresso (a Coda competitor). A simple hotkey combo (for me it's command+return) triggers the show/hide.

http://macrabbit.com/deskshade/

I'm a cheap bastard and it's one of the few pieces of software I've paid for, which also feels good because it's an indie developer. Totally worth it, I feel like I can breathe again with the desktop hidden.