You are here

Home » Forums » Support Forums » PortableApps.com Platform

Wallpaper Switcher Suggestion

8 posts / 0 new
Log in or register to post comments
Last post
March 11, 2009 - 8:37pm
#1
Kornfan71
Offline
Last seen: 10 years 6 months ago
Joined: 2007-09-22 10:30
Wallpaper Switcher Suggestion

I just got the Portable Apps Platform ver 1.5 and I really like it. I just started playing around with the wallpaper switching ability, but I found one downfall. Although there is the ability to have 2 different wallpapers (one for normal and wide screens), there is no way to have multiple wallpapers that will be used based on the current screen resolution, as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong). This is a pretty big problem for me (and others, I'm sure), since I visit quite a few different computers, with about 4 or 5 different resolution settings. Would there be a way to implement a wallpaper switcher that selects the appropriate wallpaper based on the current screen resolution? (Having the wallpapers named something like "portableapps_wallpaper_RES.bmp")

Thanks in advance.

Top
March 12, 2009 - 9:35am
m-p-3
m-p-3's picture
Offline
Last seen: 5 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2006-06-17 21:25
I personally suggested the

I personally suggested the use of the relative screen ratio instead of the absolute screen resolution.

For example, someone using a 1024x768 or 800x600 resolution are both using a 4:3 ratio, which would not distort the wallpaper using that ratio.

Someone using a 1440x900 or 1280x800 resolution are using a 16:10 screen ratio, so a wallpaper with this ratio would not be distorted in both case.

The only drawback I see is that we need to store the files in the BMP format which can be quite heavy with larger screen resolution, but that's a limitation of Windows itself.

NOTE: Those who says that we can also use PNG and JPG files are partially correct. When you select those filetypes as a wallpaper, Windows actually convert the image into a temporary BMP file so it can use it as a wallpaper.

As an example, if you set the wallpaper to a JPG file, it will indicate the converted BMP file into the registry path HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper,. Also notice there will be the original JPG file indicated into the registry path HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\ConvertedWallpaper.

Top
March 12, 2009 - 8:17pm
(Reply to #2)
Kornfan71
Offline
Last seen: 10 years 6 months ago
Joined: 2007-09-22 10:30
Yes, but...

I understand where you are going with this, but there is an issue with that. In my normal day, I can hit computers with 5 different screen resolutions (4 ratios):
1920x1080 (16:9)
1280x800 (16:10)
1280x1024 (5:4)
1152x864 and 1024x768 (4:3)

I'm sure that I'm not the only person that runs into this issue. I can't just change screen resolutions either, since most of those computers are not mine.

Maybe this (use relative ratio vs. absolute resolution) could be an option in the .ini file for the next version?

Top
March 12, 2009 - 10:11pm
(Reply to #3)
John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Online
Last seen: 4 min 18 sec ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Mid

We may add a mid-ratio one for 5:4ish since it's relatively popular (12.5%). Wide is really for 16:10. 16:9 screens are pretty rare (less than 0.2%) so it probably wouldn't have a place in our standard set of normal (4:3), mid (5:4) and wide (16:10).

In 2.0 we'll probably add the ability to do specific screen resolutions (think: portableapps_wallpaper_1920_1080.bmp) for those that want to utilize it. And we're gonna have a way to do JPGs, so file size won't be as much of an issue.

Would that cover you?

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Top
March 12, 2009 - 11:12pm
(Reply to #4)
Bruce Pascoe
Offline
Last seen: 11 years 2 months ago
Joined: 2006-01-15 16:14
1024x600

1024x600 is (almost) 16:9, and that particular resolution is seeing more and more use in netbooks these days. Either way, wallpapers designed for 16:10 don't really look that distorted in 16:9, so in the end I wouldn't bother special-casing it. Just treat it as 16:10.

Same goes for 5:4, really. In fact, all the 1280x1024 panels I've seen are 4:3 physically, so 4:3 wallpapers tend to look fine on them anyway.

Top
March 12, 2009 - 11:13pm
(Reply to #5)
John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Online
Last seen: 4 min 18 sec ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
A Bit

A little bit. It's around 0.4%, about double what it was Q4. It'll be handled by 'wide' or by the custom resolution for people who likes thinks just right.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Top
March 19, 2009 - 9:43pm
(Reply to #6)
Kornfan71
Offline
Last seen: 10 years 6 months ago
Joined: 2007-09-22 10:30
That's exactly it

That's exactly what I was looking for actually, John (I think I accidentally left it out of my other reply). I'd love to see that sort of a system implemented. Thanks!

Top
April 26, 2011 - 11:52am
(Reply to #7)
ionreflex
ionreflex's picture
Offline
Last seen: 10 years 10 months ago
Joined: 2006-11-27 12:19
I'm sorry if I revived this

I'm sorry if I revived this old thread, but since it was so relevant to what I was looking for I thought it silly to create another one! Would the 2.0 platform deal with multimon setup ? It would be awesome if it would detect wide rez on the first screen, display the 16:10 wallpaper on it, then detect mid rez on the seconth screen and display the 5:4 wallpaper on it...

But that could be a tad hard : I think Windows doesn't natively support that kind of setup, but I could be wrong...

My 2¢, take it as a feature request!

ion][reflex
[reflexion]

Top
Log in or register to post comments