How to create a theme

[Miles]

Win7, Pro, 64bit, has its own several themes of about 4 pics that can
be viewed with varying lengths of time. Is there a method to create
another theme with several pics from the hard drive that would auto
change. To date I have created 3 themes of 1 pic each, 2 not yet
saved. Can these 3 be combined into 1 theme that will rotate the
pics? Presumably using Aero since that's what is already set up.

Miles

 

[SC Tom]

Win7, Pro, 64bit, has its own several themes of about 4 pics that can be
viewed with varying lengths of time. Is there a method to create another
theme with several pics from the hard drive that would auto change. To
date I have created 3 themes of 1 pic each, 2 not yet saved. Can these 3
be combined into 1 theme that will rotate the pics? Presumably using Aero
since that's what is already set up.

Miles

Right-click on your desktop and pick Personalize. Click on Desktop
Background, and at the bottom of that screen, pick a time to "Change every
picture:". If the pictures you want are not in the \windows\web\wallpaper\
folders, click on Browse at the top of the page to find the folder you want.
(I created a folder under \windows\web\wallpaper\ called miscellaneous to
store all my downloaded wallpapers.) Holding the CTRL key down, check the
little box in the upper left corner of each picture you want in your
slideshow. Once done, click on Save Changes. Once back at the main screen,
click on Save Theme and call your theme what you want. You can delete the
others under My Themes if you don't want them any more (right-click on each
and pick Delete).

I don't know of any way to combine any of the themes, other than using this
method and choosing all the pictures from the other three. I have
approximately 200 pictures that change every hour on mine (pick Shuffle if
you don't want yours in the same order all the time). You can also customize
your colors, sounds, and screen saver at the same time in this theme. If you
add more pictures to it, remember to hold the CTRL button down before
selecting any of them (lesson learned the hard way :-( ). Once you 'Save
changes', you'll have another Unsaved Theme on the main page. Just save it
as the same name as the other one, then delete the old one. Kind of sad that
it doesn't auto-save the personal theme when doing a 'Save changes' but
that's just the way it is.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Right-click on your desktop and pick Personalize. Click on Desktop
Background, and at the bottom of that screen, pick a time to "Change
every picture:". If the pictures you want are not in the
\windows\web\wallpaper\ folders, click on Browse at the top of the
page to find the folder you want. (I created a folder under
\windows\web\wallpaper\ called miscellaneous to store all my
downloaded wallpapers.) Holding the CTRL key down, check the little
box in the upper left corner of each picture you want in your
slideshow. Once done, click on Save Changes. Once back at the main
screen, click on Save Theme and call your theme what you want. You
can delete the others under My Themes if you don't want them any more
(right-click on each and pick Delete).

I don't know of any way to combine any of the themes, other than
using this method and choosing all the pictures from the other three.
I have approximately 200 pictures that change every hour on mine
(pick Shuffle if you don't want yours in the same order all the
time). You can also customize your colors, sounds, and screen saver
at the same time in this theme. If you add more pictures to it,
remember to hold the CTRL button down before selecting any of them
(lesson learned the hard way :-( ). Once you 'Save changes', you'll
have another Unsaved Theme on the main page. Just save it as the same
name as the other one, then delete the old one. Kind of sad that it
doesn't auto-save the personal theme when doing a 'Save changes' but
that's just the way it is.

Slightly OT, but there are some awesome pictures here, many suitable for
desktop wallpaper. It is the personal collection of a friend of mine,
maintained with a little technical help from me. No ads, no gimmicks:
http://bill.thedatalist.com/gallery/

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Right-click on your desktop and pick Personalize. Click on Desktop
Background, and at the bottom of that screen, pick a time to "Change
every picture:". If the pictures you want are not in the
\windows\web\wallpaper\ folders, click on Browse at the top of the page
to find the folder you want. (I created a folder under
\windows\web\wallpaper\ called miscellaneous to store all my downloaded
wallpapers.) Holding the CTRL key down, check the little box in the[/QUOTE]
[]
Thanks for the detailed instructions.

Is it obligatory that all the pictures have to be in the same directory
(sorry, folder)? I'd rather just be able to select lots of my existing
pictures, rather than have to make a separate folder and make copies.
(If it isn't, I'll see if the ancient "Panorama" wallpaper changer will
work under 7.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The
learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer
exists. -- Eric Hoffer (quoted by Elsie McGill <[email protected]>, 1997-6-1).

 

[SC Tom]

Right-click on your desktop and pick Personalize. Click on Desktop
Background, and at the bottom of that screen, pick a time to "Change every
picture:". If the pictures you want are not in the \windows\web\wallpaper\
folders, click on Browse at the top of the page to find the folder you
want. (I created a folder under \windows\web\wallpaper\ called
miscellaneous to store all my downloaded wallpapers.) Holding the CTRL key
down, check the little box in the

[]
Thanks for the detailed instructions.

Is it obligatory that all the pictures have to be in the same directory
(sorry, folder)? I'd rather just be able to select lots of my existing
pictures, rather than have to make a separate folder and make copies. (If
it isn't, I'll see if the ancient "Panorama" wallpaper changer will work
under 7.)[/QUOTE]

No, they can be in different folders. I haven't tried it, but I would think
that once a folder is selected, it would continue to show under the
available folders on the Personalize screen, whether it's under the
\wallpaper\ folder or not. Just don't forget to use the CTRL key- if you
click on any picture without using it, all of the others are deselected so
that you have to start over with your selections. If you inadvertently do
that, just cancel out without Saving Changes, then go back in for more
selections.

 

[Miles]

* SC Tom wrote, On 25-Jul-11 04:28:

Right-click on your desktop and pick Personalize. Click on Desktop
Background, and at the bottom of that screen, pick a time to "Change every
picture:". If the pictures you want are not in the \windows\web\wallpaper\
folders, click on Browse at the top of the page to find the folder you want.
(I created a folder under \windows\web\wallpaper\ called miscellaneous to
store all my downloaded wallpapers.) Holding the CTRL key down, check the
little box in the upper left corner of each picture you want in your
slideshow. Once done, click on Save Changes. Once back at the main screen,
click on Save Theme and call your theme what you want. You can delete the
others under My Themes if you don't want them any more (right-click on each
and pick Delete).

I don't know of any way to combine any of the themes, other than using this
method and choosing all the pictures from the other three. I have
approximately 200 pictures that change every hour on mine (pick Shuffle if
you don't want yours in the same order all the time). You can also customize
your colors, sounds, and screen saver at the same time in this theme. If you
add more pictures to it, remember to hold the CTRL button down before
selecting any of them (lesson learned the hard way :-( ). Once you 'Save
changes', you'll have another Unsaved Theme on the main page. Just save it
as the same name as the other one, then delete the old one. Kind of sad that
it doesn't auto-save the personal theme when doing a 'Save changes' but
that's just the way it is.

Thank you for the great instructions!! The only difficulty I'm
having is that the pics apparently need moving or cropping to properly
fit the screen. For instance, most of them are no longer centered
and what was originally to be in the center becomes virtually off
screen at the bottom. And this seems to vary: If there is only 1
pic in a theme, it's perfect; however when more are added the location
shifts. (It's not a huge screen, a laptop 12"x7" -- perhaps the pics
can 1st be reduced in size, or the focus changed?)
Miles

 

[SC Tom]

* SC Tom wrote, On 25-Jul-11 04:28:

Thank you for the great instructions!! The only difficulty I'm having
is that the pics apparently need moving or cropping to properly fit the
screen. For instance, most of them are no longer centered and what was
originally to be in the center becomes virtually off screen at the bottom.
And this seems to vary: If there is only 1 pic in a theme, it's perfect;
however when more are added the location shifts. (It's not a huge screen,
a laptop 12"x7" -- perhaps the pics can 1st be reduced in size, or the
focus changed?)
Miles

If the pictures are not in the same format as the screen (such as 4:3 or
16:10) then there is going to be a border around them. Choose Fill, Fit, or
Stretch and see which one looks best for your screen with the majority of
your pictures.

Both my desktop LCD and my notebook are 16:10, so most of the wallpapers I
download are that format also. I have a number of shots taken with my camera
that are not the same format, but by using the Fit option, they'll fit
either on the width or height (depending on whether they are landscape or
portrait) with a black border around the sides that don't fit. The camera
shots look kind of like a "letter-box" movie on TV, but they look good
enough. The ones that don't look too good I just don't include with the
rest. You can use a program to resize them if you want, such as the Image
Resizer Powertoy Clone by Brice Lambson
(http://imageresizer.codeplex.com/). It's almost identical to the old
powertoy for XP, and works extremely well with Windows 7.