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Your Mac can create a background slide show of images, changed from once every 5 seconds to once a day.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

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Customizing your OS X Mac cheaply, Part 1: The desktop background


Oct. 27, 2004


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard

   Would you like to customize the look of your Mac OS X computer? It's easy. Over the next three weeks I'll tell you how to get the most from your Mac's built-in customizing features and how to get free software that can add a few touches Apple left out.
   One way to give your OS X Macintosh a custom look is to install a unique desktop background, using a digital photo from your own collection.
   I'll describe how you can do this under OS X 10.3, called "Panther," which uses an intuitive method of getting to the menus. If you have an earlier version of OS X, look in System Preferences for the same kind of functions.
   OS X gives you a choice a solid-color background, a pattern designed by Apple or a photograph. As a photographer myself, I usually choose one of my own pictures for the background. But I always revert to a solid gray background whenever I'm editing photos. This makes sure my color perception is not distracted; I'm a stickler for getting accurate color in my photographs.
   Ctrl-Click on a blank area of the desktop (or right click, if you have a two-button mouse) and click "Change Desktop Background." In the "Desktop & Screen Saver" preference panel, click "Desktop." You'll see choices that include Apple Background, Nature, Abstract, Solid Colors and Pictures Folder. You'll also see a menu activator called "Choose Folder," so you can select an image that's not in the regular Pictures folder.
   If you have a wide-screen Mac, the "Nature" selection is worth a look because it has wide-screen versions of the five choices. (I like "Dew Drop" best. Check to see if you prefer any of them.) The simpler patterns in the "Apple Background" collection have a few wide-screen versions, too.
   Apple's "Abstract" patterns have been around for years and still look good. But the "Solid Colors" choices are easy ones for me, since all of them are a bit reticent and seem to make good (and dull!) backgrounds -- ideal for those times when you want to concentrate on your work.
   As soon as you choose "Pictures Folder," your Mac will start showing mini thumbnails of all the images in that folder -- but not the ones in any subfolders there. If you want to select from photos in a folder inside "Pictures," click "Choose Folder."
   Apple thought of everything when it comes to how pictures are presented. Near the top of the "Desktop & Screen Saver" window is a small view of the picture you've chosen, along with a drop-down menu that lets you decide how your Mac should handle images that are smaller or larger than your display's resolution.
   "Fill screen" enlarges or reduces the image so it fits without squishing or swooping. "Stretch to fill screen" gets all the image onto the screen, regardless of the shape. "Center" is my favorite, since it places images onto the display pixel-by-pixel, showing the exact image with no resizing. "Tile" is useful for small pictures that don't look good expanded to fill the screen.
   Finally, checking "Change picture" at the bottom of the window tells your Mac to create a background slide show of images, changed from every 5 seconds to once a day. Use "Fill screen" as the option for the slideshow unless all the pictures in the folder you've chosen are the same resolution.
   Next week: Secrets of the built-in screen savers in OS X.