What's new

HowTo Share Your Wallpaper With Yourself - Desktop Backgrounds

sharpuser

Administrator
Staff member
Desktop backgrounds are back. Pictures also known as Windows wallpaper, screen backgrounds, or desktop images, are becoming popular on Windows and OS X (Apple) computers, especially since the return of the Start Button with Windows 10, and the advent of Tablet PCs. Social media websites make use of easily-changeable background images of family or events, which people sometimes keep displayed on their screen. Windows makes it easy to display images on the background of the screen, without having to access (sometimes blocked) social websites.

Desktop backgrounds can even be reference material, such as calendar, a sports team schedule, a map, an advertisement, a price list, or a handy lookup table of numbers. Corporations are also making more use of the backgrounds, and relaxing restrictions, giving users the freedom to choose their own, reversing a trend that started with Windows Me / Windows 7.

The web is full of potential background images. Type a simple search phrase, such as "nature rocks" or "texture wood" into your Internet browser, choose to view images, then find the largest images, such as those over about 2 MB. You may find some pictures you would like to save as the background on your computer screen or smartphone. If your add "HD" to your search, you may find some very nice images which reduce your eyestrain (see an example below).

Create a folder for yourself on some "cloud" service
, such as DropBox, iCloud, or my favorite, OneDrive. Save the image to that folder, (my folder is titled "Wallpaper Surface"), and you will have access to it from your devices. I use OneDrive with my PCs, MacBooks, and smartphones.

Windows 10 makes desktop background management easy. With Windows 10, a right-click on the image file from your Cloud desktop backgrounds folder gives you the option to set the image as your background. Windows 10 can also sync that background with other devices that are verified with your account credentials. An option in Settings, Personalization, allows other screen objects such as the TaskBar or Start Menu to automatically use color from the motif of your chosen desktop background.

Start your own collection.

Photo composition can ease eyestrain. Images combining non-blurry close and far objects trick my eyes into relaxing a bit, especially after some close eye work. A glance around the screen wallpaper can ease my eyestrain. Also note that the closest objects at the lower-left near the Start Button are where I usually focus most closely with my eyes.
Screenshot (31).png


I keep a single folder on OneDrive for all my backgrounds for use by all my devices. Mine is stored as .../OneDrive/Pictures/Wallpaper Surface/
Screenshot (30).png


A reference background.

Screenshot (35).png


By using the same wallpaper on my PC as the MacBook, I get a more fruitful, blended work experience.
Screenshot (32).png


Even with complicated graphics, Windows 10 can automatically pick color accents for objects like the Taskbar and Start Menu background.
Screenshot (33).png


Turn these switches on to allow Windows to pick accent colors automatically.
Screenshot (34).png
 

Kris

Active Member
Now if we only had our random option back... Love wallpapers, have near 800 for my desktop and 300 for my SP3. Love OneDrive for saving them and syncing them to different devices. Reminds me I should update the one on my phone.
 

Moonsurface

Super Moderator
Staff member
Ahh I didn't realise the corporate restriction came in with win 7 in a lot of places I thought it was just my workplace! At work on win XP we could choose our own and then it was locked down to a plain blue "windows " icon one when we all got Win 7 laptops. I got access to a Linux virtual machine and the first thing I did was change the virtual desktop background in protest lol.
 
Top