Choosing a Picture

Documentation / Contents - Background

• Overview of the Background Panel
  • The Two Pages
  • The Buttons Along the Bottom
• Choosing a Pattern
• Choosing a Picture
  • The Picture List
  • The Preview and the Facts Line
• Placing a Picture
  • Fill (crop to fit)
  • Stretch
  • Scale (letterbox)
  • Center
  • Tile
• Colour Schemes
  • The Scheme List
  • Lock Scheme to Wallpaper
  • Make Scheme From Wallpaper
• The Canonical Panels
• Where the Settings Live
  • Adding Your Own Pictures
• Copyright Information

Choosing a Picture

The Pictures page lists the photographic wallpapers that are installed. It is a Blueprint addition; IRIX's panel had patterns only.

The Picture List

Each row is one picture, named for its file with its native size in parentheses:

emerald-mountain    (1280x1024)
lothlorien-dawn     (1920x1200)

The wallpapers are filed by size, in five groups:

1024x768
1280x1024
1920x1200
1920x1080
3840x2160

You are not restricted to the group that matches your screen. Pick anything and choose how it should be placed; see Placing a Picture.

If no wallpapers are installed the list shows the single entry "(no share/cywall found)". See Where the Settings Live.

The Preview and the Facts Line

The preview beside the list is 220 by 150 and shows the selected picture as it will be placed. Change the placement radio buttons and the preview changes with them, so you can see a crop or a letterbox before committing to it.

Under the preview is a line of facts about the selected picture: what it is and how big it is. Read it when you are deciding on a placement; a picture whose shape matches your screen needs no crop at all.

The preview shows the picture, not your desktop. Icons and windows are not drawn in it.

Applying

Nothing changes until you press Apply. Apply hands the picture to the picture tool, which scales it properly for your screen and paints the root window, and writes your choice to your settings file so it returns at your next login.

If "Lock scheme to wallpaper" is on, Apply also applies the colour scheme that matches the picture. See Colour Schemes.