h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

the pics are a little small for a computer background dont you think...... maybe something bigger, and something to represent my covert opps? Opperation Human Shock.... A681130

Hi Galen

You need to place the pictures in the middle of a black background on your desktop.

We don't take requests, I'm afraid .

Amy

"3. Choose 'Set as Wallpaper' from the menu that appears." doesn't let you do that - it places the image directly on desktop.

You'd have to download the image with 'Save as' and play around with it in an image editor, which most people may have on their system (Windows Paint) but few people know how to use, and which only saves as .bmps (very big files) Even those of us who got an Adobe program bundled with the software for something like a scanner or a digital camera may not know how to make a black background and place the image in it, nor how to get the correct heigh/width ratio for their monitor so that image doesn't distort.

I've never had to mess around with downloadable wallpaper in that fashion.

I've tried it with option 3 (Set as wallpaper), and not only is the image distorted because the original is sqare instead of monitor-shaped, but the h2g2 url is mostly hidden behind the task bar with only the top of the characters showing.

It's a great idea to have 'official' h2 wallpaper, but I think it still needs a little tweaking

I'm trying to attract the attention of windoze using CAs - and perhaps Jimster - to this thread.

The images were designed with just one size-fits-all in mind, which is why we haven't offered full-screen alternatives. However, in Windows, once you have stored the image as your wallpaper, you can right-click and select 'properties' and then select either 'Tile' or 'Center'. As the file is just 400x400, there shouldn't be any problem with clipping.

Ah Looks much better now

I see that you've changed the page to reflect that You might also want to add to it your explanation about changing the active desktop settings to 'Center' - I consider myself a moderately competent but I rarely if ever do anything with my desktop, and I reckon that like me, a good few Researchers won't be aware of or have forgotten all about that setting.

Also, I don't have a black background on my desktop - I have a bright red one I can't seem to find a settings menu to change that Got any ideas? (Windows 98SE btw)

I'll take a look at the text and revise it. Thanks for pointing this out, Gosho.

Apologies for the formal nature of the following. I used to be a manual writer.

To adjust your desktop colour, right-click on an area of your desktop (make sure you're clear of any icons in case you accidentally click them). From the options window, select the 'Appearance' tab; you should now see a display that shows you the colour scheme for your whole system. In the bottom half of this display, you should see an option 'Desktop' and next to that, an option to change your colour. Select black here and then click 'Apply' and then 'Okay'.

Your desktop should now be displaying your brand new h2g2 Wallpaper in its intended form.

Got it

I kinda went the long way round though (make a 1024x768 black background in Paint, open it in Adobe PhotoDeluxe and put the wallpaper in the middle, then save it all as a JPG and set that as wallpaper) cos I did it before you posted back here.

Oh yeah - and it looks really, really

Top job Lentilla