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Why did they take this function away?

Abstract

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Dec 27, 2002
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In iPhoto, I used to have an album I called "Desktop Wallpapers." Why? Well, because in "System Prefs>Desktop and Screensaver," I used to be able to select that album and use photos from that album as my desktop wallpapers. I had around 35 photos in there, and I set the desktop to randomly pick a photo from that album as my wallpaper every 5 minutes.

While the "Choose Random Photo every X minutes" drop-down menu is still there, its greyed out if you try to use an iPhoto album as your wallpaper source. It only works for regular, non-iPhoto folders and the standard Apple Wallpapers. On the list, the folders ABOVE the hard-line work with this feature, while the random photo checkbox is greyed out for folders below the hard-line in the list.

Now, I have a workaround, but I can't believe I had to put in so much effort in trying to figure it out. Why does Apple take away options like this?
 
Yeah, ummm, Jigga, who? :eek:

Wait...so you scroll down to the bottom of the list of screen savers, after the hard rule line, and choose an iPhoto album, all of which are listed down there at the bottom of the list, right? And then you click "Options" and select "Present Slides in Random Order?"

I seem to still be able to do that for iPhoto albums in Tiger / iPhoto 5. I'm confuddled...I think I'm missing something.
 
^^Mkrishnan almost understands me, except I'm trying to change desktop wallpapers every 5 minutes, not screensavers. ;)

There's no option button for Desktop Wallpapers. Under DESKTOP, there's a checkbox that says "Change Picture". If you check that box, it lets you pick how often OSX changes Desktop images (eg: Every 5 seconds, every minute, every 5 minutes, etc...). I used to change wallpapers every 5 minutes, but presently, that checkbox and all those selections are greyed out.

Those options aren't greyed out for the folders and and wallpaper options above the hard-line. The options are only greyed out when I select an iPhoto Library or album (they're located below the hard line). :confused:

Anyway, it seems like an odd thing for a programmer to spend time taking out. :rolleyes:

There are a few other things that irk me, since the option used to be there, and now it isn't, but I currently can't remember them.
 
woah, just checked that in tiger, you're right, its greyed out for folders under the bar, but available for the folders above it :confused:
 
Ohh I See What you mean.

You can Select iPhoto Folder's Although you can't choose the option to make them change every so often.

Thats weird. I wonder why apple took that out. Bug?
 
I do have a workaround, but hey, its a pain.

FYI: If you wanted to use an iPhoto album as a source of wallpapers, go into iPhoto and click on the album that you want to use for wallpapers. At the bottom of the iPhoto window, there's a button that says "DESKTOP." That sets any photo you select as your wallpaper. By selecting an album and clicking on DESKTOP, it should automatically bring up the "System Prefs>Desktop and Screensaver" window. The photos in that album can now be seen in the "iPhoto Selection" folder, which is above the hard-line. :) From there, you can set your wallpaper to change randomly every 5 minutes.

If you wanted to find the location of these photos in FINDER, go to "Pictures>iPhoto Library>iPhoto Selection." All those photos are now in that folder.

If you add/remove any photos from the Wallpapers album that you made, you need to go through the process all over again. (ie: Select album in iPhoto, hit "Desktop" button, etc....). :rolleyes: The iPhoto Selection folder in FINDER should also be automatically updated, which is strange.
 
Abstract said:
Now, I have a workaround, but I can't believe I had to put in so much effort in trying to figure it out. Why does Apple take away options like this?
Click to expand...

this is so weird...i was *just* trying to do this like 15 minutes ago!

i too have one of the 'desktop pictures' albums in iphoto - it saves me keeping seperate photos everywhere. i've been using a normal apple wallpaper but today i wanted to go back to my changing ones, and it's gone! how annoying.

what's your workaround? i'd be interested to know :) <edit, just saw the workaround above>

oh, and while we're bitching about osx, why did they take the 'internet' pref pane away? my safari is totally dead, but to change the default browser you need to do it from safari prefs. i ended up using a third party pref pane so i could change my browser. rather annoying :rolleyes:
 
"The folder I choose, the choose iFolder and then the photo on the folder"... I do not understand a thing :confused:
 
I did post my workaround. ;)

Go into iPhoto, select the album that you want to use for wallpapers, then press "DESKTOP" which is at that bottom of the iPhoto window. DO NOT click on any of the photos inside the album, just click the album itself. The System Pref> Desktop/Screensaver window should pop up, and then you can select "iPhoto Selection" folder from the list and the photos in the album you selected should be there.

Problem is that when I add/subtract a photo from that wallpaper album, the list of photos that OSX uses for wallpapers does not update. I need to select the album and click on DESKTOP again to update the list.
 
Abstract said:
I did post my workaround. ;)
Click to expand...

yeah, my bad; i skipped straight through it :eek: hehe

thanks for the tip. i guess we should submit this via the feedback link at apple.com. then again, i'm too busy 'cos i'm watching tv, so i'll delegate it to someone else :p :D j/k
 
I get that same issue in 10.3.9, hmm I wonder why?

Wait, nevermind it will work for an album but nothing else, so I can't get it to pick randomly from my library.

I wonder why Apple would take functionality out of their OS.

You gonna submit feedback to Apple?
 
This MUST be an iPhoto 5 bug (and not the only one, it seems since there has been quite a lot complaining about iPhoto 5 on these boards). I'm having Tiger/IPhoto 4 and I can select any iPhoto album as desktop background and rotate the images randomly or in order at regular intervals, no problem...
 
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