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OldMtMan
2 discussion posts
I've been trying Display Fusion and another named John's Background Switcher trying to decide which one's feature set suits my needs and desires. Display Fusion has a lot of good features and settings possibilities but lacks a couple of features that John's has that I find very useful. My dual monitor setup consists of a 22" wide screen monitor in landscape orientation as the primary and an older 17" flat panel monitor that is the standard 3x4 type that is set as a portrait orientation monitor. I use numerous photos and scanned slides of my own from folders on my computer to be displayed randomly as my wallpaper. My photos are a mix of landscape and portrait oriented images and John's Background Switcher has an option to match the picture orientation with the monitor orientation that really works and looks well. This is one feature that would be nice to add to Display Fusion if possible to accomplish.
Additionally, though of lesser importance to me to make me use Display Fusion, John's also has an option to display the picture info in the upper corner of each monitor (basically it displays the file name minus the file extension) which comes in handy for me in that my images are from 30 years of backpacking and travel to National Parks and monuments and it helps to identify where the photos were taken, to jog my memory.
And finally, John's also has the ability to add a calendar to the desktop with several options, including showing the next 2 months smaller than the current month and placed where you want it. I can add a calendar using desktop gadgets, so this isn't a biggy.
Display Fusion has more overall customizability but could be even better if these little features were added IMHO, especially the orientation option. Perhaps you would like to see John's program for inspiration or just to see what I'm talking about. It can be downloaded here: http://johnsadventures.com/software/backgroundswitcher/.
Oh, and thanks for the discount on a license and I just purchased one, so I hope to see further improvements and additions in the future.
Oct 4, 2010  • #1
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sfwrtr
273 discussion posts
Just adding 2 cents.

I vote for the orientation idea, which I presume is an option to pick only portrait oriented images for portrait monitors and landscape for landscape. Of course, if the user rotates the monitor or tablet PC, do you change images?

As for the file info, I could also see it displaying selectable EXIF or IPTC fields, such as the embedded image name or description. For an example, slide shows on my photo site do this. Of course, adding this option could be construed as pushing DF dangerously towards a multimonitor slide show presentation. Not sure if that's in your vision for DF.

IMHO, calender widgets should be left to Windows sidebar or active desktop.

My 2 cents...
Oct 5, 2010  • #2
Jon Tackabury (BFS)'s profile on WallpaperFusion.com
The orientation idea is very interesting, and one that I have never considered, I'll give it some more thought. As for displaying image information, that is coming in the next 3-6 months. :)
Oct 6, 2010  • #3
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OldMtMan
2 discussion posts
Thanks for the consideration. Looking forward to future releases that may include some of these additional features. The image orientation thing is really a slick display customization. And though I agree with sfwrtr that calendars should "be left to Windows sidebar or active desktop" I have not found one that accomplishes what John's Background Switcher does yet for Windows 7, which does not have a sidebar or active desktop but rather desktop gadgets. Win XP had an option I seem to remember that would add a calendar to the desktop but i don't think that is available in Win7 (it could have been part of a third party desktop manager, don't rememebr now). Just a thought, I really don't need it to use my computer, just would be nice. Thanks again.

Oh, and I never received notification of replies to my original post. I am aware of this being a problem with some forum software on other forums I visit so just letting you know.
Oct 6, 2010  • #4
Jon Tackabury (BFS)'s profile on WallpaperFusion.com
I agree about leaving the calendars to the widgets as well. I'll look into the email response, it seems to be working for me. :)
Oct 8, 2010  • #5
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