Welcome to FlickrWall!

FlickrWall is a wallpaper changer powered by Flickr. It provides your desktop with a never ending stream of cool photos uploaded by flickr users direct to your desktop.

If you install this program and have any questions or comments, drop me an e-mail.

Installation

FlickrWall requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 to run. You can check to see if you already have the .NET Framework 2.0 installed by clicking Start on your Windows desktop, selecting Control Panel, and then double-clicking the Add or Remove Programs icon. When that window appears, scroll through the list of applications. If you see Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 listed, the latest version is already installed and you do not need to install it again. If you don't have it, download it here.

If you are upgrading from version 1.0 of FlickrWall please note that the application requires an later version of the .NET framework, so you may have to upgrade it too.

Once you have installed the framework, download the zip file at the end of this page and unzip the files into a folder of your machine. Run FlickrWall.exe.

Usage

FlickrWall will show you a little icon on the tray area of your computer.

To configure FickrWall for the first time, right click the icon and select the Options... menu item.

This option will open a window where you can tell how to select and how often you want the wallpaper to change.

Signing in

You can run run FlickrWall in two modes: as an anonymous user or as an authenticated user. If you run as an anonymous user, you will have access to the same photos that you access when you browse Flickr without signin in. If you choose to run as an authenticated user, you will have access to photos restricted to familiy and friends in you photostream and non-public photos that your contacts share with you.

To sign in, click on the "sign in?" link to the right of the buddy icon.

FlickrWall will do two things at once: Open a Flickr web page on your default internet browser and display a small dialog box to wait for you.

After providing your username and password to Flickr, authorize the FlickrWall app to access non-public content. Close the web page and click 'OK' on the FlickrWall dialog box.

If you change your mind and do not wish to give FlickrWall access to non-public content, simply close the web page and close the dialog box using the Cancel button.

One you have signed in, your buddy icon will display on the upper left corner on the screen. You can sign out at any time using the "sign out?" link to the right of the buddy icon.

Selecting a wallpaper

The uppermost combo box allows you to select how often you want the wallpaper to be changed. If you select 'Manually' FlickWall will not change your wallpaper periodically.

The second combo tells how FlickrWall will select a wallpaper for you:

• Explore Top 100 will randomly pick one of the today's one hundred most interesting pictures. This is the easiest way to get incredible looking pictures that will not repeat tomorrow!

• Tag Top 100 will select one of the one hundred most interesting pictures with the tag or tags you specify. If you have a taste for flowers pictures, just pick this option and type flower in the text box.

  You can select more than one tag (i.e. red, car) separating them with a comma. If you want to get some surprising results, try tags that don't designate things, like love, fear or rush.

  If you spot a tag while browsing you would like to turn into a wallpaper, drag it into the main window to set your wallpapers to the top 100 photos of such tag!

  
  
  
  Photo: World's Columbian Exposition: Whale-back, Chicago, United States, 1893 by Brooklin Museum

• Favorites will choose one of the one hundred most recent favorites of any flickr user you pick. Select yourself, one of your contacts, or maybe a flickr celebrity and enjoy a stream of hand-picked photos!

  Also, drop a favorites link right into the main window to randomly select one of its faves as wallpaper.

  
  
  
  Photo: Parra by Arquera

• Photostream will simply pick a photo from a Flickr user. Choose wisely and you won't be disappointed.

  Also, if you see a user icon around flickr, drag it and drop it into the the main window to let the photo stream of an user be the source of your wallpapers.

  
  
  
  Photo: Nosey by A30_Tsitika

• Group will give you a selection of the most recent one hundred photos of any flickr group you like. Groups have photos that share a common theme, and some have very tough rules to get a picture in, so you can rest assured of the quality of the photos.

  You can also drop a group link into the main window and the group pool will be the source of your wallpaper!

  
  
  
  Photo: Raindrops by Timmy Toucan

• Only one photo If you are exploring Flickr and you stumble on a photo that you really dig, select this option and paste the photo address. FlickrWall will turn it into your wallpaper at once!

  Wherever you see a thumbnail (from a user page, a set, a group, etc.) drop it into the main window to turn it into your wallpaper.

  
  
  
  Photos by Ed Karjala

Press the Update button to tell FlickrWall to get a new wallpaper. The tray icon will change to let you know it is searching and retrieving a wallpaper for you. Depending of the quality of your internet connection, this can take a little while.

You will see a reduced preview of the chosen wallpaper, if you don't like what you see, you can press the button again! Just below the preview window, the status bar will tell when your wallpaper will automatically change.

If you select the Run at startup checkbox FlickrWall will automatically load itself whenever you logon to your machine.

Now, you can close the configuration window and FlickWall will automatically update your wallpaper according to your settings.

If you feel a sudden urge to change your wallpaper and can't wait for the next scheduled update, right click on the tray icon and select Next. FlickWall will retrieve the next picture that matches your criteria. This option is also the faster way to update your desktop if you opted to change your wallpaper manually.

If you like your current wallpaper, hover your mouse over the tray icon to see the name and author of the photo. If you really like it, double click on the icon and FlickrWall will take you right to the photo page, so you can leave a comment or fave it!

Disclaimer

I made this program for my own amusement. I share it with you because I think you may enjoy it as much as I do. I can not guarantee it fits your specific needs and I can not be held responsible in the unlikely event it blows your machine away.

Download

Latest Version from SourceForge.net