Wednesday, November 21, 2007 @ 2:03 PM

So the number one question asked of me by other iPhone owners is "how'd you get that fancy desktop?" I'm paraphrasing slightly, sue me. Based on the amount of times I've been asked that question, I thought it would be appropriate to get things rollin' on this blog by covering this very topic.

How to get a "fancy" wallpaper
Many people just take photos and then select the option to set photo as their wallpaper. That's ghetto. Yeah... I said it. Ghetto.

In order to do what all the cool kids are doing, you just need to follow a few quick and simple steps:

1. Create a folder on your desktop (or wherever) and title it something that implies "wallpapers". "things on a wall" is acceptable.


2. Find a fancy wallpaper online or create your own (instructions to follow).


3. Save wallpaper to previously created folder.


4. Open iTunes and plug in your iPhone/iPod Touch.


5. Go to the "Photos" tab and select your newly created folder (illustrated below).


6. Once the photos are sync'd up with your iPhone, open the photo gallery and select your image.


7. Tap the icon in the bottom left of your photo and select "Use As Wallpaper".

You're done. If these instructions didn't work for you, then do the following:

1. Turn off iPhone/iPod Touch.


2. Place into original packaging or similar size box.


3. Wrap in colorful paper.


4. Give to someone else on Dec 25th because you don't deserve to use it.

Couple quick additional notes. You do not need to keep the photo on your iPhone/iPod Touch in order for it to stay in place as your wallpaper. Once you set it as a wallpaper, it's copied to some fantasy world inside the iPhone where we don't have to worry about it. If you replace a wallpaper with a new image, the old one is lost. The fantasy world only keeps track of one at a time.

Wallpaper Design
You'll find wallpapers for your iPhone and iPod Touch all over the internet. However, these are wallpapers that have simply been cut or designed to 320x480. "Why's this wrong" you might ask? I'm so glad you feel comfortable enough in our relationship to interupt already. Anyhow... the reason this is wrong is because the basic dimension of 320x480 doesn't take into account key elements that will cover up your wallpaper.

I've provided a graphic below to illustrate the various aspects and dimensions of the interface where the wallpaper is shown. The 2 biggest elements to be concerned with are the Date & Time and the Slider. Although your wallpaper is seen under them, you obviously don't want to put your personal tagline or company logo under these.



Now you're ready to create your own wallpapers. You can download a PSD template with guides for your wallpaper here. If you do not own and know how to use a decent graphics application such as Photoshop, please leave wallpaper design to the experts. Speaking of which...

Free iPhone / iPod Touch Wallpapers
I'm sure the first wallpaper below looks familiar. Ever since the first demonstration of the iPhone, it has been shown with the fish wallpaper. However, you may have noticed it's not on your phone. Many people have posted it on their sites since, so I felt compelled to do so here as well.

To download wallpapers from this site, just click the image to view the full size version and then right-click and select "Save as...". Then proceed with the first step 3 up above.



Well, that's it for now. This seems to be an awfully big post for something that only shows up on your iPhone / iPod Touch for a second. Oh well. Ryan is working on posting an intro to iPhone web design and coding later on today that will be far more insightful... hopefully.

//scott

Labels: design, how to, specs, wallpapers