[SOLVED] Desktop wallpaper software that allows loading a mosaic of webpages?

[HiDef]

Hi all, curious to know if anyone can recommend software that can replace a standard desktop wallpaper in Windows 10 with the ability to set webpages as the background? Ideally I'd like to be able to add a number of "tiles" - like display 4 webpages in the one background. I'm thinking to use for a second monitor and have displayed weather data like the rain rader images from this page: https://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/maps-radars/radar/auckland-rain-radar-realtime and then set other webpages (or elements of web pages) for the other tiles. Is there such an application around at all?

 

[Colif]

sounds like an app I wouldn't mind... shame I can't find it.
They should reintroduce active desktops like we had in the Vista days
shame you need 3rd party apps for video wallpapers. I don't get why that isn't in windows by now, not like our GPU are bad anymore, or PC or under powered

How To Use a Video As Your Wallpaper On Windows 11 or 10

If you're sick of a basic blue background or that same old picture wallpaper on your Windows PC, why not try a video wallpaper? You'll need a third-party app to do it, but here are our favorites- free and paid. You might not have realized the depth of personalization available in Windows. One of the

helpdeskgeek.com

There is this that replaces it with 1 webpage - https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-set-a-webpage-as-desktop-background-in-windows-10/ but its not exactly what you want

@gardenman got any ideas?

 

[gardenman]

This sounds like a very interesting idea. Windows use to support this years ago, but I think it was removed due to security issues. It was called Active Desktop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Desktop

This has some answers that might help: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10/51b99e18-571c-49c8-bfe2-99d9781337db

It points to this (Windows 8) application which I have not used or tested: https://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Other-Desktop-Enhancements/WallpaperWebPage.shtml
It may or may not work on Windows 10.

Edit: This is pretty much the same answer that Colif gave you. I noticed this after I posted it. As for 4 pages at once, look up additional 3rd party software that might enable you to do this. I don't know of any, but there might be some out there if you look for it.

Edit 2: Be careful about such Wallpaper software. They are often bundled with additional junk, spyware, etc that you do not want to install. If the website that it is on look suspicious, then don't download it. Most programs from sites such as Softpedia should be safe.

 

[Alabalcho]

I would go rather different road: Having an "app" (very broad definitin) which makes the mosaic "somehow", and placing the resulting wallpaper as fixed file. Set Windows wallpaper to this file, and set Task Scheduller to kick said app every hour / day / etc.

This "app" should be console-app, so when it kicks in, it does the job and quits. I think there are easy-to-find utilities which can make a mosaic from given fixed-size image files. Another utility would resize an image to predefined size. And last, a utility to download the necessary info as an image file. If you're lucky, some of the images you're going to use might be as close as "wget http:/<site>/<image url" away.

 

[Colif]

You almost need a new shell to do it I think.
would this replace entire desktop or just sit in the middle of the screen?

just use win 10 tablet view and replace the middle live tiles with website links

Its a shame we had more options in XP before the idea of internet security was as needed as it is today. Though XP slowly became a security problem itself.

right now, best option I see if use windows 11 and have the webpage wallpaper on every different virtual desktop but that is just a work around and not what you actually wanted.

 

[gardenman]

I agree with Alabalcho, an image of a website would be a better choice. You probably really don't want the links to be active if it's the Windows background.

I just tried the WallpaperWebPage app that we mentioned above and it's old, and buggy. The files are dated 2011. I tried setting the homepage to Toms Hardware and got multiple popups about "script errors". It will probably be unusable on many websites. It did load Google OK. Setting it to YouTube gives an error about using an outdated browser.

I think it's based on an older version of IE. It's likely very unsecure. I stated above that I had not tested it. Now I have. I can now say that I do not recommend using this application.

Edit: Wallpaper Engine might work.

Quote:

Various types of animated wallpapers are supported, including 3D and 2D animations, websites, videos and even certain applications.