Create customized slideshow screensavers (revised)

Sep 18, '02 09:35:08AM

Contributed by: robg

Apple provides a link to the Pictures (or other user specified) folder for use as a slide show screensaver. But wouldn't it be nice if you could have a number of different personal slide shows to use as screensavers? Wouldn't it be really cool if they had all the same options for zooming and randomness that you get with the 10.2 slideshows like Beach and Forest?

Back in March, this hint explained how to do exactly that. The hint was somewhat complex, but it did work. In the comments to that article, "armin" pointed out a much easier way which accomplished the same result. I think armin's solution has probably been overlooked as it existed only in the comments, and things have changed a bit in 10.2, so I've chosen to publish these revised instructions -- and they require no Terminal work at all!

It couldn't be much easier to create your own screensaver slide shows in 10.2 Here's all you need to do:

  1. If you don't have it already, create a folder called Screen Savers inside the Library folder in your Home directory.
  2. Change into that directory, and create a new folder with the name you'd like to use in the Screen Effects panel (I'll use "Mountain Sunsets" as an example).
  3. Find all the images you'd like to see in the slide show and make and alias to those images within the new folder ("Mountain Sunsets" in my case). You do not need to copy or move the images; just use aliases!
  4. Once you've collected all the images, add .slideSaver to the name of the folder you created. The capitalized "S" in "Saver" is very important! The 10.2 Finder will ask if you're certain you wish to add this suffix, click "Add" to tell it you're certain. My example is now named "Mountain Sunsets.slideSaver".
  5. Launch System Prefs (or just click off and then back onto the Screen Effects panel) and select your custom slide show from the list. You can use the Configure button to set zooms, fades, and randomness as you desire.
That's it -- you're done! The only caveat is that, under 10.2, the folder has now become a bundle in the Finder, so you'll have to Control-click and "Show Package Contents" if you wish to add more images.

Repeat this simple process as often as you wish to create a number of different slide shows for different occasions. Thanks, armin, for finding the really easy way to do this!

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Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20020918063508217