How did digital wallpapers start?
For my first blog on this site, let's begin by talking about the history of digital wallpapers. So how did our much beloved fan fair of personalising our screens with a digital wallpapers started? One of the earliest wallpaper appeared as a pattern was used in Xerox's Officetallk and Star The X Window System. It supported an arbitrary image as wallpaper with an xsetroot program dated back with the release of the X10R3 in 1985.
Microsoft Windows 3.0 in 1990 was the first personal computer version to feature support for wallpaper customization, using the term wallpaper for this feature. This operating system came with 7 wallpapers, these consist of small patterns. However user were able to set up their own images in BMP file format with up to 8-bit color to be displayed as wallpaper on their screen.
Bliss, the default wallpaper of Windows XP became the most recongnizable wallpaper viewed because of the widespread use of personal computers in the 2000s.
The original Macintosh operating system today known as MacOS had the ability to show 8x8 pixel image tile patterns. As development improved, in 1997 Mac OS 8 release a version that had support for arbitrary image to be used as desktop pictures.
With the ever expanding internet and digital imagery came a along and further fuelled the popularity of digital wallpapers. Users could now download images from websites or create their own digital artwork to use as wallpapers.
As computer monitors advanced in terms of color depth and resolution the quality and detail of digital wallpapers also improved. Users enjoy more vibrant and intricate images on their desktops. The visual quality is constantly getting better and better.
Extending on the advancement of technology digital cameras and smartphones with built-in cameras is now contributing to the popularity of personal photos as wallpapers. Users could easily set pictures of their families, pets, or favorite places as their computer backgrounds.
With the rise of the internet, numerous websites dedicated to offering a wide variety of wallpapers emerged. Users could browse or buy specific wallpapers that suited their preferences, ranging from nature scenes, fantasy to abstract art.
Wallpapers is apart of most computers and smartphones these days with use being able to personalise it to our desire. I believe this will continue to improve with technological advancement, new gadget release and design trends to follow through.
Reference:
Wikipedia Wallpaper (computing)
Author:
Siriux Art | 18th November 2023
