This page contains instructions for creating cellphone wallpaper.
Choosing a calendar size
Setting the calendar size
Capturing the calendars
Transferring to cellphone
Impress your friends!
Many modern cellphones allow the user to display personal images; some permit the user to specify an image to be used as "wallpaper"; that is, as a background image for the Main Menu screen.
First, to avoid artifacts from resizing a raster image, it is preferable to set the calendar to a size that corresponds to the cell phone display.
Note: if the cell phone display is particularly small, it may be better to use larger images and allow the cellphone to resize them (see details below).
The following instructions are specific to the Motorola E815 and V710, but the procedure is similar for other cellphones.
The display on the Motorola V710 is 176 pixels wide by 220 pixels high. We can use the full width of the display, but the top and bottom of the screen are reserved for status displays and soft menu labels. By setting the calendar height to 194 pixels and centering the image on the cell phone, the image will not interfere with (or be truncated by) the on-screen status and menu displays.
For cellphones with small displays, consider setting the calendar to twice the desired size in width and height, to minimize aliasing (artifacts which appear when a raster image is resized).
Example: the display on the LG VX3200 is 128 by 128 pixels. We suggest using a FormWidth of around 254 and a FormHeight of around 224 (feel free to experiment).
The easiest way to control the calendar size is to modify the FormWidth and FormHeight settings in the desired .ini file.
Note: if the user has customized the on-screen display of ShiftCal and saved his/her preferred configuration settings with Settings | Save Settings, we suggest creating a copy of shiftcal.ini (perhaps named "cellphone.ini") on which to perform the following operations.
Open the desired .ini in Notepad and scroll down to the [Config] section:
[Config]
FormWidth=176
FormHeight=194
The [Config] section may be nearly empty, or it may contain multiple
entries; ignore any entries other than FormWidth and FormHeight. Set
FormWidth and FormHeight to the desired size.
If your [Config] section does not contain entries for FormWidth and FormHeight, create them by entering "FormWidth=xxx" and "FormHeight=yyy" on separate lines, where "xxx" is the desired width and "yyy" is the desired height in pixels.
Note: if the user prefers to edit shiftcal.ini and wants to preserve his/her custom settings, the values can be temporarily commented out out by placing a semicolon in front of the keywords and creating new temporary entries:
[Config]
;FormWidth=480
;FormHeight=366
FormWidth=176
FormHeight=194
To restore the former values, delete the temporary entries and un-comment
the original lines by removing the semicolons.
Run ShiftCal, open the desired .ini file, and adjust the header and calendar fonts to your preference (we suggest using simple sans-serif fonts).
To capture the screen images, we suggest using a dedicated screen-capture utility; our personal favorite is TNT Screen Capture by EC Software. There are many free or nearly-free screen capture utilities available; perform a Google search on "Windows screen capture" or "free screen capture Windows".
If you elect not to use a dedicated screen capture utility, the contents of the current window can be copied to the Windows clipboard by holding down the "Alt" key and pressing the Print Screen ("Prt Sc") key. The image can then be pasted into your graphics editing program of choice to crop out the title bar and perform any other editing you deem appropriate.
Save the finished images as .png files. We suggest using a naming convention that will automatically sort the images by date; we use four-digit years, an underline character, and a two-digit month thus:
2007_01.png
2007_02.png
...
2007_11.png
2007_12.png
Calendars named using a convention similar to this will appear on your phone
in chronological order.
Depending upon the user's phone, this part can be trivial or difficult (or somewhere in between...).
If your cellphone supports transflash cards, you can simply insert the card into your computer (using an adapter provided with the card), copy the files to the transflash card, re-insert the card into your phone, and restart your phone.
If you have an interface cable to connect your phone to your computer, you may be able to use the provided software or a utility like BitPim to transfer images to your phone.
The final alternative would be to transmit the images to your phone from your computer, either as an image or as an attachment to a text message, depending upon your cellphone and your service provider. This option may incur charges, depending upon your service plan.
Now you get to enjoy the fruits of your labors: pull out your cellphone and ask your co-workers which platoon is on duty on the last Thursday of the month...
"Oh, I have it right here!..."
