39 replies to this topic

[mikeb]

UPDATE: Shiny new versions for 2011 coming soon(ish)

Some posts in this thread have got a bit screwed due to forum changes since the original posts were made so I've had to delete various links and images to satisfy the new rules.  However, if you already have the 2010 Desktop Countdown Timer files installed on your system or want to use your own background piccy then you can get a quicky update for 2011 from THIS THREAD.  I'll start a shiny new 2011 thread for first-timers just as soon as I have all the various stuff updated correctly

UPDATE: Now also able to be used on Vista

UPDATE: An alternative Brothers Bar background piccy is now available HERE

As T-Day looms ever closer on the horizon has been and gone and the prospect of "yay, I have tickets and now there's only [insert seemingly random number here] of days/sleeps to go" over-excitement thread(s) starting to dominate the entire first page of threads is here, as me old mate Mr.Baden-Powell would say - be prepared ! There's no need to be a complete dumbo and get the counting all wrong when the solution to all your countdown timer needs is but a mere clicky or two away.

As always, there is the shiny new(ish) common or garden Countdown Timer Webpage HERE and it's usually available [Martini] any time, any place, anywhere [/Martini] plus I've finally got around to updating all the shinier and newer "now with added piccy" desktop versions as well. So if you fancy a rather jolly nice desktop something similar to the example screen grabs below coming to a PC near you then this is what you need to do:

NOTE 1: The Countdown Timer Webpage(s) should work just fine when using any old browser on any old Operating System but you do need to have javascript enabled.  If you use a direct link to the Countdown Timer Webpage for any reason then please DO NOT set it to automatically refresh the page at regular intervals.  This wastes shedloads of my bandwidth and it is totally unnecessary in any case because the very first copy of the webpage you download will continue to update itself until you shut down your PC. Setting it as your Home Page and randomly reloading it several times a day is just fine but reloading it once every second/minute/hour is highly likely to get your IP totally banned pretty d@mn soon ! If you do need to frequently reload the webpage for some reason or other then simply save a copy on your PC and use that instead.

NOTE 2: The Desktop Countdown Timer only works particularly well on WinXP but it will also work reasonably well on Win98 and WinME.  Unfortunately, M$ have intentionally removed the Active Desktop functionality from all Windoze versions after WinXP so it can no longer be used directly like it can with earlier Windoze versions However, there is now a proven way of running it on Vista and hopefully any subsequent versions of Windoze as well The clicky linkies to eFests definitely wont work on Vista and they may not work on Win98 or WinME either.

NOTE 3: The 2010 Desktop Countdown Timer uses exactly the same piccy as was used in 2009 so if you've already got the right sized piccy you just need to grab a copy of the PLAIN BACKGROUND version then unzip the files to the same place as last year (overwriting any existing files) to update the timer. See also item ( 5 ) of the instructions below.

NOTE 4: If you want to upgrade from an earlier version of the 2010 Desktop Countdown Timer to the even shinier and newer latest version, you also just need to grab a copy of the PLAIN BACKGROUND version then unzip the files to the same place as before (overwriting any existing files) to do so. See also item ( 5 ) of the instructions below.

( 1 ) Decide which ONE of the desktops you would like according to your screen size, grab a copy of the ZIP file and unzip the contents to somewhere convenient on your PC. The same basic piccy is used for all versions so there is absolutely no need to download more than one of them, just grab the most appropriate version for your particular screen size.

( 2 ) No matter what your screen size might be, if you want to use a totally different piccy altogether then that's no problemo. Just grab a copy of the PLAIN BACKGROUND version then bung any appropriate sized piccy named "background.jpg" with the unzipped files and voila ... your piccy will appear as if by magic instead of the plain background. The piccy really needs to be exactly same size in pixels as your screen but it can be bigger if you aren't able to crop it to be the right size. If your piccy is wider than the screen, the right hand side will get cropped off. If it's taller then the bottom will get cropped off. However, if it's smaller then it all gets very messy indeed because the piccy gets tiled to fill the screen and it will probably look very cr@p.

( 3 ) You can now quite simply set the unzipped "Glasto 2010 desktop countdown.htm" as your desktop using the Display applet in Control Panel and arrange your Task Bar and Desktop Icons to be as you want them. This works just fine on WinXP with no problems at all and it also works reasonably well on Win98/WinME BUT rather sadly, you can't do this directly on Vista (or anything newer) because M$ have intentionally removed Active Desktop from all Windoze versions after WinXP.  For Vista and later versions of Windoze, a 3rd party application is required to replicate the missing Active Desktop functionality. I'm not in any way responsible for writing this application it is simply a copy of THIS but it does seem to work just fine and it doesn't appear to have any nasty side-effects.

( 4 ) There are several ways of setting this up of course and it also depends on which particular version of Windoze you're running as well so follow the most appropriate method from those below depending on your particular system.

( 4A ) The simple method for Win98/ME/XP

The easiest way is to just set the unzipped "Glasto 2010 desktop countdown.htm" as your Wallpaper. If you don't know how to change your Wallpaper then here is a (hopefully correct) quicky guide that should point you in the right kinda direction regardless of which particular version of Windoze you're actually using:

  ( a ) Select CONTROL PANEL from the SETTINGS option on START MENU

  ( b ) Double click on the DISPLAY applet when CONTROL PANEL appears

  ( c ) Click on the BACKGROUND or DESKTOP tab and look for the list of Wallpapers

  ( d ) SELECT or BROWSE to the unzipped file "......countdown.htm"

  ( e ) Click APPLY to set the Countdown Timer as your Wallpaper

  ( f ) If asked to "Enable Active Desktop" then click YES

  ( g ) Keep clicking OK until the Display applet closes.

  ( h ) Enjoy your shiny new desktop with Glasto piccy and countdown !

( 4B ) The alternative method for Win98

An alternative method for setting a webpage as your desktop might produce slightly better results in addition to possibly allowing the eFests shortcuts to work as they should do as well. This is the (hopefully correct) quicky guide for Win98 ONLY:

  ( a ) Select CONTROL PANEL from the SETTINGS option on START MENU

  ( b ) Double click on the DISPLAY applet when CONTROL PANEL appears

  ( c ) Click on the WEB tab

  ( d ) Ensure "View Active Desktop as webpage" option is checked

  ( e ) Click on NEW then BROWSE to the unzipped files and select "...... countdown.htm"

  ( f ) Keep clicking OK until the Display applet closes.

  ( g ) A small resizable window should now have opened on your desktop

  ( h ) You have to move and resize this window manually using the mouse until it covers your desktop

  ( i ) Enjoy your shiny new desktop with Glasto piccy and countdown !

( 4C ) The alternative method for WinME

An alternative method for setting a webpage as your desktop might produce slightly better results in addition to possibly allowing the eFests shortcuts to work as they should do as well. This is the (hopefully correct) quicky guide for WinME ONLY:

  ( a ) Select CONTROL PANEL from the SETTINGS option on START MENU

  ( b ) Double click on the DISPLAY applet when CONTROL PANEL appears

  ( c ) Click on the WEB tab

  ( d ) Ensure "View Active Desktop as webpage" option is checked

  ( e ) Click on NEW then BROWSE to the unzipped files and select "......countdown.htm"

  ( f ) Keep clicking OK until the Display applet closes.

  ( g ) A small resizable window should now have opened on your desktop

  ( h ) Hover mouse in the top left corner until the control bar appears

  ( i ) Click the DOWN ARROW and select COVER DESKTOP from the options

  ( j ) Enjoy your shiny new desktop with Glasto piccy and countdown !

( 4D ) The alternative method for WinXP

An alternative method for setting a webpage as your desktop might produce slightly better results in addition to possibly allowing the eFests shortcuts to work as they should do as well. This is the (hopefully correct) quicky guide for WinXP ONLY:

  ( a ) Select CONTROL PANEL from the SETTINGS option on START MENU

  ( b ) Double click on the DISPLAY applet when CONTROL PANEL appears

  ( c ) Click on the DESKTOP tab and then the CUSTOMISE DESKTOP button

  ( d ) Click on the WEB tab and then the NEW button

  ( e ) BROWSE to the unzipped files and select "......countdown.htm"

  ( f ) Keep clicking OK until the Display applet closes.

  ( g ) A small resizable window should now have opened on your desktop

  ( h ) Hover mouse in the top left corner until the control bar appears

  ( i ) Click the DOWN ARROW and select COVER DESKTOP [##] from the options

  ( j ) Enjoy your shiny new desktop with Glasto piccy and countdown !

[##] If you select SPLIT DESKTOP rather than COVER DESKTOP then you can easily use one of the 'normal' sized desktops on a widescreen display if you want to. For example, if your screen is is say 1066x600 then use the 800x600full version and select SPLIT DESKTOP. The counter will appear on the right-hand side of your screen with your standard desktop on the left-hand side. All you need to do then is tweak the width of the counter window by dragging the left-hand side border with the mouse until the horizontal scroll bar just disappears.

( 4E ) The only method for Vista or later versions of Windoze

I don't personally have access to anything running Vista so I can't provide definitive step-by-step instructions here but this explains what's required. Make sure that you fully understand EXACTLY what to do BEFORE starting out. If you're not quite sure about something or have any questions at all then please post something in this thread and no doubt someone will be able to provide you with an answer.

  ( a ) Grab a copy of the zipfile of the extra stuff required for Vista from HERE then unzip it to the same place as you unzipped the Desktop Countdown Timer zipfile.

  ( b ) For security reasons, SCAN THE DIRECTORY/FOLDER WITH A FULLY UP-TO-DATE VIRUS SCANNER JUST IN CASE because executable files are now involved.

  ( c ) Change your Wallpaper to the unzipped file "backgroundv.bmp" and select "center" rather than tiled, stretched or whatevered.

  ( d ) Run the unzipped 3rd party application "AveDesktopSites.exe" but note that it minimises into the System Tray when you run it. Left click on the extra icon (a lightbulb/balloon shaped thingy) that appears in the System Tray to open the application.

  ( e ) Click on the "+" button.

  ( f ) Edit the default URL to be the FULL PATH to the unzipped Countdown Timer page
e.g. C:\My Documents\Countdown\glasto 2010 desktop countdown.htm

  ( g ) Set the screen position/size to TOP = 0, LEFT = 0, WIDTH = your screen width in pixels, HEIGHT = your screen height in pixels.

  ( h ) Set the UPDATE INTERVAL to zero seconds.

  ( i ) Check the IS LIVE ITEM box.

  ( j ) Click APPLY to save the settings and you should get a small preview image of the Desktop Countdown then click HIDE to send the application back to the system tray.  If you don't see the preview image then there is something wrong with the path to the Countdown Timer that you entered so you will need to correct it.

  ( k ) After you've clicked HIDE, you can edit any of the settings at any time by left clicking on the icon in the System Tray to open the application and then highlighting the Countdown Timer entry in the sites list. Don't forget to click APPLY and then HIDE if you've changed something because closing the window will terminate the application.

  ( l ) If you like the results and want to continue using the Desktop Countdown Timer then you will need to run the 3rd party application every single time you start your PC. To do this automatically, simply add a shortcut in your Startup Folder to it BUT only do this when you are 100% happy with everything and it's all working as it should do.

  ( m ) Enjoy your shiny new desktop with Glasto piccy and countdown !

( 5 ) If you add/change the background piccy or upgrade the countdown timer at any time after setting it as your desktop then you will probably need to do the following before any changes take effect.

( 5A ) On Win98/ME/XP, go back to the standard desktop and then select the webpage desktop again to ensure that the background is updated.  I don't think "synchronise" actually works at all with local files, it's just another one of those Windoze features I guess Rebooting ought to have the desired effect as well but I'm not certain about that.

( 5B ) On Vista and later versions of Windoze, close and restart the 3rd party application used to replicate the missing Active Desktop functionality.  Rebooting ought to have the desired effect as well but I'm not certain about that.

( 6 ) To stop using the Desktop Countdown Timer and/or remove it completely from your system you will need to do the following.

( 6a ) On win98/ME/XP all you need to do is select an alternative standard Wallpaper instead, disable Active Desktop or uncheck the "View Active Desktop as Webpage" option depending on exactly how you set it up and which particular version of Windoze you're actually using. Once you have stopped using it, the relevant entry in the Wallpaper or Active Desktop items list can be deleted as can all of the files that you downloaded and unzipped to somewhere convenient on your system.

( 6b ) On Vista and later versions of Windoze

Again, I don't personally have access to anything running Vista so I can't provide definitive step-by-step instructions here but this explains what's required. Make sure that you fully understand EXACTLY what to do BEFORE starting out. If you're not quite sure about something or have any questions at all then please post something in this thread and no doubt someone will be able to provide you with an answer.

  ( a ) Close the 3rd party application.

  ( b ) Change your Wallpaper to one of the standard Wallpapers.

  ( c ) Delete the shortcut to the 3rd party application in your Startup Folder if you added one.

  ( d ) Delete everything that you downloaded and unzipped to somewhere convenient on your system.

  ( e ) Delete the file "avedesktopsites.ini" which will be wherever Vista stores Application Data. You can use Windoze Search to find it if you don't know exactly where to look.

Plain background for any size screen, using a custom piccy or updating any 2009 or old 2010 version

Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this depending on your actual screen size:



Or featuring absolutely any piccy you would like to use instead of just a simple plain background.  Just add your piccy (which must be the right size for your screen and be named "background.jpg") to the same directory/folder as the "glasto 2010 desktop countdown.htm" file.



Piccy background for 800x600 screen

Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this:

[image had to be deleted due to forum changes]


Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this:

[image had to be deleted due to forum changes]




Piccy background for 1024x768 screen

Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this:




Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this:





Piccy background for 1280x800 widescreen (also suitable for 1280x720 and 1280x768)

Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this:





Piccy background for 1280x1024 screen

Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this:

[image had to be deleted due to forum changes]


Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this:

[image had to be deleted due to forum changes]



Piccy background for up to 1600x900 widescreen format

Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this:

[image had to be deleted due to forum changes]

This should work pretty well with just about all common resolutions of reasonable sized widescreen displays i.e. it will be good for 1360x768, 1440x900 and any others there may be up to 1600x900.



Piccy background for 1680x1050 widescreen format

Grab ZIP file from HERE to get something like this:



This is about the max that can be sensibly achieved from the piccy I found.  If your screen is even bigger than this then I'm afraid that the original piccy just aint as big as your wallet is so you're just going to have to commission your very own piccy seeing as you can quite obviously afford it



If anyone has or knows the whereabouts of some other good "royalty-free" high-res background pics then please post a SMALL preview and links to download the full size image(s). Any pic that is the right size for your screen can be used, it simply has to be named "background.jpg" and be stored in the same place as the other files that's all.



I suppose that I'd better add the usual   ..... BIG WARNING .....   PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE only download the 1280x1024, 1600x900 or 1680x1050 versions if you really *do* need them because the file sizes are getting pretty d@mn big so it's really going to put a strain on the old bandwidth. If too many peeps needlessly grab copies then there is a very high risk that my service provider will simply pull the plug on Ye Olde Server and send me a snot-a-gram ... which is absolutely guaranteed to seriously p1$$ me (and others) right off needless to say because absolutely all of my stuff will be taken off-line and it will take me around a week or so of messing around and mucho grovelling to get my service back up and running again.



So there you have it, the shiny new Glasto 2010 Countdown Timer all ready and waiting to make even the cr@piest and most boring of PC desktops seem ubercool once again

Are we there yet ? Are we there yet ? Are we there yet ? Are we there yet ? ...



[updated to include details of using the Desktop Countdown Timer on Vista]
[updated to add linky to post with Brothers Bar background piccy]
[updated to put all the linkies and other stuff right after a c*ck up on the editing front]
[updated to add note regarding 2011 versions]
[updated to remove links/images after forum changes]

Edited by mikeb, 10 October 2010 - 12:23 PM.

[norainplease]

Thank you Mikeb, I am so excited now already!!  

[ferraristu]

What about one for OS X  

[THEBOILERMAN]

mikeb you are indeed a star.

[LondonTom]

Wow that is awesome, loaded it up just now and looks awesome:P

Also gave me an excuse to clean my desktop

[Mikeydread]

Thanks!

[Okky]

Can we get one without the efestival logo on?

[glasto_mongrel_2008]

Will this work on a Mac?

[WhatsThatSound111]

This has made my day  

Thanks!

[glasto_mongrel_2008]

glasto_mongrel_2008, on Sep 24 2009, 01:47 PM, said:

Will this work on a Mac?

Got it working.  Thanks Mike

[mikeb]

ferraristu, on Sep 23 2009, 04:20 PM, said:

What about one for OS X  

glasto_mongrel_2008, on Sep 24 2009, 01:47 PM, said:

Will this work on a Mac?

Well ... it's technically possible of course because it's only a bit of noddy code on a webpage after all so it should run perfectly well in any old browser and on any old OS. All that Windoze is actually doing is displaying a local webpage on the desktop (rather than in a window) using the display mechanism in ie. You could always run it in a browser window but what's really needed is to find some way of replicating the Active Desktop stylee Windoze feature in OSX (or whatever) so that the Countdown Timer page actually appears as a true desktop/wallpaper/background rather than simply as an open browser window on the desktop.

Apple did announce a few years ago that there would be an Active Desktop stylee feature sometime in the future but I've no idea whether it actually happened or not.  If there's any way to use an html file (rather than just a simple jpg or whatever image) as your desktop/wallpaper/background then this is all that's required but you'll have to figure out if it is possible and how to do it yourself as I know sod all about driving a Mac !  I did see a suggestion that setting a local webpage as a screensaver sort-of gave the desired effect so that's maybe worth investigating.

If there still isn't anything available in the OS as standard then it looks as though something like THIS will do it for you although I obviously can't be certain of course and I note that it costs a few $s as well.  Might be worth DLing the trial version tho and giving it a go - it claims to be able to display any old webpage on the desktop which is exactly what's needed here.  There were other similar apps (some of which were freeware) being bandied around several years ago when M$ Active Desktop was flavour of the month but I can't seem to find any current info and/or valid DLs for them now.

glasto_mongrel_2008, on Sep 24 2009, 02:39 PM, said:

Got it working.  Thanks Mike

Ah-ha, so it is doable then   Maybe you could post an quicky idiots guide sometime for anyone else who might want to know how to do it ? and I'll also try to remember to keep a copy for future reference.



Edited To Add: Here's a couple of other interesting looking linkies that may help to get the Desktop Countdown running sensibly on a Mac stylee desktop:

Webdesk and webdesktop

I've no idea whether any of these apps do work satisfactorily or how to set them up and so on but the 2 linkies above are freeware and the earlier one has a free trial period so they may well be worth having a play with if the current Mac OS still doesn't have an Active Desktop stylee function.  You do need to be able to run Javascript or only the background pic will be displayed so check your system and/or the app settings to ensure that Javascript is enabled.

Just a word of warning if you do play around with any of these apps - the Desktop Countdown page DOES NOT need to be periodically refreshed so make sure that you disable any automatic refresh function there may be or set the refresh interval to zero or some massive long time if zero doesn't work. You only need to load the countdown page once every time you boot the system because the page refreshes itself once a second.

Edited by mikeb, 30 January 2010 - 12:44 PM.

[glastofreak]

How come they are all at the same time?  Unless Mikeb is the new Dr. Who and has been flying through time

Edited by glastofreak, 24 September 2009 - 08:59 PM.

[mikeb]

Simples - I have but one cr@ppy old 15" crt monitor and that can barely display at 800x600 never mind anything bigger so all the other apparent 'screengrabs' were quite easily obtained by stepping in to me old tardis ... and then doing the merest hint of image manipulation photoshop stylee using Ye Verye Olde Paint Shop Pro   Just cos you see it doesn't mean it's real and all that - the previews are mostly mock-ups  

[mikeb]

OK some maybe good news for all you Windoze Vista users ... there is a malicious rumour that a solution to partly implementing the old Active Desktop functionality in Vista does indeed exist.  From what I can tell from playing with the freeware app and looking at the source code, it should allow the Countdown Timer to display correctly on the Vista desktop although unfortunately, the eFests clicky linkies will definitely not work if you click on them. I don't actually have access to Vista but it does appear to work reasonably well on XP although by no means as well as I hoped it would it has to be said. Maybe it will work much better on Vista though which is what it's intended for of course. So if anyone feels brave enough to give it a try then please PM me and I'll send you a linky to DL the extra stuff together with instructions for what I think you need to do to make it work.   There's nothing to install, it's all set up manually so there's little danger of screwing anything up and it's real easy to get rid of if it's not up to the job or whatever.

I don't want to just post all the relevant info in public here unless it does actually work without any significant problems. There's no point lots of peeps trying it if it doesn't do quite what it implies it should do, simply doesn't work at all or there are some other weirdo problems with it in addition to the relatively minor issues that I've already found.

<---- Will the first passing guinea pig please press the PM button over there and all that

Edited by mikeb, 26 September 2009 - 09:52 PM.

[ShadyBlueBell]

B   rill Mike, good god I remember this year adding the countdown and seeing 92 days to go it pasted so quickly but now we have 268 days to go ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[mikeb]

1 x Vista

now recuited, thanks   Watch this space and all that to see how it goes !

[mikeb]

Because of some tweaks that became necessary in order to try getting the Desktop Countdown Timer to work sensibly with Vista, I've finally been forced into doing the 'right' thing at last ... and have rewritten it ! Apart from removing shedloads of redundant old cr@p that had been hanging around for donkeys years and sorting various known errors, I think it's also mostly resolved all the stupid and unexplained scaling, centring and alignment issues that came up every now and again as well. The only visible difference apart from a slightly better and more consistent look is that the text scroller is now vertical rather than horizontal.

If you grabbed your copy of the Desktop Countdown Timer before today then you don't *have* to upgrade to the shiny new latest version at all but if you want to, regardless of which version you have you just need to grab a copy of the PLAIN BACKGROUND version then unzip the files to the same place as you did the previous version (overwriting any existing files) to do it.  See also item ( 5 ) of the instructions in the first post of this thread.

However, the **REAL** good news here is that with mucho thanks to being test driven by LondonTom (AKA The Guineapig, which is a bit kinda like being The Stig only way cooler of course ) it now looks as though the Desktop Countdown Timer will indeed work quite sensibly on Vista and hopefully on any subsequent versions of Windoze as well   I've updated the instructions etc. in the first post to add details for using it on Vista.  Setting it up on Vista is a bit messy unfortunately so be careful and make sure that you understand exactly what to do before trying it.

[Deepsky]

I'm already counting down in my MSN messenger status!

[NeilVJ]

I didn't want to download prior to ticket day incase I brought bad luck and didn't get a ticket. But now I have a ticket so think I should get the countown as my desktop

[LondonTom]

I just set this up on my laptop now I got it back,(When tested the vista thing and you first posted it was in repair).

Just edited this picture to fit my screen (1280x800) and change this the background of the countdown, looks amazing



From Here