Last post I covered the technical / geeky side of car-wallpapers.net. Now what you guys are probably more interested in, widescreen support. I’ve done a bit of research on different resolutions and aspect ratios of widescreen monitors, and decided the best move forward is going to be redesigning the auto-resizing engine of the site based around aspect ratios, rather than hardcoded sizes. I also realized (in math and theory first, but then looked and saw in practicality) 1280×1024 is a different aspect ration than the standard 4:3 resolutions (such as 1024×768), and as such, most 1280×1024 images are stretched and distorted. 1280×1024 is unique as XSGA, and while it’s the default size for many LCDs, it breaks the rules of standard aspect ratio practices. I’m probably going to have to keep it in the 4:3 ratio bank and deal with the distortions unless someone has a better suggestion. Anyway, my plan for revising the uploads auto-resizing system is to, rather than create a static set of accepted resolutions, create a static set of accepted ratios, then check the uploaded image’s ratio against that static list, and confirm it’s larger than 800×600 overall. At that point, the system will automatically flag it as widescreen (if it is) on the view page, and automatically generate new wallpapers on a simple algorithmic step down, continuing recursively until breaking when the size drops below 800×600. This would allow you to upload a 1600×1200 and generate all the standard 4:3 background images, as well as uploading a 1920×1200 and stepping all the way down the widescreen list. When it’s rewritten, it will probably only support 3:2 (only because Apple went and changed things with Powerbooks), 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10. I was considering adding support for HDTVs and projectors (for the higher-income geeks), however I think that would be in vein, and add more junk to the galleries than anything else. I’m going to do a bit more research on this over the next week and ensure I’m not missing something so I can develop it correctly the first (or second, if your a pessimist) time. I’d appreciate any suggestions, comments, or ideas on this. Thanks!

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