5 ms·

Ever notice Chrome has no "Set image as wallpaper"?

34 points by ivank 16y ago

cjg 16y ago
The thing that struck me was the level of passion that the users who wanted the feature had. Also the range of argument quality: "i think ya'll should be able to have your thing mothafucka" vs "Lengthening the context menu? Finally a REASON as to the WontFix. A seriously flawed one, since you could easily allow your users to customize things such as what's displayed in the context menu."
jarin 16y ago
"Comment 32 by orphenshadow, Jan 24, 2009 I love chrome, but this is one of the main reasons it is 2nd behind firefox." Clearly.
Xuzz 16y ago
People get so worked up about the little things.
ivank 16y ago
(I didn't notice, I just somehow landed on it via the bug tracker.) The tracker has quite a few of these amusing threads. You'll frequently notice: 1) it's only one line of code! 2) this bug has been open for a year - outrageous! Edit: the WontFix reason from a Googler is at https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1019#c165 https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1019#c16...
mahmud 16y ago
I haven't seen my actual desktop for ages. I always have applications, editors and viewers running.
bruceboughton 16y ago
Who says it's a bug? Maybe they've omitted it on purpose to de-emphasise the desktop/OS as part of their Chrome OS play. Still a pain if you use it though. As an aside, it's interesting that the reporter says it's their favourite feature. Either they're emphasising for effect or they don't think of most of Chrome's core features as features.
- ulf 16y ago
  I agree, they gradually push the user towards a browser-only environment. When you have no wallpaper, you do not like to look at your desktop that much. But when they are ready to make Chrome OS more mainstream, the Chrome users may go easier in the transition.
  - pyre 16y ago
    > When you have no wallpaper, you do not like to look at your desktop that much Because the browser is the only/best way to set your wallpaper? :-\
cstuder 16y ago
Obligatory Userfriendly-link: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000229 http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000229 Perhaps that's why.
nitrogen 16y ago
Is it possible for a Chrome extension to access desktop settings, such as the background?
- ivank 16y ago
  "Theoretically you could make an extension for this using the Context Menus API (http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/dev/contextMenus.html http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/dev/contextMenus.ht...) and an NPAPI plugin... " https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1019#c455 https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1019#c45...
patrickaljord 16y ago
This already works on KDE, just drag the picture from chrome to the desktop and you'll be asked to set it as wallpaper.
- corin_ 16y ago
  The chances of anyone requesting this feature being a linux user are slim.
danielnicollet 16y ago
maybe that's why I use Chrome and dread IE ;-)
pendragon 16y ago
Hmm: "direct from our Browser, like we have since the dawn of the internet". I'm young, and the internet existed when I was born, but I don't think there was a web in the internet's "dawn", let alone graphical web browsers. Still, aren't applications made for their users? The use case would be commoner among the less computer savvy people I suppose (i.e. not the three Google people).
- corin_ 16y ago
  People who wouldn't use that feature and aren't tech-savvy won't bother making the argument against it, so it falls to the tech-savvy ones to make the point already made in these HN comments, that if they catered to every small request the browser would end up too bloated.
noverloop 16y ago
This thread made me realize how disciplined a team must be to resist feature creep.
InclinedPlane 16y ago
This is a feature I'm glad Chrome lacks. This is also an excellent reason why you need a deep understanding of your product and its uses so that you know when to ignore user suggestions. Users will beg and plead for you to ruin your product if you're not careful. Remember the importance of listening to your users, but also remember that your product is not a pot-luck.
Maakuth 16y ago
Talk about building a bike shed :D Personally I think I've used that feature in other browsers more as an accident than on purpose, so I see why they don't have it.
gmurphy 16y ago
I'm the 'Glen' from the Chromium UI team referred to in the bug report; we actually do torture ourselves over questions like this - it comes down to painful decisions about keeping Chrome lightweight. Sure, a single small context menu item might not make a lot of difference, but there are thousands of features like this, each servicing a different small set of people. In addition to the interface overhead of having all of those features, the engineering (don't forget cross platform, keeping it up to date, translation into 40 languages, and support) is never as small as you think it is. It's painful because taken individually, we know we could fix an issue and make a set of people happy, but there are never ending piles of these issues, and we none of us want to let Chrome become a never-ending pile of menu items and buttons and extra leading to cruft and bugs. Now I have made myself sad.
- sgentle 16y ago
  All this has happened before, and will happen again. Here's my personal favourite, from when Mozilla dropped MNG support: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18574#c672 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18574#c672 I remember being upset that MNG was removed. I never used it, but I might have! Maybe! And an extra 300kb or so isn't really that much, is it? And you can just drop it in instead of libPNG, there probably won't be any security or compatibility problems, and if there are they'll be easy to fix, right? I'm sure the other browsers will support it soon. Hard to be the bad guy, I guess, but you guys are doing the right thing. Have you read Jim Collins' Good to Great? Look up "rinsing your cheese".
- erikstarck 16y ago
  One option would be to have these settings as optional with default turned off. A first time user would then have a very simple browser and yet the more advanced user could add features they prefer. In a way this is what plugins are for but installing a plugin for a tiny feature seems like overkill.
- travisjeffery 16y ago
  I was doing my pre-sleep reading of HN on my iPad and got out of bed and on my computer to thank you and tell you that I'm very happy you guys have the balls to say no and choose what's best over the public opinion. You guys have made caught up and surpassed in many ways every other web browser out there in a staggering pace -- seriously, congrats to that. Chromium is my default browser and I love and look forward to what you guys are doing! :D
Zak 16y ago
I've never noticed the lack of this feature in Chrome, and I don't think I've ever used it in a browser that had it. Maybe this is a feature an extension could handle, assuming Chrome's security model allows it. The security model is one area in which Chrome could, perhaps do with a bit more complexity. The fact that I can't use mouse gestures on local directory listings or the new tab page annoys me. I want to mark the mouse gestures extension as trusted and therefore allowed to run on any page Chrome can display.
nakkiel 16y ago
I didn't notice it was lacking this option until this reading. Like most other people here when I see my desktop background it means I'm shutting down the computer. Funnily though, the Google folks are silly enough to give people the ability to add a background image feature to their that-many hits/day search page, but not the user's own desktop..
davvid 16y ago
That thread was hilarious. "Definitely thinking of going back to firefox over this" "Stupid Google; I set new backgrounds more often than I download pictures by far. This is not bloat. Breathtaking arrogance and disrespectful attitude toward users." :-) are we sure this isn't some kinda 4chan joke?
- wtracy 16y ago
  Five comments in, I was absolutely certain this was a joke thread. O_o
sid0 16y ago
Chrome's philosophy is self-consistent, and that's probably the only objective metric, even though this means that they produce (to me) a useless browser. (I use set image as wallpaper all the time.)
soyelmango 16y ago
After reading this, I've just noticed that my FF has the option. I've never felt the urge to use it - probably because I have a (127,127,127) background so that I can actually see my icons and text. I think Glen justifies it well - it's not a tiny little feature, it's a load of unnecessary overhead. Good on him and the team for standing their ground. Reading some of the comments on the tracker, I'm amazed at how much of a must have they consider it.
wccrawford 16y ago
It occurs to me that I take my background a lot more seriously than most people. I can't imagine using that feature to set my background. I would want to have a good view of the background while I do it, and I would want to make sure I like it more than my current background, or any other options at the moment. Also, I change backgrounds ... Well, almost never. And finally: I have multiple monitors and they can have different backgrounds.
mohamedmansour 16y ago
Hey Glen, its Mohamed (Chromium contributor/committer), I decided to create an extension for this feature and it works great. Hopefully those people who are left out will be happy again, and continue to use Chromium. It is uploaded to the Gallery as of 30 minutes ago! https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ddkmiidlgnkhnfhigdpadkaamogngkin https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ddkmiidlgnkhnfhi...

34 points by ivank 16y ago

cjg 16y ago

The thing that struck me was the level of passion that the users who wanted the feature had. Also the range of argument quality: "i think ya'll should be able to have your thing mothafucka" vs "Lengthening the context menu? Finally a REASON as to the WontFix. A seriously flawed one, since you could easily allow your users to customize things such as what's displayed in the context menu."

jarin 16y ago

"Comment 32 by orphenshadow, Jan 24, 2009 I love chrome, but this is one of the main reasons it is 2nd behind firefox." Clearly.

Xuzz 16y ago

People get so worked up about the little things.

ivank 16y ago

(I didn't notice, I just somehow landed on it via the bug tracker.) The tracker has quite a few of these amusing threads. You'll frequently notice: 1) it's only one line of code! 2) this bug has been open for a year - outrageous! Edit: the WontFix reason from a Googler is at https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1019#c165 https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1019#c16...

mahmud 16y ago

I haven't seen my actual desktop for ages. I always have applications, editors and viewers running.

bruceboughton 16y ago

Who says it's a bug? Maybe they've omitted it on purpose to de-emphasise the desktop/OS as part of their Chrome OS play. Still a pain if you use it though. As an aside, it's interesting that the reporter says it's their favourite feature. Either they're emphasising for effect or they don't think of most of Chrome's core features as features.

ulf 16y ago
I agree, they gradually push the user towards a browser-only environment. When you have no wallpaper, you do not like to look at your desktop that much. But when they are ready to make Chrome OS more mainstream, the Chrome users may go easier in the transition.
- pyre 16y ago
  > When you have no wallpaper, you do not like to look at your desktop that much Because the browser is the only/best way to set your wallpaper? :-\

cstuder 16y ago

Obligatory Userfriendly-link: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000229 http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000229 Perhaps that's why.

nitrogen 16y ago

Is it possible for a Chrome extension to access desktop settings, such as the background?

ivank 16y ago
"Theoretically you could make an extension for this using the Context Menus API (http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/dev/contextMenus.html http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/dev/contextMenus.ht...) and an NPAPI plugin... " https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1019#c455 https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1019#c45...

patrickaljord 16y ago

This already works on KDE, just drag the picture from chrome to the desktop and you'll be asked to set it as wallpaper.

corin_ 16y ago
The chances of anyone requesting this feature being a linux user are slim.

danielnicollet 16y ago

maybe that's why I use Chrome and dread IE ;-)

pendragon 16y ago

Hmm: "direct from our Browser, like we have since the dawn of the internet". I'm young, and the internet existed when I was born, but I don't think there was a web in the internet's "dawn", let alone graphical web browsers. Still, aren't applications made for their users? The use case would be commoner among the less computer savvy people I suppose (i.e. not the three Google people).

corin_ 16y ago
People who wouldn't use that feature and aren't tech-savvy won't bother making the argument against it, so it falls to the tech-savvy ones to make the point already made in these HN comments, that if they catered to every small request the browser would end up too bloated.

noverloop 16y ago

This thread made me realize how disciplined a team must be to resist feature creep.

InclinedPlane 16y ago

This is a feature I'm glad Chrome lacks. This is also an excellent reason why you need a deep understanding of your product and its uses so that you know when to ignore user suggestions. Users will beg and plead for you to ruin your product if you're not careful. Remember the importance of listening to your users, but also remember that your product is not a pot-luck.

Maakuth 16y ago

Talk about building a bike shed :D Personally I think I've used that feature in other browsers more as an accident than on purpose, so I see why they don't have it.

gmurphy 16y ago

I'm the 'Glen' from the Chromium UI team referred to in the bug report; we actually do torture ourselves over questions like this - it comes down to painful decisions about keeping Chrome lightweight. Sure, a single small context menu item might not make a lot of difference, but there are thousands of features like this, each servicing a different small set of people. In addition to the interface overhead of having all of those features, the engineering (don't forget cross platform, keeping it up to date, translation into 40 languages, and support) is never as small as you think it is. It's painful because taken individually, we know we could fix an issue and make a set of people happy, but there are never ending piles of these issues, and we none of us want to let Chrome become a never-ending pile of menu items and buttons and extra leading to cruft and bugs. Now I have made myself sad.

sgentle 16y ago
All this has happened before, and will happen again. Here's my personal favourite, from when Mozilla dropped MNG support: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18574#c672 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18574#c672 I remember being upset that MNG was removed. I never used it, but I might have! Maybe! And an extra 300kb or so isn't really that much, is it? And you can just drop it in instead of libPNG, there probably won't be any security or compatibility problems, and if there are they'll be easy to fix, right? I'm sure the other browsers will support it soon. Hard to be the bad guy, I guess, but you guys are doing the right thing. Have you read Jim Collins' Good to Great? Look up "rinsing your cheese".
erikstarck 16y ago
One option would be to have these settings as optional with default turned off. A first time user would then have a very simple browser and yet the more advanced user could add features they prefer. In a way this is what plugins are for but installing a plugin for a tiny feature seems like overkill.
travisjeffery 16y ago
I was doing my pre-sleep reading of HN on my iPad and got out of bed and on my computer to thank you and tell you that I'm very happy you guys have the balls to say no and choose what's best over the public opinion. You guys have made caught up and surpassed in many ways every other web browser out there in a staggering pace -- seriously, congrats to that. Chromium is my default browser and I love and look forward to what you guys are doing! :D

Zak 16y ago

I've never noticed the lack of this feature in Chrome, and I don't think I've ever used it in a browser that had it. Maybe this is a feature an extension could handle, assuming Chrome's security model allows it. The security model is one area in which Chrome could, perhaps do with a bit more complexity. The fact that I can't use mouse gestures on local directory listings or the new tab page annoys me. I want to mark the mouse gestures extension as trusted and therefore allowed to run on any page Chrome can display.

nakkiel 16y ago

I didn't notice it was lacking this option until this reading. Like most other people here when I see my desktop background it means I'm shutting down the computer. Funnily though, the Google folks are silly enough to give people the ability to add a background image feature to their that-many hits/day search page, but not the user's own desktop..

davvid 16y ago

That thread was hilarious. "Definitely thinking of going back to firefox over this" "Stupid Google; I set new backgrounds more often than I download pictures by far. This is not bloat. Breathtaking arrogance and disrespectful attitude toward users." :-) are we sure this isn't some kinda 4chan joke?

wtracy 16y ago
Five comments in, I was absolutely certain this was a joke thread. O_o

sid0 16y ago

Chrome's philosophy is self-consistent, and that's probably the only objective metric, even though this means that they produce (to me) a useless browser. (I use set image as wallpaper all the time.)

soyelmango 16y ago

After reading this, I've just noticed that my FF has the option. I've never felt the urge to use it - probably because I have a (127,127,127) background so that I can actually see my icons and text. I think Glen justifies it well - it's not a tiny little feature, it's a load of unnecessary overhead. Good on him and the team for standing their ground. Reading some of the comments on the tracker, I'm amazed at how much of a must have they consider it.

wccrawford 16y ago

It occurs to me that I take my background a lot more seriously than most people. I can't imagine using that feature to set my background. I would want to have a good view of the background while I do it, and I would want to make sure I like it more than my current background, or any other options at the moment. Also, I change backgrounds ... Well, almost never. And finally: I have multiple monitors and they can have different backgrounds.

mohamedmansour 16y ago

Hey Glen, its Mohamed (Chromium contributor/committer), I decided to create an extension for this feature and it works great. Hopefully those people who are left out will be happy again, and continue to use Chromium. It is uploaded to the Gallery as of 30 minutes ago! https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ddkmiidlgnkhnfhigdpadkaamogngkin https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ddkmiidlgnkhnfhi...