Windows build: 19042.1288 (version 20H2)
I have found what might be a couple of bugs with the playlist function. I also have some suggestions for improvements to the function.
The potential bugs:
#1 (the easy one): When viewing a playlist of pictures, if the first background is removed, activating the back button does not update the thumbnail immediately.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Open DeskScapes settings window.
2. Navigate to the Playlists section.
3. Build a playlist of at least 2 pictures.
4. Activate the back button. You should have your newly formed playlist with a thumbnail of the first picture added (top-leftmost picture).
5. Remove the top-leftmost picture (the picture with its thumbnail shown).
6. Activate the back button. The thumbnail does not update immediately.
7. Navigate to a different section of the window (example: the videos folder).
8. Navigate back to the Playlists folder. The thumbnail should be updated.
End reproduction steps at step 8.
#2 (the hard one): I have a playlist of multiple (in my case, 8) pictures set to change every 5 minutes (or, approximately so) (I selected the Change every 5 minutes option.). I have found, at least twice, the playlist to get “stuck in a loop.” The playlist contains 8 pictures; however, the playlist continually cycled between 2 of them for what felt like an inordinately long period of time (in the first case, I am sure that it was over an hour, although I was not watching the timespan in either case). I found that reapplying the playlist looked to at least temporarily fix the issue. Also, with a playlist of videos, some of them often played at least twice (and, in rare cases, once of 3 times) before fading into the next video with the playlist configured to upon videos ending. I am not sure if this is a bug or a function within the playlist. The reason that I am not sure if it is a bug or a function is because the playlist function might be designed to repeat videos of a specific length range (example 5-10 seconds) before transitioning.
Steps to reproduce:
For pictures:
1. Open DeskScapes settings window.
2. Navigate to the Playlists section.
3. Build a playlist of pictures (A higher quantity is recommended. I used 8.)
4. Apply the background to any display (or all displays or as a screensaver [perhaps]). I applied this background to monitor 1.
5. Set the pictures to transition every 5 minutes.
6. Wait (?) (I do not know what else to say about this. The developers might be able to force the problem to occur. I also do not know if there is a specific timeframe that needs to be waited.) (This is why this [possible] bug is labelled “the hard one.”)
End of reproduction steps for pictures.
For videos:
1. Open DeskScapes settings window.
2. Navigate to the Playlists section.
3. Build a playlist of videos (I found mine to ironically contain 8 videos [the same number of items as my picture playlist 🤣]
4. Apply the background to any display (or all displays or as a screensaver [perhaps]). I applied this background to monitor 3.
5. Set the videos to transition when each video ends.
6. Watch to see if any of the videos are played more than once before the playlist fades to the next video (Using videos 10 seconds long and shorter might be the best way to test this.)
End of reproduction steps for videos.
Suggestions:
1. Allow for playlist renaming.
2. Allow moving pictures and videos via drag and drop.
3. Allow sorting playlists (within the Playlists section)
4. Allowing sorting items within playlists. If both pictures and videos are present, consider adding, in addition to the “standard” sorting methods (date, size, name, …) the option to put either pictures or videos first.
Playlist renaming allows for changing the name of a playlist after it has been built without needing to remove and rebuild it. The remaining 3 suggestions apply mainly to those cases when a user decides to have the playlist run sequentially through the backgrounds present. This might be done to build a story (such as a collection of family photos), show a time lapse, simulate a panoramic view, and other things of the sort. All-in-all, DeskScapes 11 is an application (and, if DeskScapes is installed, an update or upgrade) that I would recommend. It was exciting to use 2 different “slideshows.” I had wanted to do that with at least version 10 (and perhaps version 8, as I did use that). But, version 10 did not allow applying a slideshow to a single monitor. Version 11’s playlist function “fixes” that “problem.” Sadly, it seems that, as a new feature, it does, as one might expect, contain some minor bugs.
Potential third bug discovered:
Steps to reproduce:
1. Open DeskScapes settings window.
2. Have another application window or the Start menu on top of it.
3. Press Windows + comma (view desktop)
You should see some of your desktop background with a silhouette of DeskScapes’ settings window.
