How to make custom screensaver

July 13, 2011 6:59 PM

How to make a custom screensaver for a client with clock, calendar and a banner system?

A client's asking for a screensaver for their employees' computers that would include a Clock and Calendar, plus Banners that they (management, not each employee) could manage in some centralized manner.
It should have a custom design, with the client's logo, etc.
Does such a beast exist? Is there some software or framework we could use to create it? Our experience is in web design + dev, not in screensavers.
Assume all computers are running windows, probably XP or Vista.

posted by signal to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Desktop 'Active Desktop' for XP
'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Sidebar' Windows Sidebar for Vista

I'm sure there are better approaches (something that will work on both).
posted by southof40 at 7:12 PM on July 13, 2011

Sorry I was reading too fast. Not sure those two will do what you want but you might take a look.
posted by southof40 at 7:13 PM on July 13, 2011

Best answer: There are windows screen savers out there that will let you run a Flash swf file as a screensaver. That seems like a pretty reasonable framework to use to accomplish what you are looking for.
posted by jferg at 9:10 PM on July 13, 2011

Checkout some of the Featured Desktops and the tools they use over at Lifehacker.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:33 PM on July 13, 2011

Windows screensavers are pretty much usual executables with .scr extensions. You could code this in, say, c# or c++. Since you don't have the in-house expertise to pull this off, I suggest you outsource it to someone over at, say, Freelancer.com. Just make sure you provide a very detailed spec with requirements and mockups if possible.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:02 PM on July 13, 2011