Customize Windows Desktop

There are plenty of applications whose purpose is to rotate the desktop wallpaper. SE-DesktopConstructor sports this feature and even lets you set adjust the image on the screen, but in its case customization of the desktop space prevails.

The application is free of charge and if it fits your needs but you don’t want to install it on the system there is a portable version you can run. All the settings will be preserved in its own folder.

No matter the version you choose to put on the system you won’t face a proper interface because the application provides only a configuration window. All modifications are reflected in the desktop as soon as you apply them.

SE-DesktopConstructor does not bring a complicated set of options, but a rather a neatly arranged list of customization choices. These include adjusting the colors of the background, defining the picture folder for rotating the wallpaper, adding shapes and fill them with color or stick a clock and a calendar on the screen.

If you don’t feel like creating something from scratch, you can browse the presets the application makes available. There are 20 choices to pick from, with shapes, clocks and calendars placed on different parts of the screen as well as custom wallpaper images.

You can try customizing one of these and reposition the various elements composing the desktop. To make it really easy on you the program also brings a pretty rich pile of clocks to put on display. These are mostly analog, but there is a default digital one you can pick and customize in terms of color and position on the screen.

In SE-DesktopConstructor the background of the wallpaper is also subject to change. You determine the fill style (solid or gradient) and the colors to be blended together in the case of gradient. If having more than one layer on the screen is too much for you, you can give up filling the background with color.



The default location for drawing the wallpaper images in order to rotate them is the application’s folder. You can define a new one or add your own images to this directory to be rotated with a frequency you define. As far as this is concerned the options can get the desktop image changed every minute, each 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes, every 3, 6, 12 or 24 hours.

Another possibility when defining the image is its position. If you have the background enabled you can reposition the picture anywhere on the screen. Simply move the sample on the screen until you reach a satisfactory location.

The use of shapes may not be too well defined at first, but if you take a look at some of the templates in the app you’ll understand that they can act as digital pads for the clock or the calendar. Besides placing them anywhere on the screen you can also set their size, fill style and color. Moreover, the options let you select a border style as well as a border color.

Out of the myriad of clocks present in the program we stopped at the digital one (the fact that it was the only one also helped a lot). Personalizing this item mostly consists in coloring it; there is no option for gradient. It is updated according to the time displayed by the system, so you can fully rely on its accuracy.

Unlike the clock, the calendar brings more customization possibilities as it lets you select a font out of the seven included as well as apply different colors for the date, headers (days of the week), numbers and the current date. To make the latter stand out otherwise than color, SE-DesktopConstructor marks it with a frame, which can be painted in any manner you want.

SE-DesktopConstructor is not an extraordinary tool for customizing your desktop area, but it can be used with great ease. On the downside, managing the position of the elements on the screen is quite cumbersome as you rely only on coordinates instead of moving them in reference with other objects.

Also, apart from changing colors there isn’t much for you to do for a calendar or clock makeover. It would be nice to have multiple calendar types to choose from as well as more digital clocks.



The Good

If you go with the portable version of the application no installation is required. The list of settings is neatly organized in the configuration panel.

SE-DesktopConstructor makes available the possibility to rotate wallpapers in a user defined folder with a specific frequency.

The clock and calendar on the desktop can be customized in terms of color and position. Also, you can draw rectangle or ellipse shapes and fill them with color (solid or gradient).

The Bad

SE-DesktopConstructor is not too comfortable to handle, especially when it comes to pinning desktop elements to a certain position. Also, we noticed that saving a custom preset does not take into consideration the wallpaper applied, only the settings for the clock, shapes and the calendar.

To keep the custom desktop the application has to run and it will be visible in the notification area of the taskbar. A better approach would be to run in the background, as a service.

The Truth

We expected a little more flexibility from a desktop constructor, like the possibility to pin weather details on the screen, or clocks from different time zones.

However, on the upside, if you need a cool way to display the time and date SE-DesktopConstructor can be of help. Changing the desktop wallpaper is also among the abilities of the application.