Chromebook Device Wallpapers now available in Google Admin Console!
Finally! Administrators can now get rid of that pesky Lizard, cityscape, or whatever default image the manufacturer decided to push to every device. You now have granular control over this setting and can apply it domain wide, or by OU. This helps immensely during enrollment so you can ensure the device gets put in the right OU without having to refer back to the Admin Console! Your technicians can just look at the background image on the next boot!
Of course there are other benefits. We are immediately starting a program in our Graphics Design classes that allows them to push wallpapers to the entire student body for their school. Announcements? Pictures from recent events? You can push all of that now to each student’s pre-login desktop. And it will disappear once they log in. No more pestering students by taking over their logged-in wallpaper!
Now of course there is a lot of content that gets in the way on the home screen. That is why I created this template in Photoshop that will allow your students to see what content may be obstructed. This template has 4 obstructed areas that in our testing are within 1-2 pixels on all of our 1366×768 displays. The areas are set as layers in the PSD, as follows:
“NoUsers” is what all new devices will see the first time they are logged into. If you do not allow sign-in photos, this will also apply to you. If you erase all content on each boot, this will apply. If you use Clever badges – this will be obstructed.
“BottomBar” is self explanatory. Obstructed on ALL devices.
“SingleUser” is where most 1:1 students will fall. Only this single small square is obstructed on 1:1 devices if only ONE user has ever signed in on the device.
“PartialObstruction MultipleUsers” is just showing areas that can be obstructed if more than one user uses a device.
Enjoy! Feel free to download and distribute.
