Photo wall or slideshow: what goes on the screen in the room?
Two ways of putting the same album on a screen. One asks for attention and does not always get it, the other asks for nothing and is watched all evening because of it. Which suits when, and how to set it up without the screen racing.
the short answer
A slideshow when there is a moment and people stand still for it, a photo wall when the screen hangs beside the bar or the dance floor. The wall puts dozens of photos up at once, so almost everybody spots themselves within a minute instead of waiting for their turn to come round.
What is the difference between a slideshow and a photo wall?
A slideshow shows one photo at a time, large, for about seven seconds, then moves on to the next. A photo wall puts the same album up as a grid and lets it drift slowly upward. Same photos, same album, two very different things to look at.
The difference that matters on the night is waiting. A hundred photos in a slideshow is nearly twelve minutes before everything has been round once, so anyone hoping to see their own has to stand there and keep standing there. On a wall there are dozens up at once and the rest passes several times over in that same stretch.
There is one thing a wall cannot do in return: make a single photo large enough that the whole room sees it together. When there is a moment, a toast, a surprise, somebody walking in, that is exactly what you want.
Which of the two suits which moment?
| moment | what works | why |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival, guests coming in | photo wall | nobody stops to watch, so the screen has to do the work itself |
| Dinner, everybody seated | slideshow | people look up between courses and have time for one photo |
| The toast or the surprise | slideshow | one photo large enough that the whole room sees the same thing |
| The dance floor, after midnight | photo wall | people walk past rather than watch, and everyone passes it eventually |
| A screen beside the bar, all evening | photo wall | eight hours of one photo every seven seconds asks for attention nobody has |
This is not a choice for the whole evening. It is one setting on the screen, so you switch to a slideshow for the toast and switch back afterwards.
How fast should a photo wall drift?
Slower than it feels behind your laptop. At half a metre, mouse in hand, calm quickly reads as stationary. From six metres away, with a drink in your hand and a conversation going, that same pace is already too fast to recognise a face.
The rule of thumb: somebody should be able to point at a photo and say something about it before it leaves the screen. That comes to roughly half a minute per screen height, which is slower than almost anyone sets it on the first try.
- Slow for a screen people walk past all evening.
- Normal for a room where people are seated and look up now and then.
- Brisk only for a small album, where the wall would otherwise repeat itself too soon.
What do you do about video and sound?
Video can come along or stay out. In a slideshow a clip simply plays, which is lovely until somebody uploads a three-minute speech: then the screen sits on one person for three minutes. So you cap it, at five or ten seconds say, and the show carries on.
Sound is off by default, and that is not only our decision. Browsers refuse to start a video with sound on their own until somebody has touched the screen. On a television you switch on and then leave alone, sound stays off until you tap it once.
On a photo wall clips do not play. They sit there as a still with a small triangle on them, because ten videos at once on one screen is neither followable nor something a venue's wifi will carry.
One link, and the room is watching
You open the album on the laptop by the projector, pick slideshow or photo wall, and start it. Whatever guests upload slots itself in within two minutes. Guests can open the same view on their own phone, with the round button beside the album's name.
Questions about the slideshow and the photo wall
Can a guest start the slideshow themselves?
Yes. There is a round button beside the album's name, and it opens the same view on their own screen. Useful when there is no projector and somebody hooks their phone or laptop up to the television.
How many photos are on a photo wall?
Dozens on screen at once, depending on how wide it is. The wall itself works from the newest hundred and twenty, because past that you are building a column nobody will stand in front of for ten minutes.
What if almost nothing has been uploaded yet?
The wall repeats what it has, so there are no empty strips on screen. Four photos look rather different from four hundred, so for the first half hour of an evening a slideshow is usually the nicer choice.
Does the screen keep picking up new photos?
If you leave that on, yes: new uploads slot in within two minutes. You can also switch it off, for instance when you run last year's album at a reception and nothing more is meant to arrive.
Can the order be random?
Yes, that is a switch. With it off the screen starts at the newest photo and counts back, which is usually the nicer one during the party, because people see themselves from ten minutes ago.
Does this work on a television without a computer?
If the television has a browser, yes: you type in the link and that is all. Otherwise hang a laptop, a phone or a streaming stick off it. There is nothing to install, it is a web page.
Read next
Put it on the television and watch
You build the page in five minutes and see both the slideshow and the photo wall before you pay.