Afterglowscreensavers

Building a screensaver wall with Multi-view

Multi-view splits the screen into a grid of independent screensavers, each configurable on its own. Here's how to put one together, and a few combinations worth starting from.

Published · Updated · how-to, multi-view

Most of this site is about picking one screensaver. Multi-view is for when one isn't enough — it splits the screen into a grid of two, four or eight panes, each running its own saver with its own settings, all at once.

How it works

Open Multi-view, choose a grid size, then assign a saver to each cell. Every cell keeps its own configuration — a clock in one corner can run a different accent color than a market ticker next to it — and the whole grid runs fullscreen together, exiting the same way any single saver does: press ESC.

A home-office wall

Pair Clock or World Clock with Markets Ticker and Weather Wall, and add a fourth pane of something calmer — Fireplace or Snowfall — so the grid isn't all business. It reads like a small operations desk without needing four monitors.

An ambient, no-information wall

For a lobby or a background display where the point is mood rather than information, lean on the Ambient and Generative categories: Lava Lamp, Reaction-Diffusion Patterns, Aquarium and Kaleidoscope sit well together — none of them compete for attention, so the eye can land anywhere on the grid.

A live-earth wall

Combine Live Earthquakes, Weather Wall, Spinning Globe and Live Transit Vehicle Map for a genuinely live view of the planet — everything on screen is real, current data, just arranged as a grid instead of one saver at a time.

A note on performance

Each pane runs independently, which means an 8-grid is running eight savers' worth of rendering and, for data savers, eight sets of periodic fetches. That's fine on most modern hardware, but if a grid feels sluggish, drop to four panes or swap a heavier canvas-animation saver (like a fractal or fluid simulation) for a lighter one (like a clock or a ticker).

Try Multi-view now, or browse the full catalog for more panes to fill it with.

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