Request: Simple, Full Screen Picture Viewer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob Adkins
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob Adkins

Does anyone have a pet, full screen picture viewer that's quick to load,
toggle through pics, and exit?

I have a bazillion large family pictures I took with my digital cameras, and
need something FAST.

I like to use the Windows Explorer to file my pics in folders by the
approximate date they were shot.

I like to click on a file in the Explorer and have it pop up instantly, full
screen, and be able to browse with the space bar like ACDSee Classic.

I'm not happy with Irfan, Slowview, or XNView. They are not bad, but have
one or more nagging problems I can't live with.

The only Freeware viewer I have found that behaves as I like (and isn't
buggy) is Cam2PC, but it's severely bloated and has unnecessary features.

Guess what? The new viewer that comes with WinXP SP1 *nearly fits the bill!


Bob
 
On that special day, Bob Adkins, ([email protected]) said...
Does anyone have a pet, full screen picture viewer that's quick to load,
toggle through pics, and exit?

I have a bazillion large family pictures I took with my digital cameras, and
need something FAST.
Click to expand...

Very simple. Get IrfanView from www.irfanview.com, start/install it.
Load the first of all pictures into Irfanview. Hit the return button.
The picture now is scaled to full screen. Browse through the pictures,
using the left and right mouse button.

I *love* this feature.


Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)
 
Load the first of all pictures into Irfanview. Hit the return button.
The picture now is scaled to full screen. Browse through the pictures,
using the left and right mouse button.

I *love* this feature.
Click to expand...

Yes, that part works about right, although it's not smooth.

The deal killer is that you must press esc twice to exit the program. It
doesn't sound like much, but you can wear out the esc key and the finger
looking for a certain picture among thousands. :(

In Cam2PC, you can roll the scroll wheel forward and backward. Pressing esc
once exits cleanly.

Bob
 
On that special day, Bob Adkins, ([email protected]) said...
In Cam2PC, you can roll the scroll wheel forward and backward. Pressing esc
once exits cleanly.
Click to expand...

In IrfanView, the scroll wheel works, too, in full screen mode. Yet it
is a bit too fast IMHO.


Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)
 
On that special day, Bob Adkins, ([email protected]) said...


In IrfanView, the scroll wheel works, too, in full screen mode. Yet it
is a bit too fast IMHO.
Click to expand...

Yea, it's too fast in Cam2PC too. As I said, I prefer to press the space bar
to toggle swiftly through large folders of pictures.

IrfanView has its merits, but I seldom use it. It does many things, and some
of them competently. IMHO, it does nothing exceptionally well.

Bob
 
Even though I have several "Excellent" graphics programs my wife insists
on using "Ofoto". It is very easy to use, excellent for looking at full
screen pictures and does minor editing stuff. Download it free at the
Ofoto website (scroll down to the bottom of the page, it is the orange
camera that says "Free upload software")

http://www.ofoto.com

Mark
 
Yes, that part works about right, although it's not smooth.

The deal killer is that you must press esc twice to exit the program. It
doesn't sound like much, but you can wear out the esc key and the finger
looking for a certain picture among thousands. :(

In Cam2PC, you can roll the scroll wheel forward and backward. Pressing esc
once exits cleanly.
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,
XnView will scroll full screen mode (Ctrl-F) with the mouse wheel and
the space bar. Press (Ctrl-F) again to go back to regular mode.
I have it set up to open in thumbnail mode at the directory that I have
pre-selected.
For adding text to photos it is superior to Irfanview's "trail and
error" mode.
It is such a good program know it makes Irfanview a toy.
Irfanview's sitting on my machine awaiting the un-install
Start the flames.
 
But, Bob, c'mon, that's not a bug.
Pepi has done the incredible: here's a programmer who
actually remembers why there's an "ESC" key on the keyboard!

When was the last time you used software that used the
keyboard intelligently?
My big beef with most programmers is that they don't know
how to type!! And they design software that's agony for good
typists to use.

I prefer a trackball to a mouse, and a touchpad to a
trackball. Mice give me shoulder pain. The best advice I can
give a person about a mouse is to stomp on it. But a
well-designed program makes as little use of a mouse as
possible, unless it is for a good reason, such as drawing.

Anyway, that's my 2c. Let's hear it for the poor, forgotten
Escape key!

Richard
 
XnView will scroll full screen mode (Ctrl-F) with the mouse wheel and
the space bar. Press (Ctrl-F) again to go back to regular mode.
I have it set up to open in thumbnail mode at the directory that I have
pre-selected.
For adding text to photos it is superior to Irfanview's "trail and
error" mode.
It is such a good program know it makes Irfanview a toy.
Irfanview's sitting on my machine awaiting the un-install
Click to expand...

dszady,

I too prefer XNView to IrfanView. The user interface is much nicer and
smoother, and the menus and options more logical for my taste.

One annoyance about XNView is I have to press the ESC key 3 times to exit!
Is there a way to quick exit from full screen viewing mode?

XNView is more than a simple picture viewer too. I don't think a picture
viewer should do anything but view pictures. I don't want movie and MP3
playing ability in my picture viewer any more than I want my TV to wash
clothes. :)


I'm still looking for a very small single exe file that does nothing but
blast through large folders of pictures at warp speed, and exit with a
single keypress.

Incidentally, XNView is a 1 File Wonder. So is IrfanView and SlowView. :)
Start the flames.
Click to expand...

I'll cover your back. :)

Bob
 
Anyway, that's my 2c. Let's hear it for the poor, forgotten
Escape key!
Click to expand...

Hear, hear! :)

Some of the best thought-out software I use exits on esc. Cam2PC, MetaPad,
KeyNote are examples.

Bob
 
Bob said:
dszady,

I too prefer XNView to IrfanView. The user interface is much nicer and
smoother, and the menus and options more logical for my taste.

One annoyance about XNView is I have to press the ESC key 3 times to exit!
Is there a way to quick exit from full screen viewing mode?
Click to expand...

Alt-F4 to exit program, Esc only once to leave full screen.
 
Bob said:
That's still 2 keystrokes. :)

Niggling, I know.

Bob
Click to expand...

Chances are that you never ever use the scroll-lock key.
So you could remap that to Alt-F4.
In Windows 2k/XP that comes down to only one (but not easy to do)
registry edit. There are tools that can do this for you.
Just a thought.
 
Sietse said:
Chances are that you never ever use the scroll-lock key.
So you could remap that to Alt-F4.
In Windows 2k/XP that comes down to only one (but not easy to do)
registry edit. There are tools that can do this for you.
Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Sietse, what program do you use to remap a keyboard? I'm using ZDKeyMap:

http://e-gate.pl/~grzechu/keymap.zip

However, it won't touch the "Pause" key. Maybe that's because it's not
possible, but this new MS Multimedia Keyboard messes it up and I'd
like to remap it's location.
 
John said:
Sietse, what program do you use to remap a keyboard? I'm using
ZDKeyMap:

http://e-gate.pl/~grzechu/keymap.zip

However, it won't touch the "Pause" key. Maybe that's because it's not
possible, but this new MS Multimedia Keyboard messes it up and I'd
like to remap it's location.
Click to expand...

I use KeyTweak, a tool that uses a new feature in Windows 2K/XP, which
lets you remap keys with a registry hack.
KeyTWeak's documentation says: "due to the mode of implementation, the
Pause/Break key cannot be remapped or remapped to."
I take this to mean that it could be done, but not in the way this tool
works and/or it does not want to let you remap the Pause key.
ZDKeyMap and its updated version TradeKeys work on another level in
Win9x (and need to load a device driver to modify scan codes), but they
do not let you remap PrintScrn/SysRq and Pause/Break "since those keys
are reserved for special purposes."
I guess that the Pause key can be remapped in every Windows version, but
that *in general* tools will not permit you to do that.
There may well be *some* tool that lets you do it but I wouldn't know
about them. Maybe a new thread with the question in the subject?

Alternatively, a tool like Windows PowerPro may be of help.
I always run PowerPro, which is a very versatile tool.
One of its features is a sort of hotkey manager, which also lets you
send user defined messages, like key presses, to the system.
(I guess this is yet another level.)
I checked if it would let me use the Pause key as if it were e.g. the
Tab key and that worked. You may want to check that out.
If you could use help, how to do this, just let me know.
Or if you just want me to check if it lets you use the Pause key to
simulate pressing some specific key.

Of course, but I need not telling you, your MS Keyboard should work in
the first place. All the above are just work arounds for what should be
repaired at the root. But I take it that you already unsuccessfully
tried that route.
 
Does anyone have a pet, full screen picture viewer that's quick to load,
toggle through pics, and exit?

I have a bazillion large family pictures I took with my digital cameras, and
need something FAST.

I like to use the Windows Explorer to file my pics in folders by the
approximate date they were shot.

I like to click on a file in the Explorer and have it pop up instantly, full
screen, and be able to browse with the space bar like ACDSee Classic.

I'm not happy with Irfan, Slowview, or XNView. They are not bad, but have
one or more nagging problems I can't live with.

The only Freeware viewer I have found that behaves as I like (and isn't
buggy) is Cam2PC, but it's severely bloated and has unnecessary features.

Guess what? The new viewer that comes with WinXP SP1 *nearly fits the bill!


Bob
Click to expand...

Has anybody tried Nico's simple little viewer?
Will this do the trick, Bob?
http://dl.filekicker.com/send/file/135633-L8GJ/nv.exe
 
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