XnView Software

Fred, I think maybe "perfect" is a little too ambitious. How about we go with "most excellently designed," and assume--us being human and all--that perfection of either design or implementation is a little beyond our reach.

Of course, your two number one objectives are worthy, and the best ...

Although I'm not a programmer, I have helped design quite a few programs, and feel a little bit qualified to help on this.

The key, I think, is to assume that the loading process is going to FAIL, not that it is going to succeed. It involves a mental shift: "success" is a SPECIAL case, failure is ...

I would also like to suggest that this problem (crashing when trying to open a particular file) illustrates another, more subtle problem.

If the "open in" folder/directory contains a file that is going to crash XnView, then that means that XnView crashes every time the user tries to run the program ...

This is probably not especially helpful info, but here are some more observations about that file. It opens fine with:
--Microsoft Office Document Imaging
--Microsoft Office Picture Manager
--Windows Picture and Fax Viewer
--Windows Paint
--Picasa (opens and is viewable, but is weird and messed up)

Crash with TIF file confirmed: XnView tries very hard to open/display the file, but eventually crashes. My versions = XnView 1.96.5, Windows XP SP2.

Thank you, XnTriq. Good stuff.

"Deskew" is a funny word, to be sure, but it should have no hypen. An internet search for "de-skew" shows no hits. So please change all occurrences to "deskew."

Also, "Deskew" should not have ... after it. There is no next screen, unless the user doens't select a box.

"Deskew auto." does not need ...

XnTriq and others who've posted here, thanks a lot for all these suggestions. I think this thread/topic has become a very useful source of info on image composition tools. I've tried out several of the offerings and learned a lot about what's out there. Some of these are great programs, others less ...

Outstanding reply, JohnFredC. I agree with XnTriq, this needs to be in the permanent documentation. My understanding is that the permanent help doc is now a Wiki that Pierre has set up. Your treatise needs to go there.

I have already commented on this topic, but here's another thought:

In order to keep a software product relevant and moving forward, and to make sure that development energy is spent in the best possible places, it is important to NOT COMPETE with people or companies who have (a) more resources ...

Yes, that was it, XnTriq. Thanks very much.

I'm embarrassed to ask this question--I'm sure it's something obvious. But I can't find/fix it so here goes. Thanks in advance to whomever points out my oversight.

I've installed XnView 1.96.5 on a new Vista computer. Got everything set up just the way I like it--thumbnail sizes, layout, menu bars ...

Thibaud, I was wondering about your sister too.

I agree.

I agree entirely, John. Picasa's face recognition is (a) wonderful, and (b) kind of pain in the butt. I've used it extensively, and it is great when one is working on family albums and classmate pictures. But its recognition of reflections, incidental/background faces, and various other categories ...