I was looking for an alternative to ACDSee, since that viewer is slow, oh so slow! So I stumbled on XnView and decided to give it a shot. Have just tried it for an hour or two, and it seems to basically be a good concept. But a have a few comments...
1)
If I havn´t started XnView and right click on a file, select Open With and then XnView I’m expecting XnView to start and display the picture. But not. The computer starts to work for a while, and then... nothing. So I have to manually start XnView and then browse to the file. Annoying!
2)
In all "normal" browsers the "Desktop" can be browsed directly. But not in XnView. MyDocuments can be accessed directly, and all drives. But to access files on My Desctop I have to browse all the way via C:\Documents and Settings. Anoying!
3)
The above issue leads to this. Since I’m running a Swedish version of Windows the path to my desktop is:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administratör\Skrivbord
When I first browsed to that patch the thumbnails weren’t working. I could see the files, but no thumbnails ever appeared. Perhaps some issue with the international charters in the path I reckoned, and copied a picture to:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Skrivbord
And then browsed to that folder. Worked fine, the thumbnail appeared. So I browsed back to the original path, and now all thumbnails were working. So right now everything works. I’m confused...
4)
Well not everything works... Because if I browse to that folder again:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administratör\Skrivbord
and try to close XnView, it hangs. Quitting the program in any other folder forks fine, but if I’m currently standing in that specific folder and try to quit the program hangs.
5)
I’m missing a feature available in ACDSee, the possibility to simultaneously select multiple folders and view them all at once. Since I’m organising my pictures a lot I have many different folders with only a few pictures in each. The possibility to select many folders and browse them all at once is therefore important.
6)
The thumbnails I cant quite figure out. I selected the thumbnail size 192x144. Then all my 800x600 pictures get a larger thumbnail than all the 1024x768 pictures. That’s just weird I think, the size of the thumbnails should always be the same (with the same with-hight ratio on the original files, of cause).
7)
Kind of hooks up to the above issue. The quality of some thumbnails are just plain rubbish! And some are good. All files are jpeg, but different resolutions, size and so. The quality doesn’t improve if I select another size of the thumbnails. Some pictures simply have rubbish resolutions on the thumbnails. Very annoying!
8)
Speaking of changing size of the thumbnails. That is a sure way to crash XnView. If a change the thumbnail size the program starts to index all files in that folder again. With several pictures in a folder that work takes a long time. If I during that period, when he is indexing the files again, decide to change size of the thumbnails again (perhaps I wasn’t happy with the new size) the program crash 100% of the times!
9)
When I double click on a picture in the browser window I like it to be displayed in full screen. Now it is first displayed in a viewing window in which I must then select full screen. But I’m sure this is just a case of me not finding the right setting. Surly the function to immediately display in full screen exists? So where do I change that setting?
10)
One last thing that bugs me a bit. In the browser window the preview of a file is located beneath the thumbnail view. This reduces the amount of thumbnails that can be displayed. The solution in ACDSee is much better. There the thumbnail is located beneath the browser tree. The browser tree is slightly reduced, but that’s all right since it is that window is unnecessary high anyway.
The solution used in XnView today results in me having to disable the preview window totally to get a large enough space for the thimbnails.
A few comments
Moderators: helmut, XnTriq, xnview
Hi there Halling and välkommen to the forum. Nice that you've discovered the - IMHO - best image viewer around. Well, can't help you with all your questions, but I think I can help you with some. Note: I am referring to settings in version 1.90 RC2. If you're using 1.84, I'm not sure all settings are exactly the same. You can find 1.90 RC2 here:
http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?t=11545
2)
XnView does not display "Desktop" by default, but you can change it in the settings. Click yourself to:
Options -> Browser -> the tab Folder tree. Check the option "Show Desktop in folder tree".
3 & 4)
If you've solved 2) this should be alright now?
5)
In 1.90 you get more methods of organising. You have categories, favourite folders, colour labels and ratings, which might help. You can also select (in the menu): View -> "Show files in subfolders".
7)
Not sure what the problem is, but have you tried the different thumbnails settings in options? Options -> Browser -> Thumbnails -> the tab Appearance. Try "high quality thumbnails" for instance. Also try the tab "Cache" and change the compression method in the pull-down menu.
9)
Go to Options -> General -> Keyboard/mouse -> the tab Switching modes. In the pull-down menu "Use double click to switch between:" and play around with the different choises, and you'll fix it.
10)
I agree, don't like the default layout either, but you can find your favourite layout in the menu: View -> Layout. If I understand you, you'll find your view in the third one.
Hope that these tips can help you.
http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?t=11545
2)
XnView does not display "Desktop" by default, but you can change it in the settings. Click yourself to:
Options -> Browser -> the tab Folder tree. Check the option "Show Desktop in folder tree".
3 & 4)
If you've solved 2) this should be alright now?
5)
In 1.90 you get more methods of organising. You have categories, favourite folders, colour labels and ratings, which might help. You can also select (in the menu): View -> "Show files in subfolders".
7)
Not sure what the problem is, but have you tried the different thumbnails settings in options? Options -> Browser -> Thumbnails -> the tab Appearance. Try "high quality thumbnails" for instance. Also try the tab "Cache" and change the compression method in the pull-down menu.
9)
Go to Options -> General -> Keyboard/mouse -> the tab Switching modes. In the pull-down menu "Use double click to switch between:" and play around with the different choises, and you'll fix it.
10)
I agree, don't like the default layout either, but you can find your favourite layout in the menu: View -> Layout. If I understand you, you'll find your view in the third one.
Hope that these tips can help you.
Welcome Halling to the XnView forum. Could you please post your questions in multiple posts, next time? This will make answering easier. Please see also the forum's Rules & Guidelines.
Thank you, Troken, for your good answers.
Thank you, Troken, for your good answers.
-
foxyshadis
- Posts: 395
- Joined: Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:57 am
I think 3&4 are due to unicode issues; weird things happen when I try to use folders with non-ascii names as well. 
For now it's just something that has to be avoided here.
6 - have the pics ever been cropped before? By default, xnview will use the internal thumbnail if it exists, and some software will copy instead of updating it when the picture changes. You can try turning that off in thumbnails->"use embedded image", and rebuilding the folder's thumbs.
8 - if this is the 1.90 RC, this would be a good thing to report in the new bugs forum.
For now it's just something that has to be avoided here.6 - have the pics ever been cropped before? By default, xnview will use the internal thumbnail if it exists, and some software will copy instead of updating it when the picture changes. You can try turning that off in thumbnails->"use embedded image", and rebuilding the folder's thumbs.
8 - if this is the 1.90 RC, this would be a good thing to report in the new bugs forum.