Folder-like handling of archive formats

[osiris2258]

In ACDSee, a zip or rar is 100% identical to a regular folder for the purpose of browsing. Editing the files inside works differently (mostly, you can't, although in the newer versions they have gotten some features to work), but I am not concerned with this. What I need to be able to do is browse around these files with all features enabled, such as being able to go to the next and previous file, fit to screen (viewing purposes, not resizing), use a slideshow, and other strictly viewing oriented functions. Many things are distributed as large numbers of image files inside a zip or rar file so as to distribute a single file instead of a large number of separate files, and not being able to view these types of pseudo-folders is an extremely large problem, since about 80% of what I use a program like XnView to look at is in this format. The behavior of zip and rar files as no different than folders is the one and only reason I am still using ACDSee.

The way the archive add-on for XnView currently works is in no way shape or form a suitable or useful replacement for the way ACDSee handles these files. You can only view single files, you cannot use slideshows or next and previous, etc. The lack of ability to use standard methods for moving around inside these files is crippling. Only when they are treated exactly the same way as folders, natively or via an add-on, will XnView be usable as my full time image software.

[osiris2258]

I continue to be unable to use XN View because this functionality is missing. I have hundreds, if not thousands, of files that I go through in the average year, as well as huge numbers of saved files, that simply cannot be worked with using XN View because they are large numbers of images and scanned pages distributed via zips or rars. I would really like to be able to leave ACDSee behind, but without this capability, it is simply not practical.