kometbomb » Viewer2 http://kometbomb.net Journal of my adventures in Programming, the Internet and Life. Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:56:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Viewer2 Statushttp://kometbomb.net/2009/04/10/viewer2-status/ http://kometbomb.net/2009/04/10/viewer2-status/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:11:12 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/?p=417 Good news. A new version of Viewer2 will be available in the near future. In addition to fixing the bugs that have been waiting for a fix for a year or so, it will be a significant improvement in performance (namely proper multi-threaded image loading that results in a lot smoother user interface especially when browsing over slow network connections) and also how the user interface works.

For example, there’s a new tag cloud view, a more traditional grid based thumbnail list and an improved version (or, a total rewrite) of the light table view which was the only view available until now (with more physical image groups that can contain other subgroups — in fact you can view a directory tree this way popping open the directories). Overall, it’s pretty sweet.

No estimates when it will be done, except for the infamous “when it’s done.”

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]]> http://kometbomb.net/2009/04/10/viewer2-status/feed/ 5 Viewer2 Build 4044http://kometbomb.net/2007/12/30/viewer2-build-4044/ http://kometbomb.net/2007/12/30/viewer2-build-4044/#comments Sat, 29 Dec 2007 23:30:18 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/2007/12/30/viewer2-build-4044/
  • Fixed the 100% usage issue
  • Fixed tag confirmation for multiple tags
  • Able to sort by number of views, also shows the combined views for directories (including their subdirectories etc.)
  • New added: search type, e.g. added:today search files that were added to the database today.
  • Should only save image locations if images were moved

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    ]]>     http://kometbomb.net/2007/12/30/viewer2-build-4044/feed/ 2     Viewer2 Build 3982http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/27/viewer2-build-3982/ http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/27/viewer2-build-3982/#comments Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:27:38 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/27/viewer2-build-3982/
  • Updated to the latest version of libiptc, this fixes IPTC compatibility problems with Picasa and other software with faulty IPTC support (Picasa would sometimes skip IPTC data completely even if it was valid). Yes, you heard that Google fanboys.
  • IPTC data editing. Select images and press F9 (I didn’t have the time to draw an icon). Contact me if you need more fields in the editing dialog, I have no idea which fields are used the most.
  • You can enable IPTC keyword synchronizing in the configuration. This will modify the IPTC keywords every time you add or remove a tag for an image. This is experimental but seems to work OK.

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    ]]>     http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/27/viewer2-build-3982/feed/ 0     Viewer2 Build 3900http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/22/viewer2-build-3900/ http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/22/viewer2-build-3900/#comments Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:55:48 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/22/viewer2-build-3900/
  • Now includes a configuration tweaking tool. Some options are not as exposed as the more common ones, changing them is somewhat similar to using regedit. See the shortcut in Start menu.
  • You can now tell Viewer2 not to stretch or shrink images to fit on screen.
  • When viewing images, the next and previous images are preloaded for instant switch.
  • Browsing directories is now quite usable, directories are shown with a yellow border around a preview of the first image in that directory (or a directory icon if no images are found). Use the config tool to enable this.

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    ]]>     http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/22/viewer2-build-3900/feed/ 0     Viewer2 Build 3782http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/17/viewer2-build-3782/ http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/17/viewer2-build-3782/#comments Sat, 17 Nov 2007 20:09:32 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/17/viewer2-build-3776/ Here’s the new Viewer2 version:

    • More information in the hover info box.
    • Zooming in now also moves towards the mouse cursor. Set the option NavigateWhileZooming to zero if you don’t like this.
    • You can enlarge the areas that open the menu and the tag and file lists with HotSpotSize. A value of 16 would make the zone extend 16 pixels. This is useful if you have multiple screens that makes the mouse not stop on the edge of the screen. The default is 1 which means the zone effectively is just the edge of the screen.
    • When the mouse hovers over the two hot zones for the lists, an arrow clue appears to indicate the user can click there.
    • Made the toolbar icons a bit more visible with darker shadows.
    • The toolbar menu now has an icon for moving up to the parent directory.

    Also in the news: German online magazine Netzwelt has a nice Viewer2 review up. Viewer2 was previously featured as the freeware application of the week and seems they still like it.

    The review says only JPEG files are supported, it doesn’t mean the PNG support from the last version has been removed. :) Also, since the review mentioned they liked the spiral type ordering of images, I reiterate it is still there. See the FAQ for info how to enable the spiral.

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    ]]>     http://kometbomb.net/2007/11/17/viewer2-build-3782/feed/ 0     Viewer2 Build 3664http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/17/viewer-build-3664/ http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/17/viewer-build-3664/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:15:05 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/17/viewer-build-3661/
  • PNG support (i.e. I rewrote the loader code so it’s easier to add more formats – contact me if you are willing to write a plug-in)
  • Image details when hovering over a thumbnail
  • Progress dialogs for various actions
  • Added a white border around thumbnails, seems to be in the vogue (you can disable it in the config)
  • When viewing images full-screen, the background will fade into black

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    ]]>     http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/17/viewer-build-3664/feed/ 2     Viewer2 Build 3350http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/07/viewer-build-3350/ http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/07/viewer-build-3350/#comments Sat, 06 Oct 2007 21:09:58 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/07/viewer-build-3350/ Some adds:

    • IPTC keyword export and automatic import (enable importing by setting SyncIPTC to a non-zero value). Export the keywords with dbtool, check the manual for instructions. Happy now, people?

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    ]]>     http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/07/viewer-build-3350/feed/ 0     Viewer2 Build 3321http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/03/viewer2-build-3321/ http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/03/viewer2-build-3321/#comments Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:28:00 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/03/viewer2-build-3321/

    • First of all, more eye candy (see the video). I hope it also makes things easier to understand in respect to where images go when sorting
    • The searching has split into two: Fast Search and Deep Search. Fast Search uses indexing to find files very fast and Deep Search is the old search which is slow. In addition, Fast Search can use fuzzy searching thanks to the individual words it sees and it also looks in the IPTC metadata which Deep Search doesn’t do (because it doesn’t use pre-indexed data). Note: You need to build the indexes to benefit from Fast Search, the installer will do this for you. You need to do this only once, as long as you have AutoExtractWords enabled in config.
    • Use Ctrl + Delete to pysically delete images (another requested feature, keep them coming)
    • The thumbnails now have a tag that changes color according to if they have tags and if the tags make the image stand out from other images. Useful for obsessive tagging
    • The image view now zooms in the selected area, use left drag to mark the area
    • Tons of little fixes I forgot as soon as I implemented them, including a program icon

    viewer2-installer-3322.exe (bugfix to 3321)

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    ]]>     http://kometbomb.net/2007/10/03/viewer2-build-3321/feed/ 2     Viewer2 Build 2840http://kometbomb.net/2007/09/07/viewer2-build-2840/ http://kometbomb.net/2007/09/07/viewer2-build-2840/#comments Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:38:36 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/2007/09/07/viewer2-build-2840/ A quick release for those who use Viewer2, a lot of half-ready stuff this time:

    • Support for network paths (i.e. path starts with \\)
    • Option to flag an image as a favorite (the heart icon), search with is:favorite
    • Shows basic information about images with little icons (e.g. image has tags, image is favorite)
    • Better date: search option, see the manual
    • Should behave a little better on dual-screen boxes
    • Option for ordering images in a square instead of a spiral
    • BETABETABETA: The browser can display subdirectories (to check it out, set ShowDirectories to a non-zero value in the registry)

    Coming up (hopefully in the next release) are IPTC tag export, comprehensive directory navigation via the main browser (instead of the file list on the left), path and search bookmarks (i.e. “show all of my favorite images from this month”) and a config tool.

    Do send more suggestions.

    Also, if someone is a fan of this project and could help with the config tool (needs just a dialog that changes a few keys in the registry, the main problem for me is that I don’t do Visual Studio or other IDEs that provide a dialog editor, so it’s kinda annoying) it would be nice. It seems Viewer2 has hit a niche so it would be a shame if the potential was wasted.

    viewer2-installer-2840.exe

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    ]]>     http://kometbomb.net/2007/09/07/viewer2-build-2840/feed/ 1     Viewer2 Build 2630http://kometbomb.net/2007/08/16/viewer2-build-2630/ http://kometbomb.net/2007/08/16/viewer2-build-2630/#comments Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:01:10 +0000 kometbomb http://kometbomb.net/2007/08/16/viewer2-build-2630/ Some new, cool and experimental stuff. Didn’t feel like drawing the icons for all new features.

    • Sorting by image color metrics (groups similarly colored images)
    • Press Ctrl+L to enforce a link between selected files, Alt+L to sort using the forced links (very experimental)
    • Press Ctrl+P to prefix files (actually renames files, useful for preserving Viewer2 groups on the desktop)
    • New search options, including OR and searching by file date and time viewed. See the manual.

    viewer2-installer-2633.exe (bugfix)

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    ]]>     http://kometbomb.net/2007/08/16/viewer2-build-2630/feed/ 4