PhotoViewer

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffNovember 8, 2008Although this application falls into the image-browser category, PhotoViewer hardly fits the standard mold. Before using the software, we suggest reading the readme file. Otherwise, good luck figuring out whether you even can use the program, let alone launch it. Essentially, the program creates thumbnail pages for the images on a Web server--and it runs on Web servers, not desktops. The download installs a bunch of files from a ZIP archive into a PhotoViewer folder, but does not contain any obvious executables. You can run the batch file photoGen.bat only after you've set the location of the directory for the master images. You set the master directory--along with maximum photo size, maximum thumbnail size, thumbnails directory, and JPEG compression level--by hand-editing the master.properties file. The program produces a Java photo album that looks similar to a photographer's contact sheet but works as an image directory. You can navigate through the folders to view thumbnails, larger images, or images at full original size. While some Webmasters will find the program hard to use, those with image-heavy sites might appreciate PhotoViewer.