FastStone – free graphic viewer

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Learned about this recently. http://www.faststone.org/%5B/url%5D A very capable graphic image viewer.

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Thanks for that link. Out of curiosity I downloaded the beta version the “Image Viewer” and after playing around with it for a couple of hours, I must say that I am duly impressed. It certainly isn’t a replacement for my PSP X, but for what it was designed to do, it does it very well. It is fast, the quality very good and I do like the various features, which are plentiful.

Jeff

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Jeff,

Have you used Irfanview? If so, how do the two compare?

Joe

--Joe

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After the prior post, I decided to install the beta version. It is really impressive. Fast, modern looking, typical basic editing capabilities (that I need to explore more). Based on my limited usage, I recommend it. Hope to play some more over the weekend.

Joe

--Joe

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Everyone should note that this is for private (home) or educational users. See FastStone Soft – Order for pricing for commercial users.

Joe

--Joe

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Joe,

Sorry for the belated reply, but I couldn’t access the Lounge last night for some reason. Anyway, Yes, I have used IfranView, albeit it’s been a few years since. Having PSP seemed to be sufficient for my graphics needs and so I removed it, especially when I saw how big (bloated) IfranView was becoming; nearly 5 megs with the plugins package. I also thought the GUI was a bit too complex for something that was supposed to be a simply graphic viewer. So, how do I think FastStone Image Viewer and IfranView compare? I much prefer FastStone due to its GUI and less complex features and the smaller file size; 3 megs vs. 5 megs. I still rely upon PSP to most all my graphics editing, but for photos, FastStone makes for a nice alternative for quick editing. I realize that IfranView has reached icon status much like ZoneAlarm has for firewalls. To speak negatively in any way against either of those two programs is risky business, even though there are programs out there that I think are worthy rivals or even better, e.g. Outpost Firewall Pro and now FastStone Image Viewer.

Jeff

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In spite of all the rave reviews about Irfanview here in The Lounge I never have cared much for the product. For a number of years I’ve used a graphic viewer called SuperJPG from a web vendor called MidnightBlue which has apparently gone under. My version (still) is 4.9 and I can find references to 5.2 around the web but no copies of it. Anyway, I used SuperJPG since back in the Win98 days and only use it for thumbnail viewing, batch resizing and an occasional slide show locally. I’ve also downloaded this latest recommendation and will make a comment here as appropriate as soon as I get a chance to give it a run…

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Well, I guess I’m going to have to throw in my here and come from the other side of the coin

IMO, the biggest failing of IrfanView is the unconventional, often non-intuitive interface. If you’re prepared to dig in, you’ll find it provides some unique features (batch editing from the commandline for instance) that simply aren’t offered by other programs. Even using the help file these obscure methods are not at all obvious. Some of the plugins are fascinating too. For instance, the LDF plugin can create the smallest JPEG2000 multipage documents I’ve ever come across.

None of this is to detract from FastStone, XnView, Slowview or any of the other excellent offerings out there. My solution – have one of everything!

Alan

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Just from looking at the program in action for a few seconds, I would have to say that just in terms of features avaialable this program has many, many, more of them.

This might be a replacement for Irfanview for the office.

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Hey Jack, this one’s a “keeper!” I like the GUI but have a lot of settings (evidently) I need to tweak. I haven’t yet looked through the menu to see about stuff like batch resizing output and so on but this looks like a good application. Thanks for sharing…

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I can’t seem to figure out how to make a slideshow of only the images I’ve selected (ctrl-click). Anyone else had any luck with that?

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Thanks! Looks like a winner!

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On second thought, I’m not gonna abandon what looks like a nice program but I am upset! In addition to the slideshow shortcoming I already mentioned, I JUST noticed that the program has taken over ALL my graphics file associations and I don’t remember being asked permission to do that! I can’t believe I would have done that, for I use PSP as my primary graphic editor. Anyone else? I had to go to Folder Options and use the advanced option to change all back to PSP, so I’m OK but still annoyed. BTW there is little documentation with the software, for I was trying to see if I missed something on the slideshow question and there’s nothing in the document or the help – very little as a matter of fact. But it IS AND still a keeper…

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I’ve been using it for a few days now, and it hasn’t taken over any association.

I also haven’t found a way to create a slideshow from selected images…

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Well I guess I must’ve (somehow!) done it. I KNOW I went in to its settings pages searching for the slideshow info and I see now there is a page for associations. In its PRESENT form it does not have JPG or GIF ticked and to do so one would have to click the “all” button. Since Windows Explorer showed ALL graphics associations, that must have been what I did – I had to have been very sleepy when I did it. I guess I’d better stop working on software at night, huh? My apologies to the software (authors) for my possibly misguided comments…

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You’re not rostered on the nightshift for the Space Shuttle Mission Control at NASA, or similar… are you Al?

Alan

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Some features appear to be targetted at entire folders. The “Create Portable Version” is one, and my guess is that the Slideshow feature is another. I’d say it’s there more as a browser for the befefit of using the program (like viewing folder thumbnails) rather than as a feature to “roll your own”.

Alan

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Appararently there was a copyright issue with some of the icons used in the program. There’s a new version available that solves this. See FastStone Image Viewer – Powerful and Intuitive Photo Viewer, Editor and Batch Converter.

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