On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:06:08 +0200, Dave <d@d.durbs> wrote:

>
>
>For the sake of a simple picture browser, what does the most PS users
>make use of? ACDSee or something similar, or Bridge?
>I am not keen on Bridge, and even ACDSee have to many facilities.
>I do not want a album with photo adjustment tools but simply want a
>browser for finding a picture fast between gig's of photos. What is
>the suggestion?
>

There are two types of albums. I don't know the technical terms but I
call them "live" and "database".

"Live" apps like IrfanView have to make the thumbnails every time you
access a folder.

"Database" viewers like ThumbsPlus store the thumbnails once made so
the next time you access a folder, all the thumbnails are pre-made.

"Live" is slow viewing access but requires no storage. "Database" is
quick viewing access but takes some disk space to store the thumbs.

Put 10k images in a folder and the database method is quicker by
miles. It may take 20secs to load the thumbs but try browsing 10k
image thumbs with Irfanview. Reviewing images on cds or dvds makes
the "Database" viewer even more efficient (if you have previously made
and stored the thumbs in a database) since making thumbs from images
on disk can be really slow.

Another advantage of "Database" viewers is that you can choose to make
or not make the thumbnails automatically. If you are loading lots of
images into the pc, you can choose to make the thumbnail only after
you have reviewed or processed (or whenever you wish). Of course you
can choose to always make thumbs.

There are many other advantages in using a "Database" viewer since
the database can store all sorts of other info and allow sophisticated
sorts/queries.

I don't use Bridge so I don't know where that falls in the scheme of
things.

Starman*