Requested Clip-mode to see pictures with _nothing_ around them

[Pgr]

Hi,

I just downloaded Irfan Viewer which I am evaluating as a replacement for a very old copy of ACDsee (from the time when it didn't expire...).

I ran into a few problems which arise from the simple fact that my use for this isn't exactly what Irfan View was built for. But it's very close, so a few extra bits would make it wonderful for my purposes.

Basically, what I want is a picture viewer to leave a small picture over my desktop while I work, on the side of other (unmaximised) windows. A bit like what happens in Vista Sidebar if you use a picture-viewer gadget, but without taking up the full height of the screen.

I want to have just a rectangle on the right with the small picture, no menu, no caption, no statusbar, and I was glad to find all this in Irfan. I also want to choose from a bunch of pictures I have in a folder, and Irfan also handles this well and even slideshows if I want to. So, what's missing?

1- A way to easily move the picture when the caption is hidden. I want to just click on it and move it; instead I get a rectangular selection which I will never use, and I have to turn on the caption in order to move the picture.

2- possibility of having a partially off-screen picture without caption: sometimes I move the picture a bit out of the screen: I want to push it as much to the right as possible, and often I don't mind missing the rightmost patch of the picture. So, I press Alt-Shift-C to show caption, then drag, then Alt-Shift-C to hide the caption again, but Irfan puts the picture back into the screen when it hides the caption!

3- In general, Irfan seems to have trouble staying on the edge of the screen: when I change pictures, or reload Irfan , it always goes nearer the center.

4- remember these options: every time I open my pictures with Irfan, I get the caption and the menu again, and I have to turn them off one by one...

So, can I get a "clip-mode" that's designed to work for these purposes? It's a popular use for working with a picture of family in sight, or for other types of visual reminders. And it's strictly a picture-viewer function (so I hope I'm not over-eager for a Swiss-army-knife thing... )

[matera]

I wouldn't mind that sometimes either...the best way I have to do this now is with an old program that is no longer available online (sPix - http://chesterway.co.uk/ ?).

[Mij]

Hi,

Basically, what I want is a picture viewer to leave a small picture over my desktop while I work, on the side of other (unmaximised) windows. A bit like what happens in Vista Sidebar if you use a picture-viewer gadget, but without taking up the full height of the screen.

I want to have just a rectangle on the right with the small picture, no menu, no caption, no statusbar, and I was glad to find all this in Irfan. I also want to choose from a bunch of pictures I have in a folder, and Irfan also handles this well and even slideshows if I want to. So, what's missing?

1- A way to easily move the picture when the caption is hidden. I want to just click on it and move it; instead I get a rectangular selection which I will never use, and I have to turn on the caption in order to move the picture.

2- possibility of having a partially off-screen picture without caption: sometimes I move the picture a bit out of the screen: I want to push it as much to the right as possible, and often I don't mind missing the rightmost patch of the picture. So, I press Alt-Shift-C to show caption, then drag, then Alt-Shift-C to hide the caption again, but Irfan puts the picture back into the screen when it hides the caption!

3- In general, Irfan seems to have trouble staying on the edge of the screen: when I change pictures, or reload Irfan , it always goes nearer the center.

4- remember these options: every time I open my pictures with Irfan, I get the caption and the menu again, and I have to turn them off one by one...

So, can I get a "clip-mode" that's designed to work for these purposes? It's a popular use for working with a picture of family in sight, or for other types of visual reminders. And it's strictly a picture-viewer function (so I hope I'm not over-eager for a Swiss-army-knife thing... )

Here are a few tips that might help you work with a window with no caption bar.

1- If you have an image that is bigger than the window you can move it around by right clicking and dragging the image, or use the arrow keys.

2- To move a window with no caption bar press Alt+Space bar to show the window control menu. Press M or click on Move. Start the move by clicking an arrow key and you can then move the window around with the mouse. Left click to drop the window where you want it. You might find the Size option on the control menu is useful too.

3- To keep the window the same size as you change images select either Fit images to window or Do not fit anything from the View> Display options. To zoom in or out use the + and - keys on the Number keypad. To change images use Page Up or Page Down (check first that "Jump always to next image..." is checked in Options>Misc 1. The forward and back arrow keys only change the image if it is fitted to or smaller than the window. Press Shift+A to make images change automatically.

4- Use Alt+F4 to Exit, or click Close on the Window control menu. When you open IV again the top left corner of the window will be where it was before but it will resize out to the right/bottom of the screen and the caption and menu bar will be back. I know of no way of preventing this. It is fairly quick to hold down Alt+Shift and press C then M to close the caption and menu bars.
You could Minimize the window to the taskbar from the Window control menu if you just want it out of the way temporarily. It will then return exactly as it was, when you click the taskbar icon.

Hope that gets you a bit closer to what you want.

[Pgr]

Hi Mij,

thank you for the tips, some of them I can use...

Window size is not an issue, my images are small and I want Irfan to fit the window to the size of the image. It's window position that's a problem.

I found that using your tip no. 2 I can place the image partially off screen.

With your help, I suppose I now have the best ways to achieve all this with the mouse and two hands on the keyboard; but I wish I could just use them mouse and do things in a simpler manner. So the feature request still holds.

A couple of related things I think I can call bugs:

1- Hibernation shrinks the window to a dot: In Vista, if I have IV showing a picture without caption and menu, and then hibernate, when it comes back from hibernation the IV window is at the very top-left corner of the screen, reduced to a dot (0 length, 0 height).

2- Window placement follows a very weird logic: When I go through my pictures in slideshow, starting with the IV window on the right of the screen (doesn't matter if the caption and menu are showing, as long as the window is un-maximised), the window moves when different sized pictures appear, it starts going left and after a dozen pictures it's gone all the way across the screen to the left. I would prefer that changing a picture wouldn't relocate the window, I want it where I placed it...

Can this be fixed? I hope it's not too much work...

[Mij]

A couple of related things I think I can call bugs:

1- Hibernation shrinks the window to a dot: In Vista, if I have IV showing a picture without caption and menu, and then hibernate, when it comes back from hibernation the IV window is at the very top-left corner of the screen, reduced to a dot (0 length, 0 height).

I have not been able to reproduce that. Actually it is Windows that should save this information when going into hibernation and restore the positions and sizes exactly as they were when you return, nothing to do with IrfanView.

2- Window placement follows a very weird logic: When I go through my pictures in slideshow, starting with the IV window on the right of the screen (doesn't matter if the caption and menu are showing, as long as the window is un-maximised), the window moves when different sized pictures appear, it starts going left and after a dozen pictures it's gone all the way across the screen to the left. I would prefer that changing a picture wouldn't relocate the window, I want it where I placed it...
Can this be fixed? I hope it's not too much work...

Yes. It does do that. The logic of Fit Window to Object is not so much weird as annoying. The anchor is the top left hand corner which stays put unless the new window will not fit on screen, when it moves either left or up to accommodate it. The result is as you describe. I gave up using it years ago in favor of Fit Object to Window.
I suspect that it will not be the amount of work involved that spoils your chances of getting this changed. It has been around for so many years now that there must be people out there who actually like it as it is.

[matera]

A little extra for the desktop decor -- there is a highly useful program called Samurize that has the ability to display images on the desktop, as well as customizable performance meters, text files, and goodness knows what-all else. I tried it out mainly because it lets me keep a to-do list right on the desktop (with no icky stickynote nonsense), but it will turn a desktop into a picture gallery if that's your thing. And without messing up your IV INI