This section discusses some of the common tools for viewing image
files. Certain tools available are specialized applications with several
functions that enhance your image viewing experience; while others are
general-purpose browsers that have some image viewing functionality.
Nautilus is a general-purpose file
manager and browser for the GNOME desktop
environment. Nautilus has many functions
beyond simple image viewing; however, for this section, we will use it
for basic image browsing. For more information about
Nautilus, see Chapter 2.
Nautilus is known for its ease-of-use,
and it handles images with the same ease as it does for other file
types. To begin browsing your image collection with
Nautilus, double-click on your home desktop
icon:
You will be presented with a view of all the files and folders
within your home directory. Double-click the image (or folder
containing the image) and Nautilus will
open the new file or folder within its browser window. Figure 10-1 shows that
Nautilus automatically creates thumbnails
of any images in your folders:
Double-click on any thumbnail icon to view the image in its native
size. The image will load within the browser window, along with a
thumbnail view and detailed file information along the left
panel. Below the file information are advanced options for working
with the file. By default, Nautilus offers
you the option of opening the file with Electric
Eyes, a robust image viewer with more advanced imaging
features than Nautilus. You can also open
the file with the GIMP, a powerful image
manipulation application. More information about using the
GIMP can be found in the Section called Manipulating Images with the
GIMP.
To increase and decrease the size of the viewed image in
Nautilus, click on the magnifying glass
icon on the location bar as shown in Figure 10-2:
Click the + icon to increase the size of the
image or - to decrease it.
If you use KDE as your desktop
environment, then you can use the Konqueror
file manager to view images. Simply click on your home directory
desktop icon to access the Konqueror file
manager:
Konqueror works similarly to
Nautilus. Image files within a folder are
displayed as automatically-generated thumbnail icons within the
browser. When you click on a thumbnail icon, the browser displays the
image in its native size, as shown in Figure 10-3.
To zoom in and out of images within
Konqueror, you first need to change the way
it renders the image. From the top toolbar, choose
=> =>
. This will re-display the image
and allow for zooming in and out using the two magnifying glass icons on
the toolbar, as shown in
Figure 10-4.
You can also open the image with more advanced image viewers, as
well as with the GIMP. Right-click on the
image and choose . A pop-up
menu will appear allowing you to open the application you wish to
use. To launch the GIMP, choose
and scroll down the list of
applications. Click on the GIMP icon
and click OK, as seen in Figure 10-5.
GQview is a powerful image viewer for
GNOME desktop users that supports several
image file formats, including:
JPG/JPEG
GIF
PGM
XPM
PNG
PCX
TIF/TIFF
PPM
BMP
GQview is useful for viewing individual
image files as well as browsing collections of files in folders. It
supports zoom in and zoom out functions, as well as thumbnail views of
all image files within a directory. It also supports several advanced
options not found in the simple image viewers listed above.
GQview can be started from the GNOME
and KDE panels. Choose =>
=>
=>
to start the application in
GNOME. For KDE users, choose => =>
=>
. If you are at a shell or terminal
prompt, start the application by typing
gqview. Upon start-up,
GQview will browse your user home directory
by default. If you have any images in this directory, the gallery
panel will automatically generate thumbnails for you to highlight and
view in the main display area.
The interface of GQview is simple and
straightforward. The toolbar allows you to fit the image to the
display window, zoom in and out and toggle between thumbnail view and
text-only browser panels. It also has a text field for you to enter a
particular path to your image directories. Right-clicking on an image
in the display area opens a pop-up menu of image size and other file
options such as renaming, moving, copying. You can also hide and
unhide the thumbnail file panel and toggle windowed and fullscreen
modes within the pop-up menu.
You can also combine functions within
GQview and create a dynamic presentation
effect for groups of images within a directory. In the text field below
the toolbar, type the path to the the directory where your images are
located and highlight the first image in the thumbnail file list panel
on the left. Now press [V] then [S], and
you will start a full-screen slideshow where
GQview displays images against a black
background over your entire desktop. By default, each image in the
slideshow is presented for 15 seconds. You can stop and resume the
slideshow at any time by pressing [S]. When the slideshow
ends, press [V] to exit full-screen mode.
GQview can also be used to change your
desktop wallpaper quickly and easily. Right-click on the image and
choose => . From the menu,
you can also choose to open the file with a number of image editing
utilities, including the GIMP,
Electric Eyes,
Xview, and
Xpaint.
GQview also allows you to customize several
settings by clicking the Configure button:
The configuration pop-up menu allows advanced users to configure several
options. You can customize a directory on startup, change thumbnail
sizes, and even change the default image editors to manipulate the file
if you would like to use one that is not listed.
If you want a quick and simple way of viewing one file,
Electric Eyes may be for you. To start
Electric Eyes from a GNOME desktop, choose
=> =>
=> Electric
Eyes. For KDE users, choose => =>
=> . You can also type ee at a shell
prompt. Right-click the Electric Eyes logo
to open the pop-up menu and load an image. Right-click on displayed
images to configure certain aspects of the image as well as the
Electric Eyes environment.
For example, to open the Editing Controls,
choose => , and the Editing Control
dialog box will pop up, allowing you to change brightness and color
saturation levels on the image.
Buttons along the bottom of the Editing
Control window let you zoom in and out of an image
incrementally by percentage, fit the image to the screen, and even
turn the image 90% clockwise, or invert (flip) the image horizontally
or vertically. Electric Eyes is an ideal
choice for viewing and manipulating single images.
