Number 234 - October 2002

Easy Thumbnails
by Rick Mattingly
Digital cameras and optical scanners result in images -- lots and lots of images. Keeping track of all those images quickly becomes a real chore. Often, the only way to determine which image file is the one you are looking for is to view the image contained with an image viewing utility. Image files can be, and most often are, quite large, complicating the issue even further. The solution is to use "thumbnail" views of the image files. Thumbnail images are nothing more than a miniature duplicate of the original, much smaller in physical and storage size. Accessing the thumbnail images is fast and they take up very little storage space.     While it is true that you can create a thumbnail view of an image with most graphic software applications, it can be a real pain to manually set up the software to resize each image. A better route is to utilize a dedicated thumbnail software application for this task, as well as a quick thumbnail image viewer. "Easy Thumbnails" by Fookes Software is a great choice for this job.     The official description of Easy Thumbnails v1.0 reads as follows: "A handy utility for creating accurate thumbnail images and scaled-down copies from a wide range of popular picture formats. An elegant interface makes it simplicity itself to find your images and select them for processing individually, in batches, or in whole folders, using a well-designed file selector and built-in image viewer. You can use slider controls to rotate images and adjust their contrast, brightness, sharpness and quality, and preview the results. Thumbnails can be created in any existing	folder or a new folder, and you can identify them clearly by adding a prefix or suffix to their titles. If you're a image processing enthusiast, you will appreciate the option of choosing from a selection of six size-reduction algorithms for the best possible results."     Easy Thumbnails is a small utility that does a really nice job with an elegant, yet simple interface. Oh, and I must not forget to mention what a great tool Easy Thumbnail is for maintaining Web site images.     And now the best part -- Easy Thumbnails is freeware!     Go to Fookes Software on the Internet at www.fookes.com to snag your very own copy of this great utility. While you are there, also check out the other great software products available, including "Album Express" for creating picture albums of your images, and "Mailbag Assistant" to enhance management of your e-mail. Also, be sure to take a look at "NoteTab," one of the most powerful ASCII text editors I have yet seen. NoteTab is available in a free "light" version (amazing!) or as a powerhouse "pro" version for only $19.95.     Classy, functional software from Geneva, Switzerland by Eric G. V. Fookes. Definitely worth a look.     c 2000 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group.
Number 234 - October 2002