home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The CICA Windows Explosion!
/
The CICA Windows Explosion! - Disc 1.iso
/
desktop
/
thmbnail.zip
/
README.TXT
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-06-28
|
7KB
|
177 lines
ThumbNailer ver 95.6.28
by Rob Reuss (copyright 1995)
rsr@i-2000.com
BRIEF
ThumbNailer utilizes Netscape 1.1 or greater as a thumbnail
graphics viewer.
INTRODUCTION
ThumbNailer will examine the contents of whatever directory
or subdirectory you choose, it will identify "gif" and "jpg"
files and will write out a file called "thumb.htm" to the
directories. Each file contains html code to display the
directory contents as thumbnail images. It will automatically
launch Netscape with an index file loaded listing the directories
it wrote files for and you can click on them to see the thumbnail
contents. If you click on the thumbnail or the filename,
it will load that image.
INSTRUCTIONS
Installation
Unzip the file THMBNAIL.ZIP and put the file THMBNAIL.EXE in
it's own directory, which you may call whatever you wish.
Using ThumbNailer
Use the drive and directory controls on ThumbNailer's main
window to identify the directory which it should begin with
in creating thumbnail files. There are a number of options
in terms of exactly how ThumbNailer will operate, and these
are accessed through the menu item SETTINGS.
Settings
Thumb Size
This option gives you control over how large of a thumbnail
Netscape will display, with the height on the right and the
width on the left. You can use the scrollbar to increment
or decrement in 25 pixel quantities.
# of Columns
This let's you determine how many thumbnail images Netscape
will show on each line. This will be in effect regardless of
whether you have "Use Tables" checked. You can enter a
quantity here or choose from the drop down box.
Browser
Checking "Launch Browser" will cause ThumbNailer to launch
Netscape when it is through building the thumbnail files. If
there is no browser entered and you check this box, you will
be given the opportunity to show ThumbNailer where your
Netscape browser is located. Or you can use the "Find" button.
Regardless of whether or not you have "Launch Browser" selected
or a browser specified, ThumbNailer will copy the URL of the
main file it creates to the Windows clipboard. This is
particularly useful if Netscape is already running, because
ThumbNailer is unable to force an already running Netscape
to the newly created page.
Include Subdirectories
This setting determines whether or not, if subdirectories exist
below the selected directory, ThumbNailer will produce thumbnail
files for those directories as well. If this box is checked,
ThumbNailer will go through *all* subdirectories, even deeply
nested one, so use this with care.
HTML File
o Single Thumb File: check this to have ThumbNailer produce just
a single page of thumbnails, even including subdirectories.
Using this option, you can essentially create a single page
with all of the graphics on a disk displayed. (See notes below
regarding Netscape's ability to handle huge files.)
o Multiple Thumb Files: check this, in contrast to "Single Thumb
File", to have ThumbNailer create individual thumbnail files in
each subdirectory, along with an index to access them.
o Display Full Size: check this if you want Netscape to display
the images full size, rather than according to the geometry
given in "Thumb Size".
o Include File Names: if this is checked, ThumbNailer will insert
the name of each file underneath it.
o Use Tables: if this is checked, ThumbNailer will employ Netscape
tables in displaying the thumbnail images.
o Background Color: DOUBLE CLICK on this panel to select the color
you would like Netscape to display as a background to your thumb-
nail images.
File Names
The INDEX and HTML file names tell ThumbNailer what to call it's
output files. If you are doing any WWW development, you may already
have files called INDEX.HTM on your hard drive. If ThumbNailer
encounters a situation where an existing file has the same name as
the one it is trying to write, it will examine the file to see if it
is a ThumbNailer-produced file by looking at it's first line. If
it is not a ThumbNailer file, it will give you the option of over-
writing it or skipping over it. If you encounter these naming conflicts
often, change these entries to legitimate DOS file names and be happy.
You must close the Settings dialog box in order to continue
BUILDING YOUR THUMBNAIL FILES
Once you have used the drive and directory controls to locate
the directory you want ThumbNailer to work on, and adjusted the
settings to your needs, choose "File" and then "Build" on the
menubar and ThumbNailer will do the rest.
DELETING THUMBNAIL FILES
If you wish to remove ThumbNailer produced files at any time,
choose the directory and/or subdirectories you want the files
deleted from, and choose "File" and then "Delete Build" on the
menubar. ThumbNailer will delete only ThumbNailer-produced files
according to the filenames currently entered in the "Settings"
dialog box.
USING OTHER BROWSERS
ThumbNailer, at it's core, relies on Netscape 1.1's ability
to control the geometry of the images it displays, so it's
utility with other browsers is limited to displaying full
size images, regardless of whether "Full Size" is selected
in the "Settings" dialog box. It is recommended that you
uncheck "Use Tables" if you are employed another Browser.
PROBLEMS WITH USING NETSCAPE FOR THIS PURPOSE
You will find that your thumbnail pages, if they contain
many images, will take a while to load into Netscape. This
is because Netscape *must* load the entire file to create
the thumbnail. With files that contain many graphics, you
may find Netscape showing the broken image symbol it uses
when it can't load a graphic. You may find that increasing
the cache size under "Cache and Network" in Netscape to
improve this situation. You may also find Netscape crashing
with larger files...I did.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND THE AUTHOR
ThumbNailer is for personal, non-commercial use, and for such
uses it is freeware. If you wish to use it in any commerical
situation, please contact the author for licensing arrangments.
The program was created using the Delphi programming environment
from Borland. I created it to begin honing my Delphi skills on
a relatively small project. I do not intend to further develop
ThumbNailer unless I hear from people who find it useful and
want additional features. Some additional features that might
be possible include: more control over Netscape tables; getting
Netscape to send files to an external viewer, like Lview; adding
more complex indexing for sub-directories, somehow dealing with
other file formats, somehow taking advantage of the fact that
Netscape loads the entire image for each thumbnail by putting
the full images down below the thumbnails.
If you find any bugs, or wish to make suggestions about how this
application may be improved, please send them to rsr@i-2000.com
and I will do my best to respond. It would be helpful if you
included the word "THUMBNAILER" in the subject line of the message.
The most up-to-date version of ThumbNailer will be made available
at ftp.soc.qc.edu in directory /pub/GoSlip/thmbnail
Enjoy!