01-19-2007, 11:39 PM

i really hate the iphoto program is there anyway i can revert back to something that is similar to the "my pictures" folder on Windows XP?
:closed:

someone had advised me that i could also make a "folder"
on my desktop and put all my pics in there if i'd like

however the thing is when i do that it doesnt give me a
thumbnail preview of the picture like "my pictures" does

also when i click on the picture in the folder
i cant view the next picture
in the sequence as i can in "my pictures"



here is what i hate about
IPHOTO (tho i know iphoto is supposedly far superior
than my pictures as my pictures is just a "preview folder"
and iphoto is an actual program, i still think iphoto's
design is crap)

annoyances i have:

1.) each time i want to save a picture, i have to drag it to iphotos
library
i then have to drag it from iphotos library
into a specialized folder
that i have created for it. i.e. "cars>>mercedes" or whatnot.

on "my pictures" all i have to do is save in the folder that ive
specified, thats it, done voila, case closed. i have to do like
5 extra steps in iphoto to get a photo where i want it
whereas in windows xp i can do it in 1.




2.) say i want to make some adjustments to one of my pictures
in a subfolder on iphoto...all the adjustments i make to that photo
affect ALL other copies of that photo in the iphoto program.

i have to then make sure i have TWO copies of the same photos in the library before i make any adjustments to its relative picture in the subfolder

SOOO much extra work!!

3.) say i want to upload a picture to www.photobucket.com, normally
on "my pictures" on windows xp i click on the "choose file" button
on photobucket then i look at what folder i want, click click and
upload everything is done.

on iphoto.
i have to drag the pic from iphoto onto the "choose file" screen
it then will say "roll 1 , roll 2" (which i have no idea what that means
i didnt even name the pictures roll 1 or roll 2? wtf?)
and then i have to drag the pic AGAIN for it to go into the little window for me to upload

does this make sense what im typing? i hope so...
basicaly again i have to drag the photo twice in order for it to show up on the uploadbox.






am i just doing things wrong or is iphoto truely a wack program??

01-20-2007, 12:35 AM

Put all pictures in a folder. Press Apple (command) key-A to select them all and:

1. Right-click and select slideshow OR
2. Click on a picture. Preview will open with thumbnails down the right and a enlarged photo on the left.

Most things in Mac are extremely easy and intuitive. I highly suggest buying a book- it will be well worth the money. The OS has hundreds of great features and shortcuts.

01-20-2007, 12:42 AM

Not to be rude but Karudzo can you help explain how we can keep him to use iPhoto? maybe it will answer other "switchers" questions I like this post!! but I also like iPhoto but am not exactly skilled enough to explain or keep you with it..

01-20-2007, 12:46 AM

Originally Posted by MacNewbie

someone had advised me that i could also make a "folder"
on my desktop and put all my pics in there if i'd like

however the thing is when i do that it doesnt give me a
thumbnail preview of the picture like "my pictures" does

also when i click on the picture in the folder
i cant view the next picture
in the sequence as i can in "my pictures"

here's what i do and it works like a charm.

first download Xee. it is a super nice photo viewer that will easily allow moving back and forth within a folder (with apple+ arrow keys, or just with the < > keys). also has some very basic editing in the way MS picture and fax viewer has (rotate basically) and the ability to zoom easily.
my Xee is set as the default image viewer for almost everything but .psd/.raw/.tiff.

next, you can see thumbnails in finder. it's a view option in finder when you right-click in the finder window, there is a preview option. you can also set the size of the icons which will change the size of the thumbnail if the file is a pic.

i also just use the "pictures" folder pre-made for us. added some of my own subfolders, just like you can in the "my pictures" folder in windows OS.

bingo, it's just like windows! (i debated writing it that way, but thought it would be fun to make DB and schweb cringe a bit. )

01-20-2007, 12:48 AM

eric this is all instead of using iPhoto i presume

01-20-2007, 12:55 AM

Originally Posted by MacNewbie

someone had advised me that i could also make a "folder" on my desktop and put all my pics in there if i'd like, however the thing is when i do that it doesnt give me athumbnail preview of the picture like "my pictures" does also when i click on the picture in the folder i cant view the next picture in the sequence as i can in "my pictures"

G'day MacNewbie, to do the above is possible but you must first enable "Show Icon Preview" in Finder>View>Show View Options. To browse from one pic in that folder to the next you need to select all the pics and double-click or press Command+O to open them in Preview. Then you just use the directional arrow keys to go through them.

iPhoto annoyances i have:

1.) each time i want to save a picture, i have to drag it to iphotos
library i then have to drag it from iphotos library into a specialized folder that i have created for it. i.e. "cars>>mercedes" or whatnot.

on "my pictures" all i have to do is save in the folder that ive
specified, thats it, done voila, case closed. i have to do like
5 extra steps in iphoto to get a photo where i want it
whereas in windows xp i can do it in 1.

Why not try Image Capture in Macintosh HD>Applications? You might just prefer that instead.

2.) say i want to make some adjustments to one of my pictures
in a subfolder on iphoto...all the adjustments i make to that photo
affect ALL other copies of that photo in the iphoto program.

i have to then make sure i have TWO copies of the same photos in the library before i make any adjustments to its relative picture in the subfolder

SOOO much extra work!!

Making a duplicate of the original and altering that duplicate is not such a bad idea if you think of it. Where you aware that iPhoto has a "Revert To Original" feature which undoes all changes. This is found in iPhoto>Photos>Revert To Original.

3.) say i want to upload a picture to www.photobucket.com, normally on "my pictures" on windows xp i click on the "choose file" button on photobucket then i look at what folder i want, click click and
upload everything is done.

on iphoto i have to drag the pic from iphoto onto the "choose file" screen
it then will say "roll 1 , roll 2" (which i have no idea what that means
i didnt even name the pictures roll 1 or roll 2? wtf?)and then i have to drag the pic AGAIN for it to go into the little window for me to upload

does this make sense what im typing? i hope so...basicaly again i have to drag the photo twice in order for it to show up on the uploadbox.

iPhoto has FlickrExport built in as an export option, but it is only a trial and will expire eventually. Otherwise just keep your pictures organised using Image Capture and your own folder structure elsewhere.

am i just doing things wrong or is iphoto truely a wack program??

No you're learning how you deal with the integration of an application like iPhoto into Mac OS X and if it suits your needs + you're comparing Mac OS X to Windows XP.

My Pictures in XP is something that is hard to forget when you find yourself up against the likes of iPhoto and the way it is sewn into the OS. I had tremendous problems with iPhoto when I started using it just over a year ago. Some things about it still bug me but it's there for your use and it's a great photo manager, there's no doubt about that. Your way is possible and I bet you'll still find iPhoto useful someday.

01-20-2007, 01:01 AM

Originally Posted by hotskate

eric this is all instead of using iPhoto i presume

yep, i'm not a fan either. i didn't use a lot of MS products when i used windows. i don't really see a problem being a 'mac person' but not digging some of the software, packed in or not. i don't really dig itunes either, and i'm sure a lot of people here know i'm not an ipod person.

it's not about making osx behave like windows. it's just about doing things the way you want to do them.

01-20-2007, 01:07 AM

As an alternative application, you could download the complete HP Photosmart driver installation for the Photosmart 7960 printer (even if you dont have an HP printer) because it comes with HP's Image Zone program which works exactly like the Windows version of the same program and is actually a much easier interface and organizer than iPhoto (and better editor and printing program as well). I found this out because I actually have that printer and simply went to their website to get the driver and it came bundled with the Image Zone program.

01-20-2007, 01:31 AM

Thanks to EVERYONE for all their great ideas!!!!

pulse thanks to u as well for being so detailed


u guys are of great help.

Originally Posted by Pulse-8

Why not try Image Capture in Macintosh HD>Applications? You might just prefer that instead.

image capture..is this an additional program
i have to download as a suppplementary program to iphoto??

or is it something completely different?

iPhoto has FlickrExport built in as an export option, but it is only a trial and will expire eventually. Otherwise just keep your pictures organised using Image Capture and your own folder structure elsewhere.

so image capture makes saving pics
and also exporting pics easier? do i have this assumption correct? :bone:

when u say use my own fodler structure elsewhere
r u saying just abandon using iphoto?






i think its both the MAC OS and iphoto
that im having trouble understanding...

let me be more specific..

1.) when i go to upload a photo on an image hosting site like www.photobucket.com...

2.) normally on Windows XP, when i click on "upload"
i can click on "my pictures>>cars>>mercedes"
and then click on whatever picture i want in that folder. very simple and straightforward

3.) however on MAC when i click on "upload"
a window pops up and i do see that on the left
i can click on "pictures" it then gives me two choices
"iphoto library" or "photobooth", after i click on
"iphoto library" it shows all these files like "Data.xml" and folders like "Dir.data" "iphoto.ipsop"
etc. etc. etc. VERY confusing and folders titled "data" etc. etc. why is it showing me all of this?

3.) good guessing in my part i discovered my pictures are in the folder titled "Data" after i click on "data"
it gives me three options "2005" "2006" "2007
i have NO Idea where it got these years because i did not create folders with these years on them...
say i click on 2005, it will randomly give me a bunch of subfolders that i DID NOT create titled "roll 21 " "roll 1" " roll 2" "roll 100" etc. etc. to make matters even more confusing it will also mix in names of folders that i DID create such as "cars" "nature" etc.

its almost like i have to play a guessing game to determine which folder my pictures are in


4.) ok and say that i just use the simple "drag n drop"
feature ,

when i try and drag and drop on Safari
it wil make me do it twice but i will get a picture preview of what im uploading

when i try and do it on Mozilla it only makes me do it once (which i just recently discovered) HOWEVER it does not give me a picture preview..

im just soo confused by these random
titles of "rolls" and random years that iphoto is
assigning
to my pictures by default that i never even created




grrr

01-20-2007, 01:44 AM

Well for starters, the individual "rolls" are the default folder names that iPhoto uses if you do not name the folder yourself when you imported the pictures into the program. You can go into the preferences and set it to view the last xx number of rolls (show last xx rolls album), then go back to the menu and click the little film looking icon where it says "last x rolls" and close the >arrows until you just get a list of folder names (all will say roll 1, roll 2, etc). Click on a roll, then click at the bottom left of the screen on the little lowercase "i" with the circle around it to bring up the Information box where you can click on the title and rename them to whatever you want them to be. That will actually rename the "roll" in the iphoto structure so that when you are browsing there from another program you will see the names you have given those folders instead of the generic "roll x" When importing from a camera, before it begins the import you have the option to give the roll a title. Not sure how you are getting your pictures into the program right now, but you can drag and drop pictures into other "rolls" or folders within the program when you are using the roll view. I have mine set to not see the whole library at once, but use the roll view and keep them all collapsed except the roll or two I am shifting around. (also forgot to mention you will have to choose "view rolls" from the view menu to see the roll names)

01-20-2007, 02:14 AM

Originally Posted by MacNewbie

image capture..is this an additional program
i have to download as a suppplementary program to iphoto?? or is it something completely different?

You can find it if you navigate to Macintosh HD>Applications>Image Capture. It comes pre-installed on your Mac when you buy it. I like using Image Capture as it allows me to have control over how many pics I download from my Digital Camera to my iMac. iPhoto will allow this but it's not as good for my needs.

If you manage your own folders and use Image Capture, placing images into your own folder tree, then they will be easier to find when uploading. Just ensure the pics are named.

iPhoto can still be useful it's up to you. It has some basic but good editing features.

01-20-2007, 02:27 AM

heh... i just use a sandisk usb card reader:




of course i have to kill the iphoto importer every time. but then i can just view/copy the images in finder.

01-20-2007, 02:52 AM

I recommend you buy this and read it http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/iphotomm/ It's worth the effort.
I export my pic's to a file for uploading to Photobucket via the export function Shift + cmd + E There you can resize it ready for uploading

01-20-2007, 11:13 AM

The Apple Stores have regular, free classes on iPhoto. Go to one, and ask questions.

01-20-2007, 01:56 PM

For image viewers, eric is right - Xee is one of the best. But also consider FFView (neat voice activated command interface in addition to the usual) and CocoViewX, which has the ability to generate nice clean straightforward HTML gallery pages in addition to its normal and very good viewer functions.