Possibly Taking My iMac Back

I have a few problems I am really not happy with. First things first, I love my iMac but I really hate the fact that I have to "make do" with what I am missing from my Windows switch. The basic features are NOT present here.

1 - iPhoto - How can you call it iPhoto when you can't even resize an image? The most basic feature needed is not even present?

2 - What is with importing photos and having to delete them in 3 different places? iPhoto is not a realy photo organizing program. I don't know what it is but it causes more frustration than anything and no, I am not in the habbit of giving programs like this a "chance" when it does not do what it should be doing. It makes organizing things harder than it should be.

3 - I want to view the folders of my photos on my drive and see the pictures when I browse the folder - IE - Thumbnail view that shows the picture as the thumbnail, you know like how windows does it? Maybe I am missing somthing but the file name does me no good.

4 - I for some reason can NOT find a program that allows me to browse to my picture folders and view the files as PHOTOS in sequence - a BASIC feature in ANY OS or photo program. I don't want to import, export, organize, cataloge or any of that happy hoopla. I want to SEE my photos. I don't want to have to click on every single one to view it and that is what I am having to do. That is a NO GO. Time consuming and stupid.

5 - I hate taking 2 steps foward and 6 steps backwards and that's what it feels like I am doing.

Any suggestions?

Like this?

From the folder where the pics are in, be sure you are in ICON View, then select View and Show View Options. Put a Check mark by Show Icon Preview.

Check out CocoViewX, I think that will do much of what you're looking for. In addition, the newest version of OS X, Leopard, has a "Coverflow" mode that is much like the thumbnail/slideshow view in Windows.

FWIW, I agree that iPhoto isn't all it's cracked up to be. I much prefer Adobe Photoshop Elements for image organization and touch-ups.

Play around with it more... iPhoto will allow you to organize from file, or delete from file when u import etc., like itunes. Try preview for resize...

Thought i do agree wit you, iphoto is NTY...

iPhoto 08 is much better than 06 IMO.

I find it a bit foolish to return a computer simply because you don't understand or like one application. With any new operating system, there are going to be new things you need to learn... and yes, there might be some habits from your old system that you must abandon.

AbSoluTc said:

I have a few problems I am really not happy with. First things first, I love my iMac but I really hate the fact that I have to "make do" with what I am missing from my Windows switch. The basic features are NOT present here.

Click to expand...

Well, they are:

1 - iPhoto - How can you call it iPhoto when you can't even resize an image? The most basic feature needed is not even present?
It is. Is it where you think it should be?... probably not.


2 - What is with importing photos and having to delete them in 3 different places? iPhoto is not a realy photo organizing program. I don't know what it is but it causes more frustration than anything and no, I am not in the habbit of giving programs like this a "chance" when it does not do what it should be doing. It makes organizing things harder than it should be.
iPhoto isn't making things harder. You are.
Stop thinking about Windows and how you did it in the past and focus on learning the new methods. It organizes by rolls, or by any customer folder you choose to create.

3 - I want to view the folders of my photos on my drive and see the pictures when I browse the folder - IE - Thumbnail view that shows the picture as the thumbnail, you know like how windows does it? Maybe I am missing somthing but the file name does me no good.
You are missing something. When in Finder just choose the "Icon Preview" from the View preferences.

4 - I for some reason can NOT find a program that allows me to browse to my picture folders and view the files as PHOTOS in sequence - a BASIC feature in ANY OS or photo program.
Correction. That is a basic feature of Windows Fax and Picture Viewer.
Again, iPhoto will do this as my previous screenshot shows.

5 - I hate taking 2 steps foward and 6 steps backwards and that's what it feels like I am doing.

Any suggestions?
Yes, stop thinking Windows. Stop trying to compare OS X to Windows.
Stop trying to find a Windows way to do something when you are working on a Mac.

Suggestion.
Buy The Missing Manual by David Pogue and learn how your Mac works.
Maybe you will then understand why Mac users prefer Macs.

or Go back to windows, no one is forcing you to use a Mac.

If you have an actual question, ask.

dtravis7 said:

Like this?

Click to expand...

Yes, for the love of god - YES! Like that - what am I missing?

cwa107 said:

Check out CocoViewX, I think that will do much of what you're looking for. In addition, the newest version of OS X, Leopard, has a "Coverflow" mode that is much like the thumbnail/slideshow view in Windows.

FWIW, I agree that iPhoto isn't all it's cracked up to be. I much prefer Adobe Photoshop Elements for image organization and touch-ups.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I am hoping Leopard fixes some of these weird issues. I really DON'T want to take my Mac back but I got it for multimedia reasons and if I can't even do the simplest things like resizing, what is the point? My main thing is I want control over my photos at the folder level. I don't want a database type of structure. That too me is far too confusing and intrusive.

Actingrude said:

Play around with it more... iPhoto will allow you to organize from file, or delete from file when u import etc., like itunes. Try preview for resize...

Thought i do agree wit you, iphoto is NTY...

Click to expand...

Explain. I have yet to see how iPhoto will allow me to organize from file, delete from file or the like. It is database driven and like I have said, it's backwards having to delete a file 3 times before it's "really" gone. I also don't like having the files moved to some obtrusive directory. I despise that.

MacHeadCase said:

iPhoto 08 is much better than 06 IMO.

Click to expand...

I am using iPhoto '08. It was worse than this? Lol.


Please don't get me wrong here - I love the Mac. I like it's simplicity and I don't want to switch back to Windows. However, comprimises are one thing. Doing without basic features is a whole nother story.

D3v1L80Y said:

I find it a bit foolish to return a computer simply because you don't understand or like one application. With any new operating system, there are going to be new things you need to learn... and yes, there might be some habits from your old system that you must abandon. Well, they are:

1 - iPhoto - How can you call it iPhoto when you can't even resize an image? The most basic feature needed is not even present?
It is. Is it where you think it should be?... probably not.

2 - What is with importing photos and having to delete them in 3 different places? iPhoto is not a realy photo organizing program. I don't know what it is but it causes more frustration than anything and no, I am not in the habbit of giving programs like this a "chance" when it does not do what it should be doing. It makes organizing things harder than it should be.
iPhoto isn't making things harder. You are.
Stop thinking about Windows and how you did it in the past and focus on learning the new methods. It organizes by rolls, or by any customer folder you choose to create.

3 - I want to view the folders of my photos on my drive and see the pictures when I browse the folder - IE - Thumbnail view that shows the picture as the thumbnail, you know like how windows does it? Maybe I am missing somthing but the file name does me no good.
You are missing something. When in Finder just choose the "Icon Preview" from the View preferences.

4 - I for some reason can NOT find a program that allows me to browse to my picture folders and view the files as PHOTOS in sequence - a BASIC feature in ANY OS or photo program.
Correction. That is a basic feature of Windows Fax and Picture Viewer.
Again, iPhoto will do this as my previous screenshot shows.

5 - I hate taking 2 steps foward and 6 steps backwards and that's what it feels like I am doing.

Any suggestions?
Yes, stop thinking Windows. Stop trying to compare OS X to Windows.
Stop trying to find a Windows way to do something when you are working on a Mac.

Click to expand...

It's frustration more than anything because I REALLY want to stay on my Mac. I LOVE IT. However this is the first major problem I have had and I call it major because I bought my Mac to do this VERY THING and it's not. Like I said, I am probably missing something and as pointed out here - I obviously am. Please don't hate me or get angry with me - I am just really frustrated right now. Mainly because I would LOVE to use iPhoto, but it just really seems lacking.

How did you "Browse" to a directory to just view the files? Without importing or anything?

Yes I will admit I am trying to find the Windows type of command to do what I want sometimes. However I am making every effort to break that habit.

torchy said:

Suggestion.
Buy The Missing Manual by David Pogue and learn how your Mac works.
Maybe you will then understand why Mac users prefer Macs.

or Go back to windows, no one is forcing you to use a Mac.

If you have an actual question, ask.

Click to expand...

I already purchased that manual and I have read it a little. Granted I should read more - however I find a hands on approach works better for me. That and I did not have a Mac when I started reading and it's hard for me to read without actually doing it as I read.

Lastly, I don't know if your comment was rude or not - but it's coming across that way. That's the kind of response I expect from a Linux user. I despise people that tell me to read a manual and that blah blah balh and post a real question. Not all of us were born Mac ready. I don't have any ill will towards anyone for the OS they use and I am happy I switched. I just would like some people assistance at this point. Sometimes reading does not clearly show you the OBVIOUS things a person would.

Thanks all for the help.

AbSoluTc said:

Yes, for the love of god - YES! Like that - what am I missing?

Click to expand...

See my other post to you. I put the info there to keep from adding more to the thread.

dtravis7 said:

See my other post to you. I put the info there to keep from adding more to the thread.

Click to expand...

Thank you SOOO MUCH! I feel better now. It's the simple things that make people happy and that was a needed one!

I'm sort of in the same boat you are, I recently switched from xp and was not really enamored with iphoto. So I just don't use it. I got Xee photo preview to browse through my photo files. I use Imagewell when I want to resize a photo and upload it to flickr/ or any other photo hosting site. When I need to do acutual work on a photo I use photoshop. The only thing I really miss is the filmstrip view. That was my favorite way to browse through a photo file.

domromer said:

I'm sort of in the same boat you are, I recently switched from xp and was not really enamored with iphoto. So I just don't use it. I got Xee photo preview to browse through my photo files. I use Imagewell when I want to resize a photo and upload it to flickr/ or any other photo hosting site. When I need to do acutual work on a photo I use photoshop. The only thing I really miss is the filmstrip view. That was my favorite way to browse through a photo file.

Click to expand...

Xee is very nice and simple. I recommend it also.

AbSoluTc said:

It's frustration more than anything because I REALLY want to stay on my Mac. I LOVE IT. However this is the first major problem I have had and I call it major because I bought my Mac to do this VERY THING and it's not. Like I said, I am probably missing something and as pointed out here - I obviously am. Please don't hate me or get angry with me - I am just really frustrated right now. Mainly because I would LOVE to use iPhoto, but it just really seems lacking.

How did you "Browse" to a directory to just view the files? Without importing or anything?

Yes I will admit I am trying to find the Windows type of command to do what I want sometimes. However I am making every effort to break that habit.





I already purchased that manual and I have read it a little. Granted I should read more - however I find a hands on approach works better for me. That and I did not have a Mac when I started reading and it's hard for me to read without actually doing it as I read.

Lastly, I don't know if your comment was rude or not - but it's coming across that way. That's the kind of response I expect from a Linux user. I despise people that tell me to read a manual and that blah blah balh and post a real question. Not all of us were born Mac ready. I don't have any ill will towards anyone for the OS they use and I am happy I switched. I just would like some people assistance at this point. Sometimes reading does not clearly show you the OBVIOUS things a person would.

Thanks all for the help.

Click to expand...

I haven't been here long but I see a lot of responses with that tone. Just ignore it.

domromer said:

I'm sort of in the same boat you are, I recently switched from xp and was not really enamored with iphoto. So I just don't use it. I got Xee photo preview to browse through my photo files. I use Imagewell when I want to resize a photo and upload it to flickr/ or any other photo hosting site. When I need to do acutual work on a photo I use photoshop. The only thing I really miss is the filmstrip view. That was my favorite way to browse through a photo file.

Click to expand...

Nice find on Xee - I like that even better than CocoViewX, which is what I was using to view directories of pictures. Thanks!

I too hate iphoto. I hate having to open a complex program to view my images. I know, windows fax and picture preview is a program, but all it does is view photos very quickly which I like.

Anyone familiar with Acdsee ? That's what I am after, it is complex only if you let it, but it lets me do what I need to do, however there is no Mac version. my goal is/was to switch wholey to Mac which for the most part has gone on without a hitch.

Then I hit this big roadblock that I am not quite happy with. I have yet to find a solution other than waiting for my Leopard upgrade and run windows on this system. I hate doing that but I also want to play some games that are not available on the Mac platform.

I was a big ACDsee user on Windows. Toward the end though I was starting to get frustrated as it was getting larger and more complex, but I still used it, then XP came out with the Picture and FAX viewer so I used it less. For the other poster, Xee does what Picture Viewer on XP does. For an ACDsee clone on OSX though I am not sure. Will check around. Xee does all I need a program like that to do.

dtravis7 said:

I was a big ACDsee user on Windows. Toward the end though I was starting to get frustrated as it was getting larger and more complex, but I still used it, then XP came out with the Picture and FAX viewer so I used it less. For the other poster, Xee does what Picture Viewer on XP does. For an ACDsee clone on OSX though I am not sure. Will check around. Xee does all I need a program like that to do.

Click to expand...

I agree, it did start to get complex towards the latest updates - however I still used it because everything else just did not compare. I have yet to find a program that does what it does on a Mac.

Xee looks nice, however it's really lacking for me. I am a photographer and I need to be able to manipulate my images. I will keep looking, but I might have to "dual boot" which I hate to do. I prefer to keep all my work on one OS.

I really don't get why some of you new OS X users pooh on iPhoto. It allows you to organize your photos by custom folders and now automatically helps out by importing to event folders based on date and time. You can actually do basic photo manipulation and resize for other purposes such as web use. All the above happens without affecting the original imported photo. That is called non-destructive editing, a good thing in my book. Oh, you can even tell iPhoto to use a different application for editing.

I have just over 4000 photos in iPhoto and think it is snappy enough. It would be at least double if I had a 35mm scanner. I'm not a Photoshop user and think for most things I do, web, email and video editing, iPhoto is fine for me right now. Eventually I'll look into Aperture or the Adobe alternative if I feel I need more fine tuning abilities.

Anyway I suspect you may want to look at Image Capture in the Applications folder to import your images from your camera, thereby skipping the use of iPhoto altogether. If you don't want to use the tool, then I don't think you want it organizing your folder structure for the photos either.

Also, it looks like Leopard will make things easier as far as viewing whole folders of photos, so that will appease some of you who insist on using the Finder. I don't get it, but if it works for you than great.

I agree that for advanced users, there are better tools, but I see enough non advanced users fighting the system and making life harder for them selfs. I suggest that those people at least try to learn the new tools before they poop on the different or new way of doing things on their new Mac.

I hope that didn't sound rude. I just dislike when people give up so easily and fall back to their old ways.

Well that is my 2 cents.