What if someone doesn’t have Win XP? That’s not uncommon.
wrote in message
I keep reading about the browser that is in PE and I just read over the
section in the manual, but I don’t see any real advantage of using it when Windows XP has thumbnails and EXIF info already there when I go to open a file.
Am I missing something…or can someone enlighten me as to what exactly
it’s used for? What can it do that Windows Explorer in XP can’t already do?
Patti
I guess I worded that poorly. I’m just curious to know if there IS some *super-fantastic, you-don’t-want-to be-without-it* advantage I don’t know about the browser even for those who have XP.
I don’t know about other folks, but for me it’s very easy to overlook features in a program that does so much!
🙂
Patti
Patti, I tend to agree with you. When I was running under Win 98SE, the Browser was very slow and tended to bog down my memory and speed limited machine. With my recent conversion to XP, the browser is history. On the plus side, it does allow you to delete images, batch rename, etc., in one application; that’s a nice thing to have.
Chuck
I’m on Win98se and I think I’ve maybe opened the PE browser only 2 or 3 times (I’ve never actually used it to do anything like resizing or rotating). I have all my image folders set to show thumbnails and I have IrfanView set as my default viewer when left-clicking on an image file. I’ve set the "Open In External Editor" option in IrfanView to use PE and I’ve also used a program called OpenExpert to add "Open In PE" to the right-click context menus of image file in Windows Explorer. Win98se Windows Explorer doesn’t show exif info, but I rarely need/want to look at it anyway and if I do, both IrfanView and PE will display it. Also, I use IrfanView for any batch processing that I may need to do and for lossless jpeg rotation.
Rob
With the browser it is easier to see which image you want to edit, without using a third party program.
I have XP, with the browser set to thumbnail, but I don’t have elements as my default image viewer, I use the built in picture/fax viewer. If elements opened, it would hog resources.
If I want to edit an image, I open elements and either use the browser or just the open command. I find it is easier to scan through the thumbnails for the images I want to edit, that way I open it, and save to a different folder, keeping the original untouched.
It is a workflow I use, and it seems to me the easiest way of doing things.
Paul
It seems that everyone has their own preferred method of operation. If I have come home from a wedding or a big family party with more than 100 photographs in my camera, I find it much easier to use the file browser if I’m looking for a specific picture. Personally, I like the file browser, but it probably is not a feature that everyone appreciates. The nice part about it is that you don’t have the use it if you don’t want to.
Jim
I agree with you, Jim. Most of the time I don’t use any kind of browser, but I’ve found it extremely handy on a few occasions. I’m glad it’s included, but I suppose I could do without it, too. I just like having a choice of more than one way to accomplish a task, such as renaming files.
I use the PSE2 file browser for a couple of reasons….
– My image folders are named suggestively (heh-heh), but my images are all left with my digicam’s naming convention. I use the browser to scan through the directory for the image I have in mind, since I have no idea what the name might be.
– When I don’t know exactly what image I’m looking for, I use the browser to leaf through my image folders until the right thing catches my eye (i.e., I need to find a big piece of blue sky).
My system is Win98SE, so I _could_ use Windows Explorer in web page mode to preview my images, but I hate Windows Explorer’s web page mode. Besides, it doesn’t work for all PSE-able file formats.
I always close the PSE file browser as soon as I possibly can, as I find that keeping it open REALLY bogs my system down — both on my p-III 500 256Mb laptop, and my p-III 600 768Mb tower… more so on the tower, it seems.
The PSE file browser is entertaining, at least, in that I never know when it will creep off the bottom of the screen. (some Adobe programmers’ on-going prank?)
Byron
I guess then it is helpful for Windows 98 users, but I gather from what folks are saying that there is nothing spectacular about it that I might be missing. 🙂 The few times that I have used it, it did seem to slow my system down way too much. It’s interesting to note in XP that if you just view the thumbnails when you go to open files (in the same way one would use the browser), it doesn’t take the RAM juice that this built in browser does.
I like to use Irfanview too and also have it set as my default image viewer. I’ve even added it to my Quick Launch taskbar so it’s always ready to open with one click. It opens real fast and you can have it open at the same time as PE w/o any problem.
Patti
Hi, Patti.
The only thing I use the Browser (and I believe it’s speaking of Internet Explorer browser or Netscape) is when I save to WEB, and I can view my picture in the browser prior to accepting it or saving it.
I guess, too, it comes in handy if you go to the Updates pages online from the program.
Maybe I’m missing something, but that’s how I see it.
Good luck,
Lorace
Well, I don’t use Windows much, but one thing I have noticed is that at least on the machines that I have used, XP tends to majorly anti-alias if you use the system browser.
I often find it hard to tell about focus details and things until I open in PE.
I think its just what you get used to … I use the file browser all the time and can’t imagine not having it there.
Lorace … not IE or Netscape browser but the Elements one …. look under File/Browse, maybe yours is closed.
Oh, wake up, Lorace! I remember now, Wendy, I tried it once and it did nothing. Will try again.
Thanks for keeping me straight. LOL
Lorace
PS – I just went out and tried it, again, with the same results. Nothing. No response whatsoever. But I don’t need it as I do fine in Explorer.
Lorace … The file browser is the square that comes up on the screen that has small pictures of your photos on it … the one you use to choose which photograph to load. When you are in Elements going to File then clicking on Browse in the pop up window just turns it on and off …
You will sort it out one of these days … it won’t take long 🙂 I still remember what I was like when I first got it …
Ah, Wendy.
You are so patient with me. Well, I went back and tried again, and guess what? There was something almost hidden down at the bottom of my screen. I pulled it up and VOILA! The file browser. How neat!
This program sure has a lot to it. I probably would never have even seen it had you not said that it pops up on your screen. Now that I pulled it up, it seems to stay there. Very interesting.
Any more tricks I should know? ha ha
Thanks,
Lorace
Lorace … lots more tricks 🙂 (see the another use for the gradient tool thread)
