Photos User Guide

SplashData, Inc.
270 Eakin Dr.
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
www.splashdata.com

 

Table of Contents

Introduction
Installation
Support
QuickStart
Photos Desktop
 � Installing Images
 � Edit Dialog
 � Browsing the Desktop Catalog
 � Desktop Preferences
 � Editing Multiple Images
  � Photos Conduit
Browsing the Handheld Catalog
 � Views
 � Categories
Image View
 � Full Screen View
 � Image View Options Menu
 � Image Details
 � Pan & Zoom
Slide Show
 � Slide Show Preferences
Menus
 � Options
 � Preferences
 � Captions
 � Security

Introduction

Photos is a fast, easy-to-use image viewer for Palm OS® handhelds. Photos allows users to organize images on their handhelds for individual or Slide Show viewing. It is designed to provide optimal image viewing within the confines of a handheld's reduced display size and limited memory. In addition, Photos 4.0 includes desktop software that synchronizes with the handheld, for editing, optimizing, installing, organizing and cataloging images.

Installation

Photos is already loaded on your handheld. To install the Photos desktop application, insert the software installation CD in your computer's CD drive, and then follow the onscreen instructions for installing applications.

Support

If you have questions about the use of Photos, there are a number of resources available:

  • Photos FAQ - Questions and answers for troubleshooting problems with Photos.
  • Contact Support - If your question is not answered in the FAQ, use this form to contact us.
  • SplashData Forum - Users of SplashData products discuss the software and solutions to various problems.

QuickStart

  1. Launch the Photos Desktop application. Note: You must first launch Photos on the handheld and then synchronize before the desktop application will function.
  2. Drag images into the Photos application window to add them to your catalog. Or click the Add button in Photos to browse for images.
  3. The Edit dialog will automatically open for each image you have added. You may edit the Name, Category, Location, Zoom, Contrast, Brightness and cropping of each image. Click Next to page through the series of images you just added. Click Done when your changes are complete. The catalog displays the images you have added.
  4. Perform a HotSync® operation to synchronize the desktop catalog with your handheld.
  5. Launch Photos on the handheld and view the images!

Photos Desktop

The Photos desktop application allows you to add or remove images from your Photos catalog, categorize and add notes to images, crop and edit those images, and then synchronize the changes with your handheld.

Launch the Photos Desktop to access your image catalog.


Installing Images

To add an image to your catalog, either click the Add button or drag an image file into the application window from somewhere on your computer. Supported image types include JPG, GIF, and BMP. Photos will convert all images to JPG format.

When you add an image to the catalog, the Edit Dialog opens so you can adjust the Image Details of each image added.

Once you have finished editing the Image Details, click Done and the images in your catalog will be synchronized to the handheld on the next synchronization.


Edit Dialog

  • Name: change the name of the image.
  • Location: Choose to either install the image to Internal memory or an External
    Memory Card. When installing to a card, the images will be stored in the PALM/Programs/Photos directory.
  • Category: Sets the category the image will belong to.
  • Notes: Add any additional information.
  • Crop: Check this box to automatically crop the image and resize it to fit your device’s screen. Leave this unchecked to install the full image.
  • Zoom/Crop: Use the slider to adjust the size and cropping of the image. Then click and drag on the image preview to adjust the crop.
  • Contrast: Use the slider to adjust how sharp the image is.
  • Brightness: Use the slider to adjust how bright the image is.
  • Rotate: Click the buttons to rotate 90 degrees in either direction.
  • Private: Check this box to set the image as private. It will be hidden in Photos if Privacy settings are turned on.
  • Previous/Next: If you have selected multiple images, these buttons will move forward or back through the series of images.
  • Done: Click Done if you have made all of the edits you wish to make for the entire series.
  • Cancel: This clears any edits you have made to the current image and returns to the image catalog.

Browsing the Desktop Catalog

When you open Photos Desktop, your user name will appear at the top of the window. To change users, click the User menu and select the user.

You can view your images on the desktop a number of different ways. At the top left of the Photos Desktop window, there are 4 view buttons available:

  • List View: Displays all of the details of the images in a list. The columns displayed can be changed by choosing Show Columns from the Edit menu.
  • Detail View: Displays Thumbnail, Name, Category, Location, Dimensions, Size, and Notes. Note: The Detail View is particularly useful for changing an image's category.
  • Thumbnail View: Displays large thumbnails and the image Name.
  • Gallery View: Displays small thumbnails only.

These view options are also available from the View Menu

The top right pull-down allows you to filter by the Category of the images. You can also select Edit Categories from the pull-down list and add, delete, or change the categories you can select from.

Desktop Preferences

The Preferences for the Photos Desktop allow you to set a default action for adding images to the catalog. Access the Preferences from the Edit menu (Photos Desktop menu on Mac OS).

Set the Category for new images added to the catalog.

Note: The default category is applied to new images when viewing All images. If you are filtering the catalog by a specific category when you add images to the catalog, that category will be applied to the new images.

The check box for Resize to fit screen is the same option as in the Edit Dialog. It automatically crops the picture to best fit the handheld screen. Unchecking this will install the full size image.

The check box for Automatically open Edit Images dialog allows you to bypass the Edit Dialog. This is especially useful if you have set a default action for all images and want to have these settings automatically applied to each image without having to preview each image.

Finally, there is a slider to adjust the quality/compression of the JPGs that will be installed on your device. Higher quality means larger image files, requiring more memory on the device which may take longer to display.

Editing Multiple Images

You can select multiple images by shift-clicking or control-clicking them in the catalog, and select Assign Category from the File menu to apply the same category to all of the images. And you can delete a group of images by clicking the Delete button.

Photos Conduit

The Photos Conduit is responsible for synchronizing changes between the handheld and the desktop. By default, it will synchronize the catalogs automatically. Occasionally, however, you may need to change the settings in order to restore a picture from your handheld that you have accidentally removed from your desktop, or vice-versa.

To open the Photos Conduit, do the following:

1. Click the HotSync® Manager icon in the Windows system tray and select Custom to open the Custom dialog. (On Mac OS: Launch HotSync® Manager or Palm Desktop™ and select Conduit Settings from the HotSync menu.)

2. Double click the Photos entry in the Conduit list. The Photos Conduit Dialog appears.

There are 4 possible settings:

Synchronize the files: This is the default setting for Photos and synchronizes the catalog on the handheld with that on the desktop. Changes to the desktop catalog will be changed on the handheld, and vice-versa.

Desktop overwrites handheld: The handheld catalog will be overwritten by the desktop catalog. This is useful if you have accidentally deleted a picture from the handheld, but it still resides on the desktop.

Handheld overwrites desktop: The desktop catalog will be overwritten by the handheld catalog. This is useful if you have accidentally deleted a picture from the desktop, but it still resides on the handheld.

Do nothing: No synchronization will take place in Photos.

Set as default: Check this box if you want to keep the synchronization setting to which you are changing. Leave this unchecked if you want the settings to revert to Synchronize the files after one HotSync® operation (recommended).


Browsing the Handheld Catalog

On the handheld, launch Photos from the Applications Launcher by tapping its icon.

Views

You can view your images on the handheld a number of different ways. At the bottom left of the Photos window, there are 4 view buttons available:

• List View: Displays the Name, Category, and Size of image in a list. The columns displayed can be changed in Preferences.

• Detail View: Displays Thumbnail, Name, Category, Location, Dimensions, Size, and Notes. Note: The Detail View is particularly useful for changing an image's category.

• Thumbnail View: Displays large thumbnails and the image Name.

• Gallery View: Displays small thumbnails only.

List View

Detail View

Thumbnail View

Gallery View

Categories

The top right pull-down in any of the catalog view windows allows you to filter by the Category of the images.

You can also select Edit Categories from the pull-down list and add, delete, or change the categories you can select from.

 

Image View

Full Screen View

To view a full screen image, simply tap on an image from List, Thumbnail, Gallery, or Detail views. Page through the images by using the up and down buttons.

Tap the screen again to exit back to one of the catalog views.

To access the Image View Options Menu (see below), tap the top left of the screen or the menu button.

Flip back and forth through the series of images using the navigation pad.

 

Image View Options Menu

There is a different menu available from Image View mode which looks like this:

Image Details: Displays the Image Details dialog.
Note: Opens the Note dialog where you can add or edit the note field for the image.
Zoom: Displays the full image and brings up the Pan and Zoom controls.
Delete Image: Deletes the image from the catalog.
Send Image: Sends the image via IR Beaming.

 

 

 


Image Details

In the Image Details dialog you can review and modify the image attributes.

Name -- Use this field to rename the image.
Category -- You can assign each image to one of the user-definable categories.
Resolution -- Displays the resolution of the image.
Size -- Displays the file size of the image.
Date -- Displays the date the image was created.
Private: Check this box to mark the image private. It will be hidden if Security settings are correctly set.
Delete -- Deletes the image.
Note -- Click the Note button to add additional information about the image in the Notes field.


Pan & Zoom

Enter zoom mode by either selecting Zoom from the Options Menu or using the Zoom In hardware button.

Entering Zoom mode displays the image at 100% of its size. If there is not enough memory available to decode the image and display it at 100%, it will be displayed as large as memory will allow.

There are roughly 2-8 zoom levels, depending on the size of the image. You can Zoom by tapping the + and - buttons on the screen and Pan the image by dragging the stylus on the image.

You can use the hardware buttons for zooming in/out and panning as follows:

zoom out

pan up

zoom in

pan
left

 

pan
right

pan down

Tap the screen to exit the Zoom mode and return to the browser view.

Slide Show

Tap the Slide Show icon to start a Slide Show. All of the images currently in view will be displayed in the Slide Show and the Slide Show will start from the currently selected images or the beginning if no image is selected. Images will be displayed according to your Slide Show Preferences.

Stop the Slide Show by tapping the screen.

The Image View Options Menu is also available during Slide Show mode.


 

Slide Show Preferences

Access the Slide Show Preferences on the handheld by tapping the Slide Show Prefs button on the toolbar.

 

  

Duration: Tap the pull-down menu to select the length of time you would like each image to display during a Slide Show. You can set the duration to Manual as well, and use the up/down hardware buttons to page through the images as you please.
Effect: Select from the following Slide Show transition effects: Cut, Dissolve, Wipe, Push, or Random.
Auto-run while charging: Check this box to have Photos automatically start up and run when you place the handheld in its cradle.
Show slides in random order: Check this box to display images randomly rather than sequentially during a Slide Show.
Show progress bar: Check this box to display a small progress bar at the top of the screen whenever an image is being loaded and doesn’t load immediately.

 

 


Menus

Options

To display the Options Menu, return to the browser and tap the toolbar at the top of the Photos window.

Run Slide Show : Starts a Slide Show according to your Slide Show Preferences.
Categorize All -- Allows you to change the category of all images that are currently in view. For example, this could be very useful to assign all the unfiled images to a category.
Delete All -- Deletes all images currently in view.
Refresh -- Photos maintains a Cache File, which speeds performance when viewing images. Sometimes the cache file can become out of sync, causing errors to occur in Photos. If you are experiencing problems with viewing images, select this menu command to refresh the cache file.
Security -- Opens the Security dialog where you can hide or show images marked Private.


Preferences

You can access Preferences on the handheld by tapping the Preferences button on the toolbar.

Sort By: Tap the pull-down menu to select a different image detail to sort by. Tap the A-Z to reverse the sort order.
List View Columns: Check the boxes of the image details you would like to have displayed in List View.
Auto-rotate uncropped images: On devices with rectangular screens, rectangular images will be automatically rotated to fit the screen if this box is checked.
Use as default viewer for JPGs: Check this box to choose Photos as the application that opens whenever a JPG file is opened on your handheld (e.g., when opening a JPG attachment in an email message).


Captions

Access the Caption Preferences dialog by tapping the menu button or the top left of the screen and selecting Caption Preferences from the Prefs menu.

Here you can turn on/off captions which will display details when in full screen display.

Select the details you would like to display and select the color in which to display them.

Security

  

You can mark an image as Private to hide that image from view. Mark an image private either in the Photos Desktop or in the Image Details on the handheld.

To hide images marked Private:

  1. Open Photos and choose Security from the Options menu in any of the catalog views.
  2. Change the Current Privacy to Hide Records and tap OK.

Note: All images marked Private will remain hidden until you change the Security setting back to Show Records.