 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group ixla Explorer 1.1 Bernadette Houghton bernieh@iaccess.com.au |
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ixla Explorer (iEXP) is an organiser for multimedia files. It uses the
familiar Windows Explorer interface and offers you the additional benefit of viewing and manipulating graphic
files within the same framework. If you have a digital camera or scanner, you can also retrieve and acquire
images directly into iEXP.
How it works
Installation follows the usual Windows 95 setup routine. In my case, there were several tiresome
interruptions, as the installation routine paused to ask permission to overwrite some files. Following the
instructions in the README file, I chose "yes" and installation proceeded smoothly.
When iEXP starts for the first time, it opens to an intimidating Explorer-like window, with no thumbnails, no
welcome screen and no indication of what to do next. At this point, I scrambled for the manual. The
enlightening information - hidden in the middle of the manual - was that iEXP won't start creating thumbnails
until you tell it to do so. You can choose to create thumbnails for specific files or folders; alternatively,
you can switch on the Auto Create Thumbnails option, and iEXP will create thumbnails for all graphics in any
folder you open. Thumbnails take some time to build initially, but iEXP stores them so they display very
quickly next time you open the folder.
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iEXP has two modes: Explorer mode and Catalog mode, each with their own
window pane on the left of the screen (Figure 1). When Explorer mode is active, iEXP displays the contents of
your folders in the large display pane. In Catalog mode, iEXP displays the contents of your catalogues
instead - virtual folders containing links to your graphic files. Determining which mode is active is a bit
confusing at first, but you soon learn to recognise the signs. Double-clicking a thumbnail in either mode
opens a large image in the display pane and causes the thumbnails to move to a Navigation bar that appears on
the far right of the screen (Figure 2). You can zoom in and out of the large image, scroll the window if need
be, or pan the image with your mouse. Further, you can resize or rotate the image, and convert it to a
different file format. Double-clicking the large image (or any non-graphic file icon) opens the file in its
associated program.
There is no limit to the number of catalogues and sub-catalogues you can create, apart from available hard
disk space. To add a graphic to a catalogue, you simply drag it from the display pane in Explorer mode, and
drop it onto the appropriate catalogue in the Catalog window. For each graphic, you can record the author and
title, allocate keywords and a subject category of your choice, and append a few notes. If you're looking for
a specific graphic, iEXP's Find tool will search across all catalogues to match your criteria (Figure 3).
You can create slide-shows of your multimedia files, including videos and sound. To make them more
interesting, you can apply various fade in/fade out transitions. By default, iEXP creates slide-shows from
all the multimedia files in the current folder, but you can customise this by creating catalogues for each
slide-show you wish to present. I was able to use this feature to create a simple but effective screensaver
showing my children growing up over the years.
Downloading photographs
If you have a digital camera, you can browse the photos before choosing to download them into iEXP. Not
having a digital camera, I couldn't test this facility; however, iEXP claims to support most popular digital
cameras. If your camera is not in iEXP's list, you can still download your photos using the TWAIN driver
shipped with your camera.
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I had no problems acquiring images from my old hand-held scanner into iEXP.
This simply involved selecting File-Twain Acquire from iEXP's menu. My scanner software started
automatically, and when I had finished scanning, iEXP automatically created and named a bitmap file for me.
Simple and easy.
Assessment
My introduction to iEXP was a little unfriendly, but once I'd overcome the initial difficulties, I found it
ran well and was easy to use. My biggest problem was getting used to the dialog boxes, as the command buttons
become lost in the surrounding graphics (Figure 4). iEXP takes a few minutes to fire up on my 486DX2-66, but
once started runs fairly fast and efficiently. On the whole, ixla Explorer is a nice tool to have if you work
a lot with graphic files.
Reprinted from the February 1998 issue of PC Update, the
magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
