ThumbNailer ver 95.6.28

                            by Rob Reuss   (copyright 1995)
                            rsr@i-2000.com

BRIEF

 ThumbNailer utilizes Netscape 1.1 or greater as a thumbnail
 graphics viewer.  

INTRODUCTION

 ThumbNailer will examine the contents of whatever directory
 or subdirectory you choose, it will identify "gif" and "jpg"
 files and will write out a file called "thumb.htm" to the
 directories. Each file contains html code to display the 
 directory contents as thumbnail images.  It will automatically 
 launch Netscape with an index file loaded listing the directories 
 it wrote files for and you can click on them to see the thumbnail
 contents.  If you click on the thumbnail or the filename,
 it will load that image.

INSTRUCTIONS

Installation

 Unzip the file THMBNAIL.ZIP and put the file THMBNAIL.EXE in
 it's own directory, which you may call whatever you wish.

Using ThumbNailer

 Use the drive and directory controls on ThumbNailer's main
 window to identify the directory which it should begin with
 in creating thumbnail files.  There are a number of options
 in terms of exactly how ThumbNailer will operate, and these
 are accessed through the menu item SETTINGS.  

 Settings

 Thumb Size
 This option gives you control over how large of a thumbnail
 Netscape will display, with the height on the right and the
 width on the left.  You can use the scrollbar to increment
 or decrement in 25 pixel quantities.  

 # of Columns
 This let's you determine how many thumbnail images Netscape
 will show on each line.  This will be in effect regardless of
 whether you have "Use Tables" checked.  You can enter a 
 quantity here or choose from the drop down box.

 Browser
 Checking "Launch Browser" will cause ThumbNailer to launch
 Netscape when it is through building the thumbnail files.  If
 there is no browser entered and you check this box, you will
 be given the opportunity to show ThumbNailer where your
 Netscape browser is located.  Or you can use the "Find" button.
 Regardless of whether or not you have "Launch Browser" selected
 or a browser specified, ThumbNailer will copy the URL of the
 main file it creates to the Windows clipboard.  This is
 particularly useful if Netscape is already running, because 
 ThumbNailer is unable to force an already running Netscape
 to the newly created page.  

 Include Subdirectories
 This setting determines whether or not, if subdirectories exist
 below the selected directory, ThumbNailer will produce thumbnail
 files for those directories as well.  If this box is checked,
 ThumbNailer will go through *all* subdirectories, even deeply
 nested one, so use this with care.

 HTML File

o  Single Thumb File: check this to have ThumbNailer produce just
   a single page of thumbnails, even including subdirectories.  
   Using this option, you can essentially create a single page
   with all of the graphics on a disk displayed.  (See notes below
   regarding Netscape's ability to handle huge files.)

o  Multiple Thumb Files: check this, in contrast to "Single Thumb
   File", to have ThumbNailer create individual thumbnail files in
   each subdirectory, along with an index to access them.

o  Display Full Size: check this if you want Netscape to display
   the images full size, rather than according to the geometry
   given in "Thumb Size".

o  Include File Names: if this is checked, ThumbNailer will insert
   the name of each file underneath it.

o  Use Tables: if this is checked, ThumbNailer will employ Netscape
   tables in displaying the thumbnail images.

o  Background Color: DOUBLE CLICK on this panel to select the color
   you would like Netscape to display as a background to your thumb-
   nail images.

 File Names

 The INDEX and HTML file names tell ThumbNailer what to call it's
 output files.  If you are doing any WWW development, you may already
 have files called INDEX.HTM on your hard drive.  If ThumbNailer
 encounters a situation where an existing file has the same name as
 the one it is trying to write, it will examine the file to see if it
 is a ThumbNailer-produced file by looking at it's first line.  If
 it is not a ThumbNailer file, it will give you the option of over-
 writing it or skipping over it.  If you encounter these naming conflicts
 often, change these entries to legitimate DOS file names and be happy.

 You must close the Settings dialog box in order to continue

BUILDING YOUR THUMBNAIL FILES

 Once you have used the drive and directory controls to locate
 the directory you want ThumbNailer to work on, and adjusted the
 settings to your needs, choose "File" and then "Build" on the
 menubar and ThumbNailer will do the rest.

DELETING THUMBNAIL FILES

 If you wish to remove ThumbNailer produced files at any time,
 choose the directory and/or subdirectories you want the files
 deleted from, and choose "File" and then "Delete Build" on the
 menubar.  ThumbNailer will delete only ThumbNailer-produced files
 according to the filenames currently entered in the "Settings"
 dialog box.

USING OTHER BROWSERS

 ThumbNailer, at it's core, relies on Netscape 1.1's ability
 to control the geometry of the images it displays, so it's 
 utility with other browsers is limited to displaying full
 size images, regardless of whether "Full Size" is selected
 in the "Settings" dialog box.  It is recommended that you
 uncheck "Use Tables" if you are employed another Browser.

PROBLEMS WITH USING NETSCAPE FOR THIS PURPOSE

 You will find that your thumbnail pages, if they contain
 many images, will take a while to load into Netscape.  This
 is because Netscape *must* load the entire file to create
 the thumbnail.  With files that contain many graphics, you
 may find Netscape showing the broken image symbol it uses
 when it can't load a graphic.  You may find that increasing
 the cache size under "Cache and Network" in Netscape to 
 improve this situation.  You may also find Netscape crashing
 with larger files...I did.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND THE AUTHOR

 ThumbNailer is for personal, non-commercial use, and for such
 uses it is freeware.  If you wish to use it in any commerical 
 situation, please contact the author for licensing arrangments.

 The program was created using the Delphi programming environment
 from Borland.  I created it to begin honing my Delphi skills on
 a relatively small project.  I do not intend to further develop
 ThumbNailer unless I hear from people who find it useful and
 want additional features.  Some additional features that might
 be possible include: more control over Netscape tables; getting
 Netscape to send files to an external viewer, like Lview; adding
 more complex indexing for sub-directories, somehow dealing with
 other file formats, somehow taking advantage of the fact that
 Netscape loads the entire image for each thumbnail by putting
 the full images down below the thumbnails.

 If you find any bugs, or wish to make suggestions about how this
 application may be improved, please send them to rsr@i-2000.com
 and I will do my best to respond.  It would be helpful if you
 included the word "THUMBNAILER" in the subject line of the message.

 The most up-to-date version of ThumbNailer will be made available
 at ftp.soc.qc.edu in directory /pub/GoSlip/thmbnail

 Enjoy!

