Copyright: Copyright © 2001-2003 Fookes Software


Introduction

Easy Thumbnails™ is a handy freeware utility for creating accurate thumbnail images and scaled-down/up copies from a wide range of popular picture formats. An elegant interface makes it a snap to find your images and select them for processing individually, in batches, or in whole folders, using a simple file selector and built-in image viewer. You can use slider controls to rotate images and adjust their contrast, brightness, sharpness and quality, and check out the results with a convenient built-in viewer.

Thumbnails can be created in any existing folder or a new folder, and you can identify them clearly by adding a prefix or suffix to their titles. If you're an image-processing enthusiast, you'll enjoy having a choice of nine resampling algorithms for the best possible results. You can convert small batches of images inside Windows Explorer from the File menu or with a right-click of the mouse, display thumbnails in your browser, and even take advantage of command-line switches to generate thumbnails seamlessly from other programs. You can also save your thumbnails to a Web page using an HTML template that you can easily customize to create your own layouts.

Easy Thumbnails is a genuine freeware product, without the annoyance of advertising, intrusive spyware components, or nag screens. It comes from Fookes Software, the developers of the award-winning NoteTab text editors.

You will find updates and other great software at our Web site...

http://www.fookes.com/

Key Features

•	Can scale images up or down with high quality results.

•	Choice of nine resampling filters, including Lanczos3.

•	Can sharpen soft images, particularly those from digital cameras.

•	Shows a real-time preview of the target image and its file size.

•	Supports the new JPEG 2000 image format.

•	Preserves EXIF data in JPEG images larger than 300x300 pixels.

•	Automatically removes EXIF data from small thumbnails.

•	Supports lossless rotation of JPEG images.

•	Offers an extensive set of command-line switches.

•	Can create Web pages of image sets, based on customizable templates.

If this collection of features isn't enough to suit your needs, please take a look at Easy Imager. Like Easy Thumbnails, Easy Imager organizes tools and preview screens on a tabbed interface, but adds significantly more features. The Explorer-type window in Easy Imager shows pictures as thumbnails, and new settings let you print text on your photos (like a copyright notice or date), convert images to other formats, build attractive digital albums, track down images quickly with powerful search tools, capture them from the screen, acquire them from TWAIN devices like scanners and digital cameras, paste them from the clipboard, and more.

License

Fookes Software grants you a free license to use Easy Thumbnails on as many desktop/laptop computers as you wish. However, the following types of usage require that you purchase a license from Fookes Software:

•	Bundling Easy Thumbnails with a software or hardware product.

•	Running Easy Thumbnails from a network server.

•	Running Easy Thumbnails on a server as a process for another application.

Topics

Quick Start

Useful Tips

Supported File Formats

Command-Line Switches

Web Page Templates

Album Express

Other Fookes Software Titles

Contacting Fookes Software

License Information

Trademarks

Acknowledgements

Note that you can move between topics by using the « and » buttons in the Help's button bar. Click on the Contents button to access the other topics.


Installation

Simply execute Setup.exe and follow the instructions.

System Requirements

•	Windows 9x/2000/NT4/ME/XP

•	1.4 MB of free disk space

•	16 MB of RAM (32 MB for NT)

How to Uninstall

You can uninstall Easy Thumbnails by using the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs dialog box or the Uninstall Easy Thumbnails icon in the Start menu.


Quick Start

The Easy Thumbnails interface is divided into two sections. The left side lets you select the folder and image files used for creating the thumbnails. A tab gives you access to the settings page, which you can use to define the thumbnail's filename prefix/suffix, maximum height and width, resize algorithm, JPEG compression level, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and rotation angle. The right side provides a preview of the original image currently selected, as well as the resulting output image, which you display by clicking on the corresponding tab.

The window title bar displays information about the current image shown. When the Preview output page is displayed, you'll see what filename it will have when saved, based on your settings, as well as its pixel dimensions and file size.

Click on the Make button to create thumbnails of the file(s) you've highlighted in the "Look in" window. Use the Make All button to create thumbnails of all the files listed in the selected folder.

By default, PNG files are saved in their native format. All other image types are saved as JPEG files. If you want PNG files saved in JPEG format, right-click with your mouse on the "Thumbnail preview" image and check the "Save PNG as JPEG" option in the shortcut menu.

For more information, see also the Useful Tips topic.


Useful Tips

Basic Information

•	Grayed controls indicate fields or buttons that are not available for use in the current context.

•	Move your mouse cursor over a control to display information about it in the status bar at the bottom of the window. Most of the controls have a shortcut menu that you can open by clicking on them with the right button of your mouse. The window title bar is used to display details (name, dimensions, and file size) about the picture currently displayed in the right panel area.

Less Obvious...

•	You can select multiple images in the file-list window by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on each file with the left mouse button. Use the "Make" button to create thumbnails of only the files you selected. The "Make All" button does not take into account selected files; it processes all the files listed in the window.

•	To speed up image selection, you can hold down the Alt key to stop each image you select from being displayed in the Preview panel. This can be useful if you want to select several large images for processing.

•	Leave the "Save in" field blank if you want to save the thumbnails in the same folder as your images. Easy Thumbnails automatically creates a folder if it does not already exist. You can specify relative path names.

•	If your original image is a Jpeg file, you can produce a lossless (no degradation of image quality) ± 90/180 rotation by choosing the Lossless setting in the Algorithm field. Note that there might be a slight reduction in size of the resulting image if its dimensions do not match the DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) block unit.

•	Double-click on a trackbar's label to reset its value.

•	You can use the shortcut menu from the "Original image" preview area to shrink the picture so that it fits in the display area.

•	Use the "Copy Image Tag" command from the shortcut menu of the Original/Preview image, to copy the HTML tag of the current picture to the Clipboard.

•	Use the "Make Web page" command (available when you right-click with your mouse in the picture-files listing) to create a Web page based on your current selection of images. The layout is defined in the "Template.html" template file, which you can customize. By default, the Web-page file is saved as "pictures.html", and each new copy adds an index number after the name — e.g., pictures(1).html, pictures(2).html, etc. You can set a different name through the program's command line.

•	Use the "Show in browser" command (available when you right-click with your mouse in the picture-files listing) to display the current selection of images in your default Web browser. The layout is defined in the "Template.html" template file.

•	You can make thumbnails from Windows Explorer by right-clicking with your mouse on a selected image file, and then choosing the "Make Thumbnail" command from the shortcut menu. The thumbnail is made according to the settings you had when you last closed Easy Thumbnails. This command only appears for supported file types and is ideal for quickly converting one or two images. Note that this feature is only suitable for handling small amounts of images at a time (five or less).

•	If you are using Easy Thumbnails to assist you in creating Web-based photo albums, take a look at our Album Express software. Album Express builds great-looking picture albums for home, friends, and the Web, quickly and easily. Its wizard-like interface and built-in templates let you create slick, professional displays in record time, whether you're a novice or a power user.

•	If you process a Jpeg file that contains EXIF data, the resized image will contain a copy of the data as long as it exceeds 300 pixels in height or width. The EXIF data is automatically discarded when you produce smaller pictures so that file size can be reduced further.


Files Tab

The Files tab provides an Explorer-like interface that you can use to browse through your drive folders and select images you want to process. The top window displays the drives and folders, and the lower window shows the files contained in the selected folder. The types of images displayed in the file list are determined by the setting in the Files of type field above the tab.

You can select multiple images in the file-list window by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on each file with the left mouse button. To speed up image selection, you can hold down the Alt key to stop each image you select from being displayed in the image-display panel. To select a range of adjacent images, click on the first image, then hold down the Shift key and press on the last picture you want selected.

Use the Save in field to control in which folder your new pictures should be saved. If you don't specify a target folder, then all the converted images will be saved in your current folder. If you specify a relative folder (i.e. that doesn't include the drive and directory path), images are saved in the folder relative to the current folder.


Settings Tab

The Settings tab provides settings to change the image size, the image name, JPEG compression/quality, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and rotation. You can see the result produced by your settings by activating the Preview output tab on the right panel.

Use the Max. Width and Max. Height fields to define the maximum width and height of the images produced when a resizing option is selected. The value represents pixel units. You can insert zero or a blank value in either Max. Width or Max. Height so that the resizing factor is only determined based on one of the image dimensions. Note that the size values are ignored if you select No resize in the Resize field or Lossless JPEG in the Algorithm field.

Easy Thumbnails preserves EXIF data in JPEG images larger than 300x300 pixels. With smaller sizes, Easy Thumbnails assumes you are producing thumbnails and so automatically removes EXIF data to reduce their file size.

The Resize field defines whether images are resized and how. The following values are available:

•	No resize: the image is not resized.

•	Best fit: the image is resized so that it fits in the rectangle defined by "Max. Width" and "Max. Height"; aspect ratio is preserved.

•	Shrink to fit: the image is only resized if it is larger than the rectangle defined by "Max. Width" and "Max. Height"; aspect ratio is preserved.

•	Enlarge to fit: the image is only resized if it is smaller than the rectangle defined by "Max. Width" and "Max. Height"; aspect ratio is preserved.

•	Stretch to fit: the image is resized so that it fills the rectangle defined by "Max. Width" and "Max. Height"; image aspect ratio may be altered.

The setting chosen in the Resampling filter field determines how pixels in a picture are affected when it is resized. Depending on the chosen setting, there can be big differences in the resize quality and processing speed. See the Resize Algorithm topic for more information on the different settings available.

When batch processing, you may want to change the name of converted images so that they don't overwrite your originals. Adding a prefix or suffix to the name can also be useful to easily identify and group certain kinds of pictures, like thumbnails for example. Use the Prefix/Suffix field to add text to the image name. The New Name field determines how this text is added to the image name. When you select Auto Detect, Easy Thumbnails will automatically determine how to build the new name: if it starts or ends with an underscore "_", a hyphen "-", or a dot ".", the text will be added to the image name as a suffix or prefix respectively, otherwise the Rename option is assumed. Use the Add nothing setting to keep the original image name unchanged.

When the Rename option is used, Easy Thumbnails creates numbered image names based on the text in the New Name field. The index number is added at the end of the name unless you use one of the number tokens to specify an alternative position. Easy Thumbnails supports two types of tokens that you can use to add numbering to new filenames. You can use an asterisk "*" in the text to indicate where numbers must be inserted. Padding with leading zeros is automatically determined based on the number of images you process. Example:

New Name: Auto detect

Prefix/Suffix: alex_first_birthday_*

Filenames produced assuming 100 JPEG files are processed:

alex_first_birthday_001.jpg

alex_first_birthday_002.jpg

alex_first_birthday_003.jpg

...

alex_first_birthday_100.jpg

In some cases, you may want to control exactly how many leading zeros are added to the index number. You can do so by using question mark characters "?" instead of the asterisk. The number of question marks indicates the minimum width to use for the index number. Based on the above example, the following pattern "alex_first_birthday_??" would generate this:

alex_first_birthday_01.jpg

alex_first_birthday_02.jpg

alex_first_birthday_03.jpg

...

alex_first_birthday_100.jpg

When you produce JPEG images, you can control the quality of the new image by changing the value of the JPEG Quality field. A higher value produces a larger image file (take longer to download on the Internet) with less quality loss. A lower value produces a smaller file at the cost of image quality.

Use the other slider controls to change the brightness, contrast, sharpness, and rotation of your images. A value of 0 leaves the image unmodified for the corresponding property. Note that you can double-click on the label of these slider controls to reset the default value.


News Tab

Use the News feature to check the Internet for news and software updates from Fookes Software. News items are organized by category. A single mouse click on a news item will display the corresponding Web page in your browser or starts a file download. Icons are displayed next to news items and have the following meaning:

The news item has either been added today or after you last displayed news.

The news item has already been displayed before.

The news item link points to an .exe Setup file.

The news item link points to a .zip file.

The news item is an e-mail address link.

The News feature is useful to find out if a new Easy Thumbnails update is available. It also displays news about our other major releases and occasionally special offers that we make available to our users. Information is transmitted one way only, from our server to your computer. The news feature does not send any details about your system to us. Easy Thumbnails determines locally what relevant news to display to you.

Usually, program updates are downloaded and installed directly from within Easy Thumbnails — updating your software this way couldn't be easier. However, be aware that some download managers may take over this download process and interfere with normal operations. When this happens, you may see a prompt from Easy Thumbnails asking you to tell it when the download has been completed.

You can configure Easy Thumbnails to automatically check for news at regular intervals by checking the Check for news every 15 days option on the News tab. The News tab will automatically become active if new news items have been added since the last viewing. If the Update button is available, you can use it to update news manually by clicking on it. This button is only displayed when the Check for news every 15 days option is unchecked.


Original Image Tab

The Original Image tab is on the right panel and is used to display the active picture in its original state. When an image is displayed in the window, information about its dimensions and file size are displayed in the program title bar. In the bottom part of the tab, you will find three buttons:

Make All

Makes thumbnails of all the files in the selected folder.

Make

Makes thumbnails of only the selected images.

Close

Closes Easy Thumbnails program.


Preview Output Tab

The Preview tab is on the right panel and is used to display a preview of the modified original picture based on the Image Conversion settings. Changes in the Image Conversion settings are reflected in the preview window.

When an image is displayed in this window, information about its dimensions and size are displayed in the program title bar.


Resize Algorithm

The resize algorithm (or resample filter) determines how pixels in a picture are affected when it is resized. Some algorithms add a blurring effect while others maintain the hard edges between different areas of a picture. The algorithm that generally gives the best results is "Lanczos3". However, depending on the nature of your picture, you may get better results (smaller file size or higher image quality) by trying out one of the other algorithms. You can see the result produced by the chosen algorithm by looking at the picture on the "Thumbnail preview" panel. Easy Thumbnails offers a choice of nine resize algorithms, as well as an option for lossless rotation of JPEGs, and an option to automatically choose the best resampling method for the type of picture being processed.

[ Smart ]

This option uses the Mitchell algorithm when processing JPEG images and the Lanczos3 algorithm for other image types. If the Mitchell algorithm is used to reduce the size of an image, a value of +20 sharpening is applied after resizing if the Sharpness slider control is set to 0.

None

The image is simply stretched to the new size. This is the fastest method but produces the least smoothing.

Triangle

This algorithm produces sharp transition lines and is also relatively fast. It produces reasonably good results with a little smoothing for both reduction and magnification.

Hermite

The Hermite method creates noticeable smoothing but maintains a good degree of sharpness. It is relatively fast.

Bell

This algorithm is also relatively fast and produces smooth image, bordering on soft.

B-spline

This method does not produce sharp transitions and may cause excessive blurring. It has the advantage of dampening noise and JPEG artifacts. B-spline is one of the slower algorithms.

Lanczos3

This is the slowest method but it usually produces the sharpest images (comparable to fractal resizing). Under certain conditions, it may introduce some ringing patterns and emphasize JPEG artifacts.

Mitchell

Resizing with this algorithm produces no sharp transitions and tends to be a good compromise between the "ringing" effect of Lanczos and "blurring" of other methods. It is often used with photos in combination with the sharpness option to reduce smoothing. The Mitchell algorithm produces good results when enlarging pictures. It is also one of the slower algorithms.

Nearest

This algorithm is recommended for small icons or lines/outlines. It works best with illustrations containing non-anti-aliased edges.

Linear/Fast Linear

This is a reasonably fast method that does not emphasize jagged edges, but it does tend to blur the image slightly.

Lossless

Technically speaking, this is not a resampling filter. This option is available to produce lossless rotations (90° steps) of JPEG images. The quality of the image is unaltered when a lossless rotation is applied. There might be a slight reduction in size of the resulting image if its dimensions do not match the DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) block unit. If this option is used on non-JPEG images, it operates like the [Smart] setting.


Supported File Formats

The following file formats are currently supported by Easy Thumbnails:

•	JPEG (*.jpg;*.jpeg;*.jpe)

•	JPEG 2000 (*.jpc;*.j2k;*.jp2)

•	Portable Bitmap (*.pbm; *.pgm; *.ppm)

•	Portable Network Graphics (*.png)

•	Tagged Image File Format (*.tif;*.tiff;*.fax)

•	Truevision Targa (*.tga;*.targa;*.vda;*.vst)

•	Windows Enhanced Meta File (*.emf)

•	Windows Icon File (*.ico)

•	Windows Meta File (*.wmf)

•	Windows or OS/2 Bitmap (*.bmp;*.dib;*.rle)

•	Zsoft PC Paintbrush (*.pcx)

GIF and TIFF Support

The LZW compression algorithm used in Compuserve's GIF file format and in some TIFF files requires licensing from UniSys, as they have a patent on the algorithm. Unfortunately, the heavy licensing fee and restrictions on distribution currently make it impossible to support these file formats in Easy Thumbnails. The LZW patent expires on 20 June 2003, so we plan to add support for those file formats after that date.

Several users have commented that some popular freeware programs support GIF and LZW TIFF formats, so why doesn't Easy Thumbnails do the same? Unfortunately, most of these freeware programs (as well as some shareware) do so illegally without license from Unisys. If the program you use to create GIFs for your Web site employs an unlicensed copy of the LZW compression algorithm, then Unisys says you are guilty of "contributory infringement" on its patent for the algorithm. In order to display such images legally on your Web site, you would have to pay Unisys at least $5000 US.

Visit the following links for further information on this issue:

http://www.unisys.com/unisys/lzw/

http://burnallgifs.org/


Command-Line Switches

The command-line switches (or parameters) let you create thumbnails and Web pages without using the program's interface. This is particularly useful if you want to use Easy Thumbnails to create thumbnails from other applications. Furthermore, you can use these switches to create simple Web pages of your images — the layout and appearance can be controlled through template files.

You can specify as many parameters as the command line can take. Each parameter must be separated by a space. Use double quotes around values that contain blank characters. The first parameter should be used to specify which file(s) to process. The order of the other parameters is not important. You can either use a forward slash (/) or a hyphen (-) to mark the start of a switch.

EzThumbs.exe Files [Switches]

The following examples show all the available switches:

EzThumbs.exe "c:\My Documents\*.jpg;*.png" /D="C:\temp" /P="tn_" /W=200 /H=200 /Z= ShrinkToFit /F=Mitchell /Q=70 /B=+10 /C=+5 /S=+20 /R=90 /HTML=Pictures.html /T=Template.html /L

EzThumbs.exe "c:\Web\tn_*.jpg" /HTML=Index.html /T=MyTemplate.htm /L /OnlyHtml

EzThumbs.exe -Log -List="c:\My Documents\Images.lst"

Examples using the /Log switch:

EzThumbs.exe "test\*.jpg" /Log

EzThumbs.exe "c:\temp\*.jpg" /Log=Output

EzThumbs.exe "*.jpg" /Log="c:\My Documents\Thumbnails.dat"

Definitions

Files	Defines the image file(s) to process. If used, this parameter should be the first one. You can use DOS wildcards (*, ?) to specify multiple files. Use a semicolon to separate multiple criteria. If no pathname is specified, Easy Thumbnails will search for the images in the current folder. Relative pathnames may be used. Use double quotes around filenames that contain blank characters. Note that Easy Thumbnails will automatically close after processing instructions when you use this command-line parameter.

/D=DestFolder	Defines the output folder for saving the thumbnail files. Relative pathnames may be used and are expanded based on the location specified by the "Files" parameter. If this switch is not used, the "Save in" folder specified in the Easy Thumbnails settings is used.

/P=ThumbPrefix	Defines the prefix to use for the generated thumbnail files. If you prefer to have the thumbnail prefix text added as the filename suffix, just use an underscore character at the beginning. Example: _tn. If you don't want a prefix added to the filename, just leave the switch value empty. If this switch is not used, the Prefix specified in the Easy Thumbnails settings is used.

/W=MaxImageWidth	Use this switch to define the maximum image width in pixels used to resize the images. A value of 0 (zero) indicates no resizing. If you don't specify the /H switch, this value will also be used for the maximum image height. If neither the /W and /H switches are used, the "Max. width" value specified in the Easy Thumbnails settings is used.

/H=MaxImageHeight	Use this switch to define the maximum image height in pixels used to resize the images. A value of 0 (zero) indicates no resizing. If you don't specify the /W switch, this value will also be used for the maximum image width. If neither the /W and /H switches are used, the "Max. height" value specified in the Easy Thumbnails settings is used.

/Z=ResizeMode	Defines how the image should be resized. The following values are available and correspond to the settings available in the Resize drop-down list: BestFit, EnlargeToFit, NoResize, ShrinkToFit, StretchToFit.

/F=ResizeFilter	Defines the resampling method to use when resizing images. The following values are available and correspond to the settings available in the Algorithm drop-down list: Smart, Bell, BSpline, FastLinear, Hermite, Lanczos3, Linear, Lossless, Mitchell, Nearest, None, Triangle.

/Q=JpegQuality	This switch accepts a value between 1 and 100. It defines the quality and degree of compression used for creating Jpeg thumbnail images. Higher values produce better quality images, but with bigger file sizes. A value of 75 generally produces good results. If this switch is not used, the "JPG quality" value specified in the Easy Thumbnails settings is used.

/B=Brightness	Use this switch to change the brightness of the generated images. Values can range from -100 to +100. Negative values darken the image and positive values lighten it. A value of 0 (zero) leaves the brightness unchanged. If this switch is not used, the "Brightness" value specified in the Easy Thumbnails settings is used.

/C=Contrast	Use this switch to change the contrast of the generated images. Values can range from -100 to +100. Negative values reduce contrast and positive values increase it. A value of 0 (zero) leaves the contrast unchanged. If this switch is not used, the "Contrast" value specified in the Easy Thumbnails settings is used.

/S=Sharpness	Use this switch to change the sharpness of the generated images. Values can range from -100 to +100. Negative values soften the image and positive values sharpen it. A value of 0 (zero) leaves the sharpness unchanged. If this switch is not used, the "Sharpness" value specified in the Easy Thumbnails settings is used.

/R=RotationAngle	Use this switch to change the angle of the generated images. Values represent degrees and can range from -180 to +180. Negative values rotate the image anti-clockwise and positive values clockwise. A value of 0 (zero) leaves the angle unchanged. If this switch is not used, the "Rotate" value specified in the Easy Thumbnails settings is used.

/HTML=OutputName	If you want to create a Web page of the generated thumbnail images, specify a filename for the switch value. The file is always created in the same folder as the thumbnail images, so you should not include a pathname. The ".html" extension is assumed if the specified filename does not have an extension. The Web page layout and appearance can be customized through the use of template files. See the /T switch below to define which template file to use. Use the /L switch to convert image names to lowercase in the Web page. Add the /OnlyHtml switch if you don't want to produce new images but just want a Web page.

/T=TemplateName	Use this switch to use a different template file for the layout of your images Web page. If this switch is not specified, Easy Thumbnails will use the default template file "Template.html". When used together with the Files parameter, a Web page with the pictures is saved as index.html if you omit the /HTML switch. See the topic about Web Page Templates for more information.

/LIST=ListName	You can instruct Easy Thumbnails to process images based on a file containing a list of filenames. For more details, see the topic about File Lists.

/L	Use this switch to convert image names to lowercase in the Web page created through the /HTML switch.

/M	When creating thumbnails through the command-line, Easy Thumbnails does not show how many thumbnails it created. You can override this behavior with the /M switch. Easy Thumbnails will then display a message window with the number of thumbnails it created.

/Log	When you use this switch, status and error messages are stored in a log file instead of being displayed on the screen. You can specify a filename for the log results by using an equal sign after /LOG followed by the filename (see the examples above). If you don't specify a log file, results will be stored in a file called "EzThumbs.log" in the program's folder.

/OnlyHtml	Use this switch together with the /HTML switch to create a Web page of the specified images without producing new images (or thumbnails). The "Files" switch is required and thumbnail-related switches are ignored (/D /P /W /H /Z /F /Q /B /C /S /R).

Important note

Thanks to these command-line switches, Easy Thumbnails is an ideal companion for applications that need to process images. If you would like to bundle Easy Thumbnails with your product or run it on a server as a process for another application, please contact Fookes Software to discuss a licensing agreement.


Web Page Templates

Easy Thumbnails can create Web pages of your images. It can do so either through its command-line switches or through the "Show in browser" command in the shortcut menu of the file-list window. The image layout and page appearance can be controlled through template files. The default layout is defined in the "Template.html" file that is distributed with Easy Thumbnails. It also serves as a good example of how the template file is structured. You can customize the file to suit your needs, or create new templates based on it.

If you open the Template.html file in a text editor or a code-based HTML editor, like NoteTab, you will notice that it is just a basic HTML file with special field codes inserted in different parts of the text. When Easy Thumbnails processes the template to produce the images Web page, it replaces the field codes with their corresponding values. Field codes are represented by keywords placed between two "$" characters. Most of these field codes can be placed anywhere in the template, except for the codes used to define the images -- image field codes should only be used on a single line. This line is then duplicated for each image that is added to the Web page. Furthermore, this line must contain the field $ImageUrl$, otherwise the template will fail to work.

If you need to create digital photo albums or more sophisticated Web pages based on your images, please consider trying out our Album Express software. Album Express lets you create superb Web albums in just a few mouse clicks. Visit out Web site at www.fookes.com to see sample photo albums created with Album Express.

Available Field Codes

$ImageUrl$	Represents the image filename in URL format. If the /L parameter switch is used, characters are changed to lowercase. Use this field for creating links to the image.

$ImageName$	Represents the image filename. This field should only be used on the same line as the $ImageUrl$ field.

$ImageSize$	Represents the image file size. This field should only be used on the same line as the $ImageUrl$ field.

$ImageHeight$	Represents the image height. This field should only be used on the same line as the $ImageUrl$ field.

$ImageWidth$	Represents the image width. This field should only be used on the same line as the $ImageUrl$ field.

$FolderName$	Represents the name of the folder that contains the processed images.

$FolderPath$	Represents the pathname of the folder that contains the processed images.

$SearchSpecs$	Represents the search pattern used to match images to process.

$AppName$	Represents the program name (i.e. Easy Thumbnails).

$AppVersion$	Represents the version number of Easy Thumbnails.

$AppUrl$	Represents the link to the Easy Thumbnails homepage on the Web.

$CurrentDate$	Represents the current date as specified by your computer clock.


File Lists

You can instruct Easy Thumbnails to process images based on a file containing a list of filenames, which you specify through a command-line switch. The file can contain a simple list of fully qualified image names with one name per line like the following example:

c:\WINDOWS\Bubbles.bmp

c:\WINDOWS\Circles.bmp

c:\WINDOWS\Tiles.bmp

c:\WINDOWS\Waves.bmp

You can also specify names with wild cards to process all matching files:

c:\WINDOWS\*.bmp

c:\My Pictures\*.jpg

c:\My Pictures\*.png

If you want to process all matching files including those in subdirectories, just add a + character in front of the name:

+c:\My Pictures\*.jpg

If you want to add comments in the file, just start each comment line with a semi colon. You can also insert blank lines in your list to group elements if you wish.

;Process all bitmap images

c:\WINDOWS\*.bmp

;Process all jpeg images

c:\My Pictures\*.jpg

To simplify the creation of long lists of filenames, you can define a main folder name on the line preceding the files it contains. The folder name must be preceded with an = character. Example:

=c:\WINDOWS

Bubbles.bmp

Circles.bmp

Tiles.bmp

Waves.bmp

=c:\My Pictures

*.jpg

*.png

If you work with complex folder structures, you can break down the path name even further by preceding the folder name with a + sign. The folder name is then merged with the main folder name preceding it. Example:

=c:\My Pictures\Digital Camera

=+2002_07_15

111-1171_IMG.JPG

111-1174_IMG.JPG

111-1179_IMG.JPG

=+2002_07_17

112-1213_IMG.JPG

112-1216_IMG.JPG

The above list is equivalent to the following:

c:\My Pictures\Digital Camera\2002_07_15\111-1171_IMG.JPG

c:\My Pictures\Digital Camera\2002_07_15\111-1174_IMG.JPG

c:\My Pictures\Digital Camera\2002_07_15\111-1179_IMG.JPG

c:\My Pictures\Digital Camera\2002_07_17\112-1213_IMG.JPG

c:\My Pictures\Digital Camera\2002_07_17\112-1216_IMG.JPG

You can even specify other file lists by preceding their name with a colon. Note that you cannot use wild cards to specify multiple file lists. Example:

:c:\WINDOWS\Patterns.lst

=c:\My Pictures

:Portraits.lst

:Landscapes.lst

Use the "/List" switch to specify a file list through the command line. If the filename contains blank characters, make sure you surround them with double quotes. If your file list is called "Images.lst", you would type the following command line (for example through the Windows Run dialog box):

EzThumbs.exe /List="c:\My Documents\Images.lst"


Easy Imager

Easy Imager is a powerful tool for managing, capturing, and batch-processing images from a wide range of popular picture formats. An elegant interface makes it a snap to find your images and select them for processing individually, in batches, or in whole folders, using a thumbnail-based file selector. You can use slider controls to rotate images and adjust their contrast, brightness, color, sharpness and quality, and check out the results with a convenient built-in viewer.

If you're a digital-photography enthusiast, you'll appreciate features like one-click picture rotation, image sharpening in batches, date-stamping images and reducing picture sizes for the Web or e-mail. You can also create professional-looking digital photo albums complete with thumbnail indexes in minutes, using a wide variety of options to control the appearance.

Easy Imager also provides tools to convert images to other file formats, print text on pictures, capture screen shots, import pictures from TWAIN devices and the Clipboard, change your Desktop Wallpaper, search for images, associate text descriptions with pictures, and more. You can also configure the program extensively to suit the way you work: you can customize the toolbar to include your most used tools, assign your own keyboard shortcuts to menu items, and set numerous preferences for the handy Live Spelling feature.

For more information and to download a free evaluation version, please visit the following Web page:

http://www.fookes.com/ezimager/


Album Express

Album Express is a great Windows tool for creating slick, professional-looking picture albums for home, friends, and the Web. Its wizard-like interface and built-in templates make it easy to present your pictures in style: you can produce a slideshow, create an index, catalog your pictures, and build a fully searchable image database — all with just a few clicks of the mouse.

If you're a computer novice, you'll love this program's ease of use. Just select the pictures you want, select a template and watch Album Express assemble your creation in no time — editing Web pages was never like this! Your picture collection comes complete with standard navigation tools, and you can even include a background image for added impact. Whether you want to view your albums at home, using your favorite browser, or upload them to your home page on the Internet, it's as easy as clicking on a mouse button.

Album Express is also an ideal tool for power users. Its full-featured scripting language will enable you to build your own album templates, allowing almost unlimited creativity in developing display styles and techniques. Demonstration templates are provided to show you some of the possibilities: you can build framed pages, allowing pictures to be selected from thumbnail images, or take advantage of the multimedia potential of HTML by associating pictures with MIDI tracks or sound clips — the sky's the limit.

Remember that if a picture can convey a thousand words, your picture albums can build a virtual library!

For more information and to download a free evaluation version, please visit the following Web page:

http://www.fookes.com/album/


Other Fookes Software Titles

Easy Imager

Easy Imager covers all the features available in Easy Thumbnails and adds a whole lot more. The Explorer-type window shows pictures as thumbnails, and new settings let you print text on your photos (like a copyright notice or date), convert images to other formats, build attractive digital albums, track down images quickly with powerful search tools, capture them from the screen, acquire them from TWAIN devices like scanners and digital cameras, paste them from the clipboard, and more.

http://www.fookes.com/ezimager/

Album Express

Album Express builds great-looking picture albums for home, friends, and the Web, quickly and easily. Its wizard-like interface and built-in templates let you create slick, professional displays in record time, whether you're a novice or a power user.

http://www.fookes.com/album/

NoteTab Light

The ultimate free Notepad replacement and a handy HTML editor. Handle a heap of files with a simple tabbed interface. Search files, strip HTML tags and format text quickly. Formerly called "Super NoteTab". 100% free — no ads and no nags.

http://www.notetab.com/

NoteTab Pro

For those who demand the best. NoteTab Pro offers all the features HTML authors, programmers, and other demanding users need to speed up their work. The registered version adds a thesaurus and a multilingual spell checker.

http://www.notetab.com/

Mailbag Assistant

If you're buried in e-mail, Mailbag Assistant is guaranteed to save you time and frustration. This user-friendly application complements your mail program and offers powerful tools to search, organize, extract information, and archive your messages.

http://www.fookes.com/mailbag/

Pictorial Screen Savers

A choice of eight screen savers displaying beautiful landscapes of various areas in Switzerland, Norway, Finland, and other European countries. The crystal-clear photographs allow outstanding viewing at screen settings as high as 1600x1200 pixels. Try some of the finest pictorial screen savers for free. All titles are available on CD-ROM and free gift wrapping is provided on request.

http://www.fookes.com/screensavers/


Contacting Fookes Software

Bug reports, criticism, praise, and comments are very welcome. You can send these by email to <feedback@fookes.com>.

The following usage requires that you purchase a license from Fookes Software:

•	Bundling Easy Thumbnails with a software or hardware product.

•	Running Easy Thumbnails from a company/organization network server.

•	Running Easy Thumbnails on a server as a process for another application.

For details on license pricing and conditions, please contact us at <sales@fookes.com>. Our snail mail address is:

Until July 31, 2003...

Fookes Software

Av. Eugène-Pittard 22 Ter

CH - 1206 Geneva

Switzerland

Fax/Tel. (Switzerland):

+41/ 22-789-5844  (this is not a help support line)

After July 31, 2003...

Fookes Software

La Petite Fin 27

CH - 1637 Charmey

Switzerland

Web site:

http://www.fookes.com/


License Information

NOTICE TO USERS: CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING LEGAL AGREEMENT. USE OF THE EASY THUMBNAILS SOFTWARE PROVIDED WITH THIS AGREEMENT (THE "SOFTWARE") CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT INSTALL AND/OR USE THIS SOFTWARE. USER'S USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS CONDITIONED UPON COMPLIANCE BY USER WITH THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT.

1. LICENSE GRANT. Fookes Software grants you a license to use the Easy Thumbnails software program (the "SOFTWARE") on any desktop/laptop computer as long as the terms of this agreement are respected. "You" means the company, entity, or individual installing or using the SOFTWARE. "Use" means storing, loading, installing, executing, or displaying the SOFTWARE. You may not run the SOFTWARE from a network server or operate it on a server as a process for another application without written permission from Fookes Software. You may not modify the SOFTWARE or disable any licensing or control features of the SOFTWARE except as an intended part of the SOFTWARE's programming features.

2. OWNERSHIP. The SOFTWARE is owned and copyrighted by Fookes Software. Your license confers no title or ownership in the SOFTWARE and should not be construed as a sale of any right in the SOFTWARE.

3. COPYRIGHT. The SOFTWARE is protected by United States copyright law and international treaty provisions. You acknowledge that no title to the intellectual property in the SOFTWARE is transferred to you. You further acknowledge that title and full ownership rights to the SOFTWARE will remain the exclusive property of Fookes Software and you will not acquire any rights to the SOFTWARE except as expressly set forth in this license. You agree that any copies of the SOFTWARE will contain the same proprietary notices which appear on and in the SOFTWARE.

4. UNAUTHORIZED USE. You may not use, copy, rent, lease, sell, modify, decompile, disassemble, otherwise reverse engineer, or transfer the SOFTWARE except as provided in this agreement. Any such unauthorized use shall result in immediate and automatic termination of this license.

5. BUNDLING. In no case may the SOFTWARE be bundled with a hardware or software product without written permission from Fookes Software (av. Eugène-Pittard 22 ter, CH-1206 Geneva, Switzerland).

6. DISTRIBUTION. You are hereby licensed to make as many copies of the SOFTWARE as you wish; give exact copies of the original package of the SOFTWARE to anyone; and distribute the package of the SOFTWARE in its unmodified form via electronic means (Internet, BBS's, Shareware distribution libraries, CD-ROMs, etc.). You may charge a distribution fee for the package, but you must not represent in any way that you are selling the software itself.

Permission to distribute the SOFTWARE is not transferable, assignable, saleable, or franchisable. Each entity wishing to distribute the package must independently satisfy the terms of the distribution license.

7. U.S. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government of the computer software and documentation in this package shall be subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.277 -7013 (Oct 1988) and FAR 52.227-19 (Jun 1987). The Contractor is Fookes Software, av. Eugène-Pittard 22 ter, CH-1206 Geneva, Switzerland.

8. LIMITED WARRANTY. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. FOOKES SOFTWARE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NEITHER FOOKES SOFTWARE NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE, EVEN IF FOOKES SOFTWARE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU TO THE EXTENT THAT LIABILITY IS BY LAW INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION OR RESTRICTION.

IN NO EVENT SHALL ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY EXCEED THE LICENSE FEE PAID TO FOOKES SOFTWARE.

9. SEVERABILITY. In the event of invalidity of any provision of this license, the parties agree that such invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this license.

10. NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL FOOKES SOFTWARE OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR INDIRECT DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING OUT OF THE DELIVERY, PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE, EVEN IF FOOKES SOFTWARE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT WILL FOOKES SOFTWARE'S LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER THEORY OF LIABILITY, EXCEED THE LICENSE FEE PAID BY YOU, IF ANY.

11. GOVERNING LAW. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of Switzerland, excluding the application of its conflicts of law rules, and shall inure to the benefit of Fookes Software and any successors, administrators, heirs, and assigns. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a COURT of competent jurisdiction located in Switzerland. The parties hereby consent to in personam jurisdiction of said courts. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is specifically disclaimed.

12. INSPECTION AND TESTING. You agree and acknowledge that you will thoroughly inspect and test the SOFTWARE for all of your purposes upon commencement of your use. Any suit or other legal action, claim, or any arbitration relating in any way to this agreement or software covered by it must be officially filed or officially commenced no later than 90 days after your first use of the software.

13. ENTIRE AGREEMENT. This is the entire agreement between you and Fookes Software, which supersedes any prior agreement or understanding, whether written or oral, relating to the subject matter of this license.

14. RESERVED RIGHTS. All rights not expressly granted here are reserved to Fookes Software.


Trademarks

Easy Thumbnails is a trademark of Fookes Software, Switzerland.

Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation registered in the U.S. and other countries.

All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.


Acknowledgements

Easy Imager is developed in Delphi, a Borland product. It uses the ImageEn library for image rendering and processing from HiComponents. This well-designed Delphi library provides image file I/O for popular file formats, printing, scanning, and image processing features. This Help file was authored in Help & Manual, an EC Software product. The Setup program is made with the Inno Setup package developed by Jordan Russell.