Prowler allows you to easily browse any folder on a local volume. To browse a folder, either;
• Drag the folder onto Prowler's icon or
• In Prowler, go up to the "File" menu and select "Browse Folder…" or
• Navigate to the desired folder through Prowler.
All the files in the folder will now be listed on the left-hand side of the screen. Images with an image thumbnail will appear as the thumbnail with the file name below. Other files appear as a large question mark ("?"). Folders appear in large text.
Note: Most good graphics applications (such as Photoshop or Graphic Converter) create image thumbnails. Prowler can create thumbnails itself, though it is recommened to use the image's creator application to create the previews instead. I personally recommend Graphic Converter (http://www.lemkesoft.de).
Navigating through a folder
To open a listed folder, simply click on it. The mouse cursor should change to a hand with a small arrow facing down when the mouse is over a closed folder. Once the folder is open, the mouse cursor will change to a hand with an arrow facing up. Clicking again will close the folder.
Scrolling the list up or down is achieved by placing the mouse cursor in the screen limits of the directions you wish to scroll the list. If you wished to scroll the list up forinstance, you would push the mouse cursor to the top of the screen. You can use the "Page Up", "page Down" and "Home Keys" to quickly jump through the list.
Note: Holding down the shift key while scrolling will scroll the list at twice the current speed.
To preview an image, simply click on it's preview in the list. This will show the selected image on the right of the screen at the largest size possible while still fitting on the screen. The image dimensions are displayed below the image. Images with no preview can still be opened simply by clicking on them.
Key Function
Page Up Jump the image list up
Page Dowm Jump the image list down
Home Return to the top of the list
The list is also navigatable using the keyboard. The up and down arrow keys will take the selection up or down. Pressing the right arrow key with a folder selected will open it, pushing the left arrow key will close it.
Key Function
Up Arrow Move the selection up one image
Down Arrow Move the selection down one image
Right Arrow Open the selected folder
Left Arrow Close the selected folder
Delete Move the image to trash
When previewing an image, information relating to that image is displayed below it. This can include the image dimensions, file size, date modified and comments. Exactly what information you want displayed is assigned through the preferences.
When in use, Prowler's menubar is hidden. To show the menubar, move the mouse to the very top of the screen (making sure that it is not directly above the list); the menu should now appear. Holding down the command key will also show the menubar.
Viewing an image in full screen
To view an image as full screen, either;
• Double click the image preview to the left or
• Click once on the large selected file image to the right
In full screen mode the selected image will be resized to fit the screen. By using the "+" and "-" keys, you can zoom the image in and zoom the image out respectively by 25%. The magnification level will briefly appear at the bottom of the screen when you zoom in or out.
Key Function
"=" or left arrow Zoom in by 25%
"-" or right arrow Zoom out by 25%
tab Zoom to 100%
Home Key Fit to screen
Use the mouse to move around the image.
In full screen mode, you can jump to the next image by using the page down key. Page up will take you to the last image in the directory. The image's name will briefly appear at the top of the screen.
Key Function
Page Up, Up arror or Space Previous image
Page Down or Down arrow Next image
Escape key Exit full screen mode
Slideshow Mode
By selecting "Present Slideshow…" from the file menu (or by pressing command-S) Prowler will enter slideshow mode. This resembles full screen mode in most respects, excepts that Prowler advances to the next image every nth second automatically.
Key Function
[ Slow down slideshow
] Speed up slideshow
p Pause on the current image
Adjusting the window size
Prowler's window size can be adjusted. You will need a text editor such as BBEdit (http://web.barebones.com). Open your chosen text editor, select "Open" from the file menu, and locate the Prowler preferences (named "prowler.prefs" in the "Preferences" folder in the "System" folder.
In the preferences, locate the window properties, you should find something looking like this:
<window>
<width>100%</width>
<height>100%</height>
<left>0</left>
<top>0</top>
</window>
Adjust these values accordingly. For example, if you want Prowler to take up 75% of the screen, replace the above with:
<window>
<width>75%</width>
<height>75%</height>
<left>0</left>
<top>0</top>
</window>
Note: Do not remove any of these tags. If Prowler crashes after manually changes the preferences, delete the preferences.
Changing the background picture
It's possible to change Prowler's background picture. To do this, copy the picture you want as the background into the same folder as Prowler. Rename the picture "background" and the next time you run Prowler, your image will be in the background.
