XnView: Light on the Wallet But Not on Functionality Setting the Standard for Freeware? Adam Stone
When it comes to freeware we try to set our expectations low. At zero cost we feel greedy asking for more than basic functionality. Every now and then, though, a piece of freeware will exceed this minimal threshold.
In this case that application is XnView, a combination photo viewer and editor that packs surprising muscle.
XnView's chief claim to fame is its ability to manage an amazing number of formats, including 400 graphic file formats for import and 50 for export. That covers every format we have ever heard of and then some. For anyone working in a broad range of formats this capability alone makes XnView worth a good hard look.
Moreover, XnView manages this avalanche of formats with speed and simplicity. Among its primary attributes, for instance, is the super-simple batch conversion capability. A single button click takes the user to a conversion page where thumbnail views make it easy to add files to a list headed for conversion. Alternately, entire folders can be added with a single click. A drop-down menu offers format options for converting the entire batch.
It's as fast, smooth, and easy as one could hope such a function might be.
Such ease of use is characteristic of XnView, which invites the user to manipulate and edit photos efficiently and, for the most part past, intuitively. A Windows Explorer format keeps interactions familiar and simple, with all the usual File and Edit menu functions.
That said, there are a few quirks. In order to perform certain editing functions, for example, one must make choices off the Image menu. But the Image menu itself does not exist, at least not until a photo has been opened for editing. It's a bit of a surprise to see whole top-line menus come and go, but it's nothing a reasonably savvy user cannot grasp after a short learning curve.
