14 DAY TRIAL // Image viewing applications are rather common and quite similar. After all, their job is relatively simple, displaying the image, or images using the available screen space in as efficient a way as possible. But even here there are better programs and lesser ones. When you look at image browsers, things become a bit more complicated, as the complexity of the task increases. After all, not only do you need to be able to show images in a satisfactory manner, but you also need to squeeze in file browsing capabilities. The Finder has file browsing, but not enough image viewing in that little preview, while applications like Preview have decent image viewing but very poor file browsing. So, getting file browsing and image viewing in the same window is also not enough, you need just the right mix of both. Fortunately there are lots of applications out there for image browsing and some of them are better, like PixelWalker.
What it does PixelWalker is an image browsing application that is designed to give you the best of image viewing and file browsing in one single window. It is simple to use and quite flexible, being able to also display PDFs and multi page TIFFs. Furthermore, it offers full keyboard control so that you don't have to alternate between keyboard and mouse.
Working with it PixelWalker is very simple to use and should be familiar to anybody that has ever used a Mac for any period of time. The window is split into two areas, with the larger part being dedicated to displaying the currently selected image and whatever is left being intended for a Finder like column view. This way, you can browse the contents of your hard drive just like in the Finder and have a nice, big image display instead of the puny preview.
While for things like collections of Photos you yourself took and know well, other applications such as iPhoto might be better; when it comes to browsing unknown collections of images such programs tend to be poor. This is where PixelWalker excels, since there is no need to interact with the images beyond browsing them, you can get in and out quickly and leave no mess behind.
While using PixelWalker is mostly a matter of browsing, the program does offer quite a bit when it comes to interaction with the images themselves. The program is simply a viewer and has no editing capabilities whatsoever, but there are still many options that image viewing applications need. More likely, the image will need to be displayed at various sizes, as well as panned or rotated. These are basic options that are available in any such application; however, what sets PixelWalker in this regard is the fact that everything is easily done using nothing but the keyboard.
Browse much? Personally, I really like the columns view of the Finder and think it offers more information per pixel than line or icon views. That having been said, I simply hate the column view that PixelWalker uses. The first thing that I find undesirable is that the columns view will display absolutely everything, even things that it simply should not. Why I have to go through invisible files and applications and text documents that the program cannot properly display in order to get to the images is beyond me. To further complicate things, it is impossible to take any shortcuts by starting to type the name of a file or folder that you want to go to since such keystrokes will be utterly ignored. Had I wanted to browse invisible files I would have made them visible. Furthermore, files that the program cannot work with should not be displayed in that list. And last but not least, folders should be grouped at the top to make going to subfolders easier. As much as I like column browsing, I heavily dislike PixelWalker's version.
Dead space One of the things that this program has lots of is dead space. The column view at the top reduces the viewing of the images by quite a bit and automatically creates a large chunk of dead space on the right, especially if the image is a portrait instead of a landscape or a square. The Toolbar similarly eats up a lot of screen pace, but that can fortunately be hidden since you can access all the options through keyboard commands. Last but not least, the program has additional wasted space on the sides of the window, the top and the bottom. The page controls can be used through the keyboard, so they are redundant on the bottom of the screen, as is the name of the image since you can easily see that in the columns view. The same goes for the names of the folders selected at the top of the columns. You can see the selected folder in the column view itself, why write it again at the top of the screen where it will just eat more space?
The Good A good mix of file browsing and image viewing that is better than most other alternative out there. The full keyboard control is also very nice.
The Bad Lots of dead space around the screen and an overly crowded column view.
The Truth PixelWalker is a good image browser. It may not be perfect, but it is still better than most of the applications out there. With a little tweaking it could really shine.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
