14 DAY TRIAL // There are a lot of free image viewers around just waiting for their users. Some of them are free, others are not. There are good, average and bad image viewers, but usually the best is the one that you have been using for ages and can't live without it.
Once in a while you may think "It's enough, I am tired of this, I need something new". This is the time when you start looking around for another image viewer and it's my pleasure to introduce to you another member of this ever increasing family.
After installing Alteros Viewer you will be surprised to see that it didn't associate itself with most image file extensions possible, which is a pretty good thing. I find this very annoying when it happens and I'm sure I am not the only one.
When running the program for the first time it will greet you with a very nice interface, called an alteros desktop or ADESK. You can use it to get to know the program better. From what it tells us here, Alteros Viewer is a graphic viewer with customizable interface that allows viewing 2D graphical files, text files, HTML documents and ADESK files and skins. It can also be used as an autorun shell for your CDs.
Since the few moments of enjoying this nice startup interface have passed, we'll move on and see why we should change our favorite image viewer with this one... or not, it's your choice entirely. Let's start by opening a file. You don't need to check the Help file in order to do this, it's enough to browse to a folder with some images in it using the file browser and then click the image you want to view, or click the Full Screen button from the upper toolbar. Double clicking the image will not open it in full screen mode, but go ahead and open it using the associated application. Some good things about this image viewer are that it handles large files well, it's fast and supports a lot of graphic files. You can use the File Viewer to browse your files and folders using a classic view or a thumbnailed view.
Most of us wouldn't mind to have at least some basic image editing available in the image viewer, like Gamma correction, Hue/Saturation controls and resizing. Most free image viewers allow you to do these, and so does Alteros Viewers, but for its price I was expecting more. You can flip and invert your images or adjust RGB channels, Hue/Saturation and Brightness/Contrast. For advanced image editing, you can configure Alteros to use external applications with the Edit Picture button placed on the toolbar. The text editor and the HTML viewer can be useful additions. You can display and edit txt and rtf files or view HTML files inside the viewer's browser window. The browser window can also view any other OLE-documents, like MS Word or MS Excel files, if those programs are installed on your computer.
The last major and somehow original feature of this program is its ability to use and create skins, desktops and CDROM interfaces. This can't be done without checking the help system, but once you get the basics, it may become the best part of this program. The user can create panels, add buttons and change color inside the ADESK he's editing. There are also a lot of internal commands available, which can be assigned to any interface button. You can open new windows, files or programs, show the Windows desktop or the Favorites in the file browser and many more. If you give it enough time, the results will repay it for sure.
After a good start but a somehow disappointing evolution during some parts of the review, the finish is also good, and this gives me hope for the future. If the viewing and editing capabilities of the Alteros Viewer will match its interface building features, then it may become a worthy choice for much more users in the future.
The Good
Alteros Viewer handles large files well, and after a couple of hours of studying the Help system and experimentation, you will find the interface creation and high customization possibilities to be its strongest features.
The Bad
The interface is morphing from very nice to strange & mysterious as you start using the program. Can only import jpeg and bmp files when creating new desktops, which is very frustrating. When saving files, it has the same problem - it opens a lot, but can only save as bitmaps, jpeg and icon files. For what it does, it should have been a free application, since there are enough free image viewers better than it.
The Truth
I was expecting a lot more from the creators of Talisman Desktop, but it seems that my hopes were too high. Alteros Viewer is not such a bad program after all, but needs much more to be good. If you have the time, try it and you may like some of its features, but its limitations and the fact that it's not free won't bring it any users at all. Let's hope it will get better in the future, the battle is tough and there's no place for the losers.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
