Web Image Viewer for Windows 8

There are a multitude of images on the Internet that people can access and download for free. However, some browsers can be slow to load, or make it difficult to directly download them. Web Image Viewer for Windows 8 is an application that allows users to browse images without an Internet browser, and directly download them to their hard drive.

Given that there are multiple different browsers and search engines that allow users to search for images, Web Image Viewer for Windows 8 needs to offer something more. The program goes some of the way to offer users something new, presenting options to display several images in a slideshow, or extract multiple images from a website in one go.

The application presents a selection of buttons that are essentially shortcuts to what users can do on a regular browser via various methods and multiple clicks. The buttons are clearly displayed along the top and the bottom of the program and are easily accessible, providing an interface that does save time.

The biggest question surrounding the application is if it is more convenient than a standard web browser and an image search engine. Unfortunately, that remains debatable; for example some of the features are convenient, such as the option to automatically save the image via one button in its full size, or extract multiple images at once.

However, several of the features will not appeal to average users who will not require most of them. Coupled with the fact that many people are simply more comfortable using a particular search engine, and Web Image Viewer for Windows 8 is restricted to only Bing, providing even more issues.

Overall, the concept behind Web Image Viewer for Windows 8 is a novel one that does contain some potential. Unfortunately, various design choices like limiting it to Bing and making it integral to Windows 8 really limit any real future. While it functions well enough, Web Image Viewer for Windows 8 does not operate as smoothly and as naturally as it needs to, in order to replace just browsing and saving images normally.