14 DAY TRIAL // While some of Apple's applications such as iTunes and Safari are constantly getting updates and being improved with an up to date look and feel, others such as Preview are beginning to feel decidedly old. Unfortunately, in the case of Preview, it was never that great to begin with, especially when it comes to viewing images. With Leopard due soon, it could well be that among all the applications being improved, Preview will get an upgrade, but that seems unlikely considering that Apple has left it alone for so long. Fortunately, we can avoid Preview entirely when it comes to images, and simply use another viewing application such as JustLooking.
What it does JustLooking is an image viewing application that can replace Preview in everyday use, letting you view your images in a manner that is better suited for them, instead of a PDF document. Elegant and simple to use, it has the feel of a Leopard application.
Working with it Working with JustLooking is quite easy. The first time you start it up, it offers to make itself the default application to handle various image file formats. If you decide to do this, you can then just double click any image in the Finder to have it automatically opened in JustLooking. If you don't want to go down that route, you can always manually open images from within the application or drag them onto the program's window or dock icon. You can even drag folders, but these will only be received by the window, not the dock icon.
Unlike Preview, opening any image in JustLooking will instantly let you browse the rest of the images stored in the same location as the original one. This is very practical since you don't need to manually add each image or select all the images in a folder in order to open them.
Interacting with the images is very simple. The buttons are grouped into three distinct groups, well spaced and quite different in scope. Navigating the images can be done with either keyboard, mouse, or Apple Remote. You can also activate a slideshow mode to skim through them automatically and images can be rotated directly from within the application.
Besides the dark gradient look of the application, which seems to be the direction that Apple designers are headed with Leopard, JustLooking also has transitions between images, which can be made faster or slower from the preferences, and can be activated in browsing and slideshows independently.
Just images, just looking Unlike Preview that can also be used to open things like PDF documents, JustLooking can only open images. While this may be irksome to those who are used to using one simple application for opening both types of documents, it should not be a major problem since Preview is quite good for reading PDFs. Another difference, that might be felt by those who do not use a dedicated image editing application is the fact that JustLooking does not allow you to make any changes to a image beyond its rotation.
While Preview's image editing capabilities are not very complex, they are still better than nothing. Again, this could be an issue or not, depending on your habits and preferred programs.
Better? While JustLooking's method of handling images is definitely better than Preview's for just viewing, there is still a lot of room left for improvement. For one thing, the entire file/folder opening thing is flaky. You can drag folders from the finder into the window, but not on the dock icon, and you cannot select them in the open dialogue. Another thing the program can't do is go into subfolders automatically, in case you have a decently organized structure and just want to access a large chunk of images. This goes hand in hand with the limitation of only being able to view images form one location at any given time. You cannot for example pool together images from two folders into the same window. The latest location will automatically override the previous one.
Another issue is that of navigation. While the program makes it easier to access and start browsing a large number of images, you only have the step forward and back as your controls. As functional as the forward/back combo is, it just won't do if you open a folder with a few hundred images and want to go to one that is somewhere in the middle. There is no progress slider, no thumbnails, no nothing.
The Good
Makes it easier to view and browse images at the same time, much snappier with a large number of images.
The Bad
Less than ideal image handling with inconsistencies and a lack of some key interface elements.
The Truth
If you don't like Preview for view images, you could use JustLooking, but it is not that huge an improvement. Other applications such as ViewIt are by far better at image viewing giving you the best of both worlds.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
