image viewers: a different approach

[Aurelien Gateau]

Benjamin Meyer wrote:

>> 2. Enhanced viewer. For image folders (photos). Basic manipulation.
>> Features: previews, step through images, rotate (and save), exif
>> manipulation.
>> Most of the current viewers fit more or less in this category.
>>
>> 3. Image organization. Not so much a viewer but closely related from the
>> users perspective. From a simple folder layout to a database, depending
>> on what the user wants.
>> Kimdaba belongs in this category. Afaik digikam has such features as
>> well.
> 
> I don't really see a difference between #2 and #3.  #2 really seems to be
> a relic of 1998 where everyone was writing there own photoViewer2000++ and
> cramming as many things into it as possible, but being crap compared to
> photoshop.  Enhanced viewers are both crappy editor and crappy organizers
> because of how they define themselves.  Much more usefull as shown by
> countless companies producing applications such as iPhoto are image
> organization applications with basic manipulation.
> 
> Really there should be three, not four
> 
> 1) Image viewer component that any application can use
> 2) Image Organizer with basic editing tools
> 3) Image Editor

I agree with you, and that's why I always resisted to implement funky image
effects in Gwenview (only manipulations available for now are rotation and
mirroring)

I was thinking about how Gwenview could be integrated to KDE 4.0 a few days
ago and I came to a possible solution: forget Gwenview as a standalone
application, focus on KParts and Konqueror instead:
- Replace the khtmlimage part with Gwenview image part
- Replace the photo album part with Gwenview dir part 
- Merge thumbnail view improvements from Gwenview into Konqueror thumbnail
view.

It sadden me a bit to give up the standalone application, but maybe this
would be the best solution...

Aurélien