Xee 1.1 is a freeware image viewer and browser for OS X. On Windows, I usually had to use ACDSee, which isn’t free and, more importantly, become atrociously bloated over the years; since I switched, I had to make do with Preview because none of the alternatives suited me.

Xee keeps Preview’s simplicity, but adds the most important functions you need: elementary file management (okay, you can Cmd-Delete files from within Preview, and use the titlebar proxy icon to move them around, but specialized commands are better — especially those ACDSee-inspired ones that remember a list of folders you usually copy/move images to), lossless JPEG rotation, automatic rotation of photographs according to the camera orientation (works with my Canon G3, while OS X’s Image Capture ignores it), a highly informative status bar and… and… wait for it… previous and next buttons! You know those? That doesn’t just mean you don’t need to use Preview’s drawer anymore (I don’t hate it, it’s cute — I’m not against drawers in general); you can also browse files ACDSee-style, i.e. opening one (just one) in the Fider and using Xee’s previous/next commands to view all other images in the same folder. If you’ve only ever used Preview, you may not realize how much more natural that feels.

Icing on the cake, Xee is evidently the work of a clever programmer. It’s fast and lean, you have to manually ask it to associate itself with each file type, and the shortcuts customization window is a pleasure for the eyes (although the way it informs you a shortcut is already taken isn’t prominent enough). Unless some unexpected issues crop up during daily use, this is an absolute must-have.

 

While we’re at it, you should have a look at his downloads directory: a bunch of widgets, some great screensavers (especially LotsaEscher and LotsaWater) and a simple but surprising game (Swear, basically Snake on a sphere/torus/etc.). Goody.

 

# 2006-02-02 01:38:47