SnapAct: stylish image viewer with free online synchronization
Description: Snapact is a free, stylish image viewing and management software that offers a good range of image manipulation and management functions, including tag and metadata editing, a drop basket, and the creation of virtual albums which can be uploaded and shared using the free online Snapact photo sharing service.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while then you know that I am always on the lookout for “stylish” image viewing software (e.g. Twins Visions, Pictomio). What’s different about Snapact is that while these programs previously sited tend on average to be resource hungry or have high 3D requirements, Snapact does not (uses around 23 megs in memory when running). On the other hand what Snapact manages to do is to retain a pleasing “coolness factor” while offering a lot of nice features both for image manipulation and image management (but especially the latter).
What also needs to be said about Snapact is that it is very much a desktop front-end to the free Snapact image sharing service; which is to say that it is designed for seamless integration with your online Snapact account. Having said that, I also have to note that you can use this program as a local viewer and image management program without signing up or using the online component. I had been using this program as a local image viewer for a week, in fact, before I decided to review it and only then did I sign up for a Snapact online account for the purposes of writing about it. More notes on this program as follows:
- Carousel-style browsing: similar to the famous iTunes carousel, this is not only fashionable these days but rather cool, and the implementation here is a very good one (fast, efficient). When viewing an image all of the other images in the same folder are displayed as thumbnails in the bottom part of the screen and will enlarge in turn as you mouse over them. Or you can simply use the left/right arrow keys to browse back and forth, as you would with any image viewer.
- Image editing functions: rotate, crop, blur, sharpen, brighten/contrast, redeye, adjust tint/color, and negative and black and white image filters.
Image managent functions: edit or add tags to your images, edit other metadata (including rating, title, description, etc), view metadata (simply hover over any image thumbnail), add to album (an album is a kind of virtual folder or category), synchronize album(s) to your Snapact online account (this is optional), add to mini-basket (a handy work area where you can drag images or other files you would like to work with).
- Smart browsing: the “predefined” album in your list of albums offers browsing by smartlist (recently modified, image size, etc).
- The search box: a fast way to find what you’re looking for. Will look at file and folder names as well as metadata (tags, description, EXIF data, etc).
- Snapact online: once you create a free Snapact account you or any of your friends can log into your page which will have a URL that looks like (www.snapact.com/u/your-username). As far as image sharing sites go Snapact online actually offers a very pleasant user experience. You can surf “recent images”, “recent album”, by tag, etc. and the site offers thumbnail-style views and a page for each uploaded image offering photo and EXIF information. Images uploaded are reduced in terms of their file size and I am unsure as to whether or not there is a storage limit per account (please advise if you have more information).
- Snapact online privacy settings: you can change your privacy settings such that your images are accessible to just you, to just your official Snapact “friends”, or publicly to everyone.
- Panoramic images: I used Snapact to view a folder of panoramic images with some good results (click on the “Full Size” button first, then use the mouse to scroll across your panorama).
Wish list (or how this program can be even better):
- Mouse-wheel control: for browsing images. Currently the mousewheel is not utilized, which I find a tad surprising.
- Notification when unpublishing an album: stating that this will result in x number of uploaded images being removed from the online account on next sync. Is a good idea.
- Slideshow function: this is conspicuously absent, and while I never cared much for my images being automatically displayed in succession I do think that many users will want and miss this.
The verdict: I will confess that at first I did not intend to review this software, but the main draw for me was the good user experience that it provides. If you are looking for a stylish image viewer with good features that does not hog your system you should check out Snapact; also, if you want a quick and very functional online image synching/sharing service certainly give Snapact online a try (if not, don’t sweat it, you can use Snapact 100% locally without using the online image sharing function).
Ironically, one of this software disadvantages is precisely that since this program is designed as a desktop client for Snapact online it doesn’t support the leading image sharing services such as Flickr or Picasa Web Albums, so if that integration is important for you to have in an image viewer you may want to look elsewhere.
Version Tested: 1.0
Compatibility: Windows XP or Vista.
Go to program home page to download the latest version (approx 1.99 megs).
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I tried Snapact and after starting the program I elected not to have it scan my drive. I then was taken to an ‘explorer’ like window showing some folders and thumbnails. I double clicked a picture and the window changed to display the picture with the carousel selector of other pictures below.
So far so good. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to get back to the ‘explorer’ screen (without exiting snapact and restarting).
Is it just me?
Oh, also, I don’t like the dark skin and the buttons are difficult to make out.
Double clicking on the image will take you back to the image management screen “the explorer like window showing some folders and thumbnails”.
Neat, and fast, too - use the arrow keys to navigate. Wheel support and a LOT more UI configurability (skin support, toolbar editing, plugins) would make this a keeper for me. A good option for kids & seniors, maybe.
Hi, I’m one of the founding members of Snapact. I was checking user statistics and the web server log files and noticed a bit of a spike this morning in traffic and user creation - thank you freewaregenius.com for the publicity! Thank you users who have chosen to try out the software and photo sharing services. Particularly, thank you to blogward, Samer, and Dr. Deano (see the above comments) for leaving some feedback!
I just wanted to share that we are getting an update ready for the Snapact Photo Manager to make it somewhat easier to use, based on user feedback - we LOVE feedback, so feel free to comment.
We are listed on GetSatisfaction.com (a great feedback service), have a contact form on our website and also have our own blog. We want to be able to share information with users as well as receive.
Dr. Deano, your comment has been noted and we’ll be trying to squeeze that into the next release. Samer, thank you for answering Dr. Deano’s question for us.
blogward, your comments are appreciated - but I do have a question regarding the “wheel support” comment. I believe wheel support is in the application - but you need to ensure that you click (give focus to) the window where you want the scroll via the wheel. For example, click on a thumbnail and try scrolling. If I am misunderstanding your comment, then feel free to correct me.
Skin support has been discussed previously among the founding partners of Snapact. We are gathering user interest in skinning, so your comment will be duly noted.
Thank you everyone for your interest - feel free to share your knowledge of Snapact with friends and family. Heck, feel free to post on your own blog about us!
For easy reference, some of our feedback URLs are listed here:
Get Satisfaction:
http://getsatisfaction.com/snapact
Contact Snapact (currently logged in users only):
http://www.snapact.com/contact
Snapact Blog:
http://blogs.snapact.com/
Thanks everyone,
Kramer
Thanks Kramer - indeed, there is wheel support in the explorer window, but how about zooming in the view window, and fast L-R scrolling in the ‘thumbnail docker’ window?
blogward,
Thanks for the feedback - again!
I’ll pipe this info through to the development team.
Take care,
Kramer
blogward,
I reread what you last typed - I believe that pressing the Ctrl key while scrolling in the viewer mode already does the zooming. Let me know if you don’t see this behaviour - of course, it might only be in my pre-release build that I’m running…
Thanks,
Kramer
[...] growth in English-speaking countries the last couple of days - particularly the United States. A new review of Snapact has been posted over at Freewaregenius covering both the photo manager and photo sharing parts of [...]
@Kramer
Although I’m not the one you’ve talked to I just wanted to let everyone know that zooming in the viewer as well as in the thumbnails view via CTRL + mousewheel works perfectly.
I am not a coder at all, so I have no clue if my suggestions are hard to implement or not. But I am working professionally with photography/graphics software all the time, so this is a user’s viewpoint, regarding usability. So my Suggestions would be:
1. What about a “smooth scrolling” (like in Pictomio, GPUviewer, Photoshop CS4 and so on)? Also it would be great if one could have the program refresh (rebuild) the thumbnails on demand, since they’re rather blurry when showing them big in the thumbnail view. The “refresh button” does not do this yet.
2. I’d love to see multi-monitor support; I’d like to put the viewer on my right monitor, for example, and the thumbnail view on the left one. The viewer would update whenever I choose a new picture.
3. RAW-support is a must for professionals. Could possibly done using components of the free DCRaw project.
4. When is the search function going to ready? I’d love to see the possibility of complex searches (”value_a AND value_b”; “value_a AND value_b NOT value_C”; “value_a OR value_b AND value_c” and so on).
5. A possibility to compare several (say at least 6 at once) pictures on one viewer screen (by choosing more than one in the thumbnail view) and rate them as “keeper” or “trash” (for example like with Adobe Bridge CS3).
OK, just my five cents. The program really looks promising and could be a real free alternative to ACDseePro one day. Looking forward to any updates! Thanks for making this program free!
@ruceb:
I noticed that you posted the same article over on Get Satisfaction. We’ll deal with it over there, so other Snapact users can see our responses… Here is the link to your comment on Get Satisfaction:
http://getsatisfaction.com/snapact/topics/some_quick_suggestions_wishes_for_future_versions
Thank you,
Kramer
blogward,
Just so you know, the next build of the Snapact Photo Manager WILL have improved scroll wheel support in the Viewer mode… and no, it won’t be the ONLY improvement you’ll see!
Take care - I hope to get more feedback from you guys after the next update… for now, keep it coming!
Thanks,
Kramer
I just gave this application a shot, because I’ve recently been in the market to replace Windows’ anemic picture viewing capabilities.
Although the zooming row of thumbnails is slick along the bottom, it makes it hard for you to resume viewing a group of pictures where you left off as the thumbnail shrinks when you move the mouse off it.
Furthermore, I rotated a picture, and was asked “this picture has been changed, save changes?”. Sure I do. The thumbnail was not updated, and when I came back to that picture, it was sideways like it started!
Needs work, IMO.
MBrown,
Thank you for your feedback - we understand your frustration with Windows’ built-in photo capabilities. It is one of the reasons we set out on the path we’re now on.
Other users have told us of the rotation issue as well - we are working to fix that (and admittedly, other issues) for the next release, which is due out shortly.
As for your comment regarding the “slick zooming row of thumbnails along the bottom”, you can currently use the left/right arrows to move between photos. Additionally, in the product’s next release, you will be able to use your mouse’s scroll wheel to change photos. I hope that either or both of these navigation methods help you.
We know we need to improve the product; we WANT to improve the product. We are very grateful for your comments and we take all feedback seriously.
I hope that you continue to share your thoughts on Snapact with us. You can continue to do so here, where everyone benefits:
http://getsatisfaction.com/snapact
Thank you,
Kramer
I did suggest this program to a friend but we couldn’t find the answer to a simple question. How much space does SnapAct give you when you open an account?
Picasa 3 has something similar.
@Carbonize,
So other Snapact users can benefit, I’ve answered your question here:
http://getsatisfaction.com/snapact/topics/how_much_space_do_you_get_or_how_many_photos_can_you_share_with_snapact
Have faith that as Snapact grows, we will be tweaking our limits accordingly.
Thank you for your interest - and for sharing Snapact with a friend.
Kramer
Looks like an amazing product. Still am looking for a solid image viewer, outside of the built in Windows viewer.
@The Windows Fix,
Feel free to say something about Snapact on your website too…
Thank you for the compliment!
Kramer
[...] and fixing defects/issues that both we as well as our users have found. A big thanks goes out to Samer from Freewaregenius.com for posting his review of Snapact; it has generated a lot of great feedback, which is mostly making its way into the super-fantastic [...]
The Snapact Photo Manager is now updated to version 1.1 - improved user interface, workflow enhancements, even a few new features, based on some input from the comments above.
Download the new version here:
http://www.snapact.com/
Or just start Snapact and it will prompt you to download the update. Thank you for all the feedback!
Kramer
“What also needs to be said” “which is to say” “Having said that”
Come on dude, not all in one paragraph please. It makes reading a little difficult.
Having said that, excellent website nonetheless.