V1 October 19, 2006

 

Before you can use PhotoCafe as your image screen saver, you need to tell the program where to find the images that you want to display.

 

Telling PhotoCafe Where To Look For Images

Adding Images From Your Computer

1 - Specify the folder where you want PhotoCafe to look for images

2 - Press the Scan Selected Folder button

3 - Set Automatic Re-Scanning Option

4 - Give The List A Title

Adding Images From The Internet / RSS Feed

1 - Enter the URL or RSS Address

2 - Press Scan For Images Button

3 - Choose Which Images To Include In The Slide Show

4 - Specify How Often PhotoCafe Should Check This Location For Changes

5 - Give The List A Title

Adding Images From The Flickr Photo Sharing Service

Flickr Interestingness

Flickr Photo Groups

Flickr User Photos

Specifying Re-Scan Interval

Giving the Collection A Titile

Image List Information Box

Go To The Folder / Web Address

Rescan The Folder / Web Address For Images

View The List Of Images

Delete This List Of Images

 

Telling PhotoCafe Where To Look For Images

When you specify a hard drive, folder, or website, PhotoCafe will automatically scan that location and add any images it finds to the lists of images to display.  You can also tell PhotoCafe to occasionally scan that location again to capture any new images that may have been added (or removed).

 

On the left side of the PhotoCafe configuration screen you will see a window that shows the multiple lists of images that are to be used in the slide show.

 

Multiple image lists

 

You can add or remove lists of images using the appropriate buttons.

 

Adding Images From Your Computer

To add a new list of images from your computer click the Add Folder button:

 

 

This will open up a new dialog window:

 

Form here you simply have to follow a few quick steps:

 

1 - Specify the folder where you want PhotoCafe to look for images

Select the folder by pressing the Browse button and selecting the folder on your computer, or you can type the folder path in the box.

 

You can also tell PhotoCafe to search sub folders as well.  Sub folders are the folders that PhotoCafe finds in the initial folder you selected. 

2 - Press the Scan Selected Folder button

This will make PhotoCafe look for images in the specified folder and add them to the image list you are creating.

3 - Set Automatic Re-Scanning Option

You can have PhotoCafe automatically rescan this folder on a recurring basis.  For example, if this folder will regularly have new images or folders added to it then PhotoCafe will rescan the folder and include the new images into the slide show.

 

The options for automatic rescan are Once A Day, Once A Week, Once Every 2 Weeks, or Once A Month.

4 - Give The List A Title

The title is what you see on the list of images on the PhotoCafe configuration screen.  The title defaults to the path of the selected folder, however you can change it if you like.

 

After that you can press OK and the image list will be added to PhotoCafe.

 

Adding Images From The Internet / RSS Feed

With PhotoCafe you can specify a website or web address from which the program can retrieve images.   This is a very exciting option as it allows your slide show to change, and can allow you to change the slide shows of your friends.

 

You need to be connected to the internet.

 

To create an internet image list, press the Add Web Folder button:

 

 

Which will open up the web scanning window:

 

 

From here you just follow a few steps:

 

1 - Enter the URL or RSS Address

The URL is the internet address of the website that you are going to scan.  Type in the entire web address (including the http://) in the box. 

 

Pressing the  button will open the website in your default browser.

 

You can also type in the address of an RSS feed for PhotoCafe to scan.

2 - Press Scan For Images Button

This will make PhotoCafe access and analyze the specified web address.  You need to be connected to the internet.

3 - Choose Which Images To Include In The Slide Show

Images can be displayed on web sites in different ways, depending on how the person designed the web site.

 

Use Images Found At This URL

This tells PhotoCafe to add the images found on the web location in the slide show.  There may be cases when this is not desirable, as in the case of a web page only containing low-resolution thumbnails that link to larger versions (a common format)

 

Use Images Linked From This URL

Some times the main web page contains only thumbnails linking to larger versions of the images.   Or in the case where the web address is simply a folder with no web page, a generic folder list is created with links to the images.  In these cases, it would be good to include these types of images.

 

Exclude GIF and PNG

Most web page graphic elements (logos, menu bars, etc.) are usually GIF or PNG type images, whereas photos are typically stored as JPG.  Selecting this option can help prevent these web page pieces from being included in your slide show. 

4 - Specify How Often PhotoCafe Should Check This Location For Changes

You can have PhotoCafe automatically rescan this URL on a recurring basis.  For example, if this web site will regularly have new images added to it then PhotoCafe will rescan the URL and include the new images into the slide show.

 

RSS feeds should have a rescan interval similar to the frequency of the updating of the feed.

 

The options for automatic rescan are Once A Day, Once A Week, Once Every 2 Weeks, or Once A Month.

5 - Give The List A Title

The title is what you see on the list of images on the PhotoCafe configuration screen.  This defaults to the title of the web page / location you see in the top bar of your browser, however you can change it if you like.

           

After that you can press OK and the image list will be added to PhotoCafe.

 

Adding Images From The Flickr Photo Sharing Service

 

Flickr (www.flickr.com) is a free photo sharing community that allows people to show and share their photos.  You can include images from Flickr users or groups in your slide show, as well as displaying the image titles and the comments from the person who took the image.

 

To create a Flickr-sourced image list, press the Add Flickr Image list button:

 

 

Which will display the following dialog :

 

 

There are three ways to include Flickr images in your slide show:

 

Flickr Interestingness

 

Flickr Interestingness is a daily selection of interesting photos, as chosen by the Flickr service.  This selection changes daily, so I would recommend re-scanning this group daily.

 

Click the radio button for Flickr Interestingness and set the number of images that PhotoCafe will use in the slide show from Interestingness.  (note that only the information about the images is retrieved at this point).

 

Press the Scan For Photos button.  PhotoCafe will then contact Flickr and retrieve information about the images.

 

Flickr Photo Groups

 

Flickr allows users to share photos with common themes into photo Groups (also known as Pools).

 

To include photos from a group in your slide show, first type the name (or part of the name) in the Search For A Group box, and then press Search:

 

Photocafe will then contact Flickr and return a list of groups that match (in some way or another) the name that you entered.  Scroll through the list and select the group that you wish to include in your slideshow :

 

Specify the number of images from this group that you would like to include in your slideshow, and the press the Scan for Photos button.  PhotoCafe will then contact Flickr and retrieve information about the images.

 

 

Flickr User Photos

You can include in your slide show photos from a particular Flickr user.

 

 

Click on the User Photos radio button and then enter the Flickr user name whose photos you wish to include.  Note that the user name must be an exact match in order for the Flickr service to return image information from that user. 

 

Specify the number of images from this user that you would like to include, and press the Scan For Photos button. If Flickr can’t find the user you specified, PhotoCafe will display a message saying the user was not found.

 

 

Specifying Re-Scan Interval

PhotoCafe can contact Flickr on an occasional basis to see if new images have been added to the specified collection (group, user, interestingness).  To set a re-scan interval, choose one of the options from the drop-down list.

 

Giving the Collection A Titile

The title of the group is used as the Folder Name /  URL Title for displayed captions, and for the name of the image collection in the configuration screen.  You can change the suggested group title by simply editing the text box.

 

 

 

 

 

Image List Information Box

You can see details about a particular image list by clicking on it.

 

And an internet example :

 

Details about this image list will be shown in the Image List Information Box below, including the path, how many images, date of the last scan, and the settings of some options.

 

There are also a few additional functions in the Image List Information Box:

 

Go To The Folder / Web Address

Click on the green circle and arrow and Photocafe will open up that folder or web site.

Rescan The Folder / Web Address For Images

If you want PhotoCafe to update the imagelist now press the Re-Scan Now button.

View The List Of Images

Pressing the dark green triangle in the lower left corner of the Image List Information Box will expand the configuration window to show a listing of the images in this image list.

Delete This List Of Images

If you no longer want to include this collection of images in your slide show,  press the garbage can in the bottom right of the Image List Information Box and PhotoCafe will delete that the image list that is currently selected.