Introduction

There are two possible explanations for poor image quality when viewing the images on these web pages.  The first has to do with your monitor display settings (while viewing my 24-bit images), and the second has to do with the quality of your brower's default viewer.

Monitor Display Settings

All my images are 24-bit, meaning that each pixel consists of 24-bits of brightness level information: 8 bits for red, 8 bits for blue and 8 bits for green.  If your monitor display properties are set to anything less than 24-bit, then the rendering of brightness contours could be bad.  For example, if your setting is "High Color (16-bit)" or "256 colors" then don't expect good renditions of 24-bit image files.  Sometimes you have to stay with the 16-bit color setting in order to achieve screen resolutions higher than 800x600 (1024x768, for example); if this is your limitation then consider spending $120 for a new video card (assuming your mother board supports video cards with 24-bit capability).

Changing Your Browser Image Viewer Program

Some images are poorly rendered by Netscape's default "internal viewer."  Fortunately the user may specify which of his application programs will be invoked to view image-only web pages.  The symptoms of sub-standard viewing most likely to be encountered when using the internal viewer are wavy patterns demarking subtle changes in sky brightness of outdoor images.  The concepts described here probably apply to other browsers than Netscape.  Since I dislike the business practices of Microsoft and AOL, I refuse to use Internet Explorer and I am no longer familiar with AOL programs, so my web browsing is done with Netscape (on a PC).

To change from using Netscape's default internal viewer to a high-quality image viewing program, such as ACDSee, follow the following instructions.  By the way, ACDSee is free, and can be downloaded from:

    http://www.acdsystems.com/products/index.htm

First, determine which application you prefer to use for viewing image-only web pages.  For the balance of these instructions I'll assume it's ACDSee32.exe.

From the Nestscape Edit menu, select Preferences, then Navigator, then Applications.  Locate "JPEG Image" from the list of image formats, highlight it, click the Browse button, and navigate through your directory structure to ACDSee32.exe.  Double-click ACDSee32.exe, then click OK, and OK again.

After you request a view of an image-only web page Netscape will start the process of downloading the image file from the web site, but the user may be presented with a "security warning."  Check "Open it" and uncheck the box associated with "Always ask before opeing this type of file," and click "OK."  (The "notice" box will be checked the next time Netscape is run.)  After The image will download and ACDSee will automatically be run for viewing the image.  With ACDSee you can zoom (Grey + key), move (drag "hand" symbol), save, and all the other things you're used to doing with images using this great application program.  After viewing the image, exit ACDSee (Escape key) to return to Netscape.

This may sound complicated, but it's not once you've done it, and are spoiled by the benefits of viewing images with a high quality viewing program.

This site opened:  June 2, 2000.  Last Update: October 10, 2000