Personal Photo Frame for Fremantle

[fiferboy]

Personal Photo Frame is a new desktop widget for Fremantle. This widget allows you display a single photo or a slide show from a local directory.

Version 0.2-2 is building now (in extras-devel), and I will promote it to extras-testing if there are no problems.

I have a number of future features planned for once everything is working properly. Right now you can select a single photo to display, or a directory to display a slide show from. When displaying a slide show you can select the amount of time each photo displays, and display left/right arrows to manually switch.

Please test and report back any issues or feature requests.

Thanks!

Edit Version 0.2-4: Files will now open in the image viewer when you click the widget, and the image looks selected when pressed. Fixed a problem where clicking forward in the slideshow skipped an image.

Edit Version 0.2-5: New custom icon by joshua.maverick (thanks!). Outline photo and slideshow controls. Pressing controls highlights the control rather than the whole widget.

Edit Version 0.2-7 is in extras-testing. This version adds three user selectable sizes (small, medium, large) so you can have the photos display as you want. Also fixes some bugs with single file selection, and the selection dialogs now remember your last directory.

Edit Version 0.3-2 is in extras-testing with a number of UI improvements. First and foremost is EXIF-based rotation for photos with the orientation tag set. The frame is now transparent (and the photo takes up the whole height and/or width), slide show controls moved to the left/right centre positions, slide show controls now have a larger area of affect (the entire sides of the widget), and a couple of smaller changes I can't remember right now :)

[joshua.maverick]

You sir, need to change your name to WidgetMaster

A suggestion though, maybe try it with the arrow icons centered vertically? Up to you though, just a thought.

[salem]

Nice work :) I've been trying to come up with a similar idea to yours except I wanted to have a photo flip book animation with local photos taken by the camera. The easiest way to create this that I saw, was using flash. As it currently stands there is no flash support in the maemo SDK so that's where my idea stopped. Maybe you can take it further ;)

I got the idea from this talented fella:

http://www.rubenswieringa.com/code/as3/flex/Book/

[Thor]

Looks good!
I'm assuming pressing on the photo brings up the full screen photo ? And then back to the widget version when that is closed or pressed?

Thanks for your hard work :) Wish I had an N900 to help with testing.

[joshua.maverick]

Nice work :) I've been trying to come up with a similar idea to yours except I wanted to have a photo flip book animation with local photos taken by the camera. The easiest way to create this that I saw, was using flash. As it currently stands there is no flash support in the maemo SDK so that's where my idea stopped. Maybe you can take it further ;)

I got the idea from this talented fella:

http://www.rubenswieringa.com/code/as3/flex/Book/

I could build that in flash... :(

[salem]

I could build that in flash... :(

Yeah you can do so much with flash, I'm still unclear as to why nokia does not want to included in the maemo SDK or at least let us install it manually if they are afraid of any legal implications.

[RevdKathy]

This one will be a big hit for people with kids and pets they want to show off! Great idea. :)

[attila77]

Yeah you can do so much with flash, I'm still unclear as to why nokia does not want to included in the maemo SDK or at least let us install it manually if they are afraid of any legal implications.

I'm not at all sure that the finger needs to be pointed at Nokia in this case, smells more like Adobe (not just from a legal aspect, but technical as well). Not that I think using flash widgets on a power-hungry beast like the N900 would be too good of an idea anyway :)

[fiferboy]

Clicking the widget will bring up the photo in the photo viewer in the next version. I planned for the feature, but haven't implemented it yet.

I ran the widget on 30 second slideshow for 8 hours last night (on external power with the screen unblanked) with no issues. I'm going to promote to extras-devel.

Joshua: want to take a crack at a custom icon?

[joshua.maverick]

Clicking the widget will bring up the photo in the photo viewer in the next version. I planned for the feature, but haven't implemented it yet.

I ran the widget on 30 second slideshow for 8 hours last night (on external power with the screen unblanked) with no issues. I'm going to promote to extras-devel.

Joshua: want to take a crack at a custom icon?

Yes sir, I'll have a proof tomorrow.

[TomJ]

Can it run as a fill screen widget? Then the device could sit on the desk or bedside as a digital picture frame (probably plugged in), ready to be used for whatever else comes along...

[nymajoak]

What about online content? Flicker, twitpic and new pictures from friends on facebook. Small versions if possible to save bandwidth, or option to download only when connected to wifi.

[fiferboy]

I am considering online content (I hadn't thought of twitpic) for a future version. For the immediate future I will be sorting out all the local image option.

[fiferboy]

Updated to version 0.2-4. The widget will now open the image viewer with the current image when pressed. The image will also look selected when a press takes place (as feedback that something has happened).

Also, fixed a bug where clicking forward in a slide show caused an image to be skipped.

[jaeezzy]

How does image-viewer shows the image? is it just the selected image or all the other images from the same directoryare also displayed when you click next in the image viewer. i've been working on the very similar project and was having problem on this and of course few others but as my computer has crashed for some reasons now it's in halt and for sometimes, until my computer is fixed i'm am free from any problem. ;)

[joshua.maverick]

48x48 icon

[fiferboy]

Joshua: I will make a package with your icon tonight. Thanks again for the great work!

[fiferboy]

New version (0.2-5) featuring custom icon by joshua.maverick. Thanks Joshua!

This version also outlines the photo with the active colour, and the slideshow controls highlight when pressed (rather than the whole widget highlighting).

[archebyte]

thanks for the app. its great!
I think the borders could use less thickness if the slide-show control is disabled. The top border is thick and takes extra screen real-estate. An all-round uniform-width lean border would add to the look and feel of the frame.

[Dexter1759]

Hi, This widget looks great and it'll definitely be one that I download when I finally get my N900!!

I've just had a quick skim through both pages of posts and didn't see this suggestion, sorry if it's already been mentioned (or even if the app already does it!). But how about as well as setting it to slide show from a folder, also have the option of photos tagged with certain words (e.g. "Cyprus 2009", "Family", "PhotoWidget", etc). I think I personally would find that more useful than selecting a folder.

Many thanks for taking the time to create this app.

[fiferboy]

archetype - I think you are talking about the empty space above the landscape image in the screenshot. This space becomes useful when viewing a portrait image.

I am always frustrated with non-square digital photo frames, because one orientation always suffers. I prefer a square aspect ratio so both landscape and portrait photos can be displayed the same size.

[fiferboy]

Dexter1759 - I don't think anyone has mentioned that. but it is definitely on my list of improvements. As soon as I can figure out how to use tracker (the content management system with non-existant documentation) I will be putting this in.

[archebyte]

archetype - I think you are talking about the empty space above the landscape image in the screenshot. This space becomes useful when viewing a portrait image.

I am always frustrated with non-square digital photo frames, because one orientation always suffers. I prefer a square aspect ratio so both landscape and portrait photos can be displayed the same size.

I agree. Perhaps in 'Single-Photo' mode the borders could be sized based on the image. Not sure if this resizing the widget is simple or even possible.

[lcuk]

hey fiferboy!
looking good :D

as for the blank borders - could you just make them 100% transparent?
that way, you get what you want, and people get what they do too.

it might involve centring the < > buttons too to make them not float on their own (but that was suggested anyway)

[qole]

Here are some problems I found using the widget:

Photos taken by the N900 in portrait show in landscape in the widget. They show correctly in images so it must be an EXIF field.

It is too easy to miss the arrow buttons and trigger the loading of the pic viewer. Maybe a boundary bigger than the visible buttons?

It would be better if the picture viewer avoided the wallpaper images somehow. It would be even better if you could read the image list from Tracker and use that to generate picture lists (all images on the device, images tagged 'slideshow', etc)

Thanks, fiferboy. As always, your stuff is great.

[fiferboy]

Making the border 100% transparent would mean it would be very difficult to know where the edges of the widget are when lining everything up on the desktop. I will add opactiy in as an option at some point, though.

Centring the "forward" and "back" buttons vertically would mean they would be in the edge of every landscape photo. The way they are currently, if you have non-square photos they are more-or-less out of the way in both portrait and landscape photos. This could be an option too.

Qole - I will look into exif rotation flags. I want to add tag filtering in a future release, which I think would enable you to get rid of wallpapers. Unfortunately, the tag cloud library (libcumulus) doesn't have headers for development available at this point :(

[fiferboy]

Version 0.2-7 is now in extras-testing. This version adds three user selectable sizes (small, medium, large) so you can display photos at the size you want.

This version also fixes some bugs with single file selection, and the selection dialogs now remember the last directory.

Edit Screenshot shows all three sizes now available

[qole]

Version 0.3-1 is now in extras-testing. This fixes the problem with portrait pictures from the internal camera being shown landscape.

Please, test this package then give it the thumbs-up (http://maemo.org/packages/package_instance/view/fremantle_extras-testing_free_armel/personal-photo-frame/0.3-1/)!

[fiferboy]

Version 0.3-2 is now in extras-testing. This version implements the following:

EXIF-based photo rotation. As qole says, photos with the orientation tag set in EXIF will now show properly rotated in the widget.

UI Improvements. The frame is now transparent (everyone was right, it does look better). Slide show controls have been moved to the left/right centre, and now a press anywhere along the left/right edge of the widget will activate the control. The photo displays a little larger (because of border removal). Probably a couple other minor things.

[qole]

Thank you fiferboy. Those small changes add up to a big improvement in the UI. Probably a good idea to always post a link to the extras-testing page (http://maemo.org/packages/package_instance/view/fremantle_extras-testing_free_armel/personal-photo-frame/0.3-2/) for the release, to encourage voting.

[VDVsx]

Thank you fiferboy. Those small changes add up to a big improvement in the UI. Probably a good idea to always post a link to the extras-testing page (http://maemo.org/packages/package_instance/view/fremantle_extras-testing_free_armel/personal-photo-frame/0.3-2/) for the release, to encourage voting.

And paste the changelog[1] there as well, it will help testers a lot ;)

[1] - The changelog will be linked/displayed there in the future, this is one of the features that X-fade will implement in the package interface.

[Petteri]

Installed and noticed that single picture mode defaults to some icon directory and I can't find my way out of there. So there does not seem to be a way to select any pictures from the camera directory when using the single picture mode.

[geobueck]

Installed and noticed that single picture mode defaults to some icon directory and I can't find my way out of there. So there does not seem to be a way to select any pictures from the camera directory when using the single picture mode.

i have the same problem... no pictuer can be selected... that is disappointing... what is the problem?? me??

[cjsegninir]

Same thing here.
I like the widget, but after update doesn't work anymore.
Cheers

[fiferboy]

I will fix the single picture selection dialog. I was concentrating on slideshow for the last few updates. Expect an update in a couple of days.

[andre0005]

When can we aspect a updated version, which eliminates the picture-select bug?

The bug makes this widget practically useless for my use, and i really want to see a little picture of my girlfriend on my HS.