iPhoto '08: The Missing Manual

158 iphoto ’08: the missing manual

You have one last decision to make, though: what you want iPhoto to do when you

double-click a photo thumbnail.

Ordinarily, double-clicking just opens a photo to fill the iPhoto window, so you can

get a closer look at it. (No editing tools are available.) Clicking a second time returns

to the thumbnails screen. It’s a new way to work in iPhoto ’08, and it has its charms—

especially if you do more looking than editing.

But the Preferences dialog box (Figure 7-1) offers an alternative meaning for the

double-click: opening a photo directly into your chosen editing mode.

This decision is another personal one. If you find that you’re usually opening a photo

because you want to edit it, choose “Edits photo” in the Preferences dialog box.

The Toolbar and Thumbnails Browser

In all three iPhoto editing modes, you have at your disposal a thumbnails browser at

the top of the screen (so you can choose a different photo to work on) and an editing

toolbar at the bottom (so you can fix up what you’re seeing). But you may not see

both of these strips unless you know how they work.

Editing in iPhoto

Figure 7-2:

Left: Ordinarily,

the thumbnails

browser appears

at the top.

Right: But in iPhoto

’08, the browser

can now appear

on either side of

the screen—and

it can show more

than one row or

column of thumb-

nails.

When your cursor

moves toward

the middle of the

screen, the thumb-

nails and toolbar

disappear, making

more room for

you to enjoy your

photograph.