Mac OS X Power Hound, Second Edition

Image Capture

Image Capture is a versatile application that can be used to import images from digital cameras and scanners. Beyond those basic features, however, it has a couple of useful tricks.

Create Web Galleries from Existing Images

Granted, iPhoto is terrific for creating Web pages from your digital photographs, but what if you have some photos you’d rather not manage with iPhoto? For instance, a buddy has just given you a CD-ROM full of pictures of his 1953 Chevy Bel Air “Restorer’s Special” that he’s trying to upload. You really don’t want to add these images to iPhoto, create a Web page, then delete them all again.

Fortunately, Image Capture has several hidden scripts, including one for building Web galleries from a folder of images. To handle your buddy’s Bel Air project, first copy his images into a new folder on your hard drive. Next, open a new Finder window and navigate to System → Library → Image Capture → Automatic Tasks. There, you’ll see a number of files, one of which is named “Build Web Page.” Drag and drop the Bel Air onto the Build Web Page icon, and this hidden script will go to work. When it’s done, your Bel Air folder now contains a wepbage folder that holds an index.html file, and a folder called webfiles. The index.html file and the folder contain all the final Web output; just open index.html in any Web browser to see the finished Web page. Upload the index file and the webfiles folder to your Web site, and your gallery is online instantly.

Note

When you ...