Aqua-Soft ForumsSorry about the terrible thread title, but I'm feeling creatively challenged today. 
I bought myself a scanner a couple of days ago and I'm really pleased with it. *Sidenote - for anyone looking for a great scanner at a low price, I highly recommend the Canon LiDE 20. Retails for $50US/around 60€, powered by a USB port (no power connection needed), Windows and Mac compatible, and great results.**
I've been scanning loads of old holiday photos on my iBook and like I say I'm really impressed with the results. However these folders of images have highlighted a grievance I have with OS X (I run 10.2.6).
The photo browsing is very poor compared to what I was used to in Windows XP. For example, in Windows XP, if I double click a picture within a folder, it will open in Windows Picture and Fax viewer. If I press left or right on my keyboard, it will move on to the previous/next photo in that folder.
However in the Mac, if I double click a picture in a folder, it will open up in Preview, which on my iBook takes a second or two to open. But here I've no choice to scroll to the next image. I have to close the window, and open the next image manually. I've found that it is possible to open all of the images in Preview in thumbnail mode by highlighting them all and pressing Cmd-O. But frustratingly, it doesn't open them in the logical (alphabetical/numerical) order. It opens them in any order it wishes. So if I'm looking through my holiday snaps to find a certain picture, I'm likely to get them in a completely random order (see attached image).
So, unless I open iPhoto (which is slow, doesn't let me view my images mostly fullscreen without opening a slideshow, and manages my photos in a way I'm not completely comfortable with) I can't scroll through my photos easily. This is fine for holiday snaps, but I've no intention of importing my web graphics, articles I've scanned in from magazines and newspapers, and other random stuff into iPhoto.
The point of this topic is thus: I'm after a freeware piece of software for Mac OS X which does a similar job to Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, which allows me to view images within a folder easily, at a large size, and in chronological order. Can anyone help? I've tried VersionTracker and I've found little help. (Incidentally, if any of you know an easy batch thumbnail image creator, please let me know.)
Thanks for listening.