CDisplay

Edit: Since writing this post, I've switched over to Manga Meeya, which is much, much better.

In my opinion, there's (edit: almost) no program better than CDisplay for reading downloaded sequential art (that's comics!) I use it for photos and other image browsing too. My favorite features are the smart look ahead, ability to show two pages at once, ability to view pages either left-to-right or right-to-left, automatic resizing, smart preloading, ability to automatically deal with compressed files, and easy commands. I can't think of a better sequential image viewing program. I'll tell you how to set it up and use it.

- Setting Up -

First, download CDisplay here. Extract it into "C:\Program Files\CDisplay\". Double Click on CDisplay.exe. You can press 'w' to show or hide the menu bar, whichever you prefer. I like to keep it hidden to maximize the viewing area. Now you have to customize the program. Press 'c' to open up the configuration options. Customize them however you like, these are my setting changes from the default:

Notice the option "Japanese Mode" under Program Settings. It's used for going right-to-left instead of left-to-right, in case you're reading asian sequential art. After this is done, start enjoying CDisplay! 'l' (lowercase L) will allow you to choose the files you want to open.

- My Most Used Commands -

l: Allows you to select a file to open. It's a lowercase 'L', not a one.
Ctrl+l: Goes to the next directory or compressed file. It's a lowercase 'L', not a one.
Ctrl+Shift+l: Goes to the preview directory or compressed file. It's a lowercase 'L', not a one.
Space: Goes to the next section or page.
Ctrl+Shift+Space: Goes to the previous section or page.

- Context Menu -

I think it's very convenient to add CDisplay to the Windows XP right click context menu for zip/rar files and folder icons. This is how to do it:

- For Zip/Rar Files -
1. Open "My Computer"
2. In the menu bar, go to Tools->Folder Options.
3. Click on the "File Types" tab.
4. On the "Registered file types:" list, find and click on "ZIP"
5. In the "Details for 'ZIP' extension" area, click the advanced button. An "Edit File Type" windows will pop up.
6. Click the "New..." Button
7. For Action, type: CDisplay. For application, type: "C:\Program Files\CDisplay\" "%1"
8. Close up. Now, whenever you right click a zip file, you can choose CDisplay to open it in CDisplay. To do this for rar files, repeat steps 1-7, switching the word ZIP with RAR.

- For Folders -

1. Create "C:\Program Files\CDisplay\CDisplayFolder.bat" with the contents:

setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
cd %1
for %%i in (*) do set name="%~1\%%i" !name!
%2 %name%

2. Open "My Computer"
3. In the menu bar, go to Tools->Folder Options.
4. Click on the "File Types" tab.
5. On the "Registered file types:" list, find and click on "Folder" (under the File Types column)
6. In the "Details for 'Folder' extension" area, click the advanced button. An "Edit File Type" windows will pop up.
7. Click the "New..." Button
8. For Action, type: CDisplay. For application, type: "C:\Program Files\CDisplay\CDisplayFolder.bat" "%1" "C:\Program Files\CDisplay\CDisplay.exe"
9. Close up. Now whenever you you right click a folder, you can choose CDisplay to open the images.

You can not edit a folder context command using the above directions. If you need to edit the newly created CDisplay context command for folders do the following. This is playing with the registry, so you shouldn't do this unless you really have to:

1. Press "win+r" for Run and type: regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Classes/Folder/shell/CDisplay/command. Be careful to not go to ".Folder".
3. Double Click the (Default) file to the right.
4. You can now edit the command, it's the value field of the pop up window.

- Closing Notes -

The CDisplay project is no longer being actively developed and the author vanished off the face of the earth (or something ^_^.) Others try to continue his work, but I haven't given them a try yet. You can find links to them here, if you want to try them. Anyways, that's all I have to say about CDisplay. After all this explaining effort on my part, you better go try the program out! It's really nifty. ^_^ Have fun.