ftp client for mac with thumbnail preview

[Les McLean]

In win 7 I use smartftp to connect to my web server, and am able to view the remote files as thumbnail previews.

On my mac, running OSX 10.82, I'm looking for a ftp client with similar functionality, I was recommended to try 'Transmit' so I downloaded their trial, and although the remote server thumbnails show, they don't 'preview'?

So my question is, does anyone know of a ftpclient for mac that does show the thumbnail previews like the first image?

I did ask the same question a couple of years ago running under Snow Leopard, without success, and drifted back to mainly using Windows.
With Mountain Lion arriving I thought that things might change, and a possible solution out there?

 

[Musicman]

Cyberduck allows you to quick look a file with a press of the space bar, like you can in the Finder, which may get you almost where you want to be

http://cyberduck.ch/

 

[Les McLean]

Cyberduck allows you to quick look a file with a press of the space bar, like you can in the Finder, which may get you almost where you want to be

http://cyberduck.ch/

I had a look at cyberduck, but it still falls short of what I want (same as Transit)
It's darned frustrating, there must be something out there that will work.

 

[Tony101]

Hiya,

Not an ideal solution: with 'Transmit' open the folder of images, select all, then click the 'Quick Look' button in the toolbar (or use the spacebar). You'll then get a grid of the images as you want.

The problem is that the previews are not cached after quitting the app. Also, Transmit has to download the entire folder of images to build the previews, so if there's a lot of large images it's going to take a while.

Not a great solution but until you find something that does what you want, it's a workaround.

Cheers,
Tony

 

[srichards]

You might be able to browse them via the server interface if the other end supports it. I tried the 'go to server' from the finder menu with ftp://servername and it used my existing keychain login details saved for that server.

 

[Musicman]

Also, Transmit has to download the entire folder of images to build the previews, so if there's a lot of large images it's going to take a while.

That's inherent in the OP's requirement and why it's rare to find an FTP client that does this.

The FTP protocol doesn't support a request for thumbnails of files, so the client has to download the entire file to generate one, and why it's really better dealt with on the server side via http or some other means of access.

There's a proposed extension to FTP to implement a THMB command to download thumbnails, which has been floating about at the IETF since 2008, but it's a work in progress and not ratified. It seems SmartFTP has adopted the command before it has become an actual standard.

 

[Les McLean]

You might be able to browse them via the server interface if the other end supports it. I tried the 'go to server' from the finder menu with ftp://servername and it used my existing keychain login details saved for that server.

Now that's an elegant, and simple solution that works well, I owe you a beer Suz.

My next conundrum is to get the ftp url to configure itself as a http url.

In smartftp, I have it configured that if I right click on an image on the remote server and click 'copy url', it will produce a URL something like this 'http://lesmclean.co.uk/60%27s%20weekend%20people/1DSL2554.jpg which will paste directly into the 'insert image' command on TP and such like when posting an image. This is instead of the normal ftp url if you try copy/paste (e.g 'fttp://lesmclean.co.uk/public_html/60%27s%20weekend%20people/1DSL2554.jpg) which you can't directly copy/paste into 'insert image' for posting.

Ah well, more head scratching and beer drinking , but at least I'm half way there

 

[srichards]

Hmm. I'd probably start with the built in automator doodad and see whether you could have a custom cut and paste function that did that.

Or a macro function that would generate a keyboard short cut for the first part of the url then you could just cut and paste the second part eg one to do the www.lesmclean.co.uk/ and another to the directory/filename.jpg bit? It's slightly more fiddly as you'd have to highlight only part of the ftp url not all of it.

 

[philshep]

I use Captain FTP, not sure if it has the functionality you require though

 

[Les McLean]

Think I might have it sorted, in a round about way (who said macs 'just work')

Fetch ftp client has a 'Webview' mode and you can right click on the image you want on the remote server 'copy web address' and it will convert the image URL from an ftp URL to a http url (e.g ftp.lesmclean.co.uk/public_html/40kites/IMG_0261.jpg to http://www.lesmclean.co.uk/40kites/IMG_0261.jpg ) which will paste directly into 'insert image' to post on TP

The only problem with fetch is that you can't preview the thumbnails.

So I need to open both finder and fetch at the same time to achieve what I want.

That's another niggle sorted, just a few more to go before I make my mac my main computer and relegate my PC to a back-up.

And once again thanks for all the help, it's always been one of TP's real strengths the support & sound advice provided on issues such as this.