MicrostockGroup

I'm looking for a simple, reliable keywording tool. 

I've been using ProStockMaster but it has issues.  It has one glaring bug that causes it to occasionally remove all the keywords from one of my images; it's font is too small, I can't read the keywords well enough on my high-res monitor so I make spelling errors; and a couple of other things that bug me. I don't even use its uploading features.


Simple, easy, and reliable.  Oh, and free.  Suggestions?

I usualy use: http://arcurs.com/keywording/
And sometimes: http://www.findphotokeywords.com/

Despite these fine suggestions, I am still tool-less.

To clarify: I'm not looking for a tool that suggests keywords.  I want a viewing tool - I point it to a folder, it shows me thumbnails, I select one, it shows me the EXIF data and lets me enter/edit keywords and description.  All I really need is a Windows shell extension, if one exists.

I tried iTag in the past, so I just downloaded the latest.  For many of my images, it doesn't show the description, or title, or both.  Sigh.

I already have Nikon ViewNX so I updated it.  It won't show the JPGs created with Photoshop Elements - it says "unsupported file type".   Sigh.

I tried IrfanView.  It apparently only works with one image at a time.  Sigh.

I couldn't find a working link to the original MS Photo Tools, every link I found went to the new version.  I've tried "Pro" Photo Tools before - it's the familiar Microsoft pattern, a half-hearted entry into a market they don't understand, heavily hyped for a while and then forgotten.  Putting all the keywords on one long line in a horizontal edit control - pathetic!    There has to be something better than this.

I'm a software developer. I could write the tool I want, but I don't have the time - I want to do photos, not write programs.

Ok I got MS Photo Info.

It's a joke.  Display of title and description is completely hit-or-miss - it got both on maybe 1/3 of my files. No parsing of keywords into a list control, just another dump of the whole string, and a reminder to be sure and put in the delimiters (comma or semicolon) yourself.

Yes, I understand there is ambiguity and disagreement regarding some EXIF fields.  Too bad a small company like Microsoft couldn't spend the time to figure that all out.

I'm still searching - there has to be something better.  The problem is that today everyone - including me - expects software to be free.  If I could make a few bucks creating a tool just for this purpose, tailored to microstockers, I'd do it.

<rant>
When MS puts serious resources into something, they can produce great stuff - for example, the .NET framework and their developer tools.  When they decide to invade some new turf and kill off the existing players, they pump out half-baked cr@p, promote it just long enough to damage the established players, then let it die.   I've lost track of all their "imaging" product announcements over the years.
</rant>

Any reason not to use Lightroom which has excellent keyword management tools ?

Isn't it more or less emerging as an industry standard ?

That is one of the most stubborn myths surrounding Irfanview. It's almost as resistant as the myth you can't upload in parallel or in a queued way with Filezilla.
Of course Irfvanview can work with several images at the same time. Just push T to get the thumbs window. You can then select the images you want to tag in common like in the explorer: in series or at lib by shift/click or ctrl/click.
Once the selection is made on several images, go to menu|file|JPG Lossless Operations...|Set IPTC data to selected files...
You'll get the multitabbed IPTC info window and all you enter there will be injected into the selected images.
You can even inject conditionally (if field is non-empty) over existing IPTC info (check last tab).

Ok, IrfanView.   "Just press T".  "JPG Lossless operations".  LOL.

How long would I have fumbled around in Irfanview before finding out that "Thumbnails" brought up a file system browser - and that its File menu had its own set of operations - and  "JPG Lossless operations" had something to do with title and keywords.  I think I can see the origins of this "persisten myth".  But  yes, it works.  Or rather it will, if I download a missing "IPTC plugin".  I guess I'll try that.

IrfanView is a highly regarded program that does a million things.   I should probably spend some time with it.

I started looking into the .NET framework and found that the latest WPF release includes classes for direct access to the IPTC data.  I may roll something together from that, into a shell extension that works directly with Explorer.    FYI The .NET code parses the keywords into an array, like you'd expect, and seems to find the title and description in all my files, unlike some other tools I tried.

Sorry, I can't be bothered to care about the Mac because I could never afford one 

Time gain - maybe none unless I make something that's very simple and quick to use, and I use it for a long time.   Really, my thoughts are this:  ProStockMaster seemed buggy and clunky to me, I think I could do better.  For example, its UI for copying keywords from one image to another was pretty bad, I thought.  It does all the FTP management, but I don't use that and I suspect many other users dont' either.  If I started down the path of creating my own program, maybe I'd come up with some new ideas and a marketable application. Whether I could ever make a dime on this is very questionable of course - just like microstock itself. 

A digression - in my opinon just about every program being sold direct, over the web, by the developer, is priced too high.  It's always $30, sometimes $50.   I'd try $10 or less, myself.