Last night, the updated photo viewer was rolled out to users of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The new photo viewer now allows viewing of images up to 2048 pixels (on the long edge) including full-screen support. It seems like the rollout has not yet reached all users, but we were lucky enough to be the first few to get this new feature.
For our test purposes, we uploaded six full resolution images to a test gallery and looked at how our viewing pleasure was enhanced. Upon first clicking on a photo, it opened in 900 pixels resolution. To view the photos in full screen mode, we had to click on options and select "view full screen" at the bottom of the image, or by clicking on the little "expansion arrow" that hovers on the top right edge of the photo.
The resolution on our uploaded images was that of 10 megapixels, but the full screen displayed our images in an 1100x730 pixel resolution, but that was due to a lower native resolution on our display monitor. When we viewed the same images on an iMac, they popped on our screen in their full 2048 pixel glory. Browsing through them using the keyboard was smooth as well, but that also essentially comes down to the hardware you are running.
While the ability to upload and display high resolution images is great for most people, the one major drawback is that Facebook still allows anyone who can view your photos, to download them in the full resolution (2048 pixels on the long end). This might deter many photographers from using Facebook as the primary platform for showcasing their works. Despite the one drawback,viewing images on the new photo viewer is definitely a visual treat and would serve you very well if you enjoy the "bigger picture."
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