Image Comparison : one pane not several

[meteorquake]

I think the image comparison is missing an obvious trick, unless I've missed something.
Currently there are 2 (3) panes representing the images and an Alpha Animation option.
What would really be most useful is not 2-3 panes, but an option for a single pane, and the single pane contents loop-cycle between the images with the titlebar changing to reflect the source, so it would cycle 1 2 (3) 1 2 (3) 1 2 (3)... The cycling could be automatic on a chosen timer (a key to start/stop, speed up, slow down), and/or by manually pressing a key (e.g. left/right arrow go forward/back in the cycle - if pressed during the timer there would be a pause and the timer would recommence a few seconds after the last manual source change). Also a shortcut key to toggle the DIF highlights (yellow blocks) on and off.
The benefits of this -

• Full screen view of the picture (not half or third)
• No alpha animation
• Differences are exactly as seen and change visually in-position - no need to jump the eye between different parts of the screen

I can't see any downsides to this option. It's the one I would use all the time, and is useful, among other uses, for checking compression quality versus lossless original. (People looking at night-sky photos taken a short period apart would also find it useful, I dare say a per-image X Y offset option would be good for sky pictures taken a reasonable length apart.)

David

[sdottaka]

Wouldn't it be better to use IrfanView or FastStone Image Viewer which supports Slideshow?

[meteorquake]

Winmerge highlights the differences between the images, having one pane that cycles between sources then allows you to examine closely those differences better than multiple panes.
My own pictures tend to be botanical, so we're talking about e.g. how much the microscopic hairs on a stem have become blurred when saving an image, which you can't see from the image fitted to the screen, only when zoomed in to the right spot, and winmerge can help spot such places.