INTRODUCTION
A panorama is made up of a series of pictures that are glued end-to-end.  Irfanview can create a panorama but it must be manually cropped first.  Create a folder named Pan on the Desktop.
(Right click a blank spot on the Desktop > select New + Folder > type Pan > press Enter.)

DOWNLOAD PICTURES
Open your browser and go to http://leisurevillage.us/nt/classnotes.html.  Open lesson 278 > click HERE to view the first picture > restore (click double squares in upper right corner of browser) > drag the browser window to reveal part of the picture and the Pan folder > drag picture into the Pan folder.  Click HERE to repeat for a second picture, HERE for the third and HERE for the fourth.  Minimize the browser.

OPEN FIRST IMAGE
Double-click the Pan folder (opens the folder) > double-click the 278-1 (should open in Irfanview.  If not, right-click the image and select Open with > choose Irfanview).

TRIM IMAGE ENDS TO EXACTLY MERGE
Click the blue arrows at the top or use left/right arrow keys to advance to next picture.  Find a common point on right side of first picture and left side of second picture.  Revert to the first picture and draw a rectangle that includes all of the picture except the area to the right of the common point.  Click Edit + Crop selection (or Ctrl + Y).   Tap the S key (save as) > navigate to the Pan folder on the Desktop > give the picture the name 278-1c and click Save.  Repeat for the second and third pictures and save as 278-2c and third and forth with 278-3c.

OPEN IRFANVIEW
Click the Irfanview icon in the Quick Launch toolbar (or double-click if on the Desktop).

LOAD THE IMAGES AND CREATE PANORAMA
Click Image + Create Panorama Image… > click Add Images > in the left hand window, scroll to and select Desktop > in the right window, double-click the Pan folder > hold Ctrl and select images 278-1c, 278-2c, 278-3c and 278-4 > click Open > click Create Image (this is your panorama image).

CONCLUSION
The advantages of using Irfanview to create panoramas is that it doesn’t seem to matter in what order pictures are added and it is not necessary to crop pictures after the panorama is created.  The disadvantages are that the ends must be cropped to match and vertical misalignments are not corrected.  Try the Photo Merge feature of Photoshop Elements with the original pictures for better results but you may have to manually add and align some pictures and it will be necessary to crop the merged result.

GOOD WEB SITES
LEISURE VILLAGE: http://leisurevillage.us and http://leisurevillage.org
BILL’S HOME PAGE: http://bzus.com
LV COMPUTER CLUB: go to leisurevillage.us and select Our Computer Club