This document provides recommendations for capturing screenshots and discusses various screen capturing tools. It begins by outlining when screenshots should be used, such as to identify controls, show layouts, provide visual instructions, or show results. Potential issues with screenshots like localized text are discussed along with solutions. Basic capturing procedures and file formats are covered. The document then surveys popular screen capturing tools like SnagIt, Jing, FullShot and RoboScreenCapture, comparing their features. It provides advice on issues like resizing screenshots and resolution. Overall, the document offers guidance on best practices for creating and using screenshots in documentation.

1. Time-saving Tools and
Techniques for
Capturing Screens
Matthew Ellison

2. Matthew Ellison
 Consultant and trainer for User Assistance

tools and technologies
Technical Director of annual
UA Europe conference

4. What we’ll cover in this session
 Recommendations on when and how to
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
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
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
use screenshots in user assistance
Potential pitfalls
The basic procedure for capturing screens
Image file formats
Tips for capturing screens successfully
How screen capture tools save work and
add value
Survey of popular screen capture tools

5. When/why should I use screenshots?
 Identify the appearance and/or location of




a control
Show and explain the layout of a screen
Provide a visual instruction
Show the result of an action
Confirm that user has displayed the
correct dialog box or screen (in tutorials)

6. Show and explain the layout of a screen
Numbers clearly identify
main regions of the screen

7. Provide a visual instruction
Image provides same
instruction as text

8. Refer to a tool or button within text

9. Show the result of an action

10. Confirm that user has displayed correct dialog box
Screenshot confirms
success or shows what
dialog box looks like
(unnecessary for
onscreen Help)

11. When screenshots can cause problems…
 Developers make late changes to the
screens
 The screens need to be localized for many
different countries
Possible solutions:
 Blur or obscure the text
 Draw simplified version of screen

12. Example: Blurred text
Original screen
capture
Localized text is
selectively blurred –
other dialog elements
remain sharp

13. Example: simplified screen

14. Another potential pitfall
Users may not
notice scroll bar
and assume they
are seeing entire
topic
Instructions are out of view
beneath screenshot

15. Possible solution: thumbnail

16. Another solution: DHTML dropdown

17. Capture a window
1. Press <ALT>+<Print Screen>
2. Paste the Clipboard contents into
an image editor
3. Optionally: resize the image (only
necessary for onscreen
presentation)
4. Optionally: reduce the color depth
to 256 colours
5. Save as a file
Demo

18. Capture a control or region
1. Press <ALT>+<Print Screen>
2. Paste the Clipboard contents into an
3.
4.
5.
image editor
Crop to the required region,
optionally applying edge effects
Optionally: Reduce the colour depth
to 256 colors
Save as a file

19. Capture a cascading menu
1. Press <Print Screen>
2. Paste the Clipboard contents into
3.
4.
5.
6.
an image editor
Crop to the cascading menu
Carefully remove the background
Reduce the colour depth to 256
colors
Save as a file

20. Resizing screenshots for on-screen presentation
 Reasons to decrease the
dimensions of a screenshot
• Reduce screen space
• Avoid confusion with real screen
 For best quality of resulting
image:




• Use millions of colours (24- or
32-bit) before resizing
• Use an anti-aliasing resize
method

21. Resized screenshots
Original
Image
Smart
Resize

Pixel
Resize


22. Raster vs. Vector

23. Raster vs. Vector

24. Websafe vs. Non-Websafe

25. Annotated screenshots
1. Capture to a lossless raster format
2. Add annotations and captions using a
3.
vector-based image editor
Store and edit combined image
in vector format
4. Use “Save As” to create raster format as
required

26. .bmp
 Windows BitMaP
 Typically uncompressed and therefore

very large
Non-Web-Safe

27. .jpg




Joint Photographic (Experts) Group
Lossy compression
Great for photos, but not for screenshots
Web-Safe

28. .gif




(Compuserve) Graphic Interchange Format
Lossless compression
Maximum of 256 colours
Web-Safe

29. .tiff
 Tagged Image Format
 A container format that supports many


types of compression, layers, and different
colour modes including CMYK
Popular for printed publications
Non-Web-Safe

30. .png

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Portable Network Graphics
Lossless compression
Alpha layer for transparency
Does not support CMYK colour
Web-Safe

31. Screen resolution at capture time
 You are capturing pixels
 The number of pixels that make up a
screen element does not alter when you
change the screen resolution

32. Size of windows and dialogs at capture time
 If possible, reduce the size of a window or
dialog as much as you can without:
• losing vital information
• making it unrecognizable to the user

33. Example: Resized window
Original
dialog
Resized dialog
shows all UI
elements

34. Capture only as much of the screen as the user
needs to see
 Always aim to minimize the dimensions of

the screen capture
Exclude screen clutter that will distract the
user from the main focus

35. What I look for in a screen capture tool:
Minimum requirements
 Include the cursor




(or easily add it post-capture)
Capture windows, objects,
cascading menus, and rectangular
regions (with precision)
Automatically add border or edge
effects
Automatically use a specified file
format when saving file
Add editable callouts and other
objects on a separate layer

36. What I look for in a screen capture tool:
Nice to have
 Re-capture a rectangular region
 Save capture to a file without user




intervention
Capture individual buttons
Convert to a specified image resolution
automatically
Capture non-rectangular regions such as
ellipses and polygons
Capture scrolling windows

37. Screen capture tools
Let’s look at:
 FullShot – Inbit
 Jing - TechSmith
 MadCap Capture – Madcap Software
 RoboScreenCapture – Adobe
(Bundled with Adobe RoboHelp)
 SnagIt – TechSmith

38. FullShot (Enterprise Edition)

39. FullShot’s capture method
 Capture buttons automatically added


to active window
Each button activates a different
capture type (Window, Region, etc.)
Hotkeys can be used as an alternative

40. FullShot's Capture Settings dialog
General
settings
effecting all
captures
Typespecific
settings

41. FullShot summary
 A popular tool with a good track record
 FullShot Standard Edition automates the



screen capture process very successfully
Uses a different capture mechanism and
workflow from most of its competitors
Interface is fairly complex
Difficult to capture screen regions
precisely

42. FullShot summary
 For:
• ease of capture
(using title bar buttons)
• wide range of capture shapes and effects
• minimizes file sizes by optimizing the colour
palette
 Against:
• no magnified view of the pointer area for
precise selection of capture regions
• does not enable you to set the colour depth of
a captured image to a specific value
• no support for capturing buttons in the
Standard Edition

43. Jing
Sharing
button

44. Jing summary
 A simple and fun to use utility
 It enables you quickly to capture and

share windows, objects, and regions of
your computer screen
It is available for both the Windows and
Mac OS

45. Jing summary
 For:
• free
• support for sharing screen captures quickly
and easy through a hosted website
• ease of access and use
• support for simple video capture
 Against:
• basic
• no edge effects available
• no vector based annotations

46. MadCap Capture
Profiles Editor

47. MadCap Capture summary
 A very interesting and innovative screen


capture tool
Focuses on streamlining the screen
capture workflow rather than necessarily
competing on feature-count
A compelling choice for users of MadCap
Flare

48. MadCap Capture summary

For:

Against:
• integration with MadCap Flare, and support for
"single-sourcing" screen- and print-oriented image
formats
• ability to reproduce the position and dimensions
of previous region captures
• powerful and multi-layered vector-based image
editor
• reliance on Flare to exploit certain features fully
• steeper learning curve than some of the other
tools
• edge effects (such as torn edge) perhaps not quite
as well implemented as some of the other tools

49. RoboScreenCapture
Rasterbased
image
editing
tools
Complex
but wellorganized
UI

50. RoboScreenCapture
Capture Settings dialog
Can be useful for
capturing dropdown menus and
pop-ups

51. RoboScreenCapture summary
 A well-designed package that enables easy



and very precise capture of regions,
buttons, and other screen elements
Bundled with Adobe RoboHelp versions 7,
8, 9, 10 and has been well integrated with
these products
Not available for purchase as a standalone
product
A little out-dated

52. RoboScreenCapture summary
 For:
• wide range of capture options including
capture of individual buttons and repeat last
capture
• high level of control over color depth,
resolution, and compression
• precise selection of capture region using
arrow keys
 Against:
• no support for special edge effects
• can’t save capture settings as named profiles
• no support for true freehand region

53. SnagIt
Each profile
contains a specific
combination of
settings
Logical
organization
of controls
Easy-to-use
Wizard for
creating new
profiles

54. SnagIt Editor

55. SnagIt summary
 A full-featured package with a logical
workflow that is likely to address the
needs of even the most demanding of
user assistance developers

56. SnagIt summary
 For:
• exceptionally well-designed interface and
workflow
• comprehensive options for capturing,
standardizing, and adding effects to images
• bundled tools include powerful vector-based
image editor and file management utility
• flexible All-in-One capture profile
(similar to Jing)
 Against:
• may offer more features than required by
some user assistance specialists
• rather lame capture sound effect

57. Gift for TCUK 2013 attendees
 Free download of all slides from
UA Europe 2013 in Manchester
Go to:
uaconference.eu/TCUK
…and enter your contact details to receive
username and password

58. Questions?
matthew@uaeurope.com
Matthew Ellison