adding screenshots to a site

[Stephen Bawa]

I've asked this in class before, but can anybody forward on any useful info regarding capturing images and using them within your own work? Thanks guys (and girl, of course :))

[David]

The quickest method is to use Print Screen (http://www.cadtutor.net/acad/acad2ki/atop/atop.html#Quick). Although the linked tutorial uses the example of AutoCAD and Photoshop, it will work with any combination of applications since the Print Screen (PrtScn) button simply copies the image on your monitor to the Windows clipboard. This is often known as a "screen grab". Once the image is in the clipboard it can be pasted into any compatible application (almost anything). If you paste into Photoshop or other image editor, you can then Crop, Resize etc.

If you are doing a lot of this sort of thing, it may be useful to get hold of a screen capture/grab utility. There are loads of freeware/shareware utilities out there that will help make life easier. Try this Google search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=screen+grab+software&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=) for starters.

Let us know how you get on.

[James]

Paint Shop Pro has a great screen grab facility. I use PSP just for this feature.

Paint Shop Pro is a lighter alternative to Photoshop and is a fraction of the price. You can download a trial version from www.jasc.com or you can get a full version from Kazaa (I don't condone downloading software from Kazaa, of course :) but hey, we're poor students!)

;)

[francis]

Stuart mentioned a couple of freeware packages in one of lectures. Don't know if they're listed on any of his lecture notes. Have a look around tucows (http://www.tucows.com), which has a load of freeware (er, free) and shareware (you pay something, but not a lot, and usually after you've had time to evaluate it). Products are rated so you get an idea of what you're going to get.

[David]

If you happen to have Corel Draw (any recent from about version 5 onwards), you will have a copy of Corel Capture. This is a simple and excellent capture utility. It's the one I tend to use when I need a little more than Print Screen can offer.

[Tom]

On the legal side, I once emailed Jacob Nielsen to ask if (1) I could include a screengrab from his site (2) if it was generally legal to do so. He replied, oh the honour of it, that (1) yes (2) yes, providing it is fair dealing for the purpose of criticism/comment.

[Stuart]

The best software I have found is a little freeware programme called MWSnap. It is easy to use and provides a number of options, including capturing fixed rectangle, specified window, desktop, selected area, etc. It has good hotkeys and there doesn't seem to be any privacy issues.

I have used it for a couple of years and would thoroughly recommend it.

You can find it at

http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html

Definetely worth a look.

Stuart