You should never have any elements visible in this environment that are not part of the default Mac OS X installation, unless they have been installed by the software that you are talking about. The best way to prepare for screenshots is to create a virgin user account. They may have extraneous menu extras the dock may not be in the standard position, and may contain a dozen or more extra icons: there may be icons all over the desktop, which also has a strange background or Finder window sidebars may contain a menagerie of unexpected icons. It is common to see documentation or tutorials illustrated with screenshots that will confuse inexperienced users. Once you’re ready to go, begin by considering what you show your reader: to avoid confusion, you should always use a default user environment. #SCREENSHOT IN MAC OS X PRO#While you can use Mac OS X’s built-in screenshot tool, Snapz Pro offers many more options: a choice of file formats, the ability to display or hide the cursor, and the program gives you more flexibility in naming files and in choosing locations to save them. #SCREENSHOT IN MAC OS X FOR MAC OS#For Mac OS X, the tool of choice is Ambrosia’s Snapz Pro. The first thing you need to do is choose the appropriate tool for taking screenshots. In addition, screenshots serve as a form of visual punctuation they provide a respite from the written words, and act as a pause in what may be complicated writing. Showing a user what a window, menu, or dialog looks like rather than attempting to describe it can help the reader negotiate even the most complicated technical instructions. While the old saw which says that, “a picture is worth a thousand words” may be an exaggeration, screenshots in technical documentation can not only give users more information than words may provide, but they may also be much more efficient. While most people, when they think about writing tutorials, focus on the actual writing-the words, sentences, paragraphs and overall structure-the graphics and screenshots you use in tutorials are just as important. We liked it so much that we’ve left it online – hopefully it will help other writers. Might I recommend Onyx?įor those who want to use an application to take screenshots, I recommend SnapNDrag, you can also select the image format you want when taking the screenshot.Tip: This article was originally submitted to coach tutorial contest contestants. However, you can easily change the format to any other image format with a customization/maintenance application. Other information concerning screenshots:Ĭhanging the image format: The default image format of screenshots in Mac OS X is PNG. #SCREENSHOT IN MAC OS X FULL#This handy freeware application will take a screenshot of the full webpage, all you have to do is enter the URL of the webpage, and leave the rest to Paparazzi! It also allows you to change the size of the image you want, and has a cropping feature. Taking a screenshot of a webpage: While you can do this with a Selective or Perfect Selective Screenshot, sometimes, the whole webpage is just too big to capture the whole thing in one screenshot. windows, icons) and it will take the screenshot to the exact pixel! Your mouse cursor will turn into a camera and simply mouseover whatever you want (i.e. Perfect Selective Screenshot: Barely anyone knows this sucker! Press the same key combination used for a Selective Screenshot, but before selecting the portion you want to capture, press space. Selective Screenshot: Much less known than the Full Screenshot, by pressing Command () + Shift + 4 your mouse will turn into a sort of cross-hair that will allow you to select the portion of the screen which you would like to capture. A complete and concise guide about screenshots in Mac OS X, and everything you need to know about them.įull Screenshot: Fairly well known, by pressing Command () + Shift + 3 you will get a full screenshot.
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