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Take Better Screenshots

stilldrinking.org

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Re: Take Better Screenshots

#4
Screenshots for asking help are not the same as screenshots for showing to people. A screenshot is a good way for someone who does not know to send something he does not see himself to someone that will see it. You will capture more than you know in a screenshot, and that's the point. So grab large and you might capture an interesting point that, if you knew was important, you could have communicated as text. But of course be careful you will send more than you think (again it's the point) and try not to include sensitive info as in the last article's screenshot.

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#5
I see a lot of cropped screenshots on support forums, when really it would be better if the poster took the screenshot of the whole window, and then just highlighted the area they are worried about with a red square (or if you are a StackOverflow user, a freehand red circle ;)). Often the answer lies outside the area the poster thinks is relevant and if one could see it immediately, it would save lots of questions and back and forth.

That said, automatically annotated screenshots would be useful, or even better: if someone invents a screengrab tool that would semantically tag all parts of the image based on the data available so its not just a plain image. I.e. screengrab a GUI window and all the text displayed in that window could be added as metadata like titlebar/button/label text and then it becomes searchable. I guess it would need an API that the developer of the app would have to explicitly implement though for most useful results like debug state information...

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#7
My advice is to avoid taking screenshots wherever possible, particularly if you want to share something in a public setting. The're an accessibility nightmare and may make your content unreadable for certain groups of people, screen reader users in particular.

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#9
post #3

This piece is so littered with ads (one per paragraph) that it is impossible to read without an ad blocker.

That's, sadly, the Web these days.

Even with adblockers, I see the "advertisement" lines remaining in articles. Often every paragraph or two.

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#10

My advice is to avoid taking screenshots wherever possible, particularly if you want to share something in a public setting. The're an accessibility nightmare and may make your content unreadable for certain groups of people, screen reader users in particular.

What's the alternative?
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