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ShowHN:(my weekend hack): SafariShot: Screenshots like it's running on a mac

ksat.me

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Re: ShowHN:(my weekend hack): SafariShot: Screenshots like it's running on a mac

#11

Post by pirateking »

ksat wrote: post #8
pirateking wrote: post #7

The reason Safari screenshots may be considered more "professional" looking may also be the reason it is my preferred browser - the interface chrome is minimal and monochrome, making it easier for me to focus on the content.

Yeah thats true. But frankly I never got why practically "everybody" takes their screenshots on a mac - It's almost like I've to go buy a mac just to take the screenshots and do my screencasts. P.s: I did buy a mac last year.

The developers may actually be using Linux/Windows, but the designers have quite a bit of influence if they control the final presentation of the product to the user. The bias towards Mac screenshots could be due to designers typically using Macs (a stereotype that has proven to be true more often than not from my experience).

Re: ShowHN:(my weekend hack): SafariShot: Screenshots like it's running on a mac

#12

Post by revolutions »

ThomPete wrote: post #9
ksat wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah thats true. But frankly I never got why practically "everybody" takes their screenshots on a mac - It's almost like I've to go buy a mac just to take the screenshots and do my screencasts. P.s: I did buy a mac last year.

One of the reasons is that type looks much better on a mac.

In general, I agree that Helvetica looks much prettier on a Mac than on Windows (one of the main reasons I despise seeing font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; on pages). Some other fonts don't look too bad on Windows, though.

I don't know much about font rendering; this is just what I've noticed. For what it's worth, some screenshots of the same text with font-family set to Helvetica [0], Myriad Pro, and Segoe UI on Windows 7, Firefox.

Helvetica(/Arial): http://snag.gy/Jneor.jpg Myriad Pro: http://snag.gy/f2IJx.jpg Segoe UI: http://snag.gy/ujvpX.jpg

[0] This actually defaults to Arial, I believe, because afaik Helvetica is not bundled with Windows. (Is there no way to use asterisks on HN?)

Re: ShowHN:(my weekend hack): SafariShot: Screenshots like it's running on a mac

#13

Post by ksat »

roryokane wrote: post #10

Even though the intent is to make the screenshot look more professional, there is a flaw that makes the result look unprofessional. The flaw is that the text in the title bar and the location bar isn't rendered as it would be on a Mac. See the difference in this reference screenshot I found: http://macamour.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/safari4_... . Here are the problems with the text rendering that I could sp…

* I'll see what I can do. * I am using Lucida Grande, but it needs to be installed on the machine. * Should I move it down like 2 pixles? Seems fine on my machine though

Thanks for the feedback. I am not english native - ran the blog through a online-grammer-checker something and it said everything is fine :)

Re: ShowHN:(my weekend hack): SafariShot: Screenshots like it's running on a mac

#14

Post by veemjeem »

roryokane wrote: post #10

Even though the intent is to make the screenshot look more professional, there is a flaw that makes the result look unprofessional. The flaw is that the text in the title bar and the location bar isn't rendered as it would be on a Mac. See the difference in this reference screenshot I found: http://macamour.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/safari4_... . Here are the problems with the text rendering that I could sp…

Would the average person who prefers "professional" screenshots be able to tell the difference between Aktiv Grotesk and Lucida Grande? You have a sharp eye, but I would think 99.9% of the population looking at these screenshots would not complain about Aktiv Grotesk.

Re: ShowHN:(my weekend hack): SafariShot: Screenshots like it's running on a mac

#16

Post by roryokane »

veemjeem wrote: post #14
roryokane wrote: post #10

Even though the intent is to make the screenshot look more professional, there is a flaw that makes the result look unprofessional. The flaw is that the text in the title bar and the location bar isn't rendered as it would be on a Mac. See the difference in this reference screenshot I found: http://macamour.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/safari4_... . Here are the problems with the text rendering that I could sp…

Would the average person who prefers "professional" screenshots be able to tell the difference between Aktiv Grotesk and Lucida Grande? You have a sharp eye, but I would think 99.9% of the population looking at these screenshots would not complain about Aktiv Grotesk.

Actually, from looking at the generated image, I was only able to tell that the font looked vaguely "wrong". I found out it was specifically Aktiv Grotesk only by going through many steps on Identifont: http://www.identifont.com/identify?22+%20+9J+39+1R6+26RB+4PW....

But still, I agree that most people would probably not notice the font being off at all. And the font smoothing difference jumps out at me the most; if the use of Aktiv Grotesk was the only difference from real Safari, I might not have noticed anything.

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