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Take Better Screenshots

stilldrinking.org

31–40 of 60 posts

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#31
post #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 an…

iOS 13 allows for sending screenshots in PDF form.

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#32
Ah yes, the famous stilldrinking.org where http://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks comes from :D It's the best essay written about programming, ever. Just one quote:

> This file is Good Code. It has sensible and consistent names for functions and variables. It’s concise. It doesn’t do anything obviously stupid. It has never had to live in the wild, or answer to a sales team.

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#34
post #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 an…

Re: annotated screenshots, there once was a module that allowed making snapshots of GTK windows as PDFs: https://github.com/nomeata/gtk-vector-screenshot Edit: here it is in action, with selectable text: https://www.joachim-breitner.de/various/pdf_screenshot_3.pdf

I feel like this PDF is a portal to an alternate reality where something something Display PostScript something something something something.

Wow.

I want to click at the UI in the PDF :( it's not working :(

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#35
post #2

To OP -- in the spirit of the article -- it's an uphill task to separate the content from the witticisms here. IMO it would have been a better read with fewer jokes.

To _you_, this person wrote https://www.stilldrinking.org/the-episode-part-1 (and 18 more parts, which I only put down because my body required sleep), https://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks, and everything over at https://www.stilldrinking.org/essays.php.

((Who gets the reference?))

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#36
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's, sadly, the Web these days. Even with adblockers, I see the "advertisement" lines remaining in articles. Often every paragraph or two.

With Javascript disabled, I don't see them at all

With /etc/hosts blocking, I still see them, and I like it. It's like a TV that's gone to ads and then glitches out and the show comes straight back on.

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#37

> Then there are the well-meaning spirits who discovered the developer console and send these with worried emojis: All too true. The worst I've ever gotten was an email titled "Problem!" (or similar), the body was several of the grimacing and throwing up emojis, and attached was a screenshot of a (long and ugly) SQL query without the attached results. When I asked if they could send the results over, or at least a co…

If a tree crashes to the ground but nobody is there to see it, did the tree actually fall?

In this situation I think there was never a real, valid problem in the first place.

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#38
post #14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the alternative?

Learning to describe your problem. Specific knowledge aside, I am always astonished that people not being able to coherently read and write is getting worse. That's something YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook don't teach I guess?

Thing is, accurately describing the problem often is 90% of the solution, and the only reason why you can't solve it yourself and are asking for help is because you don't have the skill, knowledge or experience to see what is wrong there. Similarly, if I'm doing the diagnosis, I don't want your description of what you see there (because that's likely misinformed, misleading, or missing the point), I want the actual evidence.

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#39
post #35
post #2

To OP -- in the spirit of the article -- it's an uphill task to separate the content from the witticisms here. IMO it would have been a better read with fewer jokes.

To _you_, this person wrote https://www.stilldrinking.org/the-episode-part-1 (and 18 more parts, which I only put down because my body required sleep), https://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks , and everything over at https://www.stilldrinking.org/essays.php . ((Who gets the reference?))

I'm not sure how that is relevant to this essay, which I found almost unreadable.

Re: Take Better Screenshots

#40
> This educational blind spot leads Person Q to take a carefully framed picture of the 2 percent of their visual field that signaled a problem and email it to Person X, assuming Person X will immediately grok the necessary portion of Person Q’s life experience that motivated them to send it.

Bravo; I have never seen a more perfectly succinct illustration of the fundamental problem of human existence.

It's a struggle to remember that nobody else is inside your head, but damn, that realization makes everything easier to deal with.

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