Screen capture tools for bloggers.
Jan12Written by:
2010/01/12 09:39 AM 
Screen Capturing is an essential tool for bloggers. Have you ever wanted to present something on your PC to your blog readers but just could not. Perhaps you have written something and you want your readers to see exactly what it is you are talking about.
I find that screen captures can work really well with tutorial type posts as well as Question and answer or help type posts. Basically any post that you feel you need to show a unique picture to your audience.
Then screen capture is the tool and process to use. Here are some tools and resources for you to consider.
Image via Wikipedia
Desktop
Print Screen
Yes, the old favourite. Has been with us for years. The print screen (PrtScn) button on your keyboard captures the current screen and then allows you to paste that into any graphics editor. Even past it in to MS Paint, then cut out what you need and save.
Windows Vista Snipping Tool.
With Windows Vista, Microsoft has included a utility called the Snipping Tool to make capturing screen shots easier. Click on the Start Menu and start typing "snipping" into the search box. The Sniping tool is not available in Windows Vista Home Basic Edition. It comes with Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Editions. I don't know if it is available with Windows 7. Maybe someone can let us know
A project of Techsmith, Jing has the ability to do instance image and video capturing. Aside from that, you can also do sketches on the image and share them online. Jing is also free and is available for Windows as well as Mac.
This tool also from Techsmith directly. Not free but very useful. SnagIt is one of the best screen capture softwares available. This tool can capture anything seen on the screen.
If you use Windows Live Writer as you blog writing software, then this plug-in is for you. This plug-in lets you capture screen shots using the popular SnagIt utility from Techsmith Corporation which is cheap (but not free).
FastStone Capture is a powerful, lightweight, yet full-featured screen capture tool that allows you to easily capture and annotate anything on the screen including windows, objects, menus, full screen, rectangular/freehand regions and even scrolling windows/web pages.
Evernote is like a personal screen capture management tool. It allows you to capture information from anywhere on the web, using whatever device or platform you find most convenient. The captured info can be searched on later from your computer, web or mobile.
Web Tools
Free web service that shows you how your website looks in different browsers or different versions. A must tool for web developers on a browser compatibility check.
Clip2Net allows you to capture, sketch and share screen captures online instantly.
Websnapr creates a thumbnail screenshot of any websites. All you need to do is enter the URL and hit capture.
A firm favourite with myself and many others. The Snag-It Firefox extension installs a small custom toolbar in Firefox. Snag-It's extension for the Firefox browser enables users to take screen captures of an entire scrolling window, Web page, region, or even text that can be edited.
Another favourite.With ScreenGrab you can save an entire webpage, a particular selection or a frame in the JPEG or PNG format. You could drag and select a particular portion of the page or save the entire scrolling window.
This is a more advanced screenshot tool. Unlike other extensions, this plug-in provides a set of editing and annotation tools, which lets users quickly modify web captures and insert text annotations and graphical annotations. This is the free version, a Pro version is available for about $35 with more functionality.
This screenshot extension is similar to ScreenGrab but doesn't require Java. It has a free as well as a commercial version
This tool is surprisingly simple to use. The extension sits as a drop-down icon in your toolbar as well as an option on the right click menu. You can take a screen shot of the whole scrollable page or just the visible area or of a selected region.
The Kwout Firefox add on is another cool app to easily capture and save web pages or online images. It also gives you the code for the screenshot which can be immediately embedded in your website
Word of Warning.
Be carful of copyright infringement. While these tools are legal and their use is legal, capturing someone else's website as a screen shot might not be. It is important to be respectful of the Webmasters whose sites you’re taking the screenshots of, that you obey any licenses and that you only use what you need to make your point.
Conclusion
There are obviously more advanced and sophisticated screen capture tools out there. But for Bloggers I think that simple is the way to go. Some of these tools are just a little more than simple. Nonetheless any of them would be a great addition to your current toolbox.
Have I missed any that you think should be included? Let us know in the comments below.
Related Reading:
15 of Best Firefox Add-ons - Extensions for Developers
Hongkiat.com – 40 free screen capture tools
Testing your web page in over 60 web browsers.
Top SEO Tools and Resources for Everybody – Firefox add-ons
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