How-To take great screenshot and make tutorials using snagit?

[LaurenH 0]

I believe that you are using Snag it for screen shots on your posts but is there any type of guide or educational resource (i.e. best practices, etc.) you would recommend for me to learn how to make mine as great as yours? :)Thanks!

[dw96 281]

Hey there Lauren! Glad to have you here on groovyAnswers! Here are a few tips I can give you from my personal experience in writing tutorials:

1) Writer-to-reader communication! - Make sure the reader can "feel" the writer-reader communication. You need to make readers feel like the article writer literally wants to talk to them and like everything is explained in an accessible way - not too advanced, but not too beginner style either.

2) Screenshots and images! - For even the slightest thing which you think the reader may find confusing, try making a few screenshots with annotations, arrows and notes. Every article and tutorial always becomes more pleasant to the eye with more graphics, images and pictures.

3) Organization! - For an easy to understand article or tutorial, everything must be organized neatly - it creates a background plan and schematic for the user (reader) to follow and allows most content to be understood with ease.

As for any Snagit tips - try to work out a personal theme or style if you're planning to use this for your own blog or website. By that I mean having all images with the same instructional style, same arrow colors, same annotation box colors and so on. The biggest advantage of Snagit is that you can take screenshots faster than ever, so take advantage of it and use as many screenshots as possible when needed (just like I mentioned in no. 2).

[jshepp 112]

So, while programs like Snag It make it easy to take screenshots, I still prefer to use the good ol' Prnt Scrn button on my computer.

Just press the Prnt Scrn key on your keyboard, and it saves a snapshot of your screen right to your clipboard. From there open any image editing program (Paint, GIMP, Photoshop, etc) to alter and save your image. Paste the snapshot (Ctrl + V), and you're good to go! Also, if you just want to capture only one specific window instead of your whole computer screen, use Alt + Prnt Scrn.

[Steve 1,651]

Tell ya what. I'll do a detailed How-To tutorial groovyPost style in a few days and post the link to it here. Hopefully that will get ya what you need. So stay tuned!

[LaurenH 0]

Tell ya what. I'll do a detailed How-To tutorial groovyPost style in a few days and post the link to it here. Hopefully that will get ya what you need. So stay tuned!

 

Looking forward to it, Mr. Groove. Thanks! jshepp's response was helpful for taking an actual screenshot but I'm looking for more on the "best practices" & design aspects of creating a great visual tutorial

[LaurenH 0]

Hey, Mr. Groove- Just curious, did you ever get around to creating a How-to tutorial on creating tutorials?

[Rufio 158]

I believe that you are using Snag it for screen shots on your posts but is there any type of guide or educational resource (i.e. best practices, etc.) you would recommend for me to learn how to make mine as great as yours? :)Thanks!

 

I like this idea, but there is a lot involved with making things look good. It takes years of practice and hundreds of bananas eaten.

[Steve 1,651]

Hey, Mr. Groove- Just curious, did you ever get around to creating a How-to tutorial on creating tutorials?

 

 

Umm..... Wow, is it to late to say I'm sorry?

OUCH!!!!

Ok -- I'm going to do this TODAY. I promise. I'll update you here.