MakingScreenshots

This page is outdated. It is kept for historical reasons, e.g. to document specific decisions in Inkscape development.

Inkscape needs your screenshot submissions for our gallery: http://inkscape.org/screenshots/index.php

For a user, screenshots are perhaps the most important resource at inkscape.org. It's what most people look at first. New users don't like to read descriptions; they want pretty pictures. Existing users considering upgrade don't like to read release notes; they want pretty pictures. Besides, our screenshots are borrowed by a lot of other sites and thus end up all over the web. All this means that screenshots must be as good as Inkscape itself, if not better. The lack or poor quality of screenshots means the entire project's bad health.

A few notes:

• The best feature screenshots are made by the author of the corresponding feature. Nobody knows the feature better than him/her. In fact, if you contribute a major feature, you are pretty much supposed to submit a screenshot of it in action, much as you are supposed to describe it in release notes.

• However, we are also in badly need of high quality screenshots showing professional Inkscape work. If you are doing something complex and/or artistic and it turns out well, please take a moment to shoot the Inkscape window with your work.

• Use PNG format (not JPG or GIF).

• The screenshot should be dense and informative. 1280x1024 (the preferred screenshot size) is a lot of space, so don't waste it on just one or two bits. When doing a feature screenshot, combine the various aspects of the feature, add captions and descriptions, demonstrate all relevant tricks and nontrivial things that you can think of. When doing a work screenshot, find the best zoom/view of the document, and consider doing a double view of the same or different documents (as here: [1]). In both cases, open the relevant dialogs, switch to relevant tools, and do a selection so that the statusbar message adds more useful info to the picture.

• When submitting a screenshot, please also submit a blurb (one-paragraph description) that will accompany it in the gallery. Briefly describe the feature you are demonstrating and the most nontrivial aspects of the screenshot. Try to be witty but comprehensive.

• Also indicate what the usage terms are for the screenshot (in case magazine writers wish to use the screenshot in their articles). We recommend that you place your screenshots in public domain, as it saves a lot of hassle in asking for and obtaining permissions.

In the new site design that is being worked on, we'll use a head graphic on the front page. It will display an Inkscape-made graphic, probably in a cut-out/zoom-in/composite form (similar to the way the flag is displayed in the draft), and will be changed from time to time. So, Inkscape artists: please send me your work that you would like to see used on the front page of inkscape.org.

To submit, please mail a link to your file to the devel list, or directly to buliabyak at gmail dot com.

Capturing a Screenshot

• Windows, KDE, and GNOME users:
  • Select the Inkscape window, and press ALT + Print Screen to capture only the active window; or alternatively simply press Print Screen to capture everything
  • Open a raster graphics program of your choice, paste from the Clipboard
  • Save as a PNG format
  • You could also use ksnapshot (KDE), GIMP (multiple platforms, see File-> Capture...). --Pbhj 15:11, 7 July 2006 (PDT)

• Mac users:
  • Press shift - apple key - 3 to capture the full screen
    • The result will appear as a PNG file on your Desktop
  • Alternatively, you can use Applications/Utillities/Grab.app, choose Capture > Window, then convert the saved image from TIFF to PNG