Posting Screenshots

[LoneRunner]

I thought I would share some of the information I've gathered for capturing the best screenshot for posting. If you have a better method, that would be awesome. I'm not a technology expert so please share your method.

The new forum format changed the process for attaching images to a post:
o When you prepare a post, scroll down below the draft area. You should see three tabs: Options, Attachments, Poll creation.
o Click on the "Attachments" tab, then click on the "Add files" button to add a screenshot file to your post
o You should enter a browser where you can search for the screenshot file on your computer
o Double-click on the screenshot file and the filename will appear below the "Add files" button.
o Click on the "Place inline" button and the screenshot will be pasted to the location of the cursor in post draft area.
o Yeah, the image does not appear. All you'll see in the draft area are the words (attachment) filename (attachment). In order to see your screenshot along with the text, click "Preview".
o If you're happy with the preview, click "Submit". Otherwise keep editing your draft. You can go back and forth through edit and preview as many times as you want.
o You can attach more than one screenshot by clicking "Add files" a second, third, even fourth time. However, the maximum cumulative filesize for attachments is 10 MB. If you try to go over 10 MB nothing will happen when you try to add the file.

Most of my screenshots looked great on my monitor but ended up blurry by the time I posted them into the forum. I refuse to spend money on photo editing software (haha) so I searched through the internet for free stuff. Turns out Windows has pretty okay software for capturing and posting screenshots.

Capturing a Screenshot (Windows 10 or 11)

I started out using the "PrtSc" button on my keyboard to capture a screenshot. If you use multiple monitors like me, hold down the "Alt" key when you press "PrtSc" and you will get a screenshot of the currently active screen.

I've moved to "Snip & Sketch" because I get better control over the area of the screen that is captured and I think Snip & Sketch has better resolution than the PrtSc. But it's close. Snip & Sketch is provided free with Windows 10 and 11. Just scroll through the alphabetical list of programs to find it.

Crop a Screenshot

Snip & Sketch allows you to crop your image but I found "Paint 3D" has a better editor. Paint 3D is provided free with Windows 10 and 11. You'll want to crop your screenshot in order to remain within the 10 Mb limit.

I typically grab a screenshot with Snip & Sketch and then edit the image with Paint 3D.
Within Paint 3D, click "Menu" then "Browse Files" to open your screenshot file.

When the image appears, click on the "Select" tab to draw a rectangle around the area that you want to crop. Then click the "Crop" button to crop the selected area.

Click on "Menu" to save the cropped shot. I always save my cropped shot under a different filename just in case I need to change the cropped area.

I mostly use the "Brushes" and "Text" tabs in Paint 3D to annotate my image.

Screenshot File Type

Both PrtSc and Snip & Sketch require you to select a file type when you take the screenshot. After conducting some research the choice for me was between PNG and JPEG (JPG). Both have lots of advantages and disadvantages but my focus was on the best image for posting.

Here's an example of the same screenshot using PNG and JPEG:

PNG Screenshot

E 1.png (1.53 MiB) Viewed 442 times

JPEG Screenshot

E 2.jpg (259.06 KiB) Viewed 442 times

At first glance they both appear the same. However, if you look closely the PNG shot shows better detail. For example, under "London". The orange "Capital" and red "NM Objective" are slightly smeared on the JPEG shot. Yeah, not a big deal, but if clarity is your objective, PNG is better.

However, PNG is a much larger file. The PNG file is 1.53 MB and the JPEG file is 259 KB. If you are pressed for file space JPEG is better.

Image Crop and Resize
Notice both screenshot images are huge. If you are posting several screenshots your readers will have to scroll through several feet of image in order to get through your post. Typically you'll want to crop and resize your image in order to fit a more manageable image into your post.

Here's an example of my original screenshot cropped:

PNG Screenshot

E 1 crop.png (505.58 KiB) Viewed 442 times

JPEG Screenshot

E 2 crop.jpg (121.94 KiB) Viewed 442 times

Notice that both images are a more manageable size that fit well within your post. Notice also that PNG provides a much sharper image.

Resize

Paint 3D has a good resizer. Click on the "Canvas" tab and you can adjust the size of your image file using either pixels or Percentage as a measure. Just remember the smaller the file the lower the quality of your image.

[Hubert Cater]

Very nice and I find a quick way to grab a screenshot as well in Windows is to press the Windows Key + Shift + S and it immediately allows you to crop a section of the screen and automatically places it in your clipboard. It then allows you to also open it up in Snip & Sketch for editing as needed.