How to Make a Screen Capture of Browser

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Original posting date:  October 2, 2013

The awesome Prof. Cosmo B. Mott wrote this for somewhere else, and I have borrowed it (with her permission) to put in here for sundry DoHGaS challenges but also to have here in the Sett as a general reference --

Even though this was written ages ago, much of the data is still valid. 

How do I make a screen capture of my browser? (Windows [7])

There are a couple ways to do this, depending on what you're comfortable with, but here are the two "best" ways that I know of: using a screengrab or screen capture extension in your browser or using a combination of the print screen button on your keyboard and a graphics program.

By browser extension: If you use Firefox or Chrome, you can get extensions that let you screen capture part of or all of the page you're on. (For Firefox, I use Screengrab (fix version), and for Chrome it's Screen Capture (by Google).) If you use one of these, you can choose to capture or save the complete page, the visible portion, or a selection. You can save the complete page, which is probably the easiest, though that'll give you a file that's multiple megabytes. You can also opt for the selection. If you do that, it'll give you a sort of color overlay on the page so you can make the selection. I found it was easier in Firefox to scroll on the selection page than in Chrome, but the puzzle interface should be positionable so that it's entirely visible on most regular computer screens. The bonus of saving/capturing the selection/screen region is that you just save the portion you want, so your file won't be nearly as big; yay! It will probably save in your default saving location, so go fetch it from there so you can upload it to your favorite image host.

With print screen: Open up your graphics programs -- even something as simple as Microsoft Paint (Start Menu-->(All) Programs-->Accessories-->
Paint) -- and set it aside for now. Next, go to the puzzle. Making sure it's entirely visible, hit the PRTSC button on your keyboard. (On mine, it's located sort of above the backspace button, after the function -- F1, F2, etc. -- buttons, and it says PRTSC SYSRQ on it. If your keyboard layout is vastly different from mine, try doing an internet search for your keyboard and prtsc or something. ) Now, go over to Paint and hit ctrl+v or click the Paste button in Paint. This should paste in what you screenshot (shotted?). Now, you might want to crop it (use the select tool and draw a box around the puzzle box; you might need to change your zoom, which you do in the lower right; then click the crop button by the select button). Then, go ahead and save it. I suggest for this to go with either Save as PNG (for the best quality) or Save as JPEG (for a pretty decent quality). Name your file (and know where you're saving it) so you know where to get it when you upload it to Photobucket or your favorite image host.

How do I make a screen capture of my browser? (Mac OS X)

OS X has a built-in screenshot feature, which you can activate with some keyboard shortcuts. There are several variations, but the most useful is probably this: Command+Shift+3 This takes a screenshot of your screen and saves it to your desktop. The default naming should be something like, "Screen Shot [date] at [time].png" From here, you can edit the picture however necessary. If, however, you'd rather copy the image to your clipboard, use Command+Control+Shift+3.

Browser extensions are also a possibility. If you're interested in that, refer to the section above.


FROM:
Prof. Cosmo B. Mott's post -- entitled "F.a.q." in forum "Shuffle House".

How do I put my screen capture into a PM (or post)?

To put your saved screen capture into a PM or post, you'll need to get it uploaded to the internet. There are several free image hosting sites, many of which are popular with HOLers: ImageShack and Imgur all allow you to upload without signing up for an account, though they also give you options to sign up so you can keep track of your uploads.

The process of uploading a picture is roughly the same on all those sites: click the browse/computer button, locate your picture on your hard drive, select it, and click the open/OK button. Then, on the image host's page, if it hasn't already started uploading it, click the upload now button. When you're done, you'll see a thumbnail (a small version) of your picture. Usually there are boxes with various text you can copy in order to get the URL. For the Sett, you want either the direct url option or the BBCode option. Then, paste the code into your PM, and it should be accessible to the recipient.

Tip: If you're not sure if you've got the picture uploaded right or the code worked out, you can always preview your message before you send it; that shows you what it'll look like, so you can see if the picture is showing up (if you use the [inline][/inline] code) or if the link is working. This also works with forum posts.

 

NOTE 1:  A lot of this information still applies, even if you have Windows 10 (or Windows whatever). 

NOTE 2: Adding in another host site, since Photobucket has changed their policies.    Postimage

EDIT 3: Remember to keep your graphic that you post in the forum to 600x600 pixels or smaller.

EDIT 4: Signatures are 250x100 and avatars are 100x100.

EDIT 5: If you have questions, please send me (Tarma) or any Hufflepuff Prefect a PM with your question and we will help you to find an answer to it.