Creating and uploading screenshots, files, code, etc..

[DrSlony]

Creating and uploading screenshots, files, code, etc..

by DrSlony » Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:24 pm

1°/ Creating Screenshots
You can create screenshots either using the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard and then pasting the image into any image editor and saving it as PNG, or better just install a proper image editor, like the free and open-source Gimp (links for Windows and Mac at the bottom of the page). To take a screenshot in Gimp, click on "File > Create > Screenshot".

Wikipedia has a good comparison of raster graphics editors.

Regardless of what program you use, it is best if you save your screenshots to the PNG format (use maximum compression), and never resize them (unless you have a very good reason for doing so), since we sometimes have problems when people make their screenshots so small one cannot make anything out. If you want to use JPG, they will look nicer if you disable chroma subsampling (set it to "none" or "1:1:1").

2°/ Uploading FILES

If you need to upload FILES such as archives (ZIP, 7z, RAR, etc.), raw files (CR2, DNG, PEF, etc.), large or problematic images (TIFF, PNG, JPEG, etc.), or any other file that isn't an image which is too large for the forum's built-in image attachment functionality (limited to images both smaller than 5000x4000 pixels and less than 1563kB), you have two options: either share the files privately only for Kolor (via PM), or make them public so the whole Kolor community can try to help.

If you want to upload your files, then use these websites:

• https://www.dropbox.com/ (with a direct share link)
• https://drive.google.com/ (with a direct share link)
• http://filebin.net/
• http://www.sendspace.com/
• http://www.wikiupload.com/
• http://www.zippyshare.com/sites/index_old.jsp

If you have images/photos which cause problems, or which for other reasons we must get exactly as you have them, upload them to the sites above, because they store them exactly as you upload them. Do not upload them to image hosting websites like imgur or tinypic because they will be recompressed which could obscure the reason for the problem they cause.

Wikipedia has a good explanation and comparison of file hosting websites.

3°/ Uploading SCREENSHOTS

If your image is both smaller than 5000x4000 pixels and less than 1563kB, then you can use the forum's built-in image attachment functionality. To use it, you need to either be creating a new topic or replying to an existing one using the "Post a reply" button which shows you the full post editor, not the "Quick Reply" button which shows only a basic post editor with no attachment functionality.

Do NOT upload images/photos which cause problems or which for other reasons we must get exactly as you have them to the sites below! These sites will automatically process them and although they might look the same, what you upload is not what we will download. They are good enough for screenshots, nothing more. They typically accept screenshots up to 1 or 2MB.

• http://imgur.com/
• http://www.tinypic.com/

If you use Linux, you can take a screenshot and have it automatically uploaded to imgur with the URL automatically copied into your clipboard! See the post below titled Easily take and upload screenshots in Linux for a step-by-step.

4°/ Pasting CODE

If you need to paste CODE (e.g. error messages, console output), it's easier to read if you use a monospace (fixed-width) font. To do so, use the [code ] [/code ] tags (without the space between the word "[code" and the closing bracket "]"), like this:

Code: Select all

[code]
Your code here.
 ______________________
/ You see me because I \
\ use monospace font.  /
 ----------------------
       \   ,__,
        \  (oo)____
           (__)    )\
              ||--|| *
[/code]

Alternatively, you can paste code on one of these sites:

• http://dpaste.com/
• http://paste2.org/
• http://pastie.org/
• http://pastebin.com/
• http://pastebin.ca/

Wikipedia has a good comparison of pastebins.

5°/ Creating screencasts

A screencast is a recording of your desktop activity. This can be used to create tutorials, and to get others to help you better if you record whatever you're having a problem with. Sometimes when reporting a bug, you might be asked to record a screencast so that others can help you better.

You might get lucky with using online screencast software which requires no installation:

• Screenr

Here is a list of free open source software for Windows for creating screencasts:

• OpenBroadcaster
• CamStudio

Linux users have several free screencast software options at their disposal:

• http://recordmydesktop.sourceforge.net/about.php recordMyDesktop using one of the frontends - either QT-recordMyDesktop or GTK-recordMyDesktop
• https://www.videolan.org/vlc/ VLC
• https://launchpad.net/eidete Eidete
• http://www.kdenlive.org/ Kdenlive
• https://download.gnome.org/sources/byzanz/0.2/ Byzanz
• https://launchpad.net/kazam Kazam
• https://launchpad.net/tibesti Tibesti
• http://www.kohaupt-online.de/hp/ Vokoscreen
• https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Istanbul Istanbul
• http://www.ffmpeg.org/ FFmpeg

Wikipedia has a good comparison of screencasting software and list of screencasting software.

Once you create a screencast, use one of the file hosting sites listed above to upload it and then paste the link to it to the appropriate thread in the forum.

Last edited by Annis on Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:05 am, edited 5 times in total.

[DrSlony]

by DrSlony » Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:17 am

Easily take and upload screenshots in Linux

Below is a great script for taking a screenshot of the whole desktop, a window you click on or a rectangular region you select with your mouse, and automatically uploading it and copying the url into your clipboard ready for pasting!

Save this script to a file in /usr/bin, let's call it /usr/bin/shoot
Now create a new shortcut to it in your window manager, for example in KDE4 I fire up "Custom Shortcuts" (ALT+F2 > hotkeys) and create a new "Global Shortcut > Command/URL", in the Trigger tab bind it to Shift+Print and in the Action tab set Command/URL to /usr/bin/shoot



Now just press Print Screen while holding Shift, and either click a window or select a region. The screenshot gets taken and uploaded and you will get a popup notify telling you the url is ready in your clipboard :]

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
#
# Original "shoot" script header below, however the script was largely edited by DrSlony.
#
# By Sirupsen @ http://sirupsen.dk
#
# Description: Very simple script to make you
# select a region of your screen, which will be captured, and
# then uploaded. The URL will then be injected into your clipboard.
#
# Dependencies:
#
# Imgur Bash Upload Script (http://imgur.com/tools/imgurbash.sh)
# Comment: Must be in path (see below) with the name "imgur" (not imgur.sh)
#
# Scrot
# Comment: Scrot is what takes the actual screenshot.
#
# Xclip
# Comment: Xclip is what makes the script able to inject the direct url
# into your clipboard.
#
# libnotify*
# Comment: Will notify you whenever the direct URL is in the clipboard
#
# Installation:
#
# Move the file to a local bin. And put the path of this bin, into
# your path. (See: www.troubleshooters.com/linux/prepostpath.htm)
#
# From then on, you can either activate it via your terminal, or via
# your window manager or similar, so you can bind it to a keycombination.
#

function uploadImage {
  curl -s -F "image=@$1" -F "key=486690f872c678126a2c09a9e196ce1b" http://imgur.com/api/upload.xml | grep -E -o "<original_image>(.)*</original_image>" | grep -E -o "http://i.imgur.com/[^<]*"
}

hash notify-send 2>&- || { echo "notify-send not found, install libnotify first" >&2; exit 1; }
hash scrot 2>&- || { notify-send "ERROR" "scrot not found, install scrot first" >&2; exit 1; }
hash xclip 2>&- || { notify-send "ERROR" "xclip not found, install xclip first" >&2; exit 1; }
hash curl 2>&- || { notify-send "ERROR" "curl not found, install curl first" >&2; exit 1; }
cd /tmp/ || { notify-send "ERROR" "Could not enter /tmp, set a different temp dir in the script" >&2; exit 1; }

filename="scrot_`date +%F\ %H%M%S`.png"
scrot -bs "${filename}"
notify-send "Uploading" "Uploading screenshot\n${filename}"
exec 3>&1 4>&2 ; duration="$( { TIMEFORMAT="%0R"; time uploadImage "${filename}" | xclip -selection c 1>&3 2>&4; } 2>&1 )" ; exec 3>&- 4>&- # http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/032
rm "${filename}"
notify-send "Done" "Uploaded\n${filename}\nin ${duration} seconds."