Listener Question :: Capture and Edit Screenshots with Firefox Extensions
In show Number 50 Jeff sent us a MyChingo audio message. He also threw in this question with his comments about the show:
“Do you know of any Firefox plugin that works in a similar fashion to the SnagIt program used to perform and then edit screen captures?
I would love to find a Firefox plugin that performs the same way as the SnagIt program or better yet I would love to do the screen capture with Firefox and then SnagIt automatically opens and I could perform the editing inside.”
The question was not ignored. We did not have an answer straight away. Now I have not one solution but two! One is free and very web 2.0 web based. The other not so free, but the software is excellent and worth it for the person serious about their capturing.
The first solution actually does exactly what Jeff wants. SnagIt is an application for taking screen captures. It is feature rich and highly customizable. SnagIt also does video desktop capture and also features special effects and formating to your captured pages. Now I am assuming by Jeff’s question that he has a copy of SnagIt. It just so happens that SnagIt offer a Firefox extension for their product! Admittedly it is not that easy to find on the site. Take a look under “SnagIt Accessories”.
The SnagIt plugin for Firefox adds a toolbar to Firefox and enables all the capturing features that SnagIt is capable of and basic editing. The toolbar is not that obtrusive and if you regularly take screenshots you will appreciate it. So Jeff that solves your problem to the letter. The catch is that the extension only works if you have a copy of SnagIt and the software is not free.
SnagIt is available from TechSmith for $39.95 for an individual license.
Get the SnagIt Firefox Extension Here
But what if you want to take screen captures and you either don’t have the cash to buy software or don’t want to? Well I have a solution for you as well. Picnik is a fairly new service that enables you to edit images through a flash web interface. We looked at it on the show some months back in Show Number 37.
Picnik is excellent. It has some great options and effects that are available to you for making your screenshots look fabulous. Some of the more important things that you will be interested in being able to do if you want to do screenshots are:
- Crop
- Resize
- Zoom
- Download
It does all of these and more. The download function is capable of multiple file types as well. Now why an I telling you this?
Picnik has a Firefox extension that enables you to do a few very handy things utilizing integration with Picnik. Either use the Extension button that can be placed on the Firefox Toolbar or use the right click context menu to send a picture directly from the web page you are viewing straight to Picnik for editing.
Not only that you can capture the whole site or only the visible page as a screenshot and do the same. From there you can edit the screenshot in Picnik. You may want to crop out a part of your capture or just resize the whole image to create a screenshot such as you may have seen here on the blog. Why not add a border or a frame, maybe an effect or two to make it appear as you need it to. Anything you like, the features sure have greatly improved since I last checked out the site and I am impressed.
Once you are done just download the image to your computer and use it anywhere. But here is a really top feature; don’t worry about downloading it! Just send it to your photo hosting service of choice. Picnik supports the following services:
As a side note, you can also import images from these services to edit them in Picnik, plus why not send them back when you are done…
Picnik also supports emailing of images to web sites and services including:
- PhotoBucket
- Flickr
- ImageShack
- Walmart Photos
- TypePad
- Snapfish
- SmugMug
- Tumblr
- Windows Live Spaces
- Kodak EasyShare
- Live Journal
- Fotolog
- Moblog
- PictureTrail
- Nakama
- Fotopic
- AOL Pictures
Phew, now that is a list and a half! (Note: one site has been omitted due to being a red site, according to McAfee Site Advisor)
I gave the editor a real workout and I could easily produce screenshots of just about anything using this service. A simple screenshot and crop of a specific area might mean a little more work than a program like SnagIt, but this would be easy enough.
The only drawback that you might find is if you need to magnify a section. A lot of image editors use complex algorithms and extrapolations to achieve a clear chrisp image that has been zoomed or magnified. If the image you were trying to do this with was not of a high enough resolution, it might disappoint you. But in my opinion this is a minor drawback considering what most people might want to do with Picnik.
Combining the Firefox extension and Picnik provides the user with a very good solution. In addition to the integration of supported image hosting services, easy emailing and downloading I think it is a total solution for the average person and in many respects has it over other more complex stand-alone software. I would use this solution, it really is very good.
But you get what you pay for and SnagIt is a very good application and does have those powerful features such as capturing parts of the screen or active windows. Having these features and the video screen capture might also be what you are looking for and needing. There are over 40 capture options in SnagIt. In which case purchase the software.
In the end it is up to you, but please don’t write off online solutions because you don’t think they will offer the same degree of functionality and quality of results. Web apps are becoming sophisticated, integrated and easy to use with great results. The quality also is excellent for blogging, web sites and those snaps that you want to do minor touch ups on before you post them to Flickr.
DaveCheck out Picnik Here and The Firefox Extension for Picnik Here
Don’t forget to check out our latest Podcast! Even Knightwise pays us a visit…
May 31st, 2007 at 3:11 am
I recently just started using SnagIt and have been very impressed. My job requires full web page scrolling screenshots and other fun stuff, so this program is very useful.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Thanks for the perspective on SnagIt Shawn. I can appreciate that as a part of your job you would need professional software.
However, I still think that there are some very competitive free solutions out there.
May 31st, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Nice post.
You can also turn on the Snagit Single-click function and then just grab a screen with one click without the Firefox extension.
June 1st, 2007 at 4:13 am
Dave, I can’t thank you enough for this wonderful write up. I have been searching for quite awhile for a Firefox extension that performs basic editing features found in SnagIt and low and behold, TechSmith makes the extension. I just installed the extension and let me tell you, it fits my needs to the letter. Using the Scribefire extension, FireFTP extension and the SnagIt extension, blogging has now become a piece of cake for me without the need to actually have the Wordpress editor open in a browser window.
I can’t recommend SnagIt enough. It’s an awesome capturing tool and the effects you can do with the images are just enough to add flare and creativity. I use this tool all the time for when I write tutorials on how to use things on a particular web site or piece of software.
Thanks again Dave, really insightful.
June 15th, 2007 at 12:41 am
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