RE: Screenshots Too Light

Subject: RE: Screenshots Too Light
From: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>
To: "Karen Field Carroll" <kfcarroll -at- cox -dot- net>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:37:27 -0600

Karen Field Carroll wrote:

> I'm using SnagIt for screenshots, which I love, but the Web sites I
> document
> use light-colored objects, such as baby-blue buttons, and my graphics
> always
> appear way too light in the guides. I've tried experimenting with
SnagIt's
> contrast features, but I don't think I'm doing it right. Does anyone
have
> any ideas on how to darken page objects without darkening the whole
image?

Well, you can do that using just about any graphics program more
sophisticated than MS Paint (including a number of free ones). But I'm
not sure you should.

First of all, if these buttons are so light that they're hard to see in
a screen shot, somebody should think about their usability on screen.
What about people with vision deficits or the elderly, or those with
less than optimum monitor size, placement, and brightness/contrast
settings?

Second, if you make your screen shots look significantly different from
the what your readers will see, they may serve to confuse instead of
clarify.

Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------





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Follow-Ups:

References:
Re: Examples of Great Software/Web-based User Guides: From: Erik Hare
Re: Examples of Great Software/Web-based User Guides: From: Laura Lemay
RE: Examples of Great Software/Web-based User Guides: From: Boudreaux, Madelyn (GE Healthcare, consultant)
Screenshots Too Light: From: Karen Field Carroll

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