| Zen
and the Art of Painless Screen Shots
 A
screen shot or screen capture is a photo of a desktop
screen or window on a computer. A screen shot can be
of a web page, software application or even a mouse
movement. Screen shots are a great way to convey information
to students.
Which set of instructions
do you think would be easiest for a student to understand?
Capturing
a Screen Shot
To capture a screen shot
on a machine using the Windows operating system. Press
the Print Screen or Print Scrn key on
your keyboard (located in the upper
left hand corner of your keyboard to the left of the
function keys). This will take a screen shot
of your entire desktop screen. The size of this image
depends on your monitor resolution. Hence if your
monitor resolution is set to 640 x 480 than your image
will be 640 x 480.
Because this type of screen
shot captures the whole screen, you may get sections
you do not want, such as the task bar or other open
windows. To capture only the active window (window
you are currently working in) press and hold
the ALT key and then press Print Screen.
If you are using a machine
with the Macintosh operating system, simultaneously
pressing the Command, Shift, and number
3 keys will allow you to capture a screen shot.
Pasting
in a Screen Shot
Once you have captured
a screen shot using the keystrokes described above,
the image is now saved on your clip board. To place
a screen shot in a Word or Microsoft Office application,
simply open the document you would like to place the
screen shot in. Select Edit and Paste
to place the image into the file. The image can now
be manipulated just like any other image in these
applications.
Saving
a Screen Shot
To save the image by itself,
or use the image on a web page, you will need to create
an image file such as a jpeg, gif or bitmap (popular
image formats). Open any image manipulation
program, such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. If you
are not familiar with these programs. Microsoft Paint
(located under Start/Programs/Accessories/Paint)
works just as well. In the image program select File
and New to open a new file. Generally the file
will take on the size and dimensions of the image.
Once you have opened a file, select Edit and
Paste to place the image in the file. The image
can now be manipulated and cropped to your liking.
When you are finished select File and Save
As to save the image. If the image is going to
be used on the Web save it in the jpeg or gif format.
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