OpenDisc Forum » Development

Help wanted: screen captures

(13 posts)
  • Started 8 months ago by ChrisGray
  • Latest reply from PatrickPatience

  1. The screen captures on OpenDisc are old and tired; some even date back from more than two years ago. We're after a person (or persons) with enough time to remake all of the screen captures, ensuring they look nice and give a reasonable example of the software in action.

    One of the problems with the current ones (aside from age) is that they've been taken with various sized themes and colours - the new shots would be much nicer if they looked as if they were taken from a stock-standard XP install, something most Windows users would recognise. This would be harder to achieve if there were more than one person working on it though, but if it stayed about the same sizing and the fonts/colouring were identical that'd be quite acceptable. :)

    I'm at odds about including them as window shots (which would suit simpler programs), or full screen shots (that give a real-world impression of the program, and all aesthetically appear at the same size). Anybody think either would be a better option?

    In the mean time I'll take a look around for a very simple image uploader so we don't have to do it all through email.

    Posted 8 months ago #
  2. EnglishRob
    Member
    3 posts

    Just a thought, could we include desktop shots, with maybe the stock Windows XP colours (Blue Windows with Green Start Button) and the standard Windows XP grassy background (is that Bliss)?

    I guess it might also be worth sticking to a standard resolution for the screen shots, I assume 1024x768 could be useful for this as it seems to be the minimum sort of resolution that the majority of screens can display now.

    I'd be happy to try and create some screen shots of applications.

    Rob

    Posted 8 months ago #
  3. The stock colours and background was exactly what I had in mind, plus every XP user is able to switch to them to take shots.

    I was hoping for a widescreen resolution, but it's not too important seeing as a lot of people are still on 4:3 screens.

    I'll keep searching for a simple image upload app. :)

    As for a time schedule, I'm hoping to have all the shots replaced by the release of 07.12 in the last week of November.

    Posted 8 months ago #
  4. Knitter
    Member
    9 posts

    I think I can contribute with some screens...
    I'm creating the windows component of a live DVD which will include FLOSS software, roughly the same as OpenCD, as I was using OpenCD as a base. So I can install all the software and take a few screens.

    I'm using WinXP with the default appearance, except for the background but that can be fixed. Also, if you need fullscreen shots I'm using a laptop with a 17" widescreen capable of 1440x900.

    Posted 8 months ago #
  5. I think we'll stick to 4:3 for now (and fullscreen). I've added an ftp account for uploading screenshots:

    ftp.theopendisc.com
    login: osd-screenshots
    password: screenshots

    I'll most likely find a better solution since I'm hesitant to install a huge image gallery app (like Coppermine or Gallery) for just this purpose. If I can't find anything simple enough though I'll pick one of those. :)

    Posted 8 months ago #
  6. HANtwister
    Contributor
    20 posts

    I uploaded some screenshots - are they roughly what you wanted?

    Also - I'm using a Virtual PC to take these screenshots; I have the resolution at 1024×768, since 4:3 was the last aspect ratio you mentioned, but would you prefer a widescreen aspect ratio (...which you seemed to want earlier...)?

    Posted 7 months ago #
  7. I took a look. They look nice, blank desktop layout which is great. I'm not sure about having the other software in the System Tray, I know they are all open source and on the Open Disc, but I think it's best to have a blank system tray personally. But they can easily be cropped out anyways.

    I'll try to contribute some screen shots if I can, but my computer is customized beyong belief, you'd think I was running ubuntu. :P

    Posted 7 months ago #
  8. Those are great HANtwister, thanks for uploading them. :) The tray icons are fine, as most people won't notice them tucked away in the corner. Like Patrick said, the blank desktop is exactly what we're after, looks nice and neutral for Windows users.

    If you get any more time to do some that'd be great, as they'll all be included on 07.12 at the end of the month. We'll stick to 4:3 for now, at least until the disc layout is redesigned down the track.

    Patrick: I have to format today (my suse 10.2 install is hopelessly broken) so imagine my difficulty at taking screenshots ;) Hopefully once I format I'll install XP under VirtualBox.

    Posted 7 months ago #
  9. HANtwister
    Contributor
    20 posts

    Unfortunately, life on my end of things has been somewhat hectic as of late, and I'm going to be out of town without my computer up through the 3rd (and, thereafter, I will conviently have a free and clear schedule for an indefinite amount of time...), so someone else will have to take the remaining screenshots for the next version of the disc. If any programs still need screenshots when I return, I'll continue working on it.

    Here are the programs that I've taken some screenshots of: 7zip, Abakt, Azureus, Celestia, Clamwin, Firefox, Freemind, GraphCalc, HealthMonitor, MoinMoin, Notepad2, Notepad++ (just in case), OpenOffice.org, PDFCreator, Really Slick Screensavers, Stardict, Stellarium, SumatraPDF, TiddlyWiki, TightVNC, TrueCrypt, VLC, Workrave

    Here are the programs I haven't taken or retaken any screenshots of: Blender, Dia, GIMP, Inkscape, Nvu, Scribus, Tux Paint, The Battle of Wesnoth, Enigma, Neverball, Sokoban YASC, FileZilla, HTTrack, Pidgin, RSSOwl, SeaMonkey, ThunderBird, WinSCP, Audacity, GnuCash, NASA WorldWind

    Also, a discovery I've made as of late... Video Cards are your friends. If you don't believe me, try running Celestia, or most of the games mentioned above in a Virtual PC, where both the Virtual PC's processor and video card is emulated by your real computer's processor. It eats up one's CPU in a bad way, and doesn't even produce 0.25 FPS. Also, NASA WorldWind simply refused to run in a Virtual PC for me, so that might be tougher for someone to create a clean screenshot of.

    Posted 7 months ago #
  10. Yeah I know how you feel, it's the busiest time of year for me at the moment and I'm finding it hard to get the disc developed in time for the deadline I set myself. Fortunately I have tomorrow to work on it, but after that I have little time at all. :(

    Thanks a lot for the screenshots - I'm running XP through a Virtual PC as well so no doubt I'll have as much luck as you did with things like WorldWind.

    I'll see how I go troubleshooting Kiwix (the replacement browser), I might move 07.12 forward one week into December. By then you'll be back and might have enough time to have a crack at some more screenshots, too. ;)

    Posted 7 months ago #
  11. I'll change my theme and everything else and do WorldWind when I get a chance.

    Posted 7 months ago #
  12. Hi all,

    The openeducationdisc is also getting close to another release. I was wondering if you could help me get some screenshots as well. We have a few programs not included in the OpenDisc we need screenshots of :

    camstudio - screen action recorder
    freeciv - game
    avidemux - video editing
    guido van robot - program teacher
    infra recorder - cd/dvd burning tool
    freemind - mindmapping
    ganttproject - project management
    TuxTyping 2 - game/typing teacher
    Winboard Chess - game
    Qianhong - game
    freecol - game
    CaRMetal - mathematical tool

    May also give you an idea of what is in store for the next version ;)
    Thanks
    Pete

    Posted 4 months ago #
  13. I can do some, I'll make it my job tonight. :)

    Posted 4 months ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.