Blogging Tips

If you’ve ever needed to take a picture of a Web page, grab a logo or otherwise turn page into an image, you know well that it can be a difficult task. Though Windows, Mac and most Linux distros offer some means of capturing screen images built in, they are often not adequate for precision or annoted screenshots of Web pages.

As such, several Firefox extensions have been written to help surfers and bloggers alike grab images from the Web and either save them on their hard drives or upload them to the Web. These tools can be a valuable resource, especially when you can not get at your usual screen capture tools.

So what are some of the best tools? Here are some of my picks for Firefox-based screen capture tools.

Iimmgg Tools is a breathtakingly simple application to use. Once installed, the extension sits as a drop-down icon in your toolbar and as an option on the right click menu. It allows you to take a screen shot of either the whole page (including the portion not visible), just the visible area or of a selected region.

The “selected region” feature of the extension is easily the most powerful. You can either drag freehand over the portion you want to select or choose the exact site you want of the screen shot (down to the pixel) and then drag the square over the portion that you want to capture. This feature is especially important for anyone that needs specific-sized screenshots for any layout purposes (such as magazine-style themes).

Once you’ve captured your image, you can either download it to your computer or, as the application defaults to, you can upload it to Iimmgg, the image host that created the add-on.

FireShot is the equivalent to Adobe PhotoShop of Firefox screen capture tools. It is robust, powerful and, at times, very intimidating.

Though the application only allows you the choice of grabbing either the full page or the visible area, after it does that it whisks you to an editor interface where you can crop the image, add highlights, draw shapes, overlay text and much more.

Once you’re done with the image, you can either save it to your computer, export it to another program or upload it to application’s chosen image host.

FireShot is also unique in that it is the only one of the three that offers a for-pay pro version that has more features, including unlimited undo and the ability to edit multiple files at once. The initial download comes with a 30-day trial of the pro version, which can be purchased for $35 at the end of the evaluation period.

All in all FireShot is likely a solid choice for anyone who needs a lot of power out of their screenshot application, especially those who do a lot of highlighting and note-taking.

Less of a screenshot app and more of a general blogging tools, DashBlog provides a good medium between Iimmgg Tools and FireShot in the screen capture department.

It’s screen capture is able to grab either the visible portion of the page or a selected region and it can also do some simple markup, including drawing, adding text and adding arrows of different colors. When it is done, the application can either download the image to your desktop or upload it to your WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, etc.

For bloggers, Dashblog is a natural choice as it makes it easy to add other forms of embeddable media, such as YouTube clips, to your blog as well using your blog’s API. It can be a quick way to generate off-the-cuff posts about whatever you find on the Web.

Word of Warning

Obviously, when you use any of these tools in conjunction with your blog, you’re going to want to make certain that you are not infringing the original site’s copyright. It is important to be respectful of the Webmasters whose sites you’re taking the screenshots of, that you obey any licenses and that you only use what you need to make your point.

Though using a screenshot tool is legal and, in many circumstances, posting the image on your site is not an infrignement either, you have to be careful to not go too far or you may risk having some very angry content owners demanding removal of their work.

Conclusions

Though none of these tools will likely be full replacements for the professional screen capture tools used by many Webmasters, they do provide a good backup solution, especially when one is away from their primary computer.

Personally, of the three, I use Iimmgg the most. Though I find DashBlog to be interesting and compelling, I find the simplicity and speed of Iimmgg to be more useful. Also, as someone who uses a magazine-style layout with specific image requirements, I need the precision of Iimmgg.

In the end though, which you use will come down to your specific needs and wants. Your situation may demand a very different set of tools and, if that is the case, one of these applications will likely give you exactly what you need.