Shots and screencasts with Jing

If you’ve ever need to show someone how to do something on their computer, or log a scary error message, you’ll be familar with taking screenshots and possibly recording videos of your screen. Screenshots in Windows can be a fairly long-winded process: take the screenshot, paste into an editor, crop/change, add annotations, save, upload to the Internet. That’s where Jing comes in.

It’s a small program that sits in the form of a little yellow bubble at the top of your screen, ready and waiting for you to call on it when you’re in need of a quick and easy snap or recording of your screen. Hovering over this bubble will

Jing makes it simple to take screenshots and videos

allow you to select a certain area of your screen, Jing then offers to either take a screenshot or start recording a video. It’s a doddle to simply hover on the title-bar of an application and have it ‘automagically’ selected by Jing for a screenshot. If you want to choose a more refined area, you can drag your own selection. Once the screenshot or video is recorded, Jing then allows you to add annotations to it in order to make it more clear, followed by choosing what you wish to do with your image or video, including: copy, save, or upload to the Internet for a quick way to share it.

I think one of the simplest, yet most useful features is the ability to add a key command to quickly take snaps, mine is set to ‘Ctrl+Print Screen’. This ability saves you having to click on the program each time you wish to make a recording. Also included is a zippy little gallery which lets you view and edit all your previously taken screenshots and videos, ready to be opened and edited again.

Whether you’re a student who has to take hundreds of screenshots to prove your work to an assessor, or you’re often making video tutorials for others, you’ll find Jing a lifesaver. It may just help you keep your sanity by making it so much faster and less monotonous. Give it a try and see what you think by downloading it from www.jingproject.com