How
to take a Screenshot and Post it Online
A screenshot is an image of whatever
is showing on
your computer monitor at the moment. A screenshot can be very helpful
if you aren't sure how to describe a problem (you can take a screenshot
and let others see
what is happening). There are two basic steps involved with
screenshots. Let’s take them one by one.
1. Take the screenshot
When
you have the view on your
display that you want to view, simply press the Print Screen key on the
keyboard (usually this is abbreviated Prnt Scrn). It should be
somewhere by the
Num Lk (Numbers Lock), Insert, or Home keys.
Next,
open up Paint (it comes with
every version of Windows). It
is found
in the Accessories folder. You can find it by going to the Start menu,
and then
the (All) Programs folder. Look
for a
folder called Accessories. Paint should be there. If it’s not, then go
to the
Start button, click on Run, and type in mspaint.exe
(italics not
necessary) and click OK. That
should
bring up the program.
In
Paint, go to Edit>Paste. You
should then see the image that you have
taken the screenshot of. If
nothing
happens, go back and try to capture the image you want again, with the
Print
Screen key. You
didn’t copy the screenshot
onto Windows’ clipboard, the first time.
Now
save your photo (I always use
the desktop as the default location for downloads and saving files like
this,
because its so easy to remember where they are, but any place will do). Save
it as a .JPG (jpegs are smaller files than other pictures, and because
it is an open format, is very easy for any photo-viewing program to
display).
- Post it online
Now
you can go to imageshack.us. Click on Browse, find your
graphic, and then
click on Host It! This
puts the file on
Imageshack’s servers. If
you want it
there permanently, you will need to register and log in. If you don’t
want to
do that, the file will stay there as long as someone views it at least
once a
year.
Once
it has been uploaded onto
Imageshack’s servers, you can then copy and paste the link into a post
in a
thread you want to start. If you are unsure how to describe your
problem,
posting a screenshot like this in your first post is an excellent way
to get
help, because it allows the experts a quick view at your computer when
your
problem occurs; and you know what they say—a picture is worth a
thousand words.
After
uploading your photo, you
will be given a few different types of links to post in the forum
thread.
Scroll down all the way to the bottom, where you will see a link
entitled
“direct link to image.” The
reason why I
suggest that you use this, is that some different forums have different
rules
about what type of html code you need to use when posting links to
photos; for
this reason, different types of links won’t work in different types of
forums. But
I rarely see a forum that doesn't allow direct links to photos; in that
case, they inevitably provide directions on how to use Imageshack's
links, or on how to post the links.
