[Usability] screenshot & recording desktop video

[jeroen xs4all nl]

Hi,

So with Ronald Bultje & Zaheer Abbas Merali we now have some code to
record a video of your desktop (without all the hassle of running VNC
etc.). Just start recording a video of your actions. See
http://zaheer.merali.org/?p=116 and
http://blogs.gnome.org/nb.cgi/view/rbultje/2005/06/03/0.

Zaheer implemented this in python as a notification area icon. I've been
thinking this might be better integrated into the existing Screenshot
button in the panel. I'm not sure on the best approach UI-wise though. So
i'm asking for comments here. I have basically 2 ideas:

1. "Hide" the "Record desktop video" functionality in the popup menu of
the Screenshot panel button. You then popup a dialog asking the user where
the video should be saved, what type of video (Theora, AVI, mpeg4) it
should be saved as and how long (seconds) or unlimited. Once the user
presses the "Start recording" button, the panel icon changes shape to
indicate it's recording. It then either records for a predetermined amount
of time, or it stops when the user presses a certain key combination or
clicks on the Screenshot button in the panel.
A problem with this approach is that there is very little feedback to the
user when the recording has stopped. Perhaps it's better to record first
and then ask how/where to save it?

2. Modify the screenshot dialog so the user can say "no i don't want a
static screenshot, record a video instead". After that, the same workflow
follows as described above. I'm not sure this is a good approach since if
done incorrectly, you could clutter the screenshot dialog (it's really
simple & easy to use atm). We might just add an option to indicate the
user wants to record a video and then for how long (seconds) or unlimited
(user-action to stop recording). And then after it has recorded the video
only then ask how & where to save it. Problem with this approach is that
you get 1 dialog for 2 different functions. For example: the current
dialog has a Save (iirc) button for saving the screenshot. How would this
work if you could also start recording a video in that dialog?

I want to prevent having 2 panel buttons both for recording your desktop
(static & dynamic (video)).

Comments?

Jeroen

p.s. Please CC me since i'm not subscribed to the usability list.