Re: [Usability] screenshot & recording desktop video

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On 14 Jun 2005, at 18:59, Luis Villa wrote:

> >  2) It doesn't belong in the screenshot dialog.

I guess that depends whether you still consider it as a screenshot  
dialog, or (as I called it in my mockup), a screen capture dialog.   
Screenshot has come to mean something very specific that doesn't  
connote 'video', although whether Joe User understands what it means  
anyway is another question.

> > As a quick question, how does this fit in with vino/vnc?

FWIW, when we were originally working on vino at Sun, it was  
envisaged as a first step towards a 'remote assistance' tool,  
although I actually find it most useful for accessing my desktop when  
I'm working away from the office.  Kind of like a Sun Ray without the  
card :)  Either way, I guess vino is a 'live' collaboration tool, and  
vidcap would be, well, whatever kind of collaboration you call it  
when you send stuff around for comments...

> > Are people going to use this to try and share their desktops?  Or  
> > is this just a
> > quick video?  I still don't fully understand what the use cases of  
> > this
> > is.  That doesn't mean that it isn't cool, but I'd like to understand
> > that first.

Fair point.  I can think of a few good use cases for us as  
distributed 'developers' (in the widest sense of the word)--  
attaching to bug reports, sharing UI prototypes/ideas without  
everyone having to build the code themselves, getting users to run  
their own usability tests on prototypes (a whole other discussion in  
itself), or demonstrating features to documentation writers who  
aren't always able to access every feature they're trying to document  
(e.g. if that feature relies on the availability of certain hardware  
or services).  But you're right, personally I've never felt the need  
to capture a video of my desktop in the run of an average day.

Cheeri,
Calum.

--
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            Java Desktop System Team
http://ie.sun.com                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems