Several unique terms and phrases describe the features of software we review on this site, some easier to grasp than others. This list briefly defines terms relevant to Screen Capture Software.

Ratings

Ease of Use

Useful screen capture software should be easy for beginners to use and navigate.

Feature Set

Screen capture software should offer a wide variety of tools to increase both your screen capture options and convenience.

Ease of Installation

Screen capture software should be a snap to install and setup on your computer, without the hassle of additional downloads or errors.

Help/Support

The best screen capture software offers support through various avenues, including support by telephone and email, manuals and knowledge bases, online forms and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), step-by-step tutorials, download updates and user forums.

Capture

Capable screen capture programs have the ability to capture a vast range of items-from color values to video clips to entire web pages and so on.

Edit

After capturing an item, screen capture software should provide you with efficient photo editing tools, so you can easily cleanup, change, annotate or save your screen captures in most any form.

Capture

Full Screen

Offers the capacity to capture the contents of a window, including the part not seen. Therefore, you can capture an entire website, not just the visible portion.

Menu Capture

The software captures drop-down and cascading menus from Windows programs.

Color Capture

Displays certain color values when you scroll over them. Most programs that offer this feature display the color values in RBG format.

Individual Images

The program captures either specific images or all images on a website, depending on your needs.

Text Capture

The software is capable of capturing all text on a website and converting it into various formats for editing.

Video Capture

You can capture video clips with the software.

Game Capture

Gives you the ability to capture a portion of game play, which is great for gaming demos.

DirectX Applications

Grabs screenshots of Direct X applications, which is a program interface developed by Microsoft to create and manage graphic images and multimedia effects.

Media Players

Captures video from different media players, such as QuickTime, Real and Windows Media Player.

Object Capture

The software can capture specific items on your computer desktop, such as a buttons, icons, toolbars and more.

Complete Web Page

By simply typing in a website's URL, you have the ability to capture all graphics and text on that site.

Complete Document

Through various methods, including scrolling capture, you can capture various types of document files.

Capture Graphical Text

The program captures and modify image text.

Mouse Cursor Capture

Gives you the ability to capture just the mouse cursor.

Timer Controlled Capture

Sets a timetable for screen captures to occur.

Capture Region

Rectangle

Captures items in a common and highly useful rectangle shape.

Ellipse

Captures items in attractive ellipse-shaped designs.

Circle

Captures items in handy circular-shaped figures.

Polygon

Captures items in more complex-shaped patterns.

Triangle

Captures items in interesting triangular-shaped designs.

Freehand

Trace around the area on the screen you want to capture.

Edit

Insert Text comments

Gives you the ability to place comments on the screen capture.

Add Annotations

Adds graphics or notes to a screen capture.

Special Effects

Adds effects, like fade outs and page tears to your capture.

Virtual Marker

You can draw on your screen capture, be it notes or circled areas.

Watermark

You can put a copyrighted name or your company's name on your images.

Digital Editing Tools

Additional tools offered by the program to enhance or modify the screen capture to better fit your needs (i.e. resize, flip, rotate, crop, erase, change colors and so on).

BMP

Bitmap format, most often used by Microsoft Windows.

JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group format.

GIF

Graphic Interchange format, a common file format for graphic images.

PNG

Portable Network Graphic format.

TIFF

Tagged Image File format.

Batch Convert

Converts multiple graphics files at the same time.

Help/Support

Phone Support

The software manufacturer offers customer assistance by telephone; this is handy when you've read help files yet still have questions.

Manual

Provides explanations of the screen capture software's features and gives instructions on how to use them.

FAQ

Most websites post a list of "Frequently Asked Questions" to address common customer concerns. This is the first place you should check when you need quick answers on your screen capture software.

Knowledge Base

A searchable database of information provided for technical support.

Tutorials

A step-by-step instruction guide to complete a task and explain difficult or detailed concepts.

User Forum

A web application that provides a place for screen-capture help and discussions to occur.

Download Updates

New versions or information available for the screen capture software, typically received though the manufacturer's website.

Online Form

An online request form, usually located on the manufacturer's website, for customer support or sales.

eMail Address

The software manufacturer offers customer assistance through email.

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