SCREENSTEPS SITE LAYOUT PAGES FOR MAC

This is doubly true for Mac software, which I’ve found is generally more polished and more usable than Windows software. I have very high expectations for the software I use. I’m not an average user, I’m a power user.

My issues are just with certain aspects of the implementation.īefore I go on to explain my frustrations, I just want to give some background. There can be no doubt about the fact that the developers put a lot of hard work and deep thought into the design of ScreenSteps. I’m using the OS X edition of ScreenSteps Standard which retails for $39.95.Ĭlearly the design of this app has been well thought out, and it’s built around a fundamentally sound workflow.

SCREENSTEPS SITE LAYOUT PAGES MAC OS X

I should also say that there are two versions of ScreenSteps, a pro version and a standard version, and that both versions are available on both Mac OS X and Windows. You can add text, arrows, boxes, ovals, and sequence numbers to the screen-shots to help illustrate your point. Each step has a title, an optional screen-shot, and an optional textual description. A lesson is nothing more than a sequence of steps. Steps are a very important part of ScreenSteps’ architecture. All you have to do now is explain these steps by adding annotations to your images, and textual descriptions to the steps. Once you’re done taking the screen-shots you go back to the main ScreenSteps interface where you’ll find that a “step” has been created in your document for each of the screen-shots you took. This is a great workflow, and to facilitate it ScreenSteps provides a built-in screen-shot utility in the form of a small floating Window that’s always available yet doesn’t get in your way. The idea is that you don’t interrupt the task you’re documenting by constantly switching context between doing the task and documenting it. Do what ever it is you want to document, taking screen-shots as you work, then, after you’re done, annotate and describe those screen-shots.

The interface is designed around a very sensible work-flow.

SCREENSTEPS SITE LAYOUT PAGES HOW TO

If you need to write a document to describe how to do something on your computer, ScreenSteps aims to be the answer. It’s software designed for writing computer manuals, lessons, and tutorials. I want to love it, but I can’t – at least not this version.īefore we go any further I should probably explain what ScreenSteps is. I hope you can see why I’m so conflicted about this app. However, it can’t be denied that the app works, which is obviously very important. Ultimately, what’s missing is some fit and polish. Some parts of the app suffer from poor usability in my opinion, and another lacks what I consider to be very basic features. However, I found a few aspects of the interface exceptionally frustrating.

Without a shadow of a doubt their idea is sound, as is their basic architecture. The short version is that I’m very conflicted about this app.

I held off on writing this review for a few days to get a bit more experience with the app, and to give myself some time to decide how best to phrase my issues so they don’t come across as being overly negatively. If you follow me on Twitter you’ll have seen me vent my frustrations with ScreenSteps earlier this week.

Screensteps site layout pages