Understanding the Concepts of Modern Screenshots

A screenshot, or screen capture, lets you show friends or colleagues what is on your monitor even when they are not in the same room. You can also use a capture to report a problem with a website or a piece of software, or to show off an achievement in a game.

From keyboard to clipboard

The traditional method is to press a key or a combination of keys, save the data to your clipboard, open a graphics program, and paste it in. From there you can resize the image and save it to your computer. Some instant messaging programs make the process even easier by letting you paste clipboard data straight into a chat window.

Sharing the result

Online image hosting services are common, and some offer more than a place to store a file. A few let you paste content directly into a browser window. Others provide a tool that grabs and uploads your screenshot for you. These services often return a web address you can send to friends, and some generate HTML or forum code for displaying the image on other websites.

The result is a short path from the screen to a shareable file, without the need for a separate editing program.