Beyond Screen Capture

If you are looking to make your screencasts more personal by adding audio, then a simple online tool to use is Screenr.  Screenr is free to users 13 years or older.  No registration is necessary before beginning your first screencast.

At the home page click RECORD in the middle of the page or the yellow bar reading:  Launch screen recorder now!  When you click either of these options a small window pops up advising you that the page uses Java.  A search will be made to determine if you have Java on your computer.  If not, it can be downloaded for free from that page.

That page must remain open when you are using Screenr.  Within seconds of that page's loading a dotted outline appears on your computer monitor.  This is the frame that will capture the exact portion of the screen upon which you wish to  focus.  It can be resized by dragging any of the small eight squares located in the corners and the side centers.  It can be moved around on the page with mouse placement.

When you have the screen in place click the red record button in the lower left hand corner.  Next to the record button is a graph illustrating the volume level of your voice.  Further right is the size of your screen. The last option is to cancel. As the instructions indicate press DONE when your recording is completed; five minutes is the allotted time.

You are able to move from page to page within that particular screen range, all activity is shown, as you record.  When you are done you can publish this screencast by logging in using your Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn, or WindowsLive ID account.  To complete the ability to publish the site asks for your email address and a username.  As you type in your username a URL link is created.

The next screen asks you to fill in a small description of your screencast.  You can preview the video and audio, deleting it if necessary.  (I highly recommend writing down what you wish to say during the screencast before starting.)  At this time you can click on a publish button or another publish button which takes you to the application you used to login.

A variety of options are available at the next screen.   Front and center, play or share can be chosen.  When you click on share a URL link and an HTML embed code are given.  To the right of your screencast you can share this on Facebook or Twitter as well as getting the link and code information again.

Beneath that you can choose download an .MP4 file, publish the screencast to YouTube or delete it.  A Screenr bookmarklet can be dragged to your browser toolbar for ease of use.  A confirmation email was sent to your box when you entered in that information.  After confirmation you can further comment on your screencast.



The benefit of using this application for me was not having to download any other software.  It is entirely web-based.  Screenr is going into my toolbox.