http://www.jingproject.com/

It seems a bit “beta” but hopefully they’ll ramp up the features. The interface is clean and easy for casual users. Personally I’m still hoping for a real Camtasia Studio screencasting solution on Mac, but this might be good for casual use. It only seems to save video in SWF format though, which I don’t think you can upload to YouTube…

I have evolved the following technique for making screencasts using Camtasia Studio:

Come up with the general walkthrough of what you’re trying to show. Don’t worry too much about what you’re going to say yet. Run through it once or twice for practice.

Start recording. I don’t use the audio from this recording so just mumble along with what you’re doing. If you screw up don’t worry, just keep recording and go back to an earlier point to start again. Between each procedure it helps if you place the mouse in an open position and pause for a few seconds – this will give you an edit point without the mouse wandering around. Keep all your mouse movements very calculated.

Edit the video: determine which parts of the video you’re going to use. Before chopping anything up, write your script in a text editor and keep it open next to the video (it’s helpful if you have dual monitors). Practice each part on the video, then edit the video to remove all the extra junk. Try to leave a little extra space so you have wiggle room for the voice narration.

Start recording your voice narration. I do this in small snippets: save each part in a file (1.wav, 2.wav) then add it to the audio track and align it with the video. If I decide to re-record a part, I name it 1b.wav because Camtasia doesn’t like it when you try to re-import the same filename .

After the whole thing is working I export the audio as a single wav, then tweak it using Audacity (as described in a NewsForge article), then bring it back into Camtasia.

The only disadvantage to this technique is that the screencast might appear too “scripted” and not spontaneous enough, but for what I’m doing I was okay with that.

The second episode of “You’re Killing Me Here!” (usability and design screencast series) discusses various uses of the page title (HTML TITLE element): in particular how you can use it to communicate with users of your web application.

View the Screencast (2.5 minutes)

Here’s a new screencast:

Screencast: JavaScript Memory Leaks in the Windows IE Browser

This screencast by Patrick Fitzgerald of BarelyFitz Designs discusses how he diagnosed and fixed a memory leak in a JavaScript library. It’s a very simplified example, and the same techniques probably can’t be used for more complex web applications, but it might shed some light on how these memory leaks occur.

Introducing “You’re Killing Me Here!” a series of screencasts discussing web site and web application design, accessibility, and usability from the perspective of a power-user.

The first episode discusses “type ahead find” in the Firefox browser and the design implications that come along with it.

View the Screencast

Play the Video

I don’t have much of a voice for these types of things – I need to find some kind of microphone modulator to give me that Barry White effect.

It’s pretty easy to use software, I was able to whip up a Flash screencast demo in no time at all with callouts and everything. Just be thankful that I only have version 2, because in version 3 they added webcam support. How about it Camtasia people, slide me a copy of version 3 so the world can see my beautiful mug.

Regarding the slideshow wizard – it still works pretty well, but could use an update to make it more usable.