Edging around the problem
When I'm taking screenshots, it always takes me a few moments to figure out how to get a solid white background for my desktop. The first time it took me forever, which may or not mean much as I couldn't for the life of me remember how to change the system time in OS X off of a 24 hour clock.
From the screenshot, it should be obvious that there is a solid white background, and even more obvious that some basic usability testing in OS X isn't really getting done, as if you asked someone to select a white background while watching them you should see them pause and get confused, and realize these thumbnails might need an edge of some sort.
Edges aren't just a problem there, as others have pointed out... unless it's a metal app, which generally has the fattest of fat edges, an edge in OS X is a drop shadow. Shadows just make for lousy edges... as something like this terminal screenshot shows to good effect.
It's not the only time I've had the problem. I'm wondering if Apple would fix this at this point, due to how entrenched their aqua pretty-as-a-picture shadow thing is in their marketing. Argh.
Posted by drunkenbatmanJanuary 21, 2005, at 06:25 PM
Comments (17)
Posted by: Adrian at January 21, 2005 07:31 PM
If you need the white desktop background while taking a screenshot of a region of your screen like you did while capturing the Terminal windows I just slide a Finder window underneath the objects that I want to take a picture of. Resizing the Finder window
will also give you a white background underneath. Alternatively you could do it with Safari opening a blank page.
In the case of regional screenshot this certainly beats setting the whole desktop to white. Anybody else missing the black color in the solid colors swatches of the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane?
Posted by: Rory at January 21, 2005 08:22 PM
I usually use empty Finder windows too, it's less hassle than changing the background. I discovered the white background colour purely by accident, I bet they've actually forgotten it's there themselves :P
Posted by: rentzsch at January 21, 2005 10:42 PM
I got sick of having to cover my desktop of confidential/incriminating information during demos and screenshots, so I wrote this app a couple of weeks ago:
http://rentzsch.com/share/whiteout.zip (32K)
Yeah, I know the name conflicts with the other whiteout that strips metal. I'm lame enough that I don't care.
Posted by: Twist at January 22, 2005 02:37 AM
One of the things I miss the most from Mac OS 9 is being able to grab a window and move it in a place other than the title bar. The metal thing is played-out almost as much as the whole iWhatever thing but at least we can move windows around easier with the metal ones.
Posted by: Tom at January 22, 2005 05:23 AM
I use a lot of terminals, and yes, they used to look like that picture. I've since set the background to be a much lighter shade, it's basicaly dark grey. A terminal on it's own still looks like white on black, which I like, but they're light enough that the shadows give them distinct borders when placed on top of each other. Looks much better.
Posted by: ssp at January 22, 2005 10:46 AM
The white background thing is really evil... strangely I've never had a problem finding it. Really wonder why.
But I found that Fast User Switching is very good for making screenshots. That way you can always have the right background and standard settings around.
I don't see what the problem with the clock is. Changing the 24h setting is three mouse clicks away. Admittedly, it could be two, but at least it's not hard to find. (I'm not saying this software is perfect, in fact I find it rather buggy in some sense, but finding the relevant checkbox isn't hard.)
Posted by: Eddie Hargreaves at January 22, 2005 01:29 PM
Why do you need a white background for screenshots? Why not just use Panther's camera mode to take shots of only the necessary window? Command-Shift-4, then press the space bar.
Posted by: drunkenbatman at January 22, 2005 09:36 PM
Heh, I'd heard of the Finder window thing before -- but it is almost impossible to get the Finder to stay a certain size as it is. I remember trying it, then switching back to the finder later in the day, and finding a window as big as my screen. I was unamused.
Rentzsch, as usual, is a godsend but whose name I can never spell without copying and pasting.
Posted by: chad at January 23, 2005 02:08 PM
there is a program I LOVE that gives the whole window shade (double clicking the top shrinks it) whole new levels... and gets rid of, or changes, shadows.
for example
you can visit them at
http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/wsx/
Posted by: chad at January 23, 2005 02:13 PM
ok... so no html... I get it.
http://photos3.flickr.com/3707942_e5ecb83fd5.jpg
Posted by: Jeff Harrell at January 24, 2005 12:02 AM
Maybe I'm just out in the weeds here, but it seems to me that anybody who uses light type on a black background deserves what he gets.
Posted by: Brock at January 24, 2005 01:44 AM
I've noticed this too but not from terminal windows. I have a dark background for my desktop and dealing with dark images makes everything blur together. In Photoshop I just click and have a grey background but it makes it difficult to do any drag and drop. What is funny is when I go to a dark website. It can be hard to tell where the window ends!
Posted by: drunkenbatman at January 24, 2005 02:30 AM
Regarding the 24 hour clock, you have a good point. It was moved in 10.3 I believe, to where it is now. In 10.2 going back, it was under the 'international' preference pane. When you coupled it with a bug that caused OS X to revert to the 24 hour setting at random times, it really tripped me out.
Posted by: Diggory Laycock at January 24, 2005 12:44 PM
I open a new Text Edit document - resize it to fit almost the entire screen - then take the shot.
Then I can just close the TE window - and I'm off again.
Posted by: Diggory Laycock at January 24, 2005 12:45 PM
arggh - forgot to mention the important step -move the TE window behind the windows you want in the shot.
Interesting…and a good point. I wonder if it'll be fixed in 10.4…