Tips and Tricks Tuesday

Taking full webpage screenshots

While all computers and devices have options to take screenshots, those screenshots are limited to whatever is viewable. Sometimes you want to capture the full page of a website. Chrome/Edge can do this with an extension. Firefox has the feature built in.

To get started with Chrome or Edge, install the Page Screenshot extension and pin it to the toolbar. There are a couple of options you can set by right-clicking on the icon in the toolbar, but the defaults are fine. To use the extension, navigate to the website and click the icon. The page will scroll as the extension captures everything. When finished, you'll be asked where to save.

It's even easier on Firefox. Right-click somewhere on the page and select Take Screenshot. As you mouse over the page, Firefox will automatically highlight parts of the page, but you can also click and drag to select. In the upper right there are two buttons. Save Full Page will scroll and capture the page, while Save Visible will capture the currently visible portion.

After the capture, Firefox will show you your screenshot, and from there you can copy it to the clipboard or save it as an image.

Using the built in screen magnifier when presenting

Microsoft Windows and macOS both have a built-in screen magnifier as a part of their accessibility features. Normally it’s used for people with vision impairments, but it also can come in handy when presenting to a class.

Once turned on, you can use a keyboard shortcut in combination with your mouse or trackpad to zoom in and out at will. This allows you to zoom in on content for your class, minimizing distractions while also giving your students a better view of the screen.

Windows Screen Magnifier - To turn on the screen magnifier, hold down {Windows}{+}. The screen will zoom in, with the magnified portion of the screen following your mouse cursor. To zoom in more, press {Windows}{=} and to zoom out use {Windows}{-}. If you have a mouse, you can hold down {Control}{Alt} and scroll the mouse wheel, however, I couldn’t get the scroll to work reliably with the scroll gesture on a trackpad.

macOS Screen Magnifier - Open up System Settings, click on Accessibility ? Zoom. Turn on Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom. Now when you hold down {Control} and scroll up or down with the trackpad (two fingers on the trackpad) or with the mouse scroll wheel, the screen will zoom in or out.

ChromeOS - Head on over to Settings and Accessibility. Turn on Full-screen magnifier and the screen will zoom. You can zoom in and out with {Control}{Alt} and two-finger scroll on the trackpad, or use {Control}{Alt}{Brightness Up}/{Brightness Down} to zoom with the keyboard.

You can leave magnification turned on for macOS and ChromeOS and you won’t even notice it’s there. Windows isn’t as nice, so you’ll probably turn it on or off when you need it or not.

There are some settings that control how the mouse pointer and keyboard acts while zooming. You can see those features in your Control Panel/System Settings/Settings.

Projection issue

There is one caveat when using the screen magnifier to present. If you are using one of the wireless technologies to share your screen, the magnification may not get sent through to the display. You’ll want to practice first to make sure it does what you want it to do.