Re: Printing process for good quality screen shots

[Glen Accardo <glen -at- SOFTINT -dot- COM>]

> I am putting together a manual with a lot of screenshots of Windows (and
> OS/2) windows, and was wondering how to get it printed with good quality
> screen shots. Up to now we have just produced masters using a laser

Before you try some esoteric printing process, try fiddling with your
graphics.  Until you get pretty high resolution and really high quality
reproduction, "average" screen shots just print like caca.

1.  Try to use as few colors as possible.  If you are just capturing dialogs,
    four colors is plenty to get good contrast and 3-d apearance.  If you
    are capturing complex graphics, go with higher quality printing.

2.  Black text on white backgrounds is almost mandatory.  In any event,
    dark text and light backgrounds.

3.  The colors don't have to look good on screen, just on paper.  You'll be
    amazed how yellow buttons with blue borders look when printed.  Of course,
    you'll have to experiment, but you should be able to find a scheme using
    only primary colors.

4.  Consider changing the image.  I once worked for a company which produced
    process control software.  The console screens used gazillions of colors.
    Since the colors didn't print well, I just made new monochrome ones.
    To accomplish this nowadays, you are probably better off just using
    some kind of paint program to do the transformation for you.

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glen accardo                         glen -at- softint -dot- com
Software Interfaces, Inc.            (713) 492-0707
Houston, TX 77084

Did the Corinthians ever write back?