Welcome to the Jing Project - Phase II
Posted on Wednesday November 28, 2007 by Tony Dunckel
Greetings friends, family, colleagues, customers and newcomers too—welcome everyone. As some of you know we started the Jing Project earlier this year to get your feedback, input and ideas as we developed this new technology. The project’s goal is to create an incredibly simple, always-ready tool for capturing, enhancing, and sharing screenshots and screencasts in seconds.
So far over 250,000 people have downloaded Jing, and thousands have given us great feedback. As you know at TechSmith, we believe the best way to make truly great software is to have you and many others be part of the creative process. The motley crew you see in the photo above has been working like mad to include much of your feedback into the new version of Jing. As you can see, the snow has started to fly here in Michigan and we are now ready to hear what you think.
So, some of you may be asking – how can I use a screenshot, and a lot more of you are probably asking how can I use a screencast, or what is a screencast? Screenshots and screencasts are perfect visual elements for enhancing online conversations via email, instant messaging, social networks, blogs, community groups and forums. A screencast is a little movie you create on your Mac or PC, of what you see on your computer screen, and what you say, and then share online so others can watch. It’s the ideal way to explain things when words just won’t do, or you don’t feel like typing a novel trying to.
Let’s face it, whether it’s for our professional or personal lives, we all spend a ton of time online and much of that time is spent communicating with others, or trying our best to. With Jing we know you’ll be able to communicate more clearly, probably faster, and have a lot of fun in the process.
So go ahead, download Jing and inform, entertain, explain, educate, and even rant. Just be sure to tell us what you think, or how you’re using it. We’d love to hear your story!
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Comments (27)
I want you to know that Jing is the greatest tool I have used since Apple came out with Network Asst (now ARD). I have been looking for something like this for years! My only complaint is; like with ARD, it is going to make me fatter because I will be leaving my desk even more!
Thanks!
Posted by Mike Swanson | November 29, 2007 10:44 AM
Posted on November 29, 2007 10:44
Is it possible to record at one resolution and have it play back at another? The resolution of my monitor is 1280x960, but I would rather have it play back at 800x600 or in a smaller window. What's the best way to get this to happen?
Posted by Mark | November 29, 2007 1:33 PM
Posted on November 29, 2007 13:33
Keep the interface simple like it is. It's very intuitive and not bloated.
I work remotely 100% so Jing is essential for my day to day activities communicating with both my team and our clients.
A picture is worth a thousand words and it's much better to *show* a client what's going on instead of describing it in an email.
Also, I don't like that the colors change when you change the annotation tool. It's counter-intuitive.
Posted by Henry | November 29, 2007 11:27 PM
Posted on November 29, 2007 23:27
It is really aggravating to have the login window pop up every time I start the computer. After logging in once it would be nice not have the option of logging in or not. I would prefer to have to log in when I access the application
Posted by BRICH | November 30, 2007 10:55 AM
Posted on November 30, 2007 10:55
Could you make it on jing so they come out as mov file?
Posted by Glata | December 1, 2007 1:34 AM
Posted on December 1, 2007 01:34
As soon as Jing starts up after the installation, it says there was an error and needs to close. I read about how the new version was supposed to fix this problem. I am having the same problem. Any ideas?
Posted by Danielle | December 2, 2007 9:42 PM
Posted on December 2, 2007 21:42
Hello, nice site :)
Posted by Brin | December 3, 2007 1:03 PM
Posted on December 3, 2007 13:03
As with SnagIt and Camtasia, I cannot figure out how to record a video and have the area I am recording on my screen to come back the same way. I select the part of my screen that I want to record, but the actual recorded screen is only part of what I selected, so since it aggravated me, I simply uninstalled it.
Posted by B | December 3, 2007 1:31 PM
Posted on December 3, 2007 13:31
I just learned about JING. I am thrilled. But I kept wondering, Tech Smith, Tech Smith, why do I know that name?
AHHHHH, Tech Smith makes Snagit, my favorite Screen capture utility for those times when I work in Windows.
But being primarily a Mac-head, I use Snapz Pro.
PLEASE Tech Smith people, add this feature from Snagit:
The ability to capture an dialog box, area, panel, etc. but save it to TEXT!!! That is one of the coolest things I have when I work with your windows product and miss it on the mac.
Posted by Sandee Cohen | December 3, 2007 2:39 PM
Posted on December 3, 2007 14:39
Cool tool. I like its simplicity. I look forward to experimenting with it.
Posted by Nickolove | December 4, 2007 10:23 AM
Posted on December 4, 2007 10:23
Hi:
I am playing around with Jing and I cannot get the program off minimzed taskbar state to use the program. I could send a SnagIt Image, if you wish.
I do not have a hotkey set, yet.
I am trying to use the program to capture something and I am frustrated by lack of desktop shortcut. (I am using Windows 64)
Tom
Posted by Tom | December 4, 2007 11:43 AM
Posted on December 4, 2007 11:43
I'm really excited what the next phase of the Jing Project would be...
Posted by Web Development | December 4, 2007 10:02 PM
Posted on December 4, 2007 22:02
I'm really excited what is the next phase of the jing Project would be...
Posted by Web Development | December 4, 2007 10:03 PM
Posted on December 4, 2007 22:03
First, it's refreshing to see a developer picture with people in heavy coats instead of those warm sunny picures from Silicon Valley software companies!
Looks like a great program, but why limit the file size to 5 minutes of recorded video when creating the flash output file on my hard drive? Some tech reason for this? I would love to record one hour or longer web cast type videos from my screen!
Posted by Chicago Steve | December 5, 2007 4:26 PM
Posted on December 5, 2007 16:26
Oh and BTW, speaking of that great photo...please, please photoshop it! It's in severe need of white balance and brightness/contrast correction :-)
Posted by Chicago Steve | December 5, 2007 4:28 PM
Posted on December 5, 2007 16:28
Oh and it could use a bit of cropping also...OK, I'll stop with the picture already :-0
Posted by Chicago Steve | December 5, 2007 4:29 PM
Posted on December 5, 2007 16:29
Only one thing to say
http://tinyurl.com/ys5u9c
Posted by Tony | December 7, 2007 12:24 PM
Posted on December 7, 2007 12:24
Hi:
Great product....
Notice:
On invite page I would like to be able to title or note the subject of the video. Even though I may think it is "great" it maybe annoying to the recipient.
Can Jing remember my old email recipients?
It is annoying to go to Outlook....copy email address and then post it to invite.
Posted by Tom | December 8, 2007 7:46 AM
Posted on December 8, 2007 07:46
I have to say since Jing's introduction this software has helped me and I've introduced to many instructors that I work with and they just love it and they've used it in their lesson plans.
I've used Jing for many tech support calls showing users how to navigate Windows properly, how to use Microsoft Office and other software. I've sent out links to screenshots, screencasts through email and my blog. Thanks for making a quality product and keep up the good work.
Posted by Mike | December 8, 2007 11:25 AM
Posted on December 8, 2007 11:25
{{{Resubmitting because previous comment wasn't approved. If there's a reason for this please email me to resolve the issue! Thanks! Edit this out if you approve it...}}}
I have started using Jing on a daily basis to demonstrate some of my ideas, and it's a great communication tool that I am evangelizing to others:
http://hostilefork.com/2007/11/25/undo-single-user-event/
http://hostilefork.com/2007/11/25/lost-focus-placeholder/
Modest though these are, they represent a big change in how I've thought about sharing software infrastructure. Traditionally, programmers think they have to do this using *code* as the medium of exchange. Yet code might not be written in the right language, or somehow incompatible with what your audience is using! So piecing together a targeted screencast of the feature and talking about the methodology needed to implement it might ultimately be better. I've been having more success with this visual communication rather than handing over actual codebases (which is what I was trying before) so I thought I'd bring that to your attention.
Before Jing, I tried Snapz Pro--which is a nice OS/X tool that I almost bought. But my specific target of a flash-based web player made Jing a better choice, and also it was free! Still there are a lot of features in Snapz Pro which you could implement. For instance, I often wish to manually type a fixed size for the capture rectangle and then position the rectangle by dragging it to the right place. That is important. Also, I like to be able to send screen captures directly to the clipboard sometimes and paste it in a drawing program with no intermediate file (on a web server or otherwise), so a "share to clipboard" would be nice.
Yet the biggest thing that I'd like to see is for Jing to become an open source project. That would open a lot of doors to using GPL libraries for things like image and movie encodings (PNG only is a bit limiting...) Although I know you might not have been planning to give away Jing free forever, you could have a pledge drive (through Fundable.org ?) where rather than buying copies of the program, the Jing userbase would buy out the source?
This is what happened with The Blender Foundation, and I would consider it personally satisfying to see great tools like Jing doing the same thing. What do you think?
Posted by Hostile Fork | December 8, 2007 8:30 PM
Posted on December 8, 2007 20:30
Hi!
What a great tool! as many others I was looking for it for years!
I just installed it and tried with images but I will try videos also.
Thanks a lot for this and I will help you to translate to spanish if you need it.
Thanks
Posted by Juan | December 9, 2007 11:32 AM
Posted on December 9, 2007 11:32
What a great tool! I run a Social Network on Ning. It is for people dealing with a rare disease called Epidermolysis Bullosa. Many of the members have no idea how to use a social network so, I am creating a help center for the members. The Jing screencasts are PERFECT for teaching.
However, I have some questions. Since what I do is completely voluntary, I am excited that Ning and Jing are free. I am curious how long this project will last and how long this service will remain free.
I am worried that all the time I spent making screencasts will be in vain. Will my screencasts be unavailable to my members once the project is through and we have to pay for it?
I am willing to buy more space from Screencast should I need it but what about the use of Jing? I don't have the money to lay out for a program like this.
Either way, THANK YOU for such a great project!
Here is an example of what I did with your tool.
My first screencast!
Posted by Chris | December 10, 2007 7:01 PM
Posted on December 10, 2007 19:01
Oooops! I made a mistake on the last link above.
Here is My First Screencast
Posted by Chris | December 10, 2007 9:35 PM
Posted on December 10, 2007 21:35
hi,
this looks like a great tool.. How do I resize videos? I take a video and upload to screencast.com and it's huge
Posted by chris | December 12, 2007 8:54 PM
Posted on December 12, 2007 20:54
Would be fantastic if I could export to any format, and also host with any format. Having to use SWF is a big drawback for us in the Proof of Concept an sharing stage in house and out with customers.
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Posted by sex fantazi | January 24, 2008 1:01 PM
Posted on January 24, 2008 13:01
It is a great software, but is there a way we can save on the desktop as movie file that can be played back with Media Player and other movie software?
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2008 1:05 PM
Posted on January 25, 2008 13:05