Skitching it up with Skitch

Anyone who frequents this blog with any regularity will probably figure out that I love Skitch. In fact, I’m a bit of a Skitch whore.

What is Skitch? I will answer this question in the only appropriate way – with a Skitch:

Skitch is one of the easiest ways to snap an image of whatever happens to be on your computer screen. Once things are set up, you just open the program, click the “snap” button, drag the mouse over what you want to photograph, and Skitch converts it into an image file. You don’t even have to drag the mouse; if you’ve got a window only partially showing that you’d like to snap, you can simply click on the bit that’s sticking out, and Skitch will snap the whole window as if it’s unobstructed. You can also use Exposé to reveal the proper window before snapping but after clicking the snap button, just to make sure the window you want is open.

Once the photograph is captured, Skitch uploads the image to a small personal storage space, with links to embed the image into a blog, spit out a direct URL, or produce a link that connect users directly to the hosting page. Most of the images in this blog have been Skitched. Others are uploaded directly to my WordPress hosting space, which is nice for smaller pictures that I nab off the Web.

Why is Skitch so cool? There are a number of reasons, and most stem from the program’s elimination of the royal pain-in-the-arse, multi step process normally required to capture a screen shot, resize it, and upload it to a server. I could say that Skitch is directly compatible with a number of instant messaging clients, so sending a screen image to your pals is a mere drag-and-drop affair. I could point to the drawing and editing tools included in the program.

OK, obviously Skitch can be used for things that are useful beyond drawing stick figures of aliens. But you get the idea!

I could even say that the program’s icon is super cute; so cute, in fact, that it may induce severe nausea.

Just know that Skitch is ridiculously easy to use. It’s stupid easy. It does one thing, and one thing only. And it does it extraordinarily well.

The only caveat is that Skitch is very much a beta product. I do not know if the developers intend to charge for its services once the program sees its official release. Truth be told, though, I’d be willing to pay a small fee for the convenience that it provides, and I have no reservations about supporting software developers who make innovative, compelling programs.

Currently, Skitch is only available for the Mac. I’d like to see a PC version, because this is a tool no computer user should go without.

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Tags: easy, editing, fun, image, innovative, Mac, OSX Leopard, screen capture, Skitch, software, stupid easy, utility

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