CASL Screenshot Standards
Scope: This document covers capturing and annotating screenshots in SnagIt. What happens once an image is in a KB article — alt text, file naming, the 600px width cap, the Image Border style, placement and alignment — lives in the KB Style Guide ("Images and Screenshots"). One rule, one home; don't duplicate those here or the two documents drift apart.
Part 1: SnagIt Setup
Verify before publishing: The exact Tool Properties values below are transcribed from the earlier screenshot-standards draft, which contained internal conflicts (flagged in place). Confirm each against a live SnagIt install before treating them as final.
Capture Settings
Open the SnagIt Capture tool and set the following. Once configured, save them as a Preset so you don't reset them each time.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Selection | Region |
| Effects | None |
| Share | None |
| Preview in Editor | On |
| Copy to Clipboard | On |
| Capture Cursor | Off |
| Time Delay | Off |
Editor Tool Properties
Configure each annotation tool once in the SnagIt Editor. These standardize how every annotation looks across the KB.
Callouts
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Font | Open Sans |
| Font size | 14 pt |
| Font color | #333333 |
| Style | Bold (Italic and Underline off) |
| Alignment | Center horizontally and vertically |
| Outline size | 4 |
| Outline color | #FF0000 |
| Fill (inside the bubble) | #FFFFFF |
| Padding | 9 |
| Opacity | 100 |
| Line style | Solid |
| Shaded | Unchecked |
| Shadow | On, bottom center |
| Shadow: color / angle / distance / opacity / blur | #333333 / 180 / 4 / 50 / 2 |
Decide — font conflict: The callout spec says Open Sans, but the CETL Theme screen in the source draft shows Verdana. Pick one font for all annotations and make both match. Recommendation: Open Sans (it's the value on the detailed callout screen; the theme screen looks like a stray default), but this is your brand call.
Decide — padding: Source shows padding 9 here but other tool screens imply 5. I used 9. Confirm which is right.
Arrows
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Color | #FF0000 |
| Width | 7 |
| Opacity | 100 |
| Start size | 3 |
| End size | 3 |
| Arrow-end style | Triangular tip, rounded end |
| Bezier curve | Unchecked |
| Shadow | On, bottom center |
| Shadow: color / angle / distance / opacity / blur | #333333 / 180 / 4 / 50 / 2 |
Rounded Rectangle
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Fill | None |
| Outline color | #FF0000 |
| Thickness | 4 |
| Line style | Solid |
| Opacity | 100 |
| Shadow | On, bottom center |
| Shadow: color / angle / distance / opacity / blur | #333333 / 180 / 4 / 50 / 2 |
Blur
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Blur |
| Intensity | 25 |
Fill
Use the Fill tool only when a callout extends past the capture edge (see Part 2).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Fill color | #E3E3E3 |
| Opacity | 100 |
| Tolerance | 10 |
Teardrop Annotations (Step Tool)
- Use the teardrop-shaped annotation with capital letters, not numbers.
- Resize teardrops to fit the screenshot, but keep the size uniform across the whole article.
- Document each teardrop's meaning in a list underneath the screenshot.
Optional — save a Theme: SnagIt can bundle color, shadow, and font into a reusable Theme (Quick Style). Building a "CETL Theme" once means authors don't hand-set every value. Treat it as a convenience layer on top of the settings above, not a replacement for documenting them — if the theme and this document ever disagree, this document wins.
Part 2: Screenshot Usage
Capturing
- Zoom to 100% in the browser before capturing.
- Use default system colors — no dark mode in screenshots.
- Capture only the region you need. Don't grab a whole window unless it is the whole point (an error dialog or small popup). Leave enough surrounding context to orient the reader to where the element lives on the page.
- Don't capture the mouse pointer (Capture Cursor is Off for this reason).
- Don't apply a frame or shadow to the capture in SnagIt. The frame is applied later, in the KB editor, via the theme's Image Border style.
Decide — frame: The source draft gave three conflicting frame specs ("4 px Groove," "2 px Solid," "1 px"). I resolved this in favor of the draft's own "Frames of Captures" rule: no frame in SnagIt; the border comes from the KB Style Guide's Image Border style. That removes the conflict and keeps one source of truth for borders. Confirm you're happy retiring the loose px values.
When to Use Each Annotation
| Tool | Use it to… | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Arrow | Point to one specific element (a button, a field) | Point clearly at the exact target; no ambiguity. |
| Rounded rectangle | Draw attention to an area or group of fields without pointing at one thing | Big enough to frame the area, not so big it covers other detail. |
| Callout | Add a short label or note on the screenshot | Use sparingly, concise wording, don't cover important content. If a callout runs past the capture edge, extend the background with the Fill tool (#E3E3E3). |
| Teardrop annotation | Label multiple points that each need explanation | Use letters; explain each one in a list below the image, not in long callouts crowding the shot. |
| Blur | Hide sensitive information | Mandatory, not optional — see below. |
What to Blur (Required)
Blur anything that exposes a real person or a security detail:
- Personal data — names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, any PII.
- Confidential or proprietary information.
- Anything that could compromise privacy or security — usernames, passwords, other login credentials.
Use sample or placeholder data where you can, so there's nothing to blur in the first place.
Before It Goes in the Article
Capture and annotation are done. Everything after this — saving as .png, naming the file, the 600px width cap, applying the Image Border, alignment, and alt text — follows the KB Style Guide ("Images and Screenshots"). Don't re-derive those rules here.
Open Questions
These were unresolved author notes in the original draft. They're listed here so they don't get lost, but they are not standards yet.
- Maximum file size. The source said "under 125 MB" (twice) — almost certainly a typo, since 125 MB is enormous for a PNG screenshot. Set a realistic cap (a few hundred KB is plenty for a 600px screenshot; even a 1–2 MB ceiling is generous). I did not carry "125 MB" forward as if it were real.
- Shared attachment folder. The source asked whether to create a shared attachment folder, what to name it, and how it works. Current practice is drag-and-drop into the article, which auto-creates a per-article attachment folder. Decide whether a shared image library is wanted or whether per-article attachments stay the norm.
- Instructure/Canvas screenshot approach vs. alt text. The source flagged a TechSmith/Instructure method and asked how it interacts with alt text. Unresolved, and likely moot since the alt-text rule already lives in the Style Guide.
- Documenting steps drawn on a screenshot. Listed as a to-do in the source. The teardrop convention above partly answers this; decide whether you want a fuller worked example.