Scrolling Window Capture in Firefox using Solid Capture

Solid Capture Screen Capture has a wonderful feature called Scrolling Window Capture. It allows you to capture an entire web page as a single image. Unfortunately, this feature is only available in Internet Explorer and not Firefox.

So what are our customers who prefer using Firefox over IE left to do (besides use IE)? One good workaround we've found is using IE Tab to view Internet Explorer inside of a tab in Firefox. You can then use Solid Capture to take a screen shot of the IE tab in Firefox. When you're done taking the screen shot you can change the tab back to Firefox and keep working.

At the time of this writing the latest version of the add-on that works with Firefox 2 is 1.3.3.20070528 (try saying that five times fast). You can download it from here.

The product is a little short on instructions, but it isn't hard to use. When you're at a page that you want to view in IE, click the IE Tab button on your toolbar to switch to IE. When you want to switch the tab back, click the IE Tab button again.


(The IE Tab button in Firefox)

It may install itself automatically for people, but when we tested it we didn't see any extra buttons appear on our navigation toolbar like it does in the above image.

We were able to add it by going into Firefox | View | Toolbars | Customize. Click and drag the IE Tab button to your toolbar of choice to place the button. You can click the IE Tab button whenever you need to open a page in Firefox in Internet Explorer.

Capturing Screen Shots of Video using VLC Media Player

Occasionally customers will contact us asking how to take screen shots from moments in their favorite DVDs.

Although Solid Capture Screen Capture is very good for capturing screen shots of most Windows applications, one thing it doesn't do well is capture still images of video. This is due to the fact that it does not capture DirectX output.

We've found that using VLC media player works well for this application. Instructions on how to take screen shots of video in the program can be found here.

Disable Video Ads in Windows Live Messenger

Do you use Windows Live Messenger? You may have noticed that the application displays videos at the bottom of its main window:



Although some people find value in video ads, other people find them distracting.

You can disable the video and make sure that it only displays static picture ads quite easily. To do so, go into Show Menu | Tools | Options:



In the window that appears, go into General | Video Carousel | Uncheck "Show Video Carousel" and click OK:


(Images created with Solid Capture Screen Capture)

The ads at the bottom of Windows Live Messenger will now be static pictures instead of video.

Visualizing Tasks using Solid Capture and Google Image Search

Google offers many different search tools, and one of our favorites is Google Image Search (http://images.google.com). This search tool is designed to find images across the Internet.

This can be useful for visualizing tasks at work. For example, if you are trying to decide what style of desk you want for your new office, you can use Google Image Search to find examples of them. Once you've found some relevant images, you can use Solid Capture Screen Capture software to easily reuse them.

Using Google Image Search more Effectively.

In a nutshell, Google Image Search displays a list of images from the Internet based on what you put into the search engine. Search for "desk" and you'll find all of the images related to the word desk.

This can be useful, but what about when you want to search for images on a particular site? (in our example, ikea.com comes to mind) In your search, add "site:site_you_are_searching.com" and you'll only get images from that one site.

Continuing with our example, the search will look like this:



(click here to see the search in action)

The page that appears will have many small thumbnail versions of the images that Google found. You can click the images to see them in context of the website they're in (and in full size). In many cases you just need the smaller version to get your point across.

Using Solid Capture to Reuse the Images.

Once you're looking at an image that you want to use, open Solid Capture and click the Rectangle Capture button:



Click and drag over the image (or images, or part of an image) that you wish to capture, and the capture will be saved inside Solid Capture.

You can drag these files from Solid Capture into a folder, or copy and paste them into an e-mail (or a Word DOC, or whatever application you're working with that can use images). To complete the example, an e-mail with some of the images we captured might look like this:



Finally, make sure to follow all copyright laws when using Solid Capture (or any other computer program for that matter).

Using Google Maps and Solid Capture to Create Directions

Google Maps is a powerful tool for getting directions. You can map out a route, change it as needed and quickly print it out for the road. In addition, you can also use it to e-mail directions to your friends and colleagues.

You can also use Solid Capture in conjunction with Google Maps to capture all or part of a route for use in a document or an e-mail.

Creating Directions in Google Maps.

First, go to http://maps.google.com.

In the window that appears click "Get directions". Type in the starting address in the Start address field and type in the destination address into the other field. Click "Get Directions" and you'll see your route:


(Click image for full size view)


(The first route from Google Maps)

The default route isn't always the best way to go, especially if traffic or construction is in the way. If you want to change your route, just click and drag the purple line to alter it:


(Moving the route)


(The new route)

You can do this multiple times as needed:


(The scenic route)

Taking a Screen Capture of the Map.

You can use Solid Capture screen capture to turn this map into an image you can e-mail (or paste into a Word DOC or whatever else strikes your fancy).

In Solid Capture, click the Rectangle Capture button and then click and drag over the area you wish to capture. Your result should look similar to this:


(Solid Capture, click image for full size view)

This screen capture may be pasted directly into an e-mail, or dragged into Microsoft Outlook as an attachment.

A screen capture is useful, but you may also need a link to the map itself. In Google Maps, click "Link to this page". The URL that will be created can be pasted wherever you need it:


After pasting the link to Google Maps and your screen capture into an e-mail your result might look like this:


(Click image for full size view)

Free Software for Students and Teachers: Solid Capture

We're giving away Solid Capture - FREE - to students and educators. What's the catch? Just this - download and unlock our software using an e-mail address from an educational institution. Then it's yours to use or recommend to a friend.


(Click Here to Download)

Free Software: Helping Education and Companies

We at Solid Documents are taking a small step to help cut the burden of rising education costs by making software free to students and their instructors. Solid Capture is very useful to students who need to use screen shots and browser captures to extract information or illustrate reports.

Companies also benefit in many ways. All companies rely upon well-educated employees and customers who can understand and use technology, so it benefits everyone to support students in their endeavors to receive the highest quality technology education possible.

For a limited time, we are offering Solid Capture free to any e-mail address that ends in an educational institution extension (.edu, .k12, ac.uk, .sch.uk, etc). Each e-mail address is entitled to download one copy of the program, free of charge. If you have such an e-mail address (or know someone who does), please forward this post to them.

Restrictions: the license is strictly for non-commercial use, is non-transferable, and applies to the current release only. Other than that, students and educators are free to use the software for whatever purposes they need.

We hope students and teachers will enjoy this offer and look forward to hearing how Solid Capture is being used in educational institutions throughout the world!