Jeff’s Brain Dump

Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.

AutoPan in Camtasia Screencasts considered Harmful

Posted by Jeff July 06, 2006

AutoPan is a feature in Camtasia where the mouse stays centered on the screen as it moves around the screen. This movie uses autopan to demonstrate SEOBook’s SEO Firefox Extension. The content of the movie is good, but the autopan makes me nauseous. Autopan also hurts file compression because there is more movement.

Best tip for screencasts: reduce the screen size (and color depth) to the smallest possible, turn off antialiasing/Cleartype, and don’t use autopan.

Update: Here’s another one.

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2 Responses to “AutoPan in Camtasia Screencasts considered Harmful”

Comments

  1. UltraBob Dec 20 2007 / 10pm

    ishowu for the mac has an autopan feature, but includes a setting to prevent the capture area from following the mouse too quickly. This makes a big difference in at least the nausea part of the equation.

Blog posts on this article

  1. A tale of two Screencasts: How to suck less at Screencasting at Jeff’s Brain Dump Dec 13 2007 / 12pm

    […] Hotwire is presented in what Yahtzee has dubbed TeenyWeenyEyestrainoVision. Youtube’s stingy real estate obliterates detail. Add AutoPanning and Beryl fx for added wooziness. Reinteract is clean and sharp. No other distracting windows or desktop. Video is full size; details are preserved. The entire screencast takes place in one window. Overall: clean, simple, focused. […]

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