Create Recording

A good Instruction starts with a good recording. A few best practices to create a good recording:

Common resolution

Use a common resolution like 1920x1080, 1536x864, 1440x900 or1366x768. With these resolutions, the reader of the Instruction will see readable images with a small size. A smaller, larger or other resolution might result in images with:

• too low quality making an image unreadable
• large image size causing a higher download footprint
• unreadable images due to resizing while showing the image to the reader
• odd images or layout when the width / height factor is different between the editor and reader

Recording script

Prepare a recording script, so a recording does not need to be takes twice or even often. Some things to think about

• Actions need to be taken from start to end
• Data used in input fields
• Records which can be used in the application
• Which screen is used to start

‍Primary display

Only the primary screen is recorded, make sure the application is shown on the primary screen and all actions needed for the recording are preformed on the primary screen

Language settings

Make sure the application being recorded is shown in the same language the Instruction will is written in. For a user it's confusing when the language in the images is different from the language in titles, annotations, etc.

Clean desktop

If the desktop will be recorded, make sure it's clean from personal files and the background is not a personal picture or any other high quality picture. This decreases the risk of sharing personal information and also keeps the image size low

Close unused application

Any active information might show a pop-up while making a recording. In most cases, this does interfere the recording because the pop-up overlays the recorded application and mostly contains information unrelated to the Instruction being made.

Correct start screen

When the recording is started, SelfGuide is minimized and the screen beneath SelfGuide is shown. Make sure this screen is the screen needed for the first step in the recording.