Six Snappy Snap Apps for Mac
After much debating about purchasing the recent MacHeist 3 Bundle I broke down in the last 30 minutes of the promotion to order the bundle of software advertised as 14 Mac apps worth around $500 for $49. To be honest I didn't know much about MacHeist or many of the apps they were promoting but the thought of trying out Espresso among the mix of apps appealed greatly. To my delight, it wasn't Espresso that captivated me. Instead, an unassuming screen capturing utility called LittleSnapper caused me to forget the other 13 applications in the set.
There's also been a fair amount of buzz about Skitch lately. The combo of the two got me thinking about what else might be out there for capturing, editing, saving and sharing images. At the urging of Peyton Crump, our fearless Design Director from our Durham, NC office, I took to task comparing the two apps. Soon enough, I realized a comparison among a wider breadth of apps might be useful. Thus, this post was born, a comparison of six screen capturing utilities. From a bare minimum of features to some truly groundbreaking ones, these tools are listed by order of complexity (features not ease of use): Screengrab!, Paparazzi!, Web Snapper, Skitch, LittleSnapper, and Evernote
Please note this less of a comprehensive review of the products than it is a glance at some useful aspects of each.
Screengrab!
Copy/paste full page screen grabs with ease. http://screengrab.org/
I often revert to the simple keyboard shortcut shift+command+control+4 to activate the crosshairs built right into the Mac OS to copy screen selections directly to the clipboard. This is fine until I need a full screen capture of a web page without having to splice it together in Photoshop. That's where Screengrab! comes in. Its really nothing more that a screen grabbing utility for web pages but its power is in its ability to offer multiple ways to capture snaps including a full screen option. To my knowledge it is only available as a Firefox add-on.
- Editing/Notation: no
- Public Sharing: no
- Personalization/Cataloging: no
- Full Web Page Snaps: yes
- iSight Integration: no
- Companion iPhone App: no
- Browser Plugin Available: Screengrab! is a Firefox Add-on
- Cost: FREE, donations encouraged
Paparazzi!
Type a URL and click a button for full page snaps. http://derailer.org/paparazzi/
Unlike Screengrab!, Paparazzi! is not dependent on the Firefox browser. In fact, all you have to do in this stand-alone utility is type in a URL and it will load in the full web page for capture. Toggle the cut dimensions for custom-size images and save to your place of choice. Saving screen shots is its main function thus it has a limited feature set. Dragging a URL to the app is also a handy way to activate Paparazzi!
- Editing/Notation: no
- Public Sharing: no
- Personalization/Cataloging: no
- Full Web Page Snaps: yes
- iSight Integration: no
- Companion iPhone App: no
- Browser Plugin Available: no, standalone utility
- Cost: FREE, donations encouraged
Web Snapper
Export multiple pages to PDF with links included. http://www.tastyapps.com/
Web Snapper is where things start to get interesting. Like Paparazzi! simply drag a web page to the app or use the handy Safari plugin to capture pages and load them in the stand-alone utility. The magic of Web Snapper lies in its ability to bundle multiple web pages and bind them together with scalable vector graphics via PDF. What is even more magical is that the page links are automatically embedded into the PDF.
- Editing/Notation: no
- Public Sharing: no
- Personalization/Cataloging: no
- Full Web Page Snaps: yes
- iSight Integration: no
- Companion iPhone App: no
- Browser Plugin Available: yes, Safari
- Cost: $15 or 5 day FREE trial
Skitch
Quick and easy way to snap, add notation and share. http://skitch.com/
With Skitch, things really start to get interesting. The biggest downer about Skitch is that it doesn't capture full web pages. That's a small thing to ask for considering it does so much else. The main reason I would use Skitch would be to add quick annotation to screen grabs for sharing. Pat Reagan wrote a couple of great posts about how to sync your Skitches with TextMate for easy blog posting. I used his instructions to write this post. What's more, Skitch offers public sharing of images through Skitch.com, Flickr, MobileMe or FTP and the iSight integration can be very useful for capturing whiteboard notes when you don't have a camera handy.
- Editing/Notation: yes
- Public Sharing: yes, Skitch.com, Flickr, MobileMe, & FTP/SFTP
- Personalization/Cataloging: yes, integrates with iPhoto
- Full Web Page Snaps: no
- iSight Integration: yes
- Companion iPhone App: no, though you can email from iPhone to Skitch.com or Twitter
- Browser Plugin Available: no, but menu bar and keyboard shortcuts are available
- Cost: FREE
LittleSnapper
DOM-friendly snapping with built-in browser. http://www.realmacsoftware.com/littlesnapper/
LittleSnapper is the main inspiration for this post. I started using it as a way to catalog inspirational web sites according to my own personal likes. Like Skitch, I can hook it directly with my Flickr account for easy sharing and to post to our Viget Inspiration Group. LittleSnapper also hooks directly to QuickSnapper.com, their community web site for sharing screen shots. That is hardly all, this powerful app does so much more. It has a built-in browser for DOM friendly snapping and its tagging features allow for easy creation of smart collections. Annotate with elegant controls and use a blur filter if you want to obscure personal information. It helps that this application is as gorgeous as it is easy-to-use thus drawing comparisons to iPhoto. It's a little costly, but if you already make a habit of saving screens for future use you'll want to take a close look at LittleSnapper.
- Editing/Notation: yes
- Public Sharing: yes, via QuickSnapper.com, Flickr, MobileMe, & FTP/SFTP
- Personalization/Cataloging: yes
- Full Web Page Snaps: yes
- iSight Integration: no
- Companion iPhone App: yes
- Browser Plugin Available: No, but menu bar and keyboard shortcuts are available
- Cost: $39 or FREE up to 30 saved images
Evernote
Snap a picture with text and retrieve it via search. http://evernote.com/
More of a note-snapping tool than a page capturing tool but loaded with amazing features the most impressive being that it scans images for searchable text. A downside is that it captures web pages as text and images rather than a WYSIWYG image like the other apps. This is useful for searching and note taking but it makes Evernote less of a screen capturing tool. That being said, Skitch becomes a great companion to Evernote in that you can drag and drop screens into Evernote for tagging and organizing similar to LittleSnapper. Also, the ability to share publicly via Evernote is built seamlessly into the workflow.
- Editing/Notation: notes not images
- Public Sharing: yes, Evernote.com
- Personalization/Cataloging: yes
- Full Web Page Snaps: no
- iSight Integration: yes
- Companion iPhone App: yes
- Browser Plugin Available: yes, Safari & FF plus menubar and keyboard shortcuts
- Cost: $5/month or $45/year or FREE up to 40MB/month
All in all, each of these apps have their own unique and powerful usages. I'm partial to LittleSnapper due to it being a sexy application with a ton of useful features. The fact that I already own the license helps considerably. If you are looking to save a little coin, try using Skitch and discover the great feature set offered. Evernote will win over the inner-geek in you with its jaw-dropping capabilities. Regardless of which you choose, get snapping!
Ah - a useful and timely post, thank you. I’ve been a big fan of Paparazzi for a while now, and love it’s simple ‘do one thing well’ kind of philosophy - as well as it’s price. Am going to upgrade to Little Snapper though - have read a lot of good things about it, both here and also here.
Thanks again!
David
I’ve used many of these before, but I’ve found that for just taking quick screenshots or selections of Web sites, Jing has been a fantastic tool (http://www.jingproject.com/). It’s free (with optional Pro version available for a cheap $15/year) and also takes video grabs. Screenshots can be notated/edited to a degree, but Jing allows you to copy to clipboard, save the image, upload to Flickr, upload to FTP server, or upload to a free Screencast.com account (which is created for you when you start using Jing). And yes, by default it shows up in that annoying “sun” interface when you first load it up, but this can be turned off in the preferences so that it lives in your menu bar instead.
@David - I think you’ll love LittleSnapper. Go for it.
@Aaron - I’ve heard good things about Jing as well. Regrettably, I should have included it in this comparison but I assumed incorrectly that it was not available for Mac. I’ll have to check it out as it seems it has a lot of the qualities I love about Skitch and LittleSnapper. Thanks for throwing Jing in the mix.
This is a great write-up and comparison Tom.
I, like you, am a big fan of LittleSnapper and have tried to extend its use across multiple Macs using Dropbox. If anyone is interested, this has worked, but with some caveats:
1. The first is that you need to relocate your LittleSnapper library to somewhere within your local Dropbox folder. You can do this in the “Advanced” part of LittleSnapper’s preferences.
2. The second issue currently is that you must not have LittleSnapper running on another Mac (i.e. Mac #2) that you are not working with, but want to synch your current Mac’s library (i.e. Mac #1) with. If you abide by this rule, once Dropbox does its thing and you re-open LittleSnapper on Mac #2, your library should be up-to-date with any changes you made from Mac #1.
Tom, from peeking over your shoulder, I’ve also noticed that you have a sweet system for organizing your snaps using LittleSnapper’s smart collections. Would you be willing to share your method and set-up on that as well?
Don’t forget Grabup
Hi Tom,
Interesting read. But its funny how you missed out on another great capturing tool called Voila. I think you should check it out as well. I use it a lot in my work and find it very handy. See for your self at
http://www.globaldelight.com/voila
Regards,
Yule
@Brian: Good point regarding using Dropbox to sync separate Macs. That is something I haven’t attempted to do yet but sounds really useful. Regarding my organization in LittleSnapper, the gist of it is that I set up several smart collections with various criteria. For example, I have a series of folders that have color descriptions on them like Neutrals, Naturals, Pastels, Brights, and Darks. By tagging them appropriately you can sort through more specific inspiration quickly. I’ll try and pull together a screencast to show this more clearly.
@Yule & @Tyrale: Don’t be too surprised that I missed the snap apps you mention. There are dozens of similar products. I just grabbed a handful of the ones that I was aware of. Grabup and Viola look to fit well with the ones that I cover here. Thanks for bringing them to our attention. I’ll have to give them a try.
Another web snapshot plugin of interest is Abduction! https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3408 I’ve found it to be even a bit more on the lightweight side as opposed to Screengrab.
Good to see that you didn’t forget Evernote as people normally do forget that you can install browser plugins that will save sites to the Evernote client. I do like LittleSnapper but Evernote can do so much more and is cross-platform.
Looks like some more good alternatives are being recommended. Keep ‘em comin’.
@Tom: The Evernote browser plugins are quite useful. I just wish it did a better job of capturing the stylesheets of the pages so the presentation is retained along with the content.
I love Evernote. it’s perfect for those times where you’re in a coffee shop or grocery store checkout line or wherever and a bit of inpsiration strikes. i recorded a quick voice note and snap a photo of a napkin-top sketch and it synchs online, so it’s ready for me to use by the time i get back in front of the computer.
I put a vote in for LittleSnapper. It’s great for annotating wires or comps.
I have all of the apps. And I have Evernote for iPhone. If I could afford the monthlies I would subscribe. So I try to only use it for what I need it most. But ultimately it is my Digital Moleskine.
Awesome post.
Tom those six snappy applications are looking great. Is the price is only so much as you said that it is just $49 for the 14 software. Anyway the applications are looking great.
@Shapia: Is your question regarding whether the MacHeist bundle was $49 for the software package? If so, I checked back with my receipt and found out I paid $39 for the package. The unfortunate news is that it was only available for a limited time so unless you know of other opportunities to get a discount you’ll have to pay full price for each of the applications. It hurts to deliver the news.
I love skitch. I think everybody should use it!
Next entry: Take Something New and Make It Old
Previous entry: Advice, Trends, and Resources for People Entering Web Careers in 2009
Recent Comments
@brad
It makes little difference when using native EE functionality or Structure to add pages, it’s just that if you want to add a sub page, you need to remember to assign a...
- Hambo on 'A Whole New Wooooorld: Structure + ExpressionEngine'.
- brad on 'A Whole New Wooooorld: Structure + ExpressionEngine'.
- Doug Avery on 'A Whole New Wooooorld: Structure + ExpressionEngine'.
Subscribe to Comments RSS