ScrnShots is a community for hosting screenshots. It's a companion to a desktop application that will grab and automatically upload in a similar fashion to Plasq's Skitch. Both sites have a social element, with commenting and tracking popular shots. The big difference is that ScrnShots is cross platform and will work on both Macs and PCs. You can also simply use it as an image host if you're using another screenshot utility like TechSmith's SnagIt, or OS X's Grab.
The service launched in private beta back in April, and has since opened up to everyone. I've been exploring it this morning and have come across quite a few gems just from its discovery pages, which like Flickr will highlight some of the more interesting shots based on community involvement either in page views or comments. If you find something you like, or would like to share one you've taken, there's a simple embed option to stick it on a blog or social-networking page. One thing to note is that these embeds are for specific sizes only, either close to full-size or a small thumbnail, like I've embedded below.
For power users, the integrated desktop applications offer the convenience of uploading without having to visit the site. You can also do things like add URLs and related tags--the latter of which is made far easier on the Mac version, as it will pull up tags you've used in the past and auto-complete them for you as you begin to type. Both sit in your system bar and can be called upon no matter what application you're using.
While regular users will bask in this simplicity, ScrnShots isn't the perfect solution for bloggers, what I consider to be ScrnShots' target audience. It's missing a way to annotate and edit your shots. Skitch and SnagIt offer this, and I find it a hugely helpful feature--especially for some of the shots I take and use for my posts on here. Also missing is a way to set up captions and credit on shots that are embedded elsewhere, meaning site owners will have to set up custom CSS and coding into the embedded item if they want to do either of those two things. Until it gets these features I wouldn't ditch SnagIt or Skitch just yet.
Ever wanted to post a screenshot or thumbnail of a Web site on your blog? Probably not. But if you're like us then this situation comes up all the time. Enter SnapCasa, a service that lets you drop in a preview of any site in one of three thumbnail sizes that will regularly update as time goes on. We debated using a service like this for this year's Webware 100 winner pages, but opted instead to use static images since seeing what Web services looked like years later can be kind of interesting (see Archive.org).
The tool works by having you drop in a special IMG code into your post that links up to SnapCasa's servers. It will pull in updates to that image occasionally--with future versions providing real-time screen grabs and the option to change how big and what format you want the thumbnail to be.
Competing service Snap offers some of these features already with its SnapShots product, but wraps its live screenshots around text links instead of embedded images. I've embedded a few examples below, which should update despite this post gathering dust.
I use TechSmith's Snagit screen-capturing tool (review) on a daily basis to gather all sorts of shots for posts and archival purposes. It works great at getting those pixel-precise sizes you might be going for, along with taking a step or two out Windows' less-than-stellar built-in print screen function. Today I've been playing with a small download called Clip2Net. It's a free and simple screenshot program with built-in Web uploading for screenshots AND image files. It's not at all as advanced as Snagit, but if you're in the market for a relatively easy way to take and host screenshots, or share a roll of pictures with friends, Clip2Net is a promising hybrid solution.
Setup is simple: Just download and install the less-than-1MB file and you're good to go. You can start capturing right away, either in regions or the entire screen at a time. Registering and plugging in your login credentials lets you upload your shots to a Web folder that saves all your shots. Likewise, if you'd like to stay anonymous, Clip2Net will provide you with a URL where your shot is being hosted--although keep in mind that if you lose that URL, you won't be able to track it down again.
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