Adding screencasts

A screencast is a video or animated image of what is displayed on a computer screen to show readers what the instructions in knowledge base articles are telling them.

Table Of Contents

Before you create a screencast

  • Try to present Firefox in its most familiar form.
    • Use as many default settings as possible.
    • Use the default Firefox theme.
    • Use the default operating system theme.
  • Lower the screen resolution or do not capture the entire screen, so it fill fit in the browser window.
  • Make sure there's enough context to know what the image is of.
  • If speaking, make sure you speak clearly.
  • Make sure you can export to Flash (SWF of FLV) or ogg/theora.
  • Screencasts should only be applied to step-by-step instructions.
Do not create screencasts that are larger than 640x480. Otherwise only a portion of the video will be viewable.

Software

There are many more screen recording products out there. If there is one you would like to recommend, please tell us in the Contributors forum.

Windows

Mac

Linux

Converting to OGG (Windows or Mac)

Ogg/Theora is an open video format that Firefox 3.5 can play without the need for a plugin. Unlike other video formats such as Flash or MPEG, Ogg is unrestricted by software patents and open for further software development. Because Firefox can play Ogg files without a plugin, users with problematic plugins will have better chance of being able to view Ogg screencasts.

Steps (Windows)

  1. Download ffmpeg2theora to your My Documents folder.
  2. Rename the file to ffmpeg2theora.exe.
  3. In Windows, click the Start button, then open All Programs, then Accessories, then select Command Prompt.
  4. Type cd My Documents and press Enter.
  5. Next, type ffmpeg2theora then the name of the file you want to convert, and press Enter.
    • e.g. ffgmpeg2theora findyourcrashsig.avi
  6. A new OGV file will be created in the same directory. Using Windows Explorer, change the extension from OGV to OGG.

Adding screencasts to articles

Watch a video of these instructions
  1. Read the Editing articles page first.
  2. Beside Upload screencast, click Browse....



  3. A file selector will open, allowing you to select the file from your computer. After you have selected the file in the file selector, and clicked Open, the file is ready to be uploaded.



  4. Click Upload to upload the screencast. A thumbnail of the file should appear in the Insert screencast area.



    • You can add both a Flash video and an Ogg video at the same time, and the fallback will work automatically.
  5. To insert a screencast, click on the Insert Screencast link below the thumbnail, and the corresponding code will appear where the cursor is, in the article content area.