[Zope] Screen Shots for Zope Products

[tom smith]

On Friday, November 8, 2002, at 11:36 PM, Andy McKay wrote:

>>> It would be nice to include screen shots for Zope's Products,
>>> similar to Freshmeat.net products.  That way users can have a
>>> better idea of what the product can do and looks like before
> downloading it.
>
> I think like most people who write products, I'd have to say I really 
> cant
> be bothered either. If you want to take screenshots for me of my 
> products,
> great! Let me know the links...
>
> Or alternatively send me 5 dollars in the mail and with a return 
> envelope...
> ;)

Surely the issue here is not whether you (or even others) can be 
bothered, but about providing the ability to add screenshots to those 
that want them.  It's not hard and there are many benefits.

And for some products, a screen shot can be fairly meaningless, but for 
others it's a central part of the Products functionality (sometimes a 
picture is worth a thousand words). DocFinder is good example. Because 
the name suggests it is for finding Docs, I wasn't interested, but now 
I've installed it and see what it does, I love it. A picture might have 
caught me where a name doesn't.

Screen shots may also promote further Zope adoption, by showing how 
cool or easy something can be BEFORE you've installed the software. 
Getting some large products, like WorldPilot to install correctly can 
take a little expertise, a screen shot may be the only thing 
encouraging some users to "hang in there".

Additionally, some people are just more visually oriented, and can 
obtain a better understanding (or recall)  from a screen shot.

There really are some lovely zope Products, and some gifted people have 
taken those Product, integrated them with other lovely offerings and 
made them look even lovelier. They are a great promotional tool for 
Zope and it's a shame not to capture that material, or make it easy for 
those that can be bothered to publish it.

cheers

tom


--
tom smith
http://www.othermedia.com/blog/
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