Due to my activity on the Internet as an administrator of my own sites, I constantly use screenshots both to explain some tasks to freelancers and to use them in my own publications.
During 3 years (2011-2014) I have periodically changed the method of creating and saving screenshots. From standard scissors in conjunction with photoshop to various online services.
After my Droplr service suddenly became a paid service in 2014, I immediately began to choose and consider a new tool again.
By that time, I had several requirements for the desired tool to create and save screenshots:
The service must be constant. I am tired of changing them for any reason. Correspondingly, the service must be a serious and quite famous product that will not cease to exist in a couple of months.
The service should be free or with a symbolic payment;
The service should work quickly with instant preservation in the Internet;
Service should have a set of means for editing screenshots (pointers, arrows, underlining, inscriptions, trimming, etc.
The service should offer full management of its screenshots, somehow guaranteed their preservation and removal if necessary.
In 2014, finding such a service was quite a challenge, and then I started looking for standalone programs to create screenshots. And my search was a success.I came across the HotShots program. It met all my requirements and after 5 years of its use I can say for sure that I couldn't find a more convenient and fast tool for creating screenshots. Even the application from Yandex, in my opinion, is inferior both in convenience and in the speed of downloading screenshots.
For convenience, I have registered my domain for my own screenshot service. For the storage of numerous pictures of the screen I use my existing hosting from Gino. It should be noted that even he at the lowest possible rate provides almost instantaneous loading of images.
And now I want to give screenshots and a brief description of all the settings for HotShots, which the user needs to do yourself. This will save you a lot of time to start.
Install the HotShots program and choose the Russian language for the interface at once.
Then go to the program settings and create settings similar to mine. Later you can experiment and make changes if you want.
The "Launch" tab
Screenshot tab
Be sure to check "Copy to clipboard"
The default file name is at your discretion.
The template is also at your discretion. I try to confuse it by making each file name unique and unpredictable.
For example: MMdd_3h1h1m1m3s8s, where letters indicate month, day, hour, minute, second - time of screenshot creation, and numbers - random data. As a result, we can get, for example, such a file name as "screenshot-0912_3010951151324824". For me, the date and month are important, and the rest of the file name makes it random and unique.
Hotkeys and menus tab
Here, it is important for me to use the key combination to create a screenshot of the screen area (I have Ctrl+S), this is the functionality I always use.
Network tab
Select FTP and make sure to "Open in Browser" and "Copy URL to clipboard".
Web Services" tab
On this tab you fill in your FTP access by analogy.
The settings are complete
Press Ctrl+S and select the desired screen section for the screenshot, then Enter.
The editor window opens. Idit and click on the "Upload to web service" button.
Picture instantly flies to your hosting and immediately opens in a new tab of your browser, the URL of the picture is copied to the clipboard.
What else do I need from my own screenshot service? Quickly, conveniently, never glitches 100% safety of all pictures. For 5 years not a drop was disappointed in the choice.