Taking your own screenshots #

This page is for reporters, picture editors and creators who want images nobody else has. The safest way is to run Exponential yourself: you control the content, the version and the data on screen.

Contents #

1. Get an installation
2. Prepare the content
3. Screens worth capturing
4. Settings for good images
5. Checks before publishing
6. Captions

Get an installation #

The documentation describes a complete installation in one command, with SQLite so that no database server is needed (Installing Exponential in one command):

./console exp:install --apply

Run it in a copy of the code that you got as Getting the code describes.

Follow the page for the requirements and the options; Setting up a demo installation walks through it for creators. Write down the version you installed (git describe --tags): your captions will need it.

Do not take screenshots of somebody else's live site or administration without their permission.

Prepare the content #

• Use the demo content of the installer, or write your own neutral content.
• Create a test editor account with an obviously fictional name, for example "Demo Editor", and an address at a domain reserved for examples such as example.com.
• Change the administrator password from the default first (Change the admin password).

Screens worth capturing #

Settings for good images #

• Window size: a common desktop width such as 1440 pixels, and a phone width such as 375 pixels for responsive shots. Browser zoom at 100 percent unless you want to show zoom.
• Theme: admin4 has light and dark themes; show both if the story is about the interface.
• Format: PNG for editing; WebP or JPEG for publication at the size your page needs.
• No browser clutter: hide bookmarks and extensions; crop the address bar unless it shows only a demo address.

Checks before publishing #

• To do: No personal data, no passwords, no tokens, no private host names (Keeping secrets off screen).
• To do: The default administrator password is not the one you used.
• To do: The screen shows what the caption says, in the version the caption names.
• To do: Nothing unreleased is presented as released: a screenshot from a checkout of main shows work that may not be in any tag yet; check git tag -l 'v6.0.*' --sort=version:refname (Covering the 6.0.15 line).

Captions #

"The admin4 dashboard of Exponential in dark mode (development version of 6.0.15, demo content,
 screenshot by <outlet>, <date>)."
"Adding a block in the Exponential Layouts editor (Exponential <version>, demo installation)."

Related pages #

• Screenshots: what you may use
• Setting up a demo installation
• Privacy on camera
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.