I ‘ve spoken recently about apps which I’ve been testing to aid the day to day running of a new web design business and today I’ve got a special treat – the very kind people at Real Mac Software have kindly offered to give away two full copies of LittleSnapper to two commenters of this post!
Slowly but surely I’m putting together what you might call a list of the ‘ultimate’ applications for a new web design company. Applications that aren’t just pretty to look at – but are seriously useful too. The very first introduction to that list which I’d like to make to you, is LittleSnapper. I use a Mac for all my design work, so these are all going to be Mac based applications.
The best way that I can describe LittleSnapper to you is that it is to screenshots, what iTunes is to your music collection. Think about that.
Essentially its a way of capturing and filing screenshots of websites in an extremely elegant, extremely sleek and effective manner. You visit a site, you think “hey I love that header, I’d like to save that for later”, you press 3 keys on your keyboard.. and you’re done. LittleSnapper has saved it, along with it’s essential data – and you can rate it and file it whenever you want. But let’s look at all this in a little more detail.
Getting Started
Above, you see the primary LittleSnapper screen. Remind you of anything? iTunes 8 for example? The way in which it mirrors a user interface which people are already used to is superb! On the left you have your categories (or playlists) on the right your meta data (or genius sidebar) and in the middle your screenshots in thumbnail format (or album artwork). You can search, switch to a larger view, edit meta data, and even use the integrated browser all right here from the home screen.
Zooming In
If you double click on a thumbnail, you’re taken straight into the zoomed in version, you can set what resolution you’d like LittleSnapper to ..snap.. at (I use 1,440px), so you can have as much or as little width as you like. Either way the app captures the full height of the site.
Along the top of the window you can see a whole host of annotation tools, I’m not going to go into these but if you are interested in reading more detail on those tools in particular you can have have a read on the AppStorm blog here.
Editing Meta
One of my biggest frustrations whith keeping a collection of screenshots in the past has been that each time I’d have to save the screenshot, then go back, copy it into how ever many folders it was relevant to, and store the url in the filename. This took a good couple of minutes for each one and was a realy pain.
One of LittleSnapper’s finest features is it’s ability to append meta data to each and every screenshot.. easily.
With the meta panel open, upon taking a new screenshot I can quickly click on a star rating (currenly I only have two 5star rated sites, I’m fussy), and add a tag. Everything else is filled in automatically for me and I don’t have to add anything if I don’t want to. It’s all optional to simply make the filing process even easier.
The ‘published’ box indicates that it’s been published online to my QuickSnapper account, which is essentially a Flickr-type app for LittleSnapper users. You take your screenshots, and then you can also share them online with friends and colleagues.
Smart Categories
One of the very coolest things about LittleSnapper is its use of Smart Categories which autopopulate based on filters which you make up yourself. Not sure what I’m on about? Read on.
You can organise your screenshots into collections, for example by default a ‘Five Star’ collection exists which only displays screenshots which you have marked as having a five star rating. As you can see on the right, I’ve gone further than this to add a Four Star category, as well as a WordPress and WooThemes category.
This is great for lots of reasons but mostly because I can instantly go through all my screenshots of wordpress based sites, and can then refine that further and go through all my screenshots of modified WooThemes. I also plan to add some categories that filter by colour, clean/grunge, and number of columns.
The way the filter is set up is extremely simple – as you can see from this screesnshot of the filter-setup menu where I’ve created a new Smart category called ‘custom’ which shows any websites which are red, tagged with VIP, and have a 3 star or higher rating.
Why It’s Good For Web Design Businesses
I constantly gather reference material. Constantly. One thing which I hate is when a client asks me something, I can think of a perfect example of where I’ve seen what they’re asking about… but I didn’t save or bookmark it – so the chances of me finding it again are slim. LittleSnapper eliminates this completely, keeping a full and organised database of reference material that is so easy to browse through.
It is without a doubt an application which I wish I’d been using for the last 5 years so that I could have saved all those sites which I’ve long forgotten about.
Could it be improved? Sure, stuff can always be improved – here’s some of the stuff on my wishlist:
- Autosyncing with Quicksnapper – you set a time of day to upload all your most recent snapshots
- Sharing your library – just like iTunes, would be great to have a LittleSnapper library on a network which lots of designers could contribute to and maintain
- Quicker snapping – taking snapshot takes about 5 seconds at the moment, would be great to see that halved in the next version – but that’s a very very small issue
Win A Full Copy of LittleSnapper For Yourself!
I currently have two copies of LittleSnapper to give away to you! My loyal(ish) readers! So to make it fair I’ll do the usual old blog thing of selecting winners from the comments. BUT.
There are conditions.
“What is this madness?” I hear you cry. It’s nothing too shocking, but there’s no point in me giving away 2 copies of a really great application to 2 people who don’t really want it but just entered for the sake of free stuff. SO – go to the LittleSnapper official website HERE - download the trial version, try it out, and tell me why you want a copy! The two best answers will be given serial numbers to upgrade themselves to the fully licensed versions free of charge! (comp will run for one week until mid-day next tuesday)
I’d like a copy of Littlesnapper. I have like a gazillion bookmarks with reference/inspiration websites, but I’d have to click on them to find out what the design looks like again.
Since I want to be a rockstar designer, I need inspiration quick. I think Littlesnapper would come in handy :)
I want a copy cos all the cool kids have one and I don’t. Seriously though I spend too much time flipping between Firefox’s screen grab and Flickr’s uploader to capture and then store inspiration. Would be very useufl to do this in one place…that one place is Little Snapper.
I’d LOVE a copy of LittleSnapper. I am a new mac user and an app to capture screen shots easily would greatly speed my time when blogging and reviewing sites for UX Booth.
I would like to be technical here, as LittleSnapper has got features which other open source and Firefox add-on do not have. I can take a snap of web address, full screen, particular area or entire Mac OSX window. And the best part being, I can use editing tools for editing the screenshots I take. I am dying to get this application. Nothing more like it.
LittleSnapper is a great application! It’s really useful when I’m writing blog posts.
Thanks!
I totally want to win this more than anyone else in the world I might even buy a mac to use it with!
Seems like a useful application. I’ve been using Evernote for storing screenshots, but LittleSnapper seems more custom fit — being able to quickly annotate screenshots is useful, and being able to tag and quickly find specific screenshots or types of screenshots would make my life as a designer easier. Having a built in image sharing site (quicksnapper) makes the process of finding screenshots that others find inspiring much simpler.
…I guess I never mentioned how I would use the app. (Feel free to combine this into one comment if it is easier for you)
I’m both a designer and developer, so I am almost always online and I often bookmark or screenshots web sites or other examples for use later. I’m probably taking about 10 screenshots a day, so any time that I can save in that process would be appreciated! Based on playing around with the application a bit, it looks like it would significantly decrease the hassle of capturing and tagging screenshots and improve my workflow — especially when I only need to capture a small section of the screen, like a navigation area. If the hassle is decreased, it increases my chances of saving a screenshot for later.
…and besides, the user interface is well designed, and I always appreciate that!
Unlike Krague I actually have a mac which means I fulfill the basic criteria for winning the prize. Since we will soon be business partners I feel we should win the copy for my mac and then you will have two happy winners instead of one!
OMG YAY! Me want me want!
I would like a copy to experiment with web design sharing solutions.
But along those lines, I need to ask:
how does LittleSnapper beat
Skitch (www.skitch.com) and
ScrnShots? (www.scrnshots.com)?
@Rhett – download the demo version which I linked to in the post and find out for yourself – IMO it surpasses them by a mile :)
LittleSnapper is one of those applications that makes me shake my head and go “damnit! I wish when I bought my laptop I’d bought a Mac!!”
Next time… next time…
I found both you and LittleSnapper via Smashing Magazine’s Forum and I am so glad I did. I always save screenshots, sometimes of whole pages, sometimes of elements that I really like. Getting the shots isn’t too difficult – I have a Firefox plugin for that – but then I put them in a folder and almost never look at them again. I wind up surfing the web all over again for inspiration when I’ve got folders full of it on my hard drive.
I’ve just dropped one of my folders of snapshots into LittleSnapper and it’s immediately obvious that this would make a real difference to my work. No more time wasted repeating the hunt for inspiring elements. Instead of having a bunch of images that are only relevant to one project, to be quickly forgotten and probably never used again I can cross-reference with tags turning them into a real resource!
In a word, awesome!
I currently take screen shots of websites with my keyboard short cut on my Macbook. I use those screen shots for ideas and inspiration for my work. I use several folders to store these screen shots, and there is no organization what so ever. Having LittleSnapper would solve my problems in this area of design.
I’d love to have Little Snapper as I design softwares and take tons of screenshots. So this would be useful for my through out the day.
I would also be able to enhance my screenshots with this app and produce better results. I hope I get a copy!!
I got all excited and hot under the collar then realised twas a Mac only app! Real shame as it does all the things that I need a program like this to do.
If anyone knows of a similar PC based program please let me know as it seems excessive of me to buy a new imac just for the software! ;-)
Good luck to all you Mac users out there!
1. I’ve been using LittleSnapper for some time now. I’ve read about it somewhere (can’t remember now), downloaded it and was happy ever after. That is until today… When I tried to save 31-st snap of the webpage it turned my way, made big manga-like eyes and with a guilty shrug told me “No, mister – can’t do”. So after investing time and effort into this little lovely app I was presented with a fact that to continue doing so I have to hand 40 bucks. When I first downloaded it – it either didn’t say anything or it was wisely hidden. All I saw was “Free Download”. Smart :)
So that’s my reason number one: I have to feed those big manga-eyes with a license code. These are full of tears already – don’t make me make them cry :)
2. My “Projects” folder, my desktop, my “Documents” folder, my HDD – all of these are a mess. Don’t make me study the chaos theory just to make sense of my own stuff. The first step – screenshots and research – has been made but when I wanted to make the second step, I hit a wall.
So that’s my reason number two: I need some more steps and a runway to make a run. Maybe even a ride :)
3. We already like each other (me & my LittleSnapper). Don’t break our relationship!
Holy crap!
This thing is fantastic!
I’m a screenshot junkie. I use them for RFPs and presentations. Not to mention taking screens of sites for clients, and for my portfolio.
I can see the potential in LittleSnapper. I can see it helping me keep my screens organized.
So, yes, I would love a fre copy of this little lovely.
Thank you.
Why do I want a copy of LittleSnapper? Well not only would I be able to maintain a library of inspirational design work to help boost my own productivity, but I could also annotate and share images, meaning I can send my clients an image of their site in development on my local machine, rather than having to upload the whole site and database to a live server – genius!
IMPCIM..now wishing I was a MAC :(
If I don\’t win this app, I\’ll pirate it.
I’ll tell you right now – you aren’t going to win it with a comment like that. – and if the RealMac team ask, I’ll happily pass on your IP address to them.
I should be one of the guys to deserve this app. Let me explain…
I have been looking apps with the same feature set from ages and ended up using Adobe Lightroom as my personal inspiration database. Whenever I see something inspiring, I snap it and import it into lightroom with LR tags which I use to organize pics.
After looking at the LittleSnapper demo, I don’t see any reason to use LR when this app exist cos I feel Lightroom is extremely heavy [size, memory], I agree it has lot of features but I just use LR for the same purpose LittleSnapper was built!
Pirating a $40 app seems a bit of a waste… It’s not like $40 is that expensive.
For the non mac users perhaps onenote might do it, it won’t take a screenshot (as far as I know) but I think it will tag and you drag files into it and it has a search not used it for a long while….I usually use picasa to look at thumbnails which is free not the best though. I actually never thought of taking screen shots in this way I usually just save the link. When I need a screenshot its for a tutorial or I’m talking in real time and need to show something which is usually via yahoo im… a good thought though on the screen shots as sites change links go 404.
Tina
I’m a huge fan of RapidWeaver so I’m guessing this application is amazing! Simply a great idea for anybody who wants to catalog their screenshots, as I’m getting ready to do in the near future. Thanks for considering me :)
Rather simply, up until reading this I had been using OS X’s built in “Grab” utility, chopping things up in Photoshop, and essentially wasting my time on tedious tasks!
This app’s steep price is a little too much for a struggling freelancer to consider being a solid investment… but a free copy? Well, everyone likes free!
As a freelance designer/coder and student i have to take screenshots all the time. Just to see if everything is sized correctly. Using “Grab” every time can be annoying… An app like LittleSnapper would sure make my life more easy and enable me to focus more on my study.
Wait, so you have to pay for this?
I’d like a copy sure, sounds great.
But hell put an ad in it and give it to me.
I’m angsty today. Get over it.
I have a tendency to have screenshots from paparazzi and grabber all over my mac. In my temp directory – images I want to take some colors from, design inspiration on various external hard drives, and loads of images that just get thrown away since I haven’t given them a proper filename or proper tagging. After trying the trial for a couple of days I know this app will be able to help me out. It would be great if I could have a license for free.
Why i want it?
I´m a comunication designer student, i already have a tone of folders with screencaptures of diferent sites and design elements. I´ve been recolecting and studying those elementes even before i´ve started at university.
I know how hard is to navigate and organize all the stuff i already have and the true is, it´s in fact so much stuff that it isn´t useful anymore…
Simply because i can´t find the appropriate references and inspiration i need WHEN i need them. It´s a pain to find the files i´m looking for “inside” thousands of files. LittleSanpper works very well in this regard. If offers previews, tags, annotation tools wow, there isn´t nothing “little” about it.
It´s a fully featured software. Unfortunately i don´t have the money to buy it right now. That´s because i have a LittlePocket :(
Maybe this isn´t a great reason (i agree), but it´s true.
Why do I want a copy? I think it’ll help me to become a better designer.
I downloaded the trial a few weeks ago and i simply love it. I love it so much that i thought of buying it – but it’s impossible. I live in germany and i am not 18 yet, so i am neither allowed to have a credit card nor a paypal account.
Good reason, huh? :)
Because it is a mighty-fine application.
I am still coming along with my web design skills and while my wife and I are both trying to start up home businesses we do not have much left to spend on other tools at this point. Little snapper would be super useful for keeping my clients up to date with their site progress and also help me stay organized with the my ideas and inspirations. So help a little guy out. :-)