Create video tutorials using free software

When the site loads, have a look around. Click the Demo button to watch a screencast that explains how screencasts work or check out any of the content channels by clicking on their names or try watching one of the featured screencasts. Finished exploring? Click the Register link at the top of the page.

Pick a username and a password, enter a valid email address and then agree to the terms and conditions by putting a tick in the box. Click the Register button and when the Registration dialogue box appears, click the Record button. This opens the main Screentoaster page, which is actually a Java program. This is safe to run but with a typical browser setup, it will need permission before it can load. So, when the dialogue box appears, click the Run button to load the page.

Prepare whatever it is that is going to be recorded ­ in this example we are going to record a demo of how to use the Wordle website (www.wordle.net). Having opened the site in a new tab, we can switch back to Screentoaster and set up the recording. It is possible to record just a section of the screen or the whole thing – we have chosen the latter – and although we want a voiceover we will do that later. So, for now we can just click the Record button.

Screentoaster displays a dialogue box to tell us that recording has started. Note that it is possible to pause and then resume recording by holding down the Alt key and pressing ‘S’ at any time. Flip back to what you are recording and follow the process through. In this example we are going to the Wordle website (that we have open in another tab), typing in the words to a favourite song, changing the way Wordle displays the results and then flipping back to Screentoaster and clicking the Stop button.

And here’s a preview of the screencast ready to play in the window in the centre of the screen. It is the one with the play arrow overlaid on top of it. From here we can review the screencast or add some extras to it or start an entirely new recording without saving it. It is not possible to edit mistakes or cut sections out of a screencast. If something goes wrong, it is best to just start again.

Now we want to add a caption to our screencast. Move the mouse pointer over the preview window so the transport controls appear at the bottom and then click the Play button. When it gets to the point in the screencast where the caption needs to go, click pause and then click the Caption button. It is the leftmost button in the right-hand panel, under the big ‘Start new recording’ button. Then, type a caption into the empty box and click the Add button as shown in the screenshot.

Click the Caption button again to turn it off and then click the microphone button to add a voiceover. Screentoaster should be able to detect any multimedia devices that are attached to the PC. Here for example, it knows that we have got a built-in microphone on our test laptop but no camera. We select the correct audio device from the dropdown menu and then speak into the mic to make sure we have got a decent sound level. Drag the volume slider up or down to make sure it stays in the green and click Record to start.

Screentoaster will automatically stop recording the voiceover when the video ends. When that happens we are going to play the whole screencast back to see what the caption looks like and listen to the audio we just added. Then at the same time, we are going to change the image that is currently used in the video preview thumbnail to one that is more visually interesting. When we reach that point in the video, we just click Pause then click the camera button. When Screentoaster asks for confirmation, just click Yes.

To upload a screencast to Screentoaster, we will need to complete the registration by opening our email account and going to the confirmation message that the site sent out in Step 2. Having clicked the link in the body of the message a new browser window opens – just close it to finish the registration. Back at the main window, click the Upload to Screentoaster button. Fill in the description form adding whatever details are necessary and then click Upload.

Uploading should be quick enough over a typical broadband connection ­ very roughly a minute for every minute of screencast. When the screencast is uploaded it is ready to be shared. Visitors to the Screentoaster site can find it and play it back. Alternatively, scroll down the screen to the Spread section and there are instructions on how to add the screencast to a Facebook or Myspace page or a blog. However, for the simplest way to share, just click the ‘Share this video’ link and tell friends and family about the screencast by filling in the form.