No Screenshots: Putting it in Writing

No Screenshots sig

I am not a natural screenshot-taker, and the more I am enjoying a game, the less likely I am to take screenshots because I’m 100% focused on the game and I just don’t think about taking them. Sometimes after a particularly exciting event I’ll capture a video clip, but even that doesn’t happen all that often.

Blog posts are “supposed” to have images. Images help posts get noticed (specifically when you share the posts on social media). And I do auto-tweet my posts to Twitter so I know I SHOULD add at least a header image to every post.

But let’s get real here. This is just my personal blog. It isn’t monetized and honestly I have VERY few readers (though I very much appreciate the few folks who come by here regularly). Last May the blog celebrated (I lie, I was oblivious at the time) it’s 20th anniversary. If it hasn’t gotten big yet, it never will.

But there are so many posts that bubble up into my head and then don’t get written because I don’t have a screenshot or image to go along with them. I enjoy writing posts and I detest messing with images.

So as of today I am, in writing, giving myself permission to write posts that HAVE NO IMAGES ASSOCIATED WITH THEM!

There, I’ve said it. “So say I all” as they used to say in Battlestar Galactica. Or something close to that.

That’s it. That’s the post. I feel more free already!

Side Note: I made the image at the top of this post and based on how good it is, I have quit my job to start a career as a kick-ass digital artist! See you on the red carpet! (Do digital artists get to go on the red carpet?)

4 thoughts on “No Screenshots: Putting it in Writing

  1. Hear hear! I hate dealing with screenshots, unless I’m talking about something that I might expect readers to have no experience with. In those cases, I feel I owe some context, or else some of the finer points might go out the window. I also rely heavily on Google Image search results, as I also don’t take a lot of screenshots unless there’s downtime or I am specifically taking screenshots just to have.

    1. Yup! If I’m using them to make a point or to illustrate something then they’re worth the effort. But just slapping them on a post so I can say “OK I put an image on it.” then… meh, too much effort!

  2. Heh. I had gigabytes of screenshots tucked away long before I even had a blog. Now i have… hmm, let’s check… 37GB in my Screenshots Backup folder, which I haven’t updated for a few months. Really ought to do that…

    As I’ve said a few times, much though I love writing, the funnest part of putting a post together is almost always the pictures. That’s just pure pleasure. As a reader, though, I really don’t pay all that much attention to the pictures on blogs unless they’re particularly relevant or spectacular. I very rarely click to enlarge them for example and often barely even look at them. I don’t think it will make the slightest difference to my enjoyment of your blog whether you incude screenshots or not. Tobold never does… okay, maybe that’s a bad example…

  3. I definitely do a lot less with screenshots than I used to do, back in the day on old blogs. Used to load into Photoshop and adjust colour range and contrast to make them pop a bit more before I would post any of ’em.

    Heck, even did custom titles for the featured post blocks.

    But not any more! Way too much effort. For most posts I’ll keep on putting in untouched screenshots, but the odd one… eh. 🙂 And like Bhagpuss has already said, I don’t think we’ll have any problem appreciating your posts still if you choose to forgo them! 😀

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