There may be many times where you or someone you know could use a little help finding or doing something on the computer. Calling or emailing someone text directions can be a big problem. Also, you may want to show something on your screen to customer service or send something funny to a friend. To do these cool things you will need an application that can handle the task and that is where Jing comes in.

Jing is a simple way to capture and share what is going happening on your computer screen. Jing also has cool share functions that integrate with Screencast.com. Interested? Of course you are! Read on to find out what I think of Jing!

Getting Started

Getting started with Jing is very simple. All you need to do is visit the TechSmith website and download Jing. Once downloaded, you will need to create an account with TechSmith. This account can be used across their product line.

Also you may want to use Screencast.com in conjunction with Jing (we will mention this later in the feature section.) If so, you can simply use your credentials you created in the Jing app for Screencast.com. So now that you are ready to go, let’s jump into the cool features of Jing!

Screencast.com Signup

Features

From the outside, you will think Jing is just a simple app without any major features. If you do, then you are both right and wrong. Although Jing does not have any new or major standout features, Jing does not disappoint with the features it does have.

Jing has several different modes of capture. The first is photo mode. With photo mode you can select which part to capture via the selector that automatically comes up when you select photo mode.

Photo Capture Window

The next way to capture is video. Video capture simply captures the video on your screen and allows you to visually show your screen in all the glory of moving video. There is nothing special about capturing the video. Since it captures full screen, you cannot set an aspect ratio or pixel amount to capture. Also, you cannot change the codec that video records in.

Video Capture

Jing also allows you to easily rename your document with the “name” box located on the bottom of each capture.

Rename Capture

Capturing a screenshot or video is the first part of using Jing. The second part is adding effects. After you have captured your screenshot you are taken to the effects screen where you can add various effects to enhance your shot.

Now these are not Instagram photo filters, no these are basic effects like text and callout boxes. The effects available include arrow pointers, text box, square call out box, and color changers.

Effects

These effects are not for enhancement, they are for clarification; so if you were looking for other types of editing and effects, you will have to look elsewhere.

After adding your effects to your screen captures or recording your video you might just be tempted to upload to Screencast.com. So what is Screencast.com? Well to put it simply it is an integrated hosting website for TechSmith products.

For those worried about owning content and the rights to it, Screencast.com touts “You hold the rights to your content…you decide who views your content.” So you can go ahead and signup and get free 2gb of space. It is advantageous to sign up for Screencast.com so it can make the process just a bit simpler to upload your content and share it.

Screencast.com Web Interface

If you like to share your content elsewhere, then Jing still has you covered. You can go into settings and add buttons to the toolbar for YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and FTP.

Jing Sharing Options

Performance

When Jing is open it is always running in the background. You may think that you have closed it but instead, you might still have it running and you just do not know it. With that said, Jing is surprisingly efficient in its use of computer resources. I never found a moment when I needed to close it because of terrible slowdowns.

When video recording, you may see a slow down. I tried on two different PCs; one is a new dual core machine and the other is a 2006 Pentium 4 machine. With the older machine, slowdowns were obviously very apparent and could not be ignored. With that said, many people have newer machines and Jing’s slow downs are a non-issue on those.

Interface & Design

The interface of Jing at times can be very confusing. It is hard to find many options and features without clicking around and doing a little searching. Jing makes more use of icons than explicit text and sometimes you just do not know what each button or icon does without clicking it; that makes Jing a little cumbersome to use.

Also it’s always there design can be annoying as it overlays its “sun” (see below) on top of your programs and windows which blocks some content you may be trying to see.

JIng Sun

The design of Jing with its bright orange and yellow also causes a little contrast problem with many of the icons. With some of the icons they become hard to make out and tell which is which (take note of the icon highlighted below, What is it?).

Jing Orb

A few times I actually thought to myself, “What do I do next?” It is not always as clear as it should be with Jing what the next step is. So the interface and design of Jing could be refined to enhance simplicity of use and add more contrast to icons and menus

Conclusion

Jing is quite the handy, simple little app that performs pretty well for simple tasks. It is great for trying to help someone visually figure out problems or simply to share something you see on your computer.

In combination with Screencast.com, Jing is a one stop shop app for capturing, editing, and sharing. While Jing has a few great features, it lacks in interface and design. Its interface is always present and looms over your open windows, covering up content.

Overall, I like Jing. Best of all it is free! Out of 10 possible points, Jing gets a 7. The developer, Techsmith, can take a few points from this review to take Jing to the next level of refinement.

Do you agree? Do you have a better app? We want to know! Voice your opinions in the comments and tell us what you think.