QuickTime X, Lion’s Underrated Gem

Last month we upgraded to Apple’s new Mac OS, Lion. We’ve been overall very happy with this release, and it has plenty of new features, but one of the most underrated (for us) has been the new version of QuickTime.

It’s great for media playback, of course. Always has been. But what makes the newest version so helpful to us is its ability to record your screen. It’s a bit misleading, because it’s actually called “QuickTime Player.” Don’t let the name fool you.

Here’s how we do it. Launch the app and select New Screen Recording from the File menu. Set your preferences in the drop-down, and press the record button. You can record the whole screen, or drag to select an area, and then it starts recording. When you’re done, press the stop button and save it.

This brings us to another great feature, the Share menu. You can save the video as a regular or web-friendly (smaller) video using the File menu, but under Share, you can post the video to a bunch of places, including YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, Facebook, and more.

For making fast, simple recordings of interactive work-in-progress for clients, it can’t be beat. It’s not a professional screencasting application – there’s plenty of those out there – but it’s simple and it works well.

Here’s a short sample video we made from our own website, in about a minute: Sample Screen Recording

Raymond Brigleb

Creative Director, dreamer, partner, father, musician, photographer. Has been known to ride the rails. Pulls one heck of a shot.