(photo by davidcrow)

Whatever field you are in, good communication is one of the keys that make work easier. In search for better communication, one of our colleagues came across the Jing program and shared about it to the rest of the group. I was tasked to look into Jing and see what it can do for the company.

As I tried to learn how to use the Jing program, I read through a few of the comments and blogs written by some users who participated in the Jing Project by providing their feedbacks which in turn became useful to the design and development team of Jing. The comments and feedback paved the way to a newer and better version of Jing. My learning experience with Jing was quite okay, I must say. Some things I found advantageous and useful while others, just about average.

On the up side, Jing is easy to install and use. With just a few clicks, you are ready to use Jing. And if you don't have the Microsoft.net 3.0 framework in your desktop, Jing installs it for you. In using this program, you get to capture, share, and even edit images. You can also add audio or sound when you capture a video. What's more, capturing and sharing videos and images can be done in an instant and the file size isn't too big. You also get to save your captures on your local directory or upload them to your Screencast.com or Flickr account and then later on share them for endless times through instant messaging, emails, blogs, etc. More details on how to use Jing may be viewed here.

On the down side, however, the videos that you capture you don't get to edit and this may pose some minor problem or difficulty in training and documentation. You might have to recapture your videos every time there is an update or a new feature that you need to include in your demo. Also, the height and width or resolution of the video cannot be adjusted or resized. This means another possible problem for whoever you are sharing the video with. What may fit in your own screen may be too big in another.

In my own opinion, the Jing program will be a very useful tool in everyday communication, which is what the Jing Project basically aims to improve. The quick and easy capturing and sharing of images and videos offer a big advantage if you are dealing with clients or discussing bugs and issues. But if you are going to use the Jing program in making training videos and demos or as a tool in documentation, I don't think it will be your best option. Perhaps, Snag-It or Wink can still do a better job.

Anybody else has a thing to share about Jing?