For those who develop apps for Android, the process can quite often be a difficult one. Putting the app together is only one aspect of the story. You then have to go through the various testing which needs to be done and worry about the likes of device compatibility, bugs, tweaks, Play Store listings, descriptions, screenshots, it goes on. This is partly why a number of the bigger players like Facebook and Twitter often release tools which are designed to make the app development process a little easier and beneficial for everyone. Not to mention, better for them when more developers are using their tools.
In Twitter’s case, today has seen the launch of a new tool dubbed ‘Screengrab’. As the name suggests, this is a tool which can be used to take screenshots. While this might sound like a simple tool, in development, it can often be the simple aspects which are the most time-consuming and screenshots are often like that. Taking screenshots to add to the Play Store and promote an app can be tedious, with each screenshot needing to represent the vital points, be aligned properly, in order and so on. This is where Screengrab comes in as the tool automatically takes screenshots and then localizes them for use when needed. Not to mention, Screengrab has the added benefit of ensuring all screenshots are already in a logical order. This is all done effortlessly thanks to Screengrab automatically generating the screenshots from the command line. Another additional benefit of Screengrab’s automated nature is that it does not require select members of the development team to generate screenshots. Once the application is in place, anyone part of the development team will have an easy way to generate screenshots.
The announcement came via the company’s Fabric blog and has been released as part of the Fastlane developer toolkit and therefore, will work seamlessly with Fastlane. Those who developer for iOS will liekly already be familiar with a similar Fastlane tool, Snapshot. However, as that was specifically for iOS, it seems the new Screengrab is the alternate and dedicated Android development equivalent. Screengrab has been released as an open source tool and is now available through GitHub. You can check out an example of how Screengrab looks and works in the image below or head through the link to head over to the GitHub listing.
Screengrab on GitHub