Installing the screenshot factory on Mac

Install prerequisites

• Subversion Binaries (or sudo port install subversion)
• NetPBM tools (or sudo port install netpbm, or binaries from Gallery)
• Python appscript module (or sudo easy_install appscript)
• cscreen to change screen resolution (mirror)

And if you want to support more media formats:

• Windows Media Player for Mac OS X (alternate link, also for Mac OS 8.1-9)

Get the source code

Check out the source code from the Subversion repository:

svn checkout http://svn.browsershots.org/trunk/shotfactory

Also copy the cscreen program into the shotfactory directory.

Starting with milestone:0.3-beta1, global installation with python setup.py install is no longer required.

Settings

• Disable the screensaver.
• Set the desktop background to white.
• For each browser that you want to run:
  • Set it to start with an empty page.
  • Hide the bookmark bar.
  • Show the status bar.

If you want to run browsers other than Safari, also follow these steps:

• System Preferences
• Universal Access
• Enable access for assistive devices

Run

cd shotfactory
python shotfactory.py

See InstallFactory for registration and troubleshooting tips.

Fast User Switching

On Mac OS X 10.5, you can run the screenshot factory in the background if you enable Fast User Switching. Also, your personal files and browser history etc. are safe if you use a separate user account. To enable Fast User Switching, follow these steps:

• System Preferences
• Accounts
• Login Options
• Enable fast user switching

Then you can create a separate user (e.g. shotfactory1) for the screenshot factory. This user does not need admin privileges. Switch to this user account before you start the screenshot factory.