Microsoft Bloggers Screenshots

For some reason Microsoft bloggers can’t post proper screenshots.  There are several ways that screenshots are made available on the web.  Most screenshots are displayed as a small linked image.  When you click on the image you either get the full image on a new page or the image loads on the current page using the javascript lightbox effect.  Many Microsoft bloggers only post the small image so you can’t actually see any details in the screenshot.  I have really noticed this is the case with with the blogs on the weblogs.asp.net domain.  I don’t know if the software they use to power those blogs doesn’t allow linking full size images or if they just don’t know how to do it properly but it is really annoying.

I have read several posts from Microsoft bloggers recently where they included small screenshots that weren’t large enough to discern details and didn’t include links to larger versions.  One such post was about the the next version of Visual Studio and how the editor component will use WPF.  This kind of post where a great deal of information could best be conveyed visually but isn’t really makes me wonder whether or not Microsoft understands how to interact properly with an audience on the web.

Microsoft employees if you are going to include screenshots include a link to a full size image. It really annoys me when you want to promote something but then you don’t include the necessary visual elements to allow your audience to properly comprehend the information you are trying to convey.