Capturing Consistent Image Style

Inconsistently styled images can detract from the look of documentation and generate a perception the documentation is poor quality. Generating consistently styled images is a difficult task for a project like the LO guides with some images being current for many years and changes to applications meaning some need updating yet people running the applications on different systems with different configurations.

It was an issue I faced with the base guide, wanting to fix errors but unable to generate images in the same style. Ultimately I edited existing images in a graphics program which is virtually undetectable unless you zoom in to pixel level.

I’ve pondered on this issue of how a team running software in different configurations could generate consistent images for a few years and I haven’t come up with a practical solution but I thought I’d raise it. (My thought was a screen capture could be cropped but it wouldn’t necessarily fix the issue of things like tooltips that are lost with many screen captures.)

The following was AI generated some time ago:

Can software be run programmatically and capture screens without a monitor?

Yes, software can be run programmatically and screens can be captured without a physical monitor using various techniques:

  1. Headless Execution:
    • Headless execution refers to running applications or browsers without a graphical user interface (GUI). For example, tools like Selenium, Puppeteer, or Playwright allow headless browser automation. In headless mode, the browser renders content in memory without requiring a physical display^3.
  2. Screen Capture on Headless Machines:
    • It is possible to capture screens on headless systems by creating a virtual display or using APIs. For instance:
      • The Windows API can create a graphical window and draw on its canvas without requiring a physical monitor. The canvas can then be recorded or captured programmatically^2.
      • Tools like AWT Robot in Java can capture screenshots even when the computer is locked^4.
      • UWP WindowsGraphicsCapture APIs enable screen capture for application windows or displays in Win32 and UWP apps without relying on physical displays^8.
  3. Virtual Display Emulators:
    • Virtual display drivers or dummy HDMI adapters can simulate the presence of a monitor, enabling software to render graphics as if a display were connected. This approach is often used for remote desktops or virtual machines^2.

These methods are widely used in automation testing, remote diagnostics, and server environments where physical monitors are unnecessary.
^1^5^9