5 tips to prepare before live streaming from a MacOS computer
Hi everyone! A lot of you might already know about our Twitch channel: mulesoft_community. We are currently streaming every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:30am ET / 3:30pm BST / 8pm IST.
We focus on live coding with several members of the community and even Salesforce employees. If you’re interested in doing a live stream with us, feel free to schedule it using this Calendly link.
Anyway, a lot of people who stream here are first-time streamers! I’ve noticed some things that could be improved to offer a better streaming experience. In this post, I’m gonna list some of them.
Note: This is going to be a quick list to serve as a reminder on what to do. For a more detailed explanation with more images, please refer to this post.
1. Adjust your screen’s resolution
This applies to any kind of screen, regardless of the operating system. Before starting the stream, whether you’re using your own laptop/computer or an external monitor for screen-sharing, make sure you adjust the screen to a 1080 or 720 pixels resolution (if you want Full HD or HD resolution).
The reason behind this is that everything on the screen will look bigger and clearer in the live stream. A lot of people watch live streams on smaller screens. Don’t assume that everyone will be able to just keep your stream on a full screen. Try to show your tools and other things as big as possible without pixelating the image and also keeping a high resolution.
You don’t have to use the lowest resolution possible if it’s uncomfortable for you or makes it harder to present the live coding on the screen. But try to adjust this setting where it feels better for you and also keeps a bigger image.
To do this from a MacOS computer, go to your System Settings > Displays. Now, depending on whether you’re using the actual MacOS computer or an external monitor for screen sharing, you will have different options.
Option 1 — MacOS computer/laptop
Change your screen resolution by selecting a larger text resolution from the thumbnails. You may have to play around with these a bit to make sure the image is good and you can still do your demo comfortably.
Option 2 — External monitor
Change your screen resolution by selecting either 1080p or 720p.
- 1080 will give you a higher resolution (Full HD or FHD) but will result in larger data (more GB for the video size). If your internet connection is not very good when live streaming, you can try changing to 720. If the data size and internet are not a problem, you can use 1080.
- 720 will still be high-definition (HD) but won’t be as clear as FHD. Normally these differences are not as easily caught if watched from a phone or a computer. They present more when watching from a larger device like a TV.
2. Zoom in on available applications
There are some applications that can natively zoom in on the UI. For example, Visual Studio Code or Sublime Text. You can press cmd + to zoom in and cmd — to zoom out. In some applications, you might have to press cmd = to zoom in, depending on your settings and your keyword.
And same as before, you don’t have to make the screen incredibly big. Just find a balance where it’s comfortable for you to work on it, but it’s as big as possible for the people who are watching.
3. Use the accessibility settings
Inside your System Settings > Accessibility > Zoom, there are several options to be able to use the Zoom tool on your screen. This is especially useful when you have some applications that don’t support the ‘standard’ zooming options (cmd + or cmd -).
The option that I always use for my streams is the Picture-in-Picture zoom. I have it set up to use the command key to be able to use the scroll from my mouse to zoom in/out.
You can also click on the Size and Location button to set up how big/small you want the zoom to be, or click on the Advanced button for even more customization on the functionality.
4. Display your clicks
Your audience might not know if you’re double-clicking or drag-and-dropping with your mouse. They might be able to hear through the microphone when you’re clicking your mouse, but it’s not good enough to let them guess what you’re doing.
You can use some software to show your clicks visually on-screen. The one I use is keycastr. It shows a black line around the cursor to show if I just clicked once, twice, or if I’m pressing down on it.
After you install it, make sure you select the Display mouse clicks checkbox to show them. Otherwise, they won’t be showing.
5. Display your keystrokes
Sometimes you use keystroke combinations that the audience might not be aware of. For example, in Visual Studio Code, you have to press cmd + shift + P to show the palette. Your audience may not be aware of this combination and they just see you’re magically opening the palette on the screen.
Instead of letting your audience guess what you’re doing, you can visually display what keystrokes you’re pressing. There are many paid tools that are fancier and have more customization options, but I feel keycastr gets the job done — and it’s free.
After you install it, make sure you select the Command keys only checkbox. Otherwise, it will show ALL of your keystrokes. Including every single letter you press when writing — which can be annoying. But with this setting, it’ll only show the combinations like cmd + shift + P or cmd +.
That’s all for this post!
Again, if you need additional explanations or more images, please refer to my original post here.
Do you know other kinds of software that I did not list here? Let me know!
