Wink 1.5.1

Overview

Wink is a presentation and tutorial creation package that can help the user put together something useful that can be played as a Flash video or other type of distribution.

A green arrow button is used to help viewers start the presentation then it will proceed step by step. Software or complex web sites can be demonstrated using this tool to create a virtual walk-through of the steps needed to be taken. Screen shots can be taken with a mouse overlay that moves around the image to demonstrate different aspects of what is being seen in the image.

A drag and drop system is utilized in order to make editing fairly simple within the typical Windows-based user interface. Add explanation boxes that lay out in words what people are seeing and being demonstrated. Add buttons and titles to further clarify to avoid any confusion from less knowledgeable viewers. Also add audio to talk viewers through the process and explain any more tricky aspects in a personable manner.

The software can also be used with technical support areas to take users through how to perform certain tasks without the need to bother expensive live support or technical support teams.

Installation

The installation requires 9.5 MB of available space to install the software. The installation completed without any issues.

There was no adware, toolbar, spyware or malware included with the setup software.

Wink requires a Windows OS and also can work on some versions of Linux distributions.

Interface

The interface contained quite a lot of information at the start. There are detailed menus and a small toolbar to understand.

A file browser helps the user locate the files such as images, audio and other content that they wish to import. Individual slides can be laid out in order to see how the planned final distributable product will look to the viewer.

Takes a bit of time to learn but a good interface overall.

Pros

• Create presentations and tutorials and save them as Flash movies, standalone executables, PDF, PostScript or HTML files
• Capture screenshots or access images in BMP, PNG, TIFF, JPG or GIF formats to use in a presentation
• Record audio to include as explanation of technical issues or for an improved presentation
• Use frame by frame slides with mouse movement and explanation
• Add button information balloons
• Uses templates, palettes, background images, control bars & can pre-load Flash content
• Freeware

Cons

• Does not support latest video standards like MP4 for output.

Alternatives

Camtasia is a full-blown commercial video and audio recording studio that is used to record the desktop and product quality distributable video.

Conclusion

Wink is a pretty decent presentation and tutorial tool that can help produce Flash video, executable files and other types with a video presentation that starts with a click of the green button. It cannot produce MP4 and other modern video types which puts it behind other similar tools currently.