Screenkey, a small application to show the keys we press on the desktop

For those of us who do tutorials, applications that allow us to edit images or videos by adding certain information are very important. This information may include an animation that indicates where we click with the mouse or what the combination of keys that we press appears on the screen when we record a video of our desktop. If what you are looking for is the second of the previous options, screen key is a Linux application that is designed with you in mind.

Screenkey is an open source Linux application that is a rewriting an original version which is available in Ubuntu's default repositories. As with many software, the developers of the original application are not about to keep updating it, so it has had to be the community that has stepped up to maintain a fresher version.

How to install Screenkey

The bad thing about the new rewritten version of Screenkey is that not available in any repository, which means that it will not update automatically. If we want to install it, we have to download its code from GitHub:

1. We go to the project website by clicking HERE. From THIS LINK You can download the latest version dated 16-5-2016.
2. We go to the folder where we have downloaded the file and double click on the downloaded file.
3. We extract the folder where we prefer. We can do it in our personal folder.
4. To run the application we have to double click on the file «Screenkey».

In the "data" folder we have a file called "screenkey.desktop" that will help us, for example, launch the application from the Ubuntu Launcher. But for it to work before we have to follow these steps:

1. We open "screenkey.desktop" with a text editor.
2. We change the "Exec" line by putting the full path to the "screenkey" file that is originally inside the "screenkey-0.9" folder.

3. We save the file.
4. We right click on it and go to the "Permissions" tab

5. Here we activate the option that says «Allow to execute the file as a program». Now we can put the launcher where we want and launch Screenkey from it.

From the icon tray We can edit parameters such as the time that the banner will be displayed with the keys pressed with the option to always leave it, position where it will appear, type of font, color or the opacity of the banner.

It is likely that most users will not need an application like this, but it will interest those who want to explain some things by showing what they do on their desktop. Are you one of them?