The scarcity of screenshot submissions is an alarming sign. Inkscape must be (1) fun to use and (2) fit to do professional work. If it is, users will be motivated to show off their Inkscape fun and/or their professional Inkscape work. If we don't get enough submissions, this might mean we are failing at (1) and/or (2).
For a user, screenshots are perhaps the most important resource at inkscape.org. It's what most people look at first. New users don't like to read descriptions; they want pretty pictures. Existing users considering upgrade don't like to read release notes; they want pretty pictures. Besides, our screenshots are borrowed by a lot of other sites and thus end up all over the web. All this means that screenshots must be as good as Inkscape itself, if not better. The lack or poor quality of screenshots means the entire project's bad health.
A few notes:
* The best screenshots are made by the author of the corresponding feature. Nobody knows the feature better than him. In fact, if you contribute a major feature, you are pretty much supposed to submit a screenshot of it in action, much as you are supposed to describe it in release notes.
* However, we also in badly need of high quality screenshots showing professional Inkscape work. If you are doing something complex and/or artistic and it turns out well, please take a moment to shoot the Inkscape window with your work.
* The screenshot should be dense and informative. 1280x1024 (the preferred screenshot size) is a lot of space, so don't waste it on just one or two bits. When doing a feature screenshot, combine the various aspects of the feature, add captions and descriptions, demonstrate all relevant tricks and nontrivial things that you can think of. When doing a work screenshot, find the best zoom/view of the document, and consider doing a double view of the same or different documents (as here: [http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.41-CVS-linux-davinci.png]). In both cases, open the relevant dialogs, switch to relevant tools, and do a selection so that the statusbar message adds more useful info to the picture.
* When submitting a screenshot, please also submit a blurb that will accompany it in the gallery. Briefly describe the feature you are demonstrating and the most nontrivial aspects of the screenshot. Try to be witty but comprehensive.
All of the above also applies to the head graphic on the new site design. I also vote for #5, and I like the idea of the head graphic being a rotated image (at least once per release). We'll need to make an SVG template for this image and elicit submissions of impressive graphics to be put into the template, probably in a cut-out/zoom-in/composite form (similar to the way the flag is displayed in the draft). I'm willing to do this at first, but I need your help. So this is a call to all Inkscape artists: please send me your work that you would like to see used on the front page of inkscape.org.
I also created a wiki page with the above: http://wiki.inkscape.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?MakingScreenshots
-- bulia byak Inkscape. Draw Freely. http://www.inkscape.org