FrontSketch

Nowadays, presentations can take place without the physical presence of the auditory, but there are tools out there that can enhance them, make them more immersive and help you offer better explanations of the displayed concepts. A desktop drawing tool is the way to go in a shared-screen presentation, as it enables you to highlight areas on the screen and mark important aspects.

One of the tools you can use is FrontSketch, which is practically a virtual glass sketchpad for your desktop. It allows you to freely draw, while also providing additional instruments for annotating or typing in text.

Working with FrontSketch does not interfere with your work, as the application sits quietly in the system tray. The entire drawing menu remains hidden under a very small icon on the desktop, an icon that can be placed anywhere you want. In other words, FrontSketch will not bother you unless you toggle it on.

Instructions on how to access the drawing toolbox are provided at launch. To sum it up, you simply have to click on the small pencil icon on the screen to reveal the entire list of available instruments.

Moreover, even with the drawings on the sketch board displayed on the screen, you can still interact with other elements on your desktop. The drawings remain visible until you minimize FrontSketch.

FrontSketch comes with three default pencils with different colors and sizes. In essence, they are the same, as you can change the color and the pencil size for each. A desktop highlighter is also available, which allows you to mark important screen areas.

There are predefined shapes at your disposal, namely a rectangle and a circle, filled or not with color, as well as arrows and lines. The size and the color can be changed for these shapes as well. There are a few symbols that you can place to make a point during your speech: understand (check symbol), contradictions (uncheck symbol), important or question symbols.

Should you make a mistake, don’t worry, as you can undo your actions or use the eraser to delete parts of your annotations. Your drawings and annotations can be copied to the clipboard or saved as an image in JPG, BMP or PNG format.

Text boxes can also be inserted onto your desktop. In fact, FrontSketch comes with a popup editor with basic functionality, which enables you to type in your text and change its appearance (font, alignment, color, transparency, etc).

An application such as FrontSketch really comes in handy during online presentations, allowing you to freely draw on the desktop, insert symbols, highlight important aspects and make annotations. With its help, you can explain your ideas efficiently, regardless of whether you are making a presentation as a trainer, speaker, educator or a business person.