Use Compiz to annotate your screen

There are times when it can be really useful to draw on your screen, like when making a tutorial for example. You can draw around important features to highlight them and help people see what they need to do. Because Ubuntu uses Compiz to decorate the windows this functionality is already there, you just need a way to access it.

Install compizconfig-settings-manager and start it up (a shortcut is to type ccsm). Click the Extras button on the left and choose Annotate, then click Enable annotate to activate it. If some of your panels mess up at this point, open a terminal and run "compiz --replace" to restart Compiz and fix them.

As will all Compiz features, annotate is very customisable and you can change key actions, colours and even how shapes behave. Try it out, it's easy to do!