Recording the screen of your Apple Mac computer is a great way to show others how you use your computer, or to demonstrate personal projects you've created. There are a variety of Mac-friendly screen recording tools available, each with their own focus, and deciding which one is right for you will depend on your intended usage.
ScreenFlow
ScreenFlow is screencasting software, which means it's intended to record video from your Mac's webcam, as well as your screen, to produce video for Internet sites like YouTube. For example, many video bloggers use ScreenFlow to produce instructional videos where they use a webcam to record themselves introducing a topic, and then follow that with a recording of actions on their computer screen. ScreenFlow includes features such as on-screen annotations, so text can be written on top of a screen recording, as well as support for uploading video directly to YouTube from the software interface.
TechSmith Camtasia
TechSmith Camtasia is a popular screen recording tool meant for basic recording and video editing of any actions you perform on your computer screen. Camtasia is useful because it outputs to a variety of formats, and allows you to record audio separately from video, so you can synchronize narration to where you want it on a video. Camtasia is slightly more basic than its competitors, but useful for sharing anything on your screen.
Adobe Captivate
Adobe Captivate is primarily a tool for developing online learning courses. The software records your screen, and can be used to create videos, as well as online quizzes that integrate screen recording videos. It is commonly used for training users on how to use software, and is popular for its ability to integrate screen recordings with slides from Microsoft PowerPoint.
Jing
TechSmith, the makers of Camtasia, also offer the Jing software application. Jing is free screen recording software, and it features much fewer features than Camtasia, but is sufficient for basic screen recording with audio. Jing video files are recorded in the Adobe Flash SWF format, are limited to five minutes in length and no text or other annotations can be overlaid on output files.