It’s been several years now since I began frequenting tutorial communities. Between the 200+ tutorials I’ve published, and the many more which I’ve followed, I’m quite familiar with the setbacks of different publishing formats. Today I’d like to focus on Video Tutorials, and the reasons they don’t always work.
Bandwidth / Filesize
Video Tutorials take up A LOT of room. As a viewer, you may have trouble actually accessing the content simply because you are on a slow connection. As a publisher, unless you have the server power to distribute this kind of content, you’ll find that the only possible way to actually use video tutorials is to outsource the data to third parties such as YouTube. These video providers are great since they are free, but they highly compress the content decreasing the quality of the tutorials in the long run.
Printing
Video Tutorials eliminate one crucial element of written text, and that is the ability to Print out an article and view it on paper. Sure, we’re in the digital age, but having a hard copy of something is still important to many of the readers out there.
Mobile Devices
Mobile browsers are becoming increasingly popular with the next generation of mobile devices (ie: cell phones) being able to take advantage of high speed internet connections. Some phones can even play videos from sites like Youtube (ie: iPhone, Blackberry), but at this point, it’s still a tiny fraction of the number of mobile users out there who can grab video content. I imagine that in the near future, we’ll be seeing more online video compatible web browsers, but until then, most mobile users are stuck with text content only.
Readability
Of course text is going to be easier to read than a video, but in terms of scanning content for a specific area, text tends to win. In well written articles, your eyes are able to focus in on headers quickly, and determine where to begin reading. If you miss a point, or want to skip over something, the article can help guide you quickly with visual reference points. Although some video content is starting to integrate these sorts of guides (ie: chapter selections in DVD’s), it has not quite made a popular appearance in web content. Again, I believe this will change over time.
Search Engine Optimization
This one is really more geared towards publishers, but I thought that I’d throw it in the mix anyways. As a publisher, it’s important to provide high quality content for your users. However, that content is USELESS if no one is actually finding it. Search Engines like Google almost always have an easier time indexing written text over video content.
Which format do you prefer your articles to be distributed in?
About the Author
David Leggett founded Tutorial9 in 2008, and is constantly looking for new ways to serve the web community both online and offline. It is his goal to make Tutorial9 the best source for design/web tutorials and resources.
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25 Comments Leave a Comment
Plus it takes up way more server space and bandwidth, thus make it not feasible for the user or the webmaster. If you can afford a 3,000 Adobe Media Server, you might be on your way!
Agreed. Besides, text tutorials really aren’t that much worse than video tutorials. With a few key images here and there, video-less tutorials get the job done effectively.
I agree with Iceberg and Mike…
I can see video tutorials being a lot more helpful then text tutorials when it comes to software like Adobe’s After Effects or Apple’s Final Cut etc. when it’s all about the moving picture. For tutorials on Photoshop I doubt it will give you much more help.
It’s not often that I use tutorials myself, and the few times I’ve watched video tutorials I’ve found them to be somewhat frustrating at times when you have to rewind to hear the settings (or the like) again. On a written tutorial you (should) have all the settings written out in plain English or with a screen shot.
So my vote is without a doubt on text tutorials.
The only time you should be using video tutorials is if you have a lot of expendable income for a super-server. Or if you are planning to distribute via DVD’s exclusively, which is actually a really good idea.
Maybe someday that will be a possibility for us Michael
And that makes a lot of sense Fredrik. Video tutorials for video production certainly seem like a bit more of a necessity than for other things.
well as said, very few times i believe that video tutorials are worth it, most times text based should work fine. Most people who want/complain about a tutorial not being video are ones who want every little detail hand given to wear they don’t even learn anything.
You should only make some newbie tutorials, because when you are better at photoshopping you wont even need to look at the details to know what to do.
Text and picture tutorials works fine!
@ NBT – I prefer to call them Beginner tutorials, but that’s a syntax thing so I’ll set that aside.
We will be producing tutorials for all levels of Photoshop users. We want anyone (enthusiasts, students, and professionals) to be able to use our resources so that we don’t restrict those with lesser abilities.
Hey i’ve got a tutorial and a question…is it the format u guys are gonna be putting up here or not: here it is?
http://neo2009.deviantart.com/art/Full-Signature-Tutorial-49552538
Yea im Neo2009 on DeviantArt
Personally, I don’t like video tutorials. I agree with Molnies that most of my experiences with them it’s been more frustrating then productive. I think good old fashion text and good detailed screen shots are the best way to go.
@ Neo – We’ll release information about guest tutorials in the future for people interested in contributing.
Oh ok sweet
So we won’t be having a forum anymore?
*cough*
We’d really appreciate people staying on topic of the tutorial folks
If you have a general question, please post it in a General News/Update Posting.
To answer your question, I’ll just say that you’ll have to wait and see what we have in store for everyone.
Text tutorials when well written and documented (pictures!) are much better. In the beginning I might go step by step, slowly, but then if I have to go back to the tutorial I can skip, read just the part I’m interested and move on. Much faster for the user. Plus video tutorials can be annoying if you have someone around.
First time poster on this site- very interesting tutorials, thanks much.
On text vs. video, I prefer text, with the exception of one particular situation.
The biggest advantage of text is ability to save a ‘hard copy’ (or file). Learning a technique involves frequent stops (which text and video both easily allow), and often a ‘going back’, thinking about a particular issue- and here, I think text is much easier to use than video. Easier to go back a few pages; and the text ’sits still’ if I am pondering ‘how the heck does that work?’
The exception where video is superior: where a technique’s physical execution cannot be adequately described with text. For example, I saw an Ai gradient mesh video tutorial re color application. Seeing the designer jump back-and-forth, here and there, between color palette, gradient, lasso tool, etc., could only be understood fully by seeing it on video.
–Bill
I prefered video tutorial!!
Enough is said. Thanks for this valuable information.
I like your tutorials and content and would ask you that, if you ever choose to evolve into video tutorials, you supply the text as well.
I can read much faster than a video plays. Most tutorial videos out there are trying to “do it all in one”, meaning that they are instructing on basic when showing an advanced technique – highly annoying!
It’s bo-o-o-ring to sit and wait for it to load and try to move the slider to where my content starts after beginner content is over – and it’s STILL interspersed in advanced content.
At least, if you do videos, have beginner content, intermediate, etc., separated.
Beginner’s shouldn’t be watching how to script Actions if they don’t know where the Action palette is, or how to open it if it’s not there.
I think it ultimately depends on the tutorial. If it were a tutorial on programming I’d prefer a video as then I can follow along and have the person explain as they go. I know this is done in text tutorials but with coding I like hearing someone explain it in conversational language.
They both have their place, they both have their own strengths and weaknesses. In the end it comes down to your user. If they’re wanting more video then do video, but remember that there’s a good portion of people out there that aren’t on a highspeed link like some of us
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