Video Tutorials (as a sub section of ONLINE MANUAL perhaps)

[C4G-TK]

OK, so after doing a couple videos for my own site, I got to thinking about ways of improving SMF Support.  Since there are a lot of people out there who are more visually inclined when learning things than understanding prose, what about video tutorials?

Things like HOW TO BACKUP YOUR FORUM IN PHPMYADMIN, HOW TO EMULATE FORUM TYPE IN PACKAGE MANAGER, etc etc.  I'm just thinking of some of the constant questions and how having a video instruction might assist.  (Especially when people could see what is going on rather than trying to translate the words on a page.)

These videos wouldn't take too long to create and are easily uploaded onto YouTube and could be linked or redirected.  (Of course, you wouldn't want to allow replies on the videos because someone would ask a question for support on the video.) 

I was thinking of doing some of these for SMF.  Let me know what you think.  If they were done by the same name, an entire channel could be created.

[Cassiel]

I like the idea. Even pictures accompanying the information in the manual would be good. However that is the Doc Leader's department, who is groundup, and i've no idea what he's planning to do with the Doc site now. At the very least I hope he reads this and get some ideas from it.

[C4G-TK]

Thanks, just trying to think of ways to help that may have not been explored.

[Liam.]

Actually I was thinking of something similar. If you look at KahneFan's theme tutorial he uploaded to YouTube, you'll see how it works out... Also, looking at the Windows Vista and Se7en tutorials, you'll see they work a hell of a well...

I'd be happy to help out

[Marcus Forsberg]

This has been suggested several times and I like the idea, definitely something SMF should do.

[KensonPlays]

I'll help out where I can!

[DoctorMalboro]

Maybe people should start making videos and send them... and get to be translated (like the subs mod youtube has) and users who made the videos can attach them to the video...

But that's waaay to advanced, i can help if you want, i love making videos

[Cassiel]

i can help if you want, i love making videos

It's not really something you need permission for. There is nothing stopping you from going out and making them.

[C4G-TK]

Reply here if you want to be involved...

I already set up a new YouTube account for this.

Thoughts
-Perhaps, we can do one video every two weeks?

If you would like to assist, give your top 3 topics/problems/questions that you think are most important in getting done.

[SlammedDime]

While we do appreciate the community's involvement and desire to help, keep in mind that any video's you make or publish should NOT indicate in any way that they are endorsed by Simple Machines.  If the team decided to pursue using official video tutorials, we would have to standardize how they are created, maintained and published, as well as the items to actually make tutorials on.  You don't want to simply make videos on the 'top problems or questions' you see... you want to have a methodology on how and what you publish.  A simple video on how to change a profile value is less than useful.  A full video on how to create a user account and customize that account between settings, avatars, signatures, etc, is useful.

My suggestion, if you want to help, is instead of actually creating videos, create a text outline of how it would look, slide by slide (or screen by screen), including any voiceover comments that should be included as well.  That way if we do decide to go with this idea, the team can take what the community has started to generate and standardize it, create it, and publish it.

[lurkalot]

Just another idea,

Have you considered using some free Tutorial or Presentation software such as Wink?  http://www.debugmode.com/wink/  You can make some great step by step tuts with this.  They can also be embedded in forums posts.

I've made a couple of rough (very) ones for my site showing people how to do certain things in the gallery, and they seem to work very well.





And to pick up on what SlammedDime said about "slide by slide (or screen by screen", this software is also brilliant for collecting all the screen grabs you need automatically, so no need to collect each one individually.

[GravuTrad]

I also use wink, and it's cool to make tutos with it.

[KensonPlays]

Reply here if you want to be involved...

I already set up a new YouTube account for this.

Thoughts
-Perhaps, we can do one video every two weeks?

If you would like to assist, give your top 3 topics/problems/questions that you think are most important in getting done.

I'd love to help! My username is: "TheKcmartz"

EDIT:
Wink; is that flash, html, what? (I know extention is .htm, but actual vid file)

[Liam.]

I don't see the point in Wink... A webcam (and a normal camera), Hypercam 3, Windows 7, a microphone, knowledge, After Effects CS5, and Sony Vegas Pro 9. That's what I've got, I don't see why Wink could make it any better to make tutorials with, I suppose it's good for the people who don't have all of that though

I'm hopefully getting a pretty empty week next week, so I'll make some tutorials then.

[TheListener]

The one thing I am not keen on with this idea is:

My partner has tried to watch many a tutorial on Youtube and given up.

Why?

Simply because of the following:

1. Technobabble

2. Speaking too fast

[Cassiel]

Well before you guys can start you need to plan out what videos you're going to do. A table of contents if you will.

[Liam.]

Well I've had a set of HTML tutorials I've been meaning to do since Christmas, but I kept putting them off for some reason :/
However, covering most things in the Doc Site would be a start - packaging mods, creating themes, etcetera. I'm sure there is enough to cover, even if we do it randomly...