What do you think of using YouTube for online help videos?

Question

I've been looking at youtube as a way of providing online help demonstration videos for software I develop.

The advantages of using youtube are as follows:

• it's faster than writing a user manual (which no one reads anyway)
• it appeals to users 'inherent lazinesses' - you can't make it any easier for a person, they just sit there and watch, no reading required.
• more effective than written documentation ('a picture is worth a thousand words')
• easy to update - just upload a new video if the software changes.
• no hosting or disk space required - the video stays on youtube's servers
• doesn't require user to have a particular CODEC installed on their PC (e.g. DIVX, XVID, RM, etc).
• youtube streams the videos very fast (thank you google!).
• familiarity - people are comfortable with youtube now (i.e. affordance).
• youtube now allows for high quality video uploads - previously, videos were so compressed you couldn't make out UI elements, labels, etc (use '&fmt=18' in the URL for high quality playback)

Most recently, I created a navigation management component for my CMS.

This is what it looks: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=El7msMPGuBo&fmt=18

And no, that's not my voice. I'm using a text-to-speech softeware called texaloud. I did the screen recording using camstudio. and then used Microsoft's movie maker to insert the audio track into the AVI.

I had the text-to-speech software read a script I prepared and just followed along with the mouse. the script took about 30-45 minutes to write. the advantage of a script is you don't have to keep restarting when you say "ummmm..." too many times or make a mistake.

What opinions do you guys have on this approach? Are there any pitfalls you can see? Is there any way to improve the process?

EDIT: theres one thing i forgot to add. when you are doing your own software/hobby coding, you can have all the user manuals you want. i dont know about you guys, but i have worked on plenty of large custom projects where there was bugger all budget for online help, so a few days making video tutorials vs two weeks for a user manual is much smarter in a 'business savvy' sense at least.

Answer 1

Well, you have laid out a number pros here, but no real cons. That being said, unless it's a MAJOR con (perhaps branding is an issue with you?) I can't see why not.

Answer 2

I find online help videos to be a fantastic resource for learning new techniques and tools. A simple Google Video search allowed me to learn the basics of Subversion within 5 minutes and because I was able to view the process it stayed with me far better than reading a tutorial did.

For a simple how-to guide they are fantastic, but I would always recommend a written guide as well for those that want to move in their own way.

Answer 3

I think they are great for introduction.

I love watching a video when I want to know "what something looks like" or "how it works"

Nothing kills my interesting faster than a manual.

But when it comes to detailed usage of the tool/software/language etc. or as a complete reference ( for instance how to set the look and feel from the command line in java ) there's nothing I hate most than a video.

You cannot skip pages or copy/paste the snippet or read very slowly until you understand the concept in turn. You cannot print it etc. etc. that makes manual better for some specific tasks.

• So for introduction/overview/quick show up, a video is great.

• For a detailed manual, it is much better to read along.

See this related ( and opposite ) question:

EDIT You can also use some other "not so" known video services. Somehow using YouTube will be associated with "hobby"

The first time I saw Vimeo I though it was the company website, but it turns out it is the same service, but since it is not so known as YouTube, the "hobby" association doesn't came up.

Answer 4

I agree that video casts are a very good idea.

However, and unfortunately, instructional videos are like websites, and if they don't look attractive and professional they lose some of their effect. All of us understand the technology very well, but I think that most of us (myself included) lack the ability to create those things.

You can edit and splice your videos, and use text to speech, but it will look amateurish. If you really want to make an impact (and maybe sell a product), you need to invest more in production values. Get Camtasia studio or a mac with iMovie. Do multiple takes. Edit the voice track in parts or record it after the fact, etc, etc.

This text-to-speech brings, at best, memories of War Games, unfortunately.

I would be less concerned about where you host it, though soon enough youtube will shove ads into the beginning of your videos.

Answer 5

I like using videos for tutorials; I'd host it on my local server (using one of the free flash video players), but I'm a control-freak like that.

I dislike that damn voice; it hurts my brain listening to it for too long. Do the recording in a few passes; don't start from the beginning again, keep going each time and just edit the usable parts together for the final cut.

... Having said that, I prefer textual help and cues built into the actual application itself, rather than relying on the Tutorial crutch; Stack Overflow itself is a pretty good example of this (with a few exceptions).

Answer 6

Video tutorials are great for showing interaction with a GUI. But they shouldn't be used as a substitute for documentation.

There are other types of products for which a video is not helpful or appropriate. I really don't want to watch a video of someone writing API code, for example.

I don't agree that all documentation is useless or that "no one reads it anyway." It's deceptive how valuable high-quality documentation is for a product. People frequently complain about poor documentation, but if it's good then they don't notice or think about it -- they just use the docs to get their work done.

Answer 7

If you can I'd try and fine some way to host the video in a form that can be downloaded. IIRC Google has some way to do this. This helps a lot if you don' have a good net connection (some people still don't) or just don't want to even wait the n seconds it take to get buffer it up.

Answer 8

A lot of others have said that video tutorials are good for an introduction or sales pitch but are no substitute for a manual.

There's a few schools of thought on that:

• Make your software idiot proof and follow the principle of least surprise. If you do that most users won't need a manual. It'll just work as needed.
• Make available a lot of tutorial and howto material rather than a manual. Users are generally lazy and would rather follow a howto guide and make some slight tweaks than to read your manual and work it out.

Putting videos on YouTube does scream 'amateur'. If you can, try hosting them on your own server or a service like S3 then embed them in your own website. Doing that also removes some of the arbitrary resolution and codec constraints that YouTube brings and also allows you to brand your own videos rather than having the YouTube logo pop up along with possible advertising material that you don't want.

Answer 9

I've had some experience in screencasting, particularly doing an intro course on c++ and c#. In my opinion, it's one of the best ways to learn over the net.

That said, if there will be a lot of text based information (e.g., source code as mine were) YouTube's compression is extremely bad for readability (although they now provide a "higher def" quality, which I have not had a chance to play with). I'd highly recommend using vimeo.com instead. They allow real HD content to be streamed, and if you use their suggested encoding techniques (read the forums) textual based info will be much more clear.

Answer 10

What about IP rights for the video. Are you sure you want to share it with the rest of the world?

Answer 11

I've been on clients sites and noted that many web sites, including YouTube, have been blocked by their IT department. I would avoid using any service that may be used for "entertainment purposes" or "shopping" as part of your product support channels.

Answer 12

Videos are cool. They're nifty and all that, but when I want to know how something works I want to be able to go right to the page of the manual I need. I don't want to have to wade through a video or three to find what I need.

more effective than written documentation ('a picture is worth a thousand words')

While I agree with many of your points this one I disagree with. It's not a picture, it is a video. I know for me personally I want to have some document I can flip to the online page of and have the answer to what I need. Videos make it awkward to find the specific thing I want, and what if I miss what the video says and have to rewind it to hear again? Then I forgot the detail, because I didn't write it down, and then I have to replay it AGAIN!

I say stick with written documentation, and have YouTube videos as well, maybe as introductary videos, that then refer back to the standard written documentation.

Answer 13

I think that's a great idea.

For the mac, SnapZ Pro works really well for capturing video of the screen, along with narration:

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox

Answer 14

Depends on how much you want to protect your Intellectual Property. I agree that video can be a very effective training tool if done right. However, many software developers rely on a closed relationship with clients in order to protect their products feature set.

Give Screencast a look. This provides an ideal (free) service that can be secured.

Answer 15

It could be a good idea to share your knowledge on the Internet. YouTube is a nice platform. Most people can record the screencasts and upload the video to YouTube to share with everyone.

You have shown us a wonderful way on how to make a helpful video. The idea that you Wrote some scripts and converted the text in to sound for your video is very helpful for me. Frankly speaking, I am not good at speaking, so I hope I can find some software to speak for me.Thanks again.

I used to make software or website demos with DemoCreator. This software and record the screen to video with narration. Most of times I did not do good narrations for my demos. I think I can improve the method like this: 1.write the scripts; 2.convert the text to audio; 3.listen to the audio, and make your screen recording(Full motion); 4.import the audio to the recording video. If you do not like the way that the software speaks, you can send the audio file to some MP3 device. Then, you just follow the audio scripts played on the MP3 and speak it out and record it to your video with DemoCreator.

Answer 16

Since I didn't see this on here, I thought I would bring it up. The one drawback I can see when posting tutorials on YouTube is that some people won't be able to view them. The company I work for has a rule that no one is allowed to stream videos. We all do, but I know other companies that have this rule and actually enforce it. They block access to YouTube all together.

If you are going this route, it might be wise to have a back up plan where you can send it to your clients. Like for 10 dollars (or something), send them a cd of all the videos.

Answer 17

This is something I have thought about quite abit before and have even tried to get it used for some projects where I work. I agree with you and a lot of the other posters that it is a good idea for introducing a system to the user, and lets them pick up how to do basic tasks quickly. One thing I thought of is that instead of hosting them on youtube, distribute the flash videos with your application. By doing it this way you get around potential issues around IP and blocked access to youtube. Most desktop applications now a days have online help that launch a web browser, so I think it wouldn't be too hard to embed the videos in that, and in your case, you are doing a CMS, which is a web app, so this would be a non issue. BTW, like your video, but I would probably go with a real person narrating, there is something about text2speech voices that give me the creeps ;)