… and I'm not just saying that because I have a personal interest (I make them). So many places I've visited on the web are finding it insufficient to have text + still pictures alone, so they include video tutorials — also known as "vidtuts" for short, or "screencasts", alternatively. These aren't just for existing users, but to introduce new users at-a-glance to the features and benefits of a product. Video tutorials are continuing to grow in popularity, and these are some good examples:

• Sprout Builder - Heard of this from Vint Falken (thx!). They're quite multimedia-apt, and turns out in their site has a How It Works section showing how fun it is to get started.
   
• WordPress 2.5 - Even with 5 teeth missing, blogging rockstar Matt Mullenweg takes some time to show off what's up with the new WP release.
   
• ScreenFlow - Suitably, this "professional screencasting studio" not only helps you make video tutorials, it shows you how to make them with video. Ah, recursion at its finest.
   
• Best of Adobe Photoshop Video Tutorials - Smashing Magazine has a… smashing compilation highlighting what a community (in a loose, abstract sense) has built up around making vidtuts for Photoshop. One of my role models is the great Russell Brown (who's been involved with PS since version 1), and I'm pleased to see him lead the way on xTrain. Next, I'd like to see him and iJustine collaborate on a session!

At Smashing Magazine, Dirk Metzmacher explains why vidtuts are so valuable:

The best thing about Photoshop video-tutorials is that they allow you to observe professionals just as if you were standing nearby and looking over their shoulders. You can see step-by-step how buttons, collages or even paintings are created. Instead of reading through books describing what needs to be selected, activated and clicked, you can simply imitate mouse clicks knowing exactly that you are actually doing the right thing.

The learning curve is easier to climb and the result is easier to compare. More than that: you can observe how it is done from the very beginning to the very end and (sometimes) you can get explained why it is done in exactly this way.

From many personal experiences where I was trying to help someone in Second Life but was frustrated explaining it via words and static imagery didn't communicate the motion, the animation and the kinetics involved in daily inworld activities, this rings all too true. If you're new to what I do, have a look and see what you think:

It's clear to me that if you've got a product you want to leverage and demonstrate to thousands, even millions of people who're physically distant but looking right at your content through the Internet, a winning way to do it is with a well-made video.

I'm a grounded pragmatist who's well-aware of the caveats though, and I'll be covering them — and related philosophy — for the benefit of aspiring video tutorial makers and watchers alike in a future post.

Meanwhile, I gotta keep practicing what I preach.