Recently I had been looking for a replacement for the notebook application that I was using, Notebook from Circus Ponies. It’s not that there was anything wrong with this particular piece of software, it’s just that it wasn’t sitting well with the particular workflow that I was using it for. So after doing some research, I decided to give Bare Bones Software’s Yojimbo a try. Aside from being an excellent piece of software, one of the things that struck me about Yojimbo was the introductory tutorial video that came with it. Most applications come with a “getting started” manual, or section of the user-guide, but this was much better. Normally, I find I am one of those people who just skim through manuals, which means, even with simple software you might miss out on some clever features. With the “screencast” that came with Yojimbo though, I was offered an effortless way to quickly see an introduction to all the features of the software without having to read a word.
Bare Bones aren’t the only ones realizing this either. Stikkit offers similar introductions on their website for their web 2.0 stickies site. Professional software is also realizing the potential. Apple’s Aperture has links to numerous tutorial videos hosted on their website and numerous 3d software companies are now starting to ship extensive video tutorials and introductions with their software too. Luxology’s Modo is an excellent example of this, and one of the first 3d developers to ship with extensive video tutorials.
I definitely think this is a growing phenomenon, and an excellent one too. It has long been a problem with software that it takes time and effort to get to know an application properly. With large professional Applications you are often willing to put in the time and effort to learn it regardless, but when trying out shareware or smaller pieces of software, I find that if an Application doesn’t grab my attention quickly I will often abandon it for something that does. I know this sounds like laziness, but sometimes you are just too busy to invest the time. By using simple quicktime videos, a developer can give a much better overview to an application and allow the potential user to get into the software much quicker. More than that though, it is a great boon for end users to quickly see what a software product can do and immerse themselves in the features without having to go through pages of documentation first. I hope more software developers realize this in the future and we start to see the traditional user manual replaced with a more media rich and easier to follow alternative.
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