Videos vs Articles, what do you prefer?

[Phillipp]

I don’t think you and I read the same articles. Very simple Google searches yield very quality blog articles filled with step-by-step experiments and demonstrations that make it easy to onboard anyone

I like articles who get to the point and are not kilometers long. Unfortunately, most articles are just too long and contain useless information. I don’t need a 500 words intro to something, etc.

BTW, I apply those rules to videos too. That’s why I stopped watching most conference talks, 60 minutes of talk, with maybe 10 minutes of interesting stuff.

[dimitarvp]

All of what you say is true and I judge text articles on exactly the same criteria. I assumed wrongly that yours was an argument against articles. Sorry.

[Phillipp]

Well, if I can, I do prefer videos so my argument was kind of against articles. Articles that match my criteria are fine tho.

[dokuzbir]

For general and package releated topics, I like step by step articles. Easy to apply and easy to modify for owner when somethings outdate.

But for linking more general programing concepts i prefer videos. Because most of articles assume reader has already experience with smilar technologies, but as a intermediate programmer mostly i need to see how to implement in practice.

[alchemist_ubi]

Your post remind me RailsCasts (forget the Rails part, the method is effected, ask Rails folks)

[dokuzbir]

So your goal produce some contents as railcasts or informations for some packages ?

[dwahyudi]

Ruby pickaxe book was the first ultimate book about Ruby in English. Without it, there would be no Rails.

Rails folks also read books written by M. Hartl, Obie Fernandez, DHH, Yukihiro Matz, etc.

M. Hartl’s book is the de facto standard of Rails tutorial for beginners.

[peerreynders]

@alchemist_ubi

Based on facts, watching videos still better for learning about it than reading, 10% more.

10% or 20% retention is hardly “learning” - in a software development context that barely establishes an “awareness” of the technology or methodology potentially clarifying some of the more high-level concepts. Learning comes from applied practice (which moves you to “Practice by Doing”) and the starting point is often “guided practice”.

Articles, books, and videos can be used as “quasi-guides” (in the absence of mentors) through introductory practice - and the effectiveness of a particular medium will largely depend on the target audience.

However I don’t think that it is a coincidence that many successful applied courses use mixed media. In my experience video is often used to give an overview of the material that lies ahead in order to create a superficial sense of familiarity with the topic. Then written prose is used to explore the material in much more detail, encouraging you to work along (rather than just read) and potentially do supplementary exercises.

None of that actually has any bearing if you simply want to make videos - but it does come across as if you are trying to justify the choice after the fact. It’s your time and effort - do what you want.

[OvermindDL1]

@AstonJ

For those against videos, I’m curious - do you have a Rails background and did you use Railscasts?

Nope, never even heard of railscasts before? ^.^;

@AstonJ

I still personally feel videos with a transcript and ‘show notes’ would be a fantastic option - as it caters for all users; those who like videos and those who like written articles…

A mix would not at all be bad, that’s what I hinted at prior, as long as the text document has everything and the video only shows the steps that are written.

@alchemist_ubi

@OvermindDL1what else would you add to this readme https://github.com/straw-hat-team/straw_hat_review ?

Hmm, seems fairly clear to me. It could potentially use more examples of use-cases and so forth, but as for a quick jump-in it seems quite clear. Something I always intend to do but that I don’t do that would be good here is linking the functions being used to their documentation entries so they are described in detail, or at the very least describing more in detail of ‘how’ they are doing what they do and not just ‘what’.

@cmkarlsson

Would you pass your university courses by going to lectures only? And not reading the text books?

Yeah this is a great point!

@cmkarlsson

Unfortunately I often I find that video is the only documentation. I think this is because videos are actually more used as a marketing tool than as a proper educational source and that they are much easier to create than good documentation.

I don’t really look for videos so I don’t often see them as the only documentation, rather I will often see just ‘no documentation’ instead… ^.^;

Might just be me, but making such videos sounds more difficult to me. It’s near impossible to edit it and proofread and all piecemeal in comparison…

@cmkarlsson

I can’t tell you how to feel but I find transcripts doesn’t add much to the video. The problem is that the content is adapted to video format. The transcript will contain as little content as the video. This would be for people who like videos and videos.

+1

@alan12

make transcription as an article.

Transcriptions don’t make for good articles. I exceptionally hate reading a, for example, interview or conversation transcoded into text, it is just horrible read and concentrate on…

@alan12

Thanks to video format you can learn by many senses - more than when you read an article.

Hence embed little example snippets into an article that demonstrate what is being taught.

@alchemist_ubi

Based on facts, watching videos still better for learning about it than reading, 10% more.

Never in my experience. Watching a video for me might clarify some time-based demonstration for me, but text is substantially more clear overall.

@sztosz

cook a complicated dish

Oh I hate those as videos! I convert them to a properly formatted recipe card (of which mine are wonderfully formatted and detailed, I should post them up sometime as I eat low-carb and invented most of my recipes).

@Phillipp

filled with useless crap just for SEO purposes or to stretch the article

Yeah those are the ones that I speak of that suck, like many Medium articles.

@Phillipp

Reading too much hurts my eyes

Wow that should never be the case! I read for literal days at a time without sleep without issues. If I really want I can put on my glasses (I ‘barely’ can use them) which eases any strain I have but they are still entirely optional for me. My wife reads even more than I and she always uses her glasses, sounds like you might need a new prescription, it’s important to check that!

@sztosz

My point in first paragraph was to to joke a bit, hence the emoticon at the end ->

One of my favorite emoticons! ^.^
Though as a textual emoticon most often: ;-) (which this forum often breaks into a weirdly non-standard big-forhead looking emoji of )

@dimitarvp

Very simple Google searches yield very quality blog articles filled with step-by-step experiments and demonstrations that make it easy to onboard anyone. But that is probably relative to the tech sub-area so results obviously vary.

I’ve never had an issue finding such an article/blog/manual on anything even remotely popular (and even non-popular ones).

@dimitarvp

I would still like to see the study that tries to pass as “facts” the idea that videos are preferred for tech education.

As would I, even my young family members of age 11 that live on the junk youtube prank videos still prefer text when learning compared to videos as they “just don’t understand what they are saying”.

@Phillipp

I don’t need a 500 words intro to something, etc.

Oh hey, the average Medium article! ^.^;

@peerreynders

10% or 20% retention is hardly “learning” - in a software development context that barely establishes an “awareness” of the technology or methodology potentially clarifying some of the more high-level concepts. Learning comes from applied practice (which moves you to “Practice by Doing”) and the starting point is often “guided practice”.

That is why I love embedded interpreters ala Klipse like on my blog so you can read and test what you are reading at the same time without many windows!