You probably have already noticed that nowadays it’s becoming fashionable online to share technical material via videos (eg YouTube.)
I somehow can understand the appeal of creating videos for sharing thoughts/news, esp b/c it takes way less time and focus compared to writing things (just hit the record button and go.)
But videos are
👎 not index-able (at least locally)
👎 not searchable
👎 not copy-paste friendly if at all
👎 impossible to skim through
👎 a major distraction from the train of thoughts
IMO, in most cases, the more effective and impactful medium of technical comms is the written form: a Mastodon toot, a blog post, a gist, a Pastebin entry or even a Facebook post!
What are your thoughts?
The only goal of technical documentation in video format is to monetize it on YT. It’s a lesser format in every way and people create it only to get some $ out of their work. It’s good for the creators (it’s easier for them to monetize), bad for users. Let’s just create a startup where you will be able to monetize technical documentation. Like only fans but for programmers.
It sounds like adding subtitles (or at least a transcript underneath) to your videos would solve a few of your problems.
I’m not sure what you would be planning on hosting your videos on but at my work we use Microsoft Stream to host recordings (cost reasons) and it let’s you search through the subtitles of videos as well as set chapter markers too, both of which I believe are also supported by public facing sites like YouTube too.
Of course, “why write a transcript when you could just write a document,” and, fair. But if you’ve got a script for your video might as well make it into subtitles right? And besides some people, including myself, appreciate a video over written documentation so I can see the thought processes behind things rather than having to abstract it from screenshot or descriptions. I don’t mind written documentation but when presented with the choice I’ll go for the video
Unless it’s showing something very specific that handle be handled in inline screenshots I’m not watching it. It’s bad enough there’s project managers putting specs into loom and such. Docs should be easily searchable and fast to reference. Ain’t nobody got time to watch a video.
I’m dyslexic so videos are the best starting point for me. However, I don’t like all the lazy copycat tutorials out there on YouTube. A good comprehensive video course, or a quick informative video are essential for my process.
Both formats have their place.
In my opinion written documents should be the primary source, and can be enhanced by using video to show details that are difficult to explain succinctly on paper. A picture really can be worth a thousand words.