Self-Portrait uploaded to Flickr by Scott Kinmartin
Making professional looking online tutorials does not require any fancy equipment. In fact, anyone can make slick screencasts using Jing and a presentation program such as PowerPoint or Google Presentations. Planning, revision, and aesthetics are far more important than any particular tool.
Here is an example of a recent video I made. After you watch it, I’ll explain how I made it:
The finished product you see is a result of many, many takes. I planned out the presentation ahead of time, and then I messed up…over and over again. The willingness to redo work is perhaps the most important tool.
Getting to the nitty gritty, here is how I created the video:
I hope you find this instruction useful. Better yet, I hope you make your own online tutorials and share the links with me. As you work, you might find the following points useful:
- Download the free version of Jing first. I used it for years before moving to JingPro (at the whopping price tag of 15 dollars per year)
- JingPro does allow me to quickly upload videos to YouTube, and I can now quickly save videos in a mp4 format which works with iMovie. (The free version of Jing saves videos in .swf format. Not a tragedy because you can embed Jings easily.)
- Use a dark background with light lettering. The high contrast looks good.
- You will need to add an Embed button to the free version of Jing.
- If you don’t know how to Embed something on your blog, wiki, or website, I show you the basics here.
- BE PREPARED TO MESS UP, and then just do it over until you get it right. The first video will take you a long time. You’ll get faster.
Robin Neal 