A basic tutorial...

[bogs]

I had mentioned I was writing a tutorial a bit ago. I never got any feed back on the writing from the people I shared it with, so I am guessing that I am just too windy in text

However, I converted the tutorial to 2 15 minute (approximately) videos, and a link to the completed project.

The tutorial is about making a basic text editor. This will be the basis for a more advanced text editor (future videos). If anyone has about half an hour to kill, and could check the videos out, what I am looking to find out is -
* do the videos move too fast?
* is the work flow understandable?
* does the code look technically correct? (I know it works, I am wondering more about a solid foundation).
* any other thoughts/comments/suggestions.

Thanks for your time, it is appreciated.

[richmond62]

Well: for starters; I couldn't hear the sound . . .

on the youTube link.

Nor when I downloaded the film onto my desktop.

I also couldn't help wondering why, although you are obviously running some type of
Windows on your machine you have a desktop picture featuring the Linux penguin.

[SparkOut]

I lasted about a minute and a half before my half hour to kill was well and truly killed. The brief portion I saw looked fine pace-wise.
I look forward to getting a chance to see the other 27 or so minutes. Then I might have some more feedback, but I applaud the effort nonetheless.
A verbal commentary would be great. (Not just a background music track.)

[bogs]

Thank you for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I also realized too late that Youtube apparently downgraded the resolution to 480p, making the text all but unreadable. I'll be correcting that hopefully today or tomorrow.

Well: for starters; I couldn't hear the sound . . .

I'd be surprised if you could, as I didn't include any audio

I also couldn't help wondering why, although you are obviously running some type of
Windows on your machine you have a desktop picture featuring the Linux penguin.

I'm really not sure what would give you that impression. The tutorial was made on my box, which is (currently) running MX Linux 18. The video was captured using Simple Screen Recorder, and edited with kdenlive. The background is a tux wallpaper inside of Nomacs, for a video it is less distracting than my actual desktop.

Tutorial work area setup...

I lasted about a minute and a half before my half hour to kill was well and truly killed. The brief portion I saw looked fine pace-wise.

That is good to know. I think I am going to have to slow it down anyway, though because...

A verbal commentary would be great. (Not just a background music track.)

I hadn't planned an audio speaking commentary, but rather brief textual commentary for things that might not be blatantly obvious. I'd have to pause the video to insert the notes, which would make each segment have to be shortened to 15 mins.

The 15 min. time target is probably 3x longer than anyone will sit watching a video tutorial though, and you can't accomplish much in less and impart an understanding of what is involved unless you are doing something REALLY simple. I suspect the videos will be pretty boring chaptered like that, but I could be wrong there too.

First, though, I really need to fix that resolution issue, 480p isn't 1/4 what the video was shot at

[jmburnod]

Hi Bogs,

I really need to fix that resolution issue

Yes, my old eyes ask this

I hadn't planned an audio speaking commentary, but rather brief textual commentary

Yes. More flexible for non english comments
I can do the french comments
Best
Jean-Marc

[bogs]

I really need to fix that resolution issue

Yes, my old eyes ask this

Heh, yours and mine both. I really have to apologize that I didn't catch it before posting the links here

I can do the french comments

Be careful what you volunteer for Jean-Marc, this is likely to be a lengthy tutorial before it is finished

[capellan]

Hi Bogs,

Could you zoom in to the screen zone where you are working?

It's somewhat distracting to see mostly the background while
you are working in just a small part of the screen.

Al

[bogs]

Heya Al,
I had thought about doing just that, the original workspace I had set aside was 800x600. The problem with that size was, it seemed to me too crowded. I think I will bump the size back though, maybe 1024x768 or so. I may also dump the backdrop picture, and just have a solid color back there.

I did experiment with the zooming in already, it was a big flop. My wife couldn't watch the video at all after a few in/out/overs, and I imagine there are other people that may be detrimental too as well.

[richmond62]

The background is a tux wallpaper inside of Nomacs, for a video it is less distracting than my actual desktop.

Really? Well it is still extremely distracting.

Here is the desktop picture I tend to use most of the time,
and almost always for screenshots and instructional vids:
-

Sample

bwax.png (17.72 KiB) Viewed 9752 times

-
The full image is zipped here:
-

beeswax.jpg.zip

(231.58 KiB) Downloaded 250 times

[bogs]

The background is a tux wallpaper inside of Nomacs, for a video it is less distracting than my actual desktop.

Really? Well it is still extremely distracting.

Heh, and here I thought it was cute! However, as I said to Al,

I may also dump the backdrop picture, and just have a solid color back there.

I've already lined up a nice blah gray color for the task, sitting in SeaMonkey instead of Nomacs

Now I'm working out the size constraints for the minimal amount of space I feel ok coding in. With Mc, it is close to nothing, but with Lc above 2.x, it is more than that

[ValiantCuriosity]

@Bogs,

Hmmm. I sent you quite a lot of feedback. Not sure why you didn't receive it. I never heard a "peep" back.

-Rachel

[bogs]

@Bogs,
Hmmm. I sent you quite a lot of feedback. Not sure why you didn't receive it. I never heard a "peep" back.
-Rachel

Yes you did, and I acknowledged that I was grateful for the feedback I received from you, my apologies for not getting the record straight. You have a PM.

[bogs]

Well, it took me a bit longer than I thought it might, but here is the "Basic Text Editor tutorial re-recorded, re-edited, and re-uploaded, this time in the correct resolutions (up to 1080p).

Both videos are just shy of 15 minutes in length, although they might get shorter with more editing.

I don't think they are moving too fast anymore, but could still use the feedback if anyone has the time to actually watch them again, I'd still like to know if :
* the work flow understandable?
* the code look technically correct? (The statements could be shorter, but I was trying for clarity overall)
* any other thoughts/comments/suggestions.

Could you zoom in to the screen zone where you are working?

I *think* the new videos answer this better, let me know if you think so as well.

Thank you for any feedback

[redfield]

I just had a brief look at the videos and am hoping for more time, to go through the tutorial soon.

I really like the idea of written commenting, rather than talking. But there should be more commenting done. I notice that I get bored or distracted very quickly, when I just see the mouse moving around without ANY kind of explanation on the left. So I think there should ALWAYS be some kind of comment on the left on what is currently happening on the right.

Also the quality is not so good, e. g. for me the code is hardly readable. Would be great if you could zoom in when writing code. Not sure about Windows but on Linux a zoom function for the Desktop can be achieved very easily.

Thanks anyway for the Tutorial!

Cheers
redfield

[bogs]

Thank you for the comments redfield.

I thought I had put comments in the side for any significant motion of the mouse, to explain the next step such as the menu builder, etc., could you point out the parts of the video where the movement isn't explained, other than the locating/resizing of the controls?

This made me really curious though ,

Also the quality is not so good, e. g. for me the code is hardly readable.

I would love to know how you are watching these, and whether or not you set YouTube's viewer to full HD or not. On the full HD setting, I can read the text even without my glasses, even in the smaller player (with my glasses).

I am watching it on a computer monitor though, if your watching it on something smaller, that may be the issue. Here is what I see as a picture ~

1080p setting on YouTube...

The resolution of the monitor the clips were taken on is 2560x1440, but the square being recorded is of course much less, 1032x920. The video is set to a resolution of 1920x1080 in 16:9 format, which is what gives me the space for the comments on the side.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

*Edit - I did test watching it myself down to 480, at that resolution the text starts getting fuzzier, but either 720 or 1080 seems ok to me.