Tutorials. Everyone has them (ok, so not everyone. But a lot of people - even I had some... and for far too long, I might add). They bulk out the content of the average site and which makes the site look more important and useful and the site owner feels better about themselves, knowing they're helping people out.
The point of a tutorial is that it should help people out. It should take them through, step by step, instructions on how to perform a particular task which would otherwise be demanding and/or difficult. It should be clear, to the point, and easy to follow.
Let's take Jane Jones, a fictional website owner who loves writing tutorials. She writes them about anything and everything; Photoshop, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, you name it. She copied wrote all the iframe and blur effect tutorials first, dontchaknow. Anyway. Jane Jones comes across a script she likes - it takes text entered in a form and stores it in a database. She hasn't written a tutorial for at least a day now and she really loves this new script she's found, so she decides she'll write a tutorial for it.
She could start by writing about how the form could be extended - adding an extra field, for example. She could also write about how you can jazz up the layout a bit, for those who don't know how to do it. But this is all far too advanced for Jane... She starts with the traditional installation tutorial. "Create a database, see my other tutorial for details," writes Jane. "Then upload all the files. That's it!". Yay, one tutorial done. Second tutorial: "How to add text. To add text, write in the box and then press ok. That's it!". Next one: "How to delete text. To delete text, click the delete button. You're done!"
Let's say I'm using the script Jane has written the tutorial about. What have I learned here? I already know how to add text - it's fairly obvious, and anyone with half a brain would have guessed that you enter text in the box and then click the button. Even the most dim-witted person in the world would be able to guess that clicking 'delete' would, oh, I don't know, delete text?
So I ask you this: as a site owner, why are you writing that tutorial? Because you feel like sharing knowledge? Because you think that explaining the way you did something would help others? Or is it because you want more content? Or even because your hits are low and you want more on your site to keep them entertained?
Does your tutorial point out the obvious? Is it actually teaching anything? Writing a tutorial of the type Jane wrote above will insult the intelligence of your visitors. People will read it and wonder why you bothered writing it.
(And no, before anybody asks, this is not directed at anyone or any tutorial in particular. I see these sorts of tutorials all over the place and they do my head in.)
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I'd suggest that it's because they write tutorials aimed at those with a similar level of intelligence. :P If they found it hard, they most likely expect others to find it equally as difficult.
I'm lost, she forgot to say you had to upload the files. D:
I would leave a comment on your entry but I don't know how to. Tutorial please?
^ Ok, here you go:
1. Enter your comment.
2. Press 'post comment'
3. That's it!1!!1one!1!1
no, that's too confusing, I don't understand!!1
1. move mouse to 'name' box
2. write name (using those little buttons with letters on them
3. move mouse to 'email' box
...
and so on :P
Well it depends on what type of visitor you get, your visitors might not have half a brain =P. Or what Amanda said - it probably took Jane days to add text, so she felt the need to tell the world how clever she is!
I'm going to piss myself laughing if someone called Jane Jones stumbles across this, realises they have identical tutorials, and then throws a temper tantrum :P
Oh wow, you're totally right.
That's why I deleted all my tutorials a while ago. Everyone just copies them off everyone else. There's no creativity in there anymore.
ROFL @ Jem
Now I ask this: If the internet is supposed to provide is with information, why is so much unexplained?
Didn't anyone ever tell you that unless you have 192573894756 pages of content, you're nobody.
My latest reviewer told me I should have had my "basics list" (the part on the top of my webmistress page) in a different page than the self description. Apparently it confuses people... or something.
We have to keep that in mind next time we write more than 5 lines on the screen... speaking of which: this entry is tooooo long. You could have made at least 3 entries of it. XP
Wait a minute! You mean the delete button is for deleting? Wow! And you say those tutorials aren't useful! I learn new things everyday!
This post made me laugh - I've seen several of these useless tutorials around the web, and I thought the same thing.
Gah, i HATE HATE HATE those. Especially when you come across them in a hunt for something substantial... it's so disappointing :(