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Comment by jimmaswell | Hacker News Reader

Much like almost any video that's a person talking to the viewer, this would be much better as an article. The average reading speed seems to be about 300 WPM while average talking speed is 110-150, along with talking generally being less information-dense because of filler words and repetition. There is the option of increasing the video's speed at least.

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If you prefer reading there are plenty of articles on this subject, for example this one from April: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9454670

I liked David's video though, great production values and good pacing.

I, too, hate videos that consist of the face of some idiot as he blathers. However, this video mostly consisted of animations that illustrated the material much better than still images could have, and I think that probably speech interferes less with understanding the animations than text does, even for me.

You seem to be suggesting a "Snow Fall"-style presentation of this material. If that's what you think would be best, I'd be interested in seeing your remix!

I generally prefer text, but this was a topic best explained through visuals. Works far better in video than in text.

Some people enjoy learning from videos more than learning from articles.

It is a symptom of global shortening of the attention span due to constant distractions and multitasking (on the internet and elsewhere). Watching a movie in a window while browsing the web and chatting on irc seems to be quite usual these days.

Possibly, but I personally prefer videos to articles, so I don't mind.

Plus you can listen to or watch the video while doing otherwise mindless stuff like household chores.

That edge-case doesn't justify video over text in general

That is not an edge case by any stretch of the imagination. Most, if not all, people I know have videos playing while doing other stuff.

I've never done that or seen anyone do it, personally

I guess my most such cases are watching a video an browsing at the same time. Or cooking food/cleaning while watching videos. Not once have you done that? I find that odd, but each to their own.

I've followed some bloggers who transitioned to videos. The common reason given was more people are interested in watching videos than reading, and they can monetize better.

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