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Comment by kstenerud | Hacker News Reader

This won't be really helpful to you since you've already built it, but I'm the kind of person who doesn't like videos. I AM interested in Ansible, but I don't want to sit through videos about it; I want to read and follow the examples as I do.

Actually, I wonder what the split is between people who prefer videos vs people who prefer reading?

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If it's a video, I'm very likely to just hit the back button. I skim read far faster than a video is capable of giving me the information and I can't copy and edit example code from a video. I get that some people like videos, but unless there's a transcript, I'm not going to be using it. Now, if it's a general talk on a subject, a video is great as the speaker can entertain as the talk. But if it's tutorials, please write the article's to go with it.

I think you've hit on a good compromise: videos with a transcript (including code examples).

That way, people who want a video have a video (with the bonus of something to read-along to), and people who want text have text.

I hate videos for technical learning. I will avoid them as much as possible, especially if I cannot play at 2x speed (or more!) and/or if they don't have a thumbnail-preview when skipping.

Often I find that with videos:

- I already know some bits and pieces about something - it is quite rare to be coming in 100% fresh to something. So I don't want to have to sit through all the crap I already know, or have to skip backwards and forwards getting past the pre-amble ("What we're going to learn on this course!" "What is <subject>?" etc - if I didn't know what it was, I'd not be here doing the course) or bits I already know.

- Videos make terrible reference material. If you are trying stuff out as you learn you have to pause the video, then if you forget you then need to go back and re-watch the video to re-listen to what was said, perhaps several times. Text is so much easier to flip back and forth from.

- Watching videos often leads my mind to wander and before I know it I am "watching" a video and doing my email/programming/random internet stuff... this basically means I end up ignoring the video and just concentrate on my other real work.

Just as a thought experiment - can you imagine a stack overflow type site where all the questions and answers were in video format? That would be a special type of hell :-)

I couldn't watch this as it needed email registration, but some constructive suggestions:

- have a 100% textual content in nice chapters/sections.

- make the first example of something the absolute minimum-viable-example (don't make it "more interesting" with unnecessary extras).

- After presenting the example, go over it again in extreme detail (especially if new concepts are used) and explain each thing - e.g. What is this YAML thing? What is this param for? Why did we use value X? What does this other param do? What values can it take?

- make additional examples that cover the common other cases that someone might come up against, e.g. doing 1 of something vs doing X of something.

- copy-paste-able snippets for boring boilerplate (e.g. installation of stuff etc) are good++.

- Add a video as an extra demo that cements what was covered in the text. Try not to include any bullshit in the video (intros, jokes, other timewasting etc)

Absolutely no to videos. Can't easily tell what's where when I want to jump to a certain section, no result from web search for the contents and can't even copy paste any examples.

It's like keep watching TV for news to find the tiny bit that you might care about. Much waste of time.

For programming definitely text. We actually perceive code differently than blocks of texts, so it is easier to just jump to a block of code that seems right to what you want.

For videos, activities that are more visual, like guitar lessons are more suitable

I detest videos and podcasts and wish HN always included warnings (e.g. “(podcast)”). At least a Vimeo or YouTube link is obvious.

> Actually, I wonder what the split is between people who prefer videos vs people who prefer reading?

I noticed this split with a few relatives. I can't stand having to slog through a video when I could just as easily read a transcript or a write-up. Therefore, YouTube is the last place I'll look for informative content.

My younger relatives actively seek out video tutorials and the like, and YouTube is the first place they look.

> My younger relatives actively seek out video tutorials and the like, and YouTube is the first place they look.

I would suspect that's because they've had more things read to them than they have acquired the skill/patience/vocabulary/instinct to seek out things to read for themselves.

I guess similarly, without the mental movie to play out the actions they're hearing the words for, it can be easier to watch someone type or watch a program run than to read about that same action

For some content (like news!), I much prefer reading. For some books, especially informational (business, self-help, etc.), I prefer audio (Audible). For tech tutorials, I've come to appreciate quite a few video courses.

A video tutorial can be great, but it's more about the preparation and pace of the delivery. There are some really great and knowledgeable teachers of tech that I cannot stand to watch/hear. And then there are a number of excellent courses on Udemy (for example) that are 99% video content.

So for me, video _can_ be great.

I love videos, as long as the presenter is organised and speaks clearly

I know at this point this has been stated, but since this thread has effectively turned into a poll, here's my vote :)

I love videos if I'm starting out from scratch or if I'm trying to go an exhaustive course on something I've learnt on an ad-hoc basis.

However, if I know the tech or have done a course before, I can't bring myself to finish the video.

Regarding Ansible. I'm new so I'd probably take your course :)

I truly prefer videos over text, I mean, in a perfect world, I want both, but for me, Videos are faster If I want to learn something from Zero. And for deeper understanding I go to the official documentation. But of course, that's my opinion, some time a fast tutorial will do it.

I usually dislike videos. I have stumbled upon the "fun fun function" youtube videos by Mattias Petter Johansson and they are pretty great and helped me understand some stuff I had trouble wrapping my head around.

So 9 out of 10 times, I prefer text. But video can also be very powerful!

Yet another No Video Please vote here.

If I'm starting out from nothing, I prefer video content.

Text is a must-have for me and videos can be a nice addition.

This is the first phase of the course. I go through a few phases and one of them is essentially writing small PDFs for each section and what they cover.

That might interest you more.

Please use (simple) HTML instead of PDF. Everything is read on-screen these days. PDF basically has no use case that HTML doesn’t cover better in 2018.

I prefer video as it shows. Text only leaves too much ambiguity to interpretation. Having taken multiple courses in coursera, edx and other online learning platforms, the video in this course is pretty well made.

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