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I was recently asked a question by a good friend of mine, Dave Merwin, about the pros/cons of video documentation compared to written documentation. I had a lot of fun answering it, and thought I’d post it here for you all to read.

The Question:
Instructional Video on websites… When do you watch a video on a website and why?

I love video on the web. Hulu.com has great oldies, YouTube has great oddities and there is much more. Lately I have been tasked with using instructional videos in much of my work. Users seem to NOT want to watch videos, they just want text when learning. So tell me, if you are looking to learn something on the web, would you prefer video or text?

My Answer:
To answer it from the perspective of someone wanting to learn how to do something:
There have been a lot of videos getting made lately that try and teach very long and lengthy processes in one giant video. I have no patience for this. When I load a video and see that it is over 5 minutes long, or even worse, 10 minutes long, I check out. I just know that I have no interest in watching anything for that long unless it is VERY important and I can only learn about it this way. However, I’ve also encountered video sites where the instructions are broken down into small, easily digestible steps, they are well organized, and could be strung together to teach a large, more complicated process. However, each video is only 30-60 seconds long. I think this creates a perfect balance. It allows someone to find the answer to a problem, but only the part of the problem they’re needing help with. It doesn’t waste their time, and I don’t think people get too freaked out about 30 seconds.

As for being someone who’s created the videos, I am a huge fan. I’ve written enough instructional documents to know that no matter how clear you are about something, some people just don’t follow the directions. Either they don’t have the vocabulary you do, or aren’t interested in reading a bunch of list items. I’ve seen it over and over people disregarding a very lengthy email that very clearly documents a process, only to be asked again and again how to do something.

With video tools like ScreenFlow, it actually takes less time to make a video demonstrating something. I can use my voice to annotate the video as I go along, and I know people will be seeing the exact steps necessary, with the visual clues that show them where and how to interact with something. If necessary, I may create a supplemental document that outlines the key features and either include passwords or other information to act like a cheat sheet later after they’ve watched the video. When all of this doesn’t work, I can usually tell it’s due to the client/recipient just being obstinate.

The other way I’ve seen video being used is for screencasts demonstrating new applications and application features. I’m a big fan of trying out new software, and I love being able to get a glimpse of an application, how it works, and the general workflow without having to download and actually try the application. It also works as an introductory tutorial while also accomplishing marketing. I’m a big fan of these, and will probably watch 2-3 a week as I stumble across different sites that offer them. Usually, 1-2 minutes is my threshold for length though. And again, more videos that are shorter is far preferred over fewer, longer videos.