Way back when, I thought I was a PowerPoint jock. Until I worked on a presentation with Bob Weinberger, and realized how little I really knew.  I wanted to reach back and redo years of presentations.

Like many users, I avoid reading manuals (and fewer apps actually have manuals). I stumble around and figure out enough functionality to get by, and get stuck in that starter “box”, rarely learning new features until some need pushes me.

Until now; with on-line video becoming more widespread, tutorial screencasts are a great way to learn new apps.  I forced myself to go through the tutorials for OmniOutliner and Lightroom, and I’m glad I did — I’m getting much more out of each app than I would have just stumbling around.

For app developers:  if you don’t have tutorial screencasts, you’re missing a huge opportunity to educate your users!  Please keep them short (3-5 minutes each), single topic, and update them when you revise the software.  You don’t even need a camera, just a microphone and screen capture software (I use SnapzProX for the Mac).