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Rules of Screencasting

Posted on Friday September 7, 2007 by Betsy Weber

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As a kid, I always liked breaking the rules. I still do sometimes! I was watching my 2 year old nephew, Moose, the other evening and was quickly reminded that there is a reason behind many rules and they can be good (ask me about the 'Don't throw objects at Aunt Betsy' rule sometime)! After I finally got Moose to bed, I was thinking about what it takes to make great screencasts and videos. And, so I decided to compile a list of rules for screencasting!

  1. You shall not bore your viewer.
  2. You will include audio.
  3. You will publish in Flash (99.9 of the time to keep it web friendly).
  4. You shall check the recording dimensions.
  5. You will keep the screencast short and to the point.
  6. You will share the screencast with others who can benefit.
  7. You shall not make me seasick with panning.
  8. You will not film the screen with ones webcam.
  9. You will use special effects sparingly.
  10. You will watch the entire screencast before posting and sharing with others.
  11. You will plan or storyboard your screencast...at least a little.
  12. You will do a test recording to make sure everything is working properly.
  13. You must have fun while you screencast. You are a rockstar!

What did I miss? Am I way off the mark? Which ones are made to be broken? Add your thoughts and rules in the comments!

Comments (3)

Bill :

Great Tips. It would be nice to link every tip to "How to..." for newbies like me.

This comment might be premature because I just started searching for answers to these types of questions - How do I make my screencast YouTube's dimensions to put on my blog and have it break out to a bigger screen dimension when a user wants to view it larger?

Thanks,
Bill

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Mike :

The microphone & headset (Altec Lansing C-Media USB headset) I use for Camtasia is great but doesn't sound nearly has good in Jing. How can I clear up the sound? I've heard some of Tony's Jing videos and his sound great.

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Karl Sumwalt :

~ You will use enough callouts so those without sound may still benefit, without being too wordy.
~ You will not move the mouse quickly when recording.

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