Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )



> Tutorial Specifications

1. The Tutorials have to be of a bare minimum length of 500 words to be accepted.

2. The Tutorials HAVE TO BE written in FULL ENGLISH SENTENCES, which should be checked carefully to avoid grammatical and spelling mistakes prior to submission. Usage of CHAT Lingo and |33t Speak is absolutely NOT PERMITTED. Any tutorial found to be using such language will be immediately trashed.

3. The Tutorials must be written in your own language. This is perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT rule of all. They should not be copied off another site (Plagiarism) and directly pasted here. Plagiarism can lead to a BAN.

4. Keep in mind that your Tutorial WILL NOT BE VISIBLE till it is read and approved by one of our moderators. Till then, be patient and try to avoid double posting.

 
 Reply to this topicStart new topic
> Writing Good Tutorials, An introduction
Cloak
post Sep 21 2004, 03:21 PM
Post #1





Guests
Before posting a tutorial, please make sure that it meets a few basic requirements:
  • The spelling is as accurate as possible.
  • The language used is as understandible as possible.
  • As few slang acronyms as possible are used - eg. avoid things like 'IMO', 'LOL', 'FYI', 'BTW', etc.
  • Absolutely NO 'short-hand' is used - eg. 'u'='you', 'r'='are', '2'='to'/'too', 'c'='see', etc.
  • It is in English. It's not everyone's first language, but I would assume that most people here can speak it - and it's the only audible human language that I know.
  • It isn't copied from somewhere else. This means copying and editing to make it look like yours, or just directly copy-and-pasting it from another site (or anywhere else) - no forms of plagiarism will be tolerated at Astahost, for ethical, legal, and quality reasons.
  • It was originally written by you. Make sure all quotes/other excerpts are rightfully referenced to the original author/piece of work.
  • It is too something real and relevent. We don't want a step-by-step guide to collecting rocks from the surface of Mars.
  • It is of relative quality, that someone might actually find useful.
Stick to these basic guidelines - plus any reasonable additions you can come up with - and you should be on the way to writing a great tutorial.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Eric Straven
post Sep 21 2004, 06:26 PM
Post #2


King of Fanelia
Group Icon

Group: [HOSTED]
Posts: 48
Joined: 29-August 04
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Member No.: 7
Another word of advice:
If you can't come up with a tutorial by yourself, read a tutorial on the internet and try to interpret it in your own words from what you understand. That way your writing won't be considered "copied". Stay 'clean' wink.gif. No need to plagiarise, the webhosting is worth the posts.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
SoLo
post Apr 17 2005, 02:07 AM
Post #3





Guests
I once wrote a tutorial like this.

Except mine was:

Writing a tutorial: by SoLo

1. Include as many pictures as possible so that the reader doesn't get confused.

2. Make sure what you are saying makes ssence. Not only to you but to the readers. It is a good idea to let someone check your tutorial before posting it.

3. Be original.

4. Your final product should only show what you have told them how to do in the tutorial.

5. Order your steps, like what im doing in this.



Hope you all follow this, it will make your tutorials a lot better and easier to follow.


Yours is better.

Mind if I use some of your stuff in mine? <--- asking permission.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Killer008r
post Apr 17 2005, 05:02 AM
Post #4


Uber-Pro [ Level 99 ]
Group Icon

Group: Members
Posts: 418
Joined: 13-April 05
From: USA-Wisconsin
Member No.: 3,957
Using FYI and BTW, slang like that works pretty good in alot of books, I meen look at All the dummies books, they ALL have slang LOTS of slang like that.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
vizskywalker
post Apr 17 2005, 06:35 AM
Post #5


Techno-Necromancer
Group Icon

Group: Members
Posts: 1,018
Joined: 13-January 05
From: The Net
Member No.: 2,127
QUOTE
It is in English. It's not everyone's first language, but I would assume that most people here can speak it - and it's the only audible human language that I know.

It is imperitive that all tutorials be in English. Even though it may not be their first language, everyone here should no English. The Terms of Service and the Introduction require that all posts on this forum be in English.

~Viz
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
twitch
post Feb 18 2006, 07:46 AM
Post #6


Veteran Nut
Group Icon

Group: Members
Posts: 527
Joined: 4-October 05
From: UK
Member No.: 8,895
Well, what you just mentioned was a list of common sense factors. I do them automatically without thinking.

But here's my piece.
  • Make sure that every step is outlined in detail and explain the relevance. Connecting to your reader helps them to get more involved and feel as though they are making it, not just doing what you did.
  • If you come to a point that involves using a skill acquired previously in your tutorial, direct them to re-use it instead of repeating yourself. They can only gain true experience if they have to do things without being 100% spoon fed.
  • When using screenshots, make sure that it relates to the previous paragraph or the next one. It is no good having a screenshot of your favourite actress ona tutorial about connecting to a wireless network.
  • Also, screenshots shouldn't be HUGE, they should be able to fit into the window. In my first couple of tutorials, I used full-sized screenshots to show what was happening. It ate away at my BandWidth and was a stupid thing to do anyway. I tend to take a screenshot, edit out the taskbar, then re-scale the picture so that it is 510x368 pixels, then save it as a JPG.
  • I also like to put down why we do things the way we do it. Especially on web-design/development tutorials. It helps the reader understand things on different levels, therefore helping them in future projects.

--mik
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Shahzad
post May 30 2007, 12:24 PM
Post #7


Newbie [ Level 1 ]
Group Icon

Group: Members
Posts: 1
Joined: 29-May 07
Member No.: 22,245
Hi, this post is very informative; however I would like some specific information. If someone can help me then please send me a private message. Best Regards,
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
« Next Oldest · How-To's and Tutorials · Next Newest »
 

Reply to this topicStart new topic

Collapse

> Similar Topics

Topics Topics
  1. full flash sites(60)
  2. PHP: Writing A Generic Login And Register Script(13)
  3. Anyone Know Any Good Mmorpg Games?(59)
  4. Any1 Looking For Good Mmorpg?(9)
  5. I Need Good Programs?(11)
  6. Looking For A Good C++ Compiler(15)
  7. Anyone Know Of Any Good Image Editing Software?(20)
  8. Space Exploration (nasa= Good/bad)(33)
  9. Is It Worth It To Get Gmail ? Is Gmail Good?(91)
  10. Any Cms On Perl Which Is Really Good ?(2)
  11. Runescape: Good or Not ?(48)
  12. Free Photo Storage Sites.(10)
  13. Photoshop Tutorial: Part 1 - Terminology(4)
  14. Whats A Good Graphics Editor For Solaris 10 ?(8)
  15. Forum Based Multiplayer RPG(10)
  1. Is The Processor Everything / Good For Gaming ?(14)
  2. Youtube.com: Excellent Streaming Video Site(32)
  3. How To Create A Good Forum(27)
  4. Gimp: Good User Bar Creator(14)
  5. Good Program To Use(8)
  6. Web Developing Software(16)
  7. Good Webbrowser (flock Browser)(0)
  8. Free Web Hosting: (just Relax, Take It Slow, And Let The Good Times Roll) - denied(2)
  9. A Good Theme, Bad Mod Support.(0)
  10. Two Flowers?(0)
  11. How To Play Music And Movie In Linux? Which Is The Good One?.(2)
  12. Free Web Host Or Our Own Web Server ?good & Bad(8)
  13. Good Powerpoint Maker Software (not Microsoft Powerpoint But Something Similar)(7)


 

Display Mode: Standard · Switch to: Linear+ · Switch to: Outline

Track this topic · Email this topic · Print this topic · Subscribe to this forum

- Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 7th July 2008 - 03:10 AM
Powered By IP.Board 2.2.1 © 2008  IPS, Inc.
Licensed to: Xisto Corporation