NETTUTS Screencast Competition!
Those of you who have come to know me have probably noticed that I’m a big fan of video training. Personally, I’m a visual learner and can extract much more from an easy to understand screencast as opposed to the written word.
Considering this, I’ve decided to launch our first ever screencast competition!
What’s the Contest?
Between now and 11:59 PM, January 31 (Central Standard Time), anyone may submit a 20-30 minute screencast related to web development. During the first week of February, I, along with several of my peers, will choose the top five submissions.
1st Place Receives:
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$200 cash, via Paypal.com
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$100 worth of credit at the Envato marketplaces.
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1 year’s subscription to TUTS+
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The screencast will be posted on NETTUTS.com and exposed to 23,000+ subscribers.
4 Runners Up Receive:
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$150 cash, via Paypal.com
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Screencasts will be posted on NETTUTS.com and exposed to 23,000+ subscribers.
How Do I Enter?
- Prepare a 20-30 minute screencast (including vocals) that covers any area of web development.
- Record at 640×480, or 960×720.
- Save the finished recording as an AVI, or MOV file.
- Email the file (or a link to the file) to nettutsblog@gmail.com.
What Are My Chances of Winning?
How should I know? :) I can tell you this. Your competition will not be as high as you might think. So go ahead and enter! There are a couple of ways that you can improve your chances of being selected.
- Use a decent mic. We don’t expect your sound quality to be 100% perfect. Not everyone has access to a top-of-the-line condenser mic. On the other hand, if your screencast is littered with loud noise, we may not select it. (Some software (like Camtasia Studio) allows you to remove unneeded noise. )
- Choose a proper topic. If you choose a subject that is too specific or requires a piece of rare software, you may not be chosen. Consider the tutorials that we typically post on this site: PHP, jQuery, Design, WordPress, etc.
I Don’t Have Any Recording Equipment.
Not a problem. There are plenty of free resources available.
Windows
- Camtasia Studio: TechSmith offers a free 30 day trial of this fantastic software.
This is what I personally use when recording the “NETTUTS Screencast of the Week”. - CamStudio: Though I haven’t personally used this one, I’ve heard good things. Better yet, it’s 100% free.
Mac
- Jing: 100% free, and Mac compatible.
For a microphone – even a cheap $10 mic will do just fine. For those of you who use Skype – your headset might even do the trick! Use your ears and decide for yourself. :)
Terms and Conditions
- Entry is open to all who are NOT Envato employees.
- Any screencast submitted between NOW and 11:59PM January 31, 2009 (Central Standard Time) is eligible.
- Payment to the five winners will be made via Paypal and will be in US dollars.
- The 5 winners will be selected solely at the discretion of NETTUTS.com and its staff.
- All decisions are final.
- For questions and/or concerns, contact the editor at nettutsblog@gmail.com
The Contest Begins….Now!
Go ahead and get started! Just be sure to send (nettutsblog@gmail.com) the screencast to us by January 31. Good luck!!!
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Awesome.
Someone please post a Ruby on Rails Screencast please =)
@Kevin – I agree. That would be nice.
Yay. Sounds like fun. Wait, what am I wasting time HERE for?!?
Hold on, let me clarify, time spent on NETTUTS is never time wasted.
dont know maybe i´m gonna do a tutorial on how to make a wordpress theme but dnt know if i got time for that , school :(
Hmm, can you submit more than one screencast?
Great!
Topic that are usefull to me.
WordPress, HTML&CSS and other, Joomla, Fast slicing up in Photoshop, Effective and fast basing, Dreamweaver optimal use tricks,…
@Kevin – Yes. But, you can only have one spot in the top five.
Great idea Jeffery! Maybe I’ll do one up….
Suggestions?
Only problem with Jing is that it caps you at 5min. There is another product called screenium that I want to check out for mac screencasting.
I hope to enter the contest and win some fat cash!
Thanks!
Off the top of my head, here are a few topics that I would personally like to see (in no specific order):
1) CakePHP training – ideally something aimed at beginners.
2) PSD to WordPress (we’ll be posting a couple video tutorials on this subject in the next month, but we can use more.)
3) SEO Methods
4) Speed Up Your NotePad++ Development
5) jQuery: “Tips and Tricks of the Masters”
6) Practical PHP OOP
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Don’t think that you’ll get a free ticket just by choosing one of these topics. I’m merely stating a few subjects that would appeal to me – as a viewer. :P
OMG beginner to advanced OOP (PHP) vid would OWN SO MUCH!
Somebody please do this :(
Looks exciting, if I have time I’m definitely gonna have a go! Awesome idea Jeffrey! :)
@James – Please do.
My guess is that we’ll receive less than 30 submissions.
…just a guess, though.
The video has to be an AVI? Are you serious?! I guess that rules out mac users. Besides….what is the size of a 30 min AVI….it’s gotta be HUGE?
does it have to be 20-30 mins? the screencasts i find the best are generally around 5-10 mins long with some example code/files
Are Flash website entries accepted?
@Sam – I suppose it doesn’t HAVE to be. But if it isn’t, it better be REALLY good!
@Sam You’re right on this. Most people can’t handle a 30 min screencast. Lynda.com does a good job at breaking it up like that.
Another alternative to mac screen capturing is Copernicus. A small great app – allthough it doesn’t include voice recording. I guess you could sync that afterwards somehow…
@Rick – That way I can compress the video myself. Submitting a .mov file is fine too. :)
cool, already got my idea
This is a great idea!!
I would like to make a screencast using CodeIgniter or CakePHP for beginners combined with jQuery to do some really cool things.. my problem is that I’m not the best English speaker :(
Out of curiosity…those that aren’t chosen…will they still be placed on the site somewhere?
BTW, this is a good idea. :-)
I’m thinking of doing a Rails screncast, does anyone have any suggestions on what would be useful for the NETTUTS audience?
Can you enter more than one screencast for review?
@Rick – Maybe…maybe. We might do a roundup of the rest. But, there wouldn’t be any reward.
@erik – Yes. But, you can only win one spot. :)
Any chance there can be a little flexibility with the resolution or ratio? It’s not very wide-screen friendly!
its a gifts year of TUTS? soo much of companions, im working on the web site theme, guys make sure to rate my theme.
the first theme you will find in 2 days!
I’ll probably do Django for beginners – from installation to your first project (probably a blog). It doesn’t get as much hype as Rails, but it’s still a very powerful framework. Plus, Python’s far easier to get into than Ruby (for beginners).
By the way, what about including a zip file of source code with our screencasts? And some accompanying text?
I also would LOVE to see a screencast on SEO Methods as well!
I agree with Rick that this is a great idea and making the non-winning screencasts available would also be a great thing to do. I surely hope it happens!
@Bryce, maybe building simple homepage? Or building functional portfolio (auto-building of thumbnails, pagination) with sql, admin control panel. You can accent the work with database!
This is just idea, maybe not as good as other users need.
@Bryce maybe making a simple “To-Do” application in rails.
Under Linux eg you can use:
* http://www.screentoaster.com/
* http://recordmydesktop.sourceforge.net/about.php
wow! good luck to everyone who participate
The link posted for Jing is not correct. Probably best to direct link to http://www.jingproject.com/
Anyway i better get cracking…
finally a contest where i can get in!! i will try :D
This sounds like fun. Im most definetely going to enter
This sounds like a really cool contest. I was thinking about writing some articles for NETTUTS at trying to get a guest spot, but I think I’ll be doing this instead. I just did a PSD to WordPress project not to long ago, so maybe I’ll to that. And if not something WordPress oriented, maybe some PHP/OOP/MySQL stuff. or both!
Would an .h264 mp4 encoded video be rejected? xD
Someone please make a PSD to WordPress tut!
Should it be in English? Because I’m half nativ german speaker :D (but from Austria) and crossplatform? so everybody can follow it?
cheers Allan
Waiting to see the screencasts..
and when the plus area of nettuts will be published??
I’m curious, just like Rene Marinono. Are tutorials about Flash allowed?
i might have a try.
Daniel Apt, ActionScript tutorial maybe? :-)
my time to shine
@hubby:
sweet 16 :P
Haha,
Ok, I’ll try to make an AS3 tutorial, for beginners
Would love to see a tutorial about if you have a photo sharing site, how to add a copyright watermark to the image as it’s uploaded. In HTML, javascript, vbscript or asp or something. not in php because i don’t really use it that much.
Thanks!