WordPress.com FAQ Screencasts
We’ve been working with NYT lately on a whole bunch of short (as in a minute long) screencasts addressing key features and frequently asked questions about WordPress.
As of now you’ll find around forty new short tutorial videos dotted throughout the WordPress.com FAQ, and there are a truckload more on the way. So if you (or someone you know) is having a hard time getting started with their WordPress.com blog, creating a gallery, or embedding YouTube videos (among others), head on over and check them out.
Or if you want to check out the current batch, run a search for “screencast” in the FAQ for a handy-dandy list of what’s new.
Expect to see a lot more videos soon as we build towards an exciting (for me at least) new addition to the WordPress family, due at about the same time you see 2.7 hit the digital shelves. More on that soon.
As always, your comments, feedback and ideas for videos you’d like to see are very welcome!
Posted: Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 at 1:40 am. Filed in Support, Video, WordPress.
Tags: FAQ, screencast, screencasts
Sep 10th at 2:27 am
Its. very owesome mate…. all people must try it to solve the wordpress
Sep 10th at 2:27 am
COOL! Do u guys ever sleep?
Sep 10th at 2:38 am
Very nice. I’ve just seen the creating a gallery video, and it’s just perfect. Not a second longer or shorter than necessary.
Thanks.
Sep 10th at 2:41 am
Hey,
If you make this any easier, trained monkeys will be able to do it…
Sep 10th at 2:42 am
Ooooooooooo nice tease at the end! So we are goin’ vid huh? Good, I went to a live blog with a video feed last week. It looks like that will be the future of blogging.
As we bloggers have taken text based info by storm (death to all MSM newspapers!), so we will take the vidiots at the TV news by storm next.
What is this consorting with the NYT enemy? We don’ neeeeed no “paper of record” !
Can’t wait to see 2.7 and the new bouncing baby! I’m hoping that in contains support for coveritlive.com, or better yet a wordpress version of that kind of live blogging app…
Sep 10th at 2:46 am
Thanks for the update I noticed earlier tonight there were some screen casts
Sep 10th at 2:48 am
First…
Anyways, I find some of the videos highly unnecessary, I mean come on whoever doesn’t know how to do things like edit permalink, shouldn’t be blogging. I do like the narrator, he has a delightful voice. I do think learning through video is highly effective though.
Sep 10th at 3:07 am
When will WP 2.7 arrive to WP.com?
Sep 10th at 3:16 am
Wonderful! I’m loving it!!
Sep 10th at 3:16 am
thanx!
Sep 10th at 3:23 am
“….embedding YouTube videos….”
WordPress, you are a Godsend!
Michael, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I immediately followed your instructions on embedding a youtube video on my blog, and, voila!….now my blog is the way I have been trying to get it for sometime. Now that I can embed videos, I can avoid the horrid youtube comments that some posters put up over at that site.
Imagine…youtube videos without the nasty sexist, racist, disparaging comments that have driven me from the viewing of youtube videos.
Keep up the spectacular help WordPress.
You are the standard to emulate in the world.
(P.S.: Thanks also for the information on Javascript. I was in the process of installing a system on my site which could have been done by Javascript or non-javascript.
I will use your recommendations and NOT install any Javascript (unless it is Google or ), and instead I will use the basic URL suggested at that other site.)
Sep 10th at 3:30 am
Hi Michael, these screencasts are good.
They would have made my WP-life much easier a couple of months ago. They will for sure help many WP-beginners. Thank you.
Sep 10th at 3:38 am
Cool.
Always ready to download some knowledge is what I am…
Sep 10th at 4:06 am
its nice dude…Thanks for the update…
Sep 10th at 5:02 am
Once again Great Job folks! AAAAAAAAAA+
Sep 10th at 5:09 am
Very nice…..guys you are really putting the best of the efforts possible….hats off to you…
I just wanted to suggest you to put the screen casts for inserting widgets in the sidebar (widget means all compatible widgets with wordpress, though list is nowhere available)
WP really rocks
Jignesh
Sep 10th at 5:17 am
this is great… very helpful for newbies..
Sep 10th at 5:34 am
The screencasts are really nice. Thanks a lot, they really saved me a lot of time. Now I can go back to focusing on fighting the “Obamabots”
Sep 10th at 5:38 am
Thanks for the kind feedback everyone, much appreciated. We’re trying to make blogging as easy as possible, and hopefully this lowers the threshold a little more. More to come soon.
@ClapSo – had to slip a little tease in there
As a dyed-in-the-wool vidiot, I hear what you’re saying. Interesting thoughts on the live blogging tip, too.
@sensico – you’d be surprised at some of the support emails that come through
I think a lot of us forget how confounding all of these options seem when you’re a freshly minted blogging newb trying to make sense of what’s what. Thanks for the “delightful voice”, I’m going to pin that up and frame it somewhere 
@Manuel Reis – not tooo long to go – expect to see it later this fall/autumn around November
@mclearskin – thanks – hopefully in the coming weeks and months we’ll be adding some stuff of interest to WordPress veterans too, as well as more pointers for folks just getting started
@Jignesh – thanks for the pointer, I’ll put a third-party widgets ‘cast on the to-do list!
@Ann – wow, thanks – glad to be of assistance
Sep 10th at 5:46 am
I always frequent the FAQ section of Worpress. FAQs are really helpful especially for non-computer wizard like me. Thank you.
Sep 10th at 6:30 am
Hoping the verbose versions will also be included for those of us who are broadband or visually challenged. (can zoom the text, but not the video).
Fantastic new addition to the FAQs. Thank you!
Sep 10th at 6:35 am
very nice
Sep 10th at 6:44 am
I just wanted to add that the FAQ section at WordPress.com is excellent – but what impresses me most is the quality of feedback, help and support available through the forums.
I have been able to resolve 100% of the problems I have experienced, simply by reading answers in the forums, to people who had similar problems.
I also appreciate that those who help in the WordPress forums do so for free – which just shows the amazing community we have here at WordPress.
Thank you!
Jim Connolly
Sep 10th at 8:19 am
Thank You, great faq nice job
Sep 10th at 8:38 am
Thanks guys!
@Jennifer – Thanks for your feedback. A lot of the videos cover the same ground as existing FAQ entries, but I think you have a great point there – we’re expanding documentation all the time, and I think making sure the video isn’t relied on, but rather supplementary, is a good policy. I think we could at least be linking to other FAQ entries from the video pages, or perhaps transcriptions might be a good idea? In terms of zooming the player – we’re going to have bigger, better video coming to a player near you soon. Expanded accessibility options are also something we’re hoping to crack in future iterations of the player.
@jimconnolly – Thanks! I totally agree – it’s the passionate community that really makes WordPress what it is, and the same goes for the documentation. In the none too distant future there are also going to be avenues for users sharing *their* screencasts, which should seriously boost the repository of help available. Stay tuned.
Sep 10th at 9:09 am
albeo..sticky posts and now this! wordpress is dong a super job!
Sep 10th at 9:22 am
Great job
I’d like it….
Sep 10th at 10:05 am
Once again! WP is the BEST!! Keep on rockin’ guys…
Sep 10th at 11:54 am
Waiting for the time when there will be no spam
Sep 10th at 12:33 pm
Wow! This must have been a great deal of work on your part. What a great idea and it will be of great assistance to all of us here at WordPress.Com.
Thank you so much.
Sep 10th at 12:53 pm
I would like to thank WordPress for staying on top of things and offering top-notch service!
Sep 10th at 1:08 pm
Awesome!
GREAT JOB GUYS!!!!
Sep 10th at 1:09 pm
Awesome. WordPress is improving very much. I just told 3 of my friend’s about it. Keep it up, hope people get’s to know more about WordPress Blogging with those awesome Tutorial Video’s!
Sep 10th at 1:12 pm
Great Job! I’m loving it!!
Sep 10th at 1:19 pm
nice job..
Sep 10th at 1:38 pm
very goood
Sep 10th at 1:54 pm
ok
Sep 10th at 1:55 pm
Great Jobs. Thanks to WordPress Team.
Sep 10th at 2:12 pm
Useful…
Sep 10th at 2:44 pm
These how-to videos are great! If these were available when I first set up my blog, I might have had more hair left that weekend I started!
Any plans for video how-tos specifically related to setting up a custom blog via the free software at wordpress.org for those of us thinking about eventually going in that direction, getting our own domain and hosting our own blog,and changing the template formats, etc. ? I don’t know CSS and having something like that would be a huge help.
If there already are some available, please forgive me, I don’t know where they are! LOL
Thanks!
Sep 10th at 2:52 pm
@deborahgreenphotography – Thanks for the feedback! Luckily, a lot of the videos here apply to both .org self-hosted blogs and the .com hosted variety – where there are differences, I’ve pointed them out in the flow of things.
That said, we’re planning on putting out a whole bunch of .org videos, too – for things like getting your self-hosted blog installed, up and running, and as you say – customized. We’ll be gathering these together, along with the huge amount of awesome videos made by the WordPress community in a new project, soon. Stay tuned
Sep 10th at 3:06 pm
I surprised every day there a new
Sep 10th at 3:52 pm
i checked out the press this screencast and found it very helpful. i’m a non-techie poet adventurer type person who has been blogging only 10 months–i am sure more of these will come in very handy for me!
and with so many new blogs being added every day to WP, the newbies will benefit by having cool blogs even faster and easier!
thanks, WordPress!
Sep 10th at 4:07 pm
Yeah! For those of us who can’t read or reason on our own!!
Sep 10th at 4:10 pm
Finally…
Go..go…go WP Creative Team!
Sep 10th at 5:32 pm
Good stuff…helping people build-up their blogs is always a good thing….
Sep 10th at 6:53 pm
Nice function
thanks
Sep 10th at 8:47 pm
Everyones know how to embed Youtube videow now!
When will we be able to embed Google Street View ?
Sep 10th at 9:14 pm
Cool, but I think you guys should let us use Adsense on our blogs! Will that ever be added to WP?
Sep 10th at 10:09 pm
Why would anyone use anything other than WordPress? You guys just rock.
Sep 10th at 11:09 pm
Good Job… Wow, you give the best idea to the visitors… Congratulation…
Sep 10th at 11:28 pm
Neat! Ms. Know-It-All just learned something new from one of the videos you linked to. Thanks!
Sep 11th at 12:58 am
Thanks all, much appreciated!
Sep 11th at 6:22 am
Really great, as videos are so much easier to follow than text (for me especially!).
I would love to see more, keep it up!
Sep 11th at 7:34 am
great news for visual people like I am:)
Sep 11th at 8:47 am
Thank’s
Sep 11th at 10:38 am
I learned another thing today! My, I haven’t noticed that gallery thing before! Thank you so much for the hard work! Makes us love WP even more! Cheers!
Sep 11th at 2:32 pm
eh, tutorial video.. wow keren !
must be very helpful for new blogger @WP.com
Sep 11th at 3:22 pm
This should help people that don`t manage themselves.
Sep 11th at 5:14 pm
Good job! Also, the narrator’s voice makes watching the videos very relaxing!
Sep 11th at 7:48 pm
Very Very Goood!
Sep 11th at 9:09 pm
tks
Sep 12th at 1:16 am
Very cool. Just one more reason why WordPress is the best!
Sep 12th at 3:21 am
Thanks everyone!
Sep 12th at 4:36 am
thanx dude!
good by to all that text one has to read
to get a grip on what the bleep a blog is and
how the bleep they get put together! makes all of us,
the visual fraternity [ie text and jargon challenged dudes'] lives
a doddle now – lucky jamy bastards!
can’t wait for the one on the
meaning of life
the universe
and
every thing
Sep 12th at 6:06 am
Very good job
Sep 12th at 6:29 pm
super cool! =)
Sep 12th at 7:13 pm
good but
Subject needed further clarification
Sep 13th at 2:58 am
Good job
Sep 13th at 3:44 am
This is what i like from wordpress, always keep up to date… Good job guys ^_^
Sep 13th at 5:46 am
Thanks…
Sep 13th at 2:19 pm
Are these videos being made accessible to people with disabilities? For example, any audio content should be clearly described in captions or subtitles so that deaf and hard of hearing people can understand (there is a way to set it up so that the captions can be toggled off for people who don’t want them, toggled on for people who do). And any visual content should be described for people who cannot see.
Otherwise, deaf bloggers and blind bloggers would be left out.
Sep 13th at 11:52 pm
Nice one, sure to check them out.
Bless up
Sep 14th at 8:57 am
Thanks…
Sep 14th at 2:38 pm
Thats very useful for newbies. Thanks
Sep 14th at 5:11 pm
Cool this is bound to help everyone especialy less experienced users.
Ven
Sep 15th at 1:49 am
Great idea, I’ve been playing with a paid app called ScreenFlow which is EXCELLENT btw, for training the staff members on our site on putting up drafts, articles, how to compile a story etc.
Only hassles I’ve had is loading them onto WP, does anyone have an idea how to convert the ScreeFlow Doc (audio/visual) into a file format that is acceptable on WP.com
I’m sure this feature that you’re introduced will help a great deal. I’m always pleased with the additions you guys-n-gals at WP do for the community each week. Someone asked me, well actually, everyone I speak to does, is that … “how the dickens do WP make their money if they give all this stuff away for free for the users” . . . I just look perplexed and tell them I have no idea, traffic perhaps, and say it’s the end user who benefits with such innovations.
Looking forward to the next iteration update of WP.
Sep 15th at 2:31 am
That’s extremely helpful Michale. Thank you:)
Sep 15th at 9:44 am
Great… thank you!!
Sep 15th at 11:05 am
Thanks again folks, you rock.
@xboxoz360 – Many thanks. I’m with you – ScreenFlow is an awesome app, and definitely the best to grace the mac so far IMHO. WordPress.com will accept most of the output options from Screenflow – your best bet would be the default setting from the File>Export menu – “Web High” – h.264 is good stuff and should transition across nicely to the MP4 WordPress converts your files to. The actual docs that ScreenFlow produce are just reference files, so you need to open them up and output them via File>Export to get a playable movie.
Sep 15th at 11:16 am
@Andrea Shettle – A lot of the new screencasts show things already covered in other FAQ entries,which are text-based. With that said, I think the FAQ entries with the videos might be better served with transcriptions or text-based content as you’ve mentioned. Subtitles are something we hope to add soon – we’re currently making some changes to the video player and improved accessibility is high on the agenda for a future release. Web video has plenty of room to catch up in the world of closed captioning I think and that’s something that needs to change.
As with all of our endeavors, it would be great if members of the WordPress community were able to add translations and captions for those places where there are gaps in our own in-house content. This has worked out really well for localization so far, and I think it could work equally well for accessibility, too. In the meantime, I highly recommend awesome services like http://www.dotsub.com for benign users willing to get stuck in and bridge the gap.
Sep 15th at 5:47 pm
it so great..useful
chaibou
Sep 15th at 9:11 pm
Good Job…,
Sep 15th at 10:32 pm
great screencasts
Thank you !
Sep 17th at 2:38 am
Jolly good show. Hope you guys are prepared to create new vids each time you update WP
Sep 17th at 8:19 pm
I hope to see a screencast for an average blog readers, say a person who may be looking to add his/her own gravatar icon (for commenting) but may find it too technical to go through the gravatar setup.
Sep 18th at 3:06 am
thank you WP Team
Sep 18th at 6:06 pm
thkz to update notice
Sep 19th at 4:06 am
Thanks folks.
@georgemc1 – count on it
@ismailimail – nice suggestion, thanks! I’ll add that to the list. Expect to see more one-offs like the one you suggest, alongside step-by-step guides and workshops
Sep 21st at 8:33 am
hi…this is wonderfull blog
Sep 21st at 9:55 pm
very nice
Sep 22nd at 1:33 pm
thanks! i am new and this will certainly be a timesaver…
Oct 8th at 5:34 am
it is a pleasure to reply to you all and appreciate your coments. thanks
Oct 12th at 1:11 am
Thank you