With all due respect to Kevin Smith, the web is no longer only for complaining about movies. In fact, there are a large number of very helpful sites that teach you how to do things. These are do-it-yourself sites, but we're not talking about building a deck or baking a cake -- the web is full of more general interest sites that give quality instruction on all sorts of fun and useful projects. Including, sometimes, how to build a deck or bake a cake.
In this horribly-titled, but hopefully useful round-up we will specifically focus on such general purpose sites that include some sort of rich media instruction (generally video). We also might throw in a tech-focused site or two, since this is after all, a tech-focused blog.
If you know of any instructional sites that are missing from this list, please mention them in the comments below.
Note: Household Hacker is a humor site, some of the tutorials have some truth to them, but you probably shouldn't try them.
Image credit: docman
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Hi,
I just saw this post via RSS and it's a great list. I'm the Web Producer at http://www.beYOU.tv and I want to take a moment to introduce beYOU.tv. We have many instructional videos that focus on health and wellness. You can learn new yoga poses, tai chi, meditation and how to deal with stress. If you ever need inspiration or a new workout routine, check us out!
Thanks,
Greg
please don't start the mashable serier of # of applications to help you do so and so.
@weblockr: List-type posts are something we've done at Read/WriteWeb for a very long time on occasion. They certainly make up a very small portion of our posting, though, they are far from the focus of this blog. Thanks for the feedback.
I like the fact that some brain cells were clearly dedicated to actually looking at the sites on this list! I like it!
Great list! I'd also like to mention WikiHow.com. I ran across it last weekend when I had to replace the ballast on the fluorescent light in my kitchen. It couldn't have been more helpful.
www.weefly.com
at HelpThing we're pulling in a lot of the best How To's from these sources and the wider Internet, as well. it's a community approach to discovering the most fun and interesting tips out there. come join us: http://helpthing.com
Hey--
Great article ! I've posted the powerpoints I use in class on my site brentdaigle.co.cc ...for teachers reading this it may be helpful and i thought that it relates to your post.
Thanks again,
brent
i live in Trinidad WI, and i don't know much about PC, but i am learning a lot, now that i have this page. thank you and keep improving. i love it.
Two others that might interest you are:
1. Tubetorials at http://www.tubetorial.com/ Mostly videos with wide range of subjects from WordPress to SEO
2. Productivity Portfolio - http://www.timeatlas.com geared towards Windows users. Many tutorials include a screen cast, but not all.
Another great one to add to the list is MAKE
http://www.makezine.com/
One of the best computer how-to sites out there for beginners and those who support beginners is Castellini on Computers at:
http://www.HelpMeRick.com
um householdhacker is a hack... otherwise a good list
Pretty cool..thanks for the links..it will help us save a lot of time..
Josh, thank you for this information you sure put together
a very helpful list and links to some valuable sites. I am going to subscribe to the ones that are going to help me improve my internet skills and knowledge. Kudus to you for this great post.
hey all...i personally like one site..it has music, videos and you can even earn money...try it out!
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2311720
You left out HowStuffWorks.com, which is a fairly large site.
Another great site is SpongeFish (http://www.spongefish.com)
with great features like collaborative file-sharing, which allows you to leverage community resources when making your own How-Tos.
householdhacker is bullshit, none of the videos work. my friend just shortcircuted his xbox wifi adapter because of them
Thanks for a great list, I have put together a list of over
277 free movies, cable and television site links, where all the content can be accessed free of charge
NSR http://nosubscriptionrequired.blogspot.com/
To search over most of the sites mentioned in the post in one go, why not use the HowDoI Google custom search engine - http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/howdoi ?
I hope all of you know, that household hacker is a joke website, None of their content is real.
http://www.howtopedia.org/
Thanks for the nice links.
Thanks!!! Really a great list with very useful tutorials...
And HowStuffWorks.com seems not be in the list...thats one of my favorites!!!
And to know more about How-To's in technology related discussions join Discussweb, a leading community in technology discussions http://www.discussweb.com
I'd also recommend Stefan Mischook's Killer Sites (http://www.killersites.com/), especially Killer PHP (http://www.killerphp.com/)
Ahem. Let's try that one again.
I'd also recommend Stefan Mischook's Killer Sites (http://www.killersites.com/), especially Killer PHP (http://www.killerphp.com/).
What about those of us who are foodies? How about how to make sushi at home?:
http://www.sushifaq.com/howtomakesushiathome.htm
Thanks for great list very useful...
http://www.pkmalls.com
Very nice! How to sites make for some thought stimulating reading, even if you are not interested in doing that particular thing.
Thanks!
I can recommend PracticalAnswers.org, which is a mine of information for appropriate technology.
I stumbled upon www.answerstv.com the other day looking for a chicken parmesan recipe. Interesting site w/ tons of food and serious health management information.
very nice thanks
http://squidoo.com/ghettogrammar
The Household Hacker site is garbage. The only thing it will teach you is how to ruin your electronic devices. Honestly, the site seems legitimate but nothing shown actually works. I can't believe how many times I've seen this site recommended. Please remove it from the list!
I agree... (on it being a great lists and on you forgeting a few websites)... you forgot HowStuffWorks and ListAfterList. Thye are both great websites full of How To lists.
Thanks for listing VideoJug! We're producing tons of new films a month, and now have over 32,000 professionally produced videos on the site! We'd love to see more videos uploaded by our users too! Thanks again for the mention.
Great list. The power of how to on the internet is expanding very fast.
According to Compete.com, http://www.soyouwanna.com/
gets 3-4x traffic of some the smaller sites listed here. They've been around forever but were recently bought by Demand Media Inc.
For software tutorials, try www.vtutorial.com as well.
http://www.inventgeek.com
Another good one is www.asktheadmin.com
Another one, which is a podcast, can be found at OneMinuteHowTo.com - the show is always under five minutes total length.
All about alternative media distribution and related open-source software in our:
P2P Audiovisual Guide
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Category:Audiovisual
(Larger update planned for December...)
Good list but your missed HowStuffWorks.com which is also very good and informative website.
Monkeysee.com is another great video-based website that has tutorials on anything from How to roast a turkey (used it for Thanksgiving) to how to master certain video games.
What about http://tutorialninjas.net?
Mahalo has put together an impressive list of How-Tos: http://mahalo.com/Category:How_To . There's a bunch of food ones, too, Jim!
When it comes to tutorials you forgot some cool sites:
http://www.howtogeek.com - Lots of great tutorials for geeks
http://www.vista4beginners.com/ - Good tutorials about Windows Vista
http://www.tweako.com/ - an "encyclopedia" of tutorials that covers lots of topics.
What about http://www.knowhow.to?
What about a car repair wiki http://www.FixExpert.com
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