When it comes to software tutorials, I kind of understand it. I recently had to write detailed instructions on how to install a client and server certificate on a Windows server, and how to set up user rights for the certificates. That ended up being 14 pages of descriptions and screenshots, and it took forever to make. A video would probably have taken 5 minutes to make (as that's about as long as those tasks take), and would probably also have been easier to follow. Yes, but for general usage of a large software product, you really need to have both. If you just need to adjust the layer opacity, having to watch through all of "Photoshop 101 Video Tutorial", parts 1 through 73 in the hope that it will be shown at some point, well, that's counter productive. The great thing about written manuals is that you can look things up in them, quickly and efficiently. You can't do that in a video tutorial.

The best sort of manual would probably be a wiki though.

The simple answer is: it's usually easier and is often more helpful. It's easier to do a video capture and tell you what to do, with minimal editing, than it is to type that stuff and do screen captures. Also there's no need to take care of highlighting specific things by choosing to show them when you're showing the entire screen and what you're doing.

Believe me, I struggle with written tutorials too. They rarely show what I need to know. But true, it's easier to browse them and discover that.

I share your pain, but I don't think the problem is the medium. In my opinion, the tutorials are just poorly made.

In the same vein (rhyme!), my personal peeve is analogies. I always find they cloud the issue rather than clarify.

TLDR culture..... ;)

And yeah, "programming" videos are more cringing to follow than make-up tuts ^o^ Totally useless as references, that's why I even have a whole book dedicated to the Unity UI system which is handier than videos and scattered webpages......

BTW, two official Unity complete tutorials are available in PDF:
https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/survival-shooter-project
https://oc.unity3d.com/index.php/s/xQbGL7Fm3mF0ySs
https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/tanks-tutorial
https://oc.unity3d.com/index.php/s/n6P1VcTa4NWQbyn

Reminds me I have to learn the Mathf.Lerp function today, I already have an headache just thinking about it..... :o)

Some learn better through visuals rather than just words.

^this sums it.

As a person, which made both for the same obscure game mechanic:
With text you often get "I have read it, and didn't understand. Explain like I'm 5".
With video you can say "watch again".

Different strokes for different folks... or different tutorials for different concepts, but that doesn't rhyme quite as well.

What do you expect people to do -- read instructions? That's sooo 20th century.

This so much.

Updating video tutorials on the other hand takes forever compare to texts, especially if they are long.

For video tutorials, you usually have to watch them full screen in the code to recognize the whole UI interactions and if you want to do the same in your program, you always have to pause and start the video.

Also very annoying: Ctrl+F doesn't work on video tutorials.

The ones that get me are the youtube cheats and hints video where people screen their desktop while clicking on readme files and tweaking files in windows explorer without offering any commentary or proper instruction. They're videos to show people how to read things without... you know, actually reading them. It's like watching stupid people try to lead an even more stupid tribe across troubled waters that's filled with stupid fish. Usually results in hilarious outcomes. *Those same type of videos are also usually filled with tons of subcribe! and click me! links all over the page making the youtuber in question look like some sort of circus dwarf covered in NASCAR sponsor stickers.*

If I had a youtube channel, this would be the prototype for my sponsor promo (no wordy warranties to read either!).

Ricky Bobby Commercials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXry-cXybG0

Agree with your entire rant. I either posted or at least was going to post basically the same one a while ago. In my case it was specifically about 3D modelling. In 2013 I tried my hands on modelling again, gave up when I noticed that I had spent almost a week on a tutorial the result of which was a friggin' shipping container. And towards the end the lighting or rendering options got messed up and I couldn't even export the image. And with the tutorial being a six or seven hour video series I sure as hell wouldn't go over all that shit again to find the step where I made a mistake. Not to mention that there were dozens of discrepancies in the model itself, the dude also made tons of minor mistakes during the video, ones he could have easily fixed if it had been a written article.

Earlier this year I found some decent written tutorials and guess what: I made progress like ten times as fast and made zero errors, all instructions were correct down to the coordinates of each friggin' vertex. Just thinking about video tutorials makes me so incredibly angry.
Damn, dude, don't remind me. Creators of regular video tutorials deserve to be slapped until their brains get swollen but the guys you're talking about deserve to be shoved into a volcano filled with burning shit. And have alcohol poured over them before they die.

... you forgot to also mention them having their burned ashes loaded into a rocket ship and launched into the sun.

Frankly, I'm surprised those mouth breathers are capable of rendering, let alone uploading the videos. Lots to be said about having a technical, autistic based society. Watching some of those videos is like watching passive aggressive behavior taking literal form right on your screen.

LOL, I can't imagine learning something like the Blender UI through videos, I would rather slit my veins with a plastic spoon :o)