OpenID Screencast in Quicktime
December 23rd, 2006 by Greg R Notess
I came across an interesting Quicktime screencast of How to use OpenID. I find it helpful to watch non-library-related screencasts not only to see how others put together a screencast, but by watching a screencast about a resource that I don’t know much about, I can analyze my reactions to try and understand how viewers might react to my screencasts, which are typically about resources that I know quite well.
I find Quicktime is a common format for screencasts, especially from Mac-oriented creators. While Quicktime works for this screencast, I find that it takes a very long time to download the file even on broadband. The author notes that it is 6.2 MB and links to a lower quality version at Google Video. Still, I find that I need to have a strong desire to see a screencast that does not load quickly. Otherwise, I just browse elsewhere on the Web. So this one is added incentive to try to keep my screencasts smaller.
I also found the pace of the OpenID screencast to be a bit quick at the beginning. I also realized that I have gotten used to screencasts which tell you how long they are. With Quicktime, there is no duration information shown. For me, at least, knowing how long the total screencast will be is important, and I certainly advocate having it included when possible. Most Flash-based screencast output does include that option.