What Makes a Tutorial Good or Bad?

Here’s is a list between what you might see in a good or bad tutorial.

Explanations
  • Briefly describes each step to add context
  • Specifying learning goals and deliverables
  • Discusses why a step exists
  • Explains abstract concepts
Jargon
  • Any required jargon is explained concisely and added to a glossary at the end of the tutorial
  • Any unnecessary jargon is removed
  • Tool-specific jargon is used without explanation
  • Tool-specific jargon is used when common language would suffice
Deliverables/Accomplishments
  • Clear, tangible outcome of what the user will accomplish by completing the tutorial
  • Individual steps have clear outcomes/accomplishments when possible
  • Unrelated steps are performed to show off capabilities, leaving the user unclear about what they have accomplished and what the tool can actually provide
  • Tutorial has steps with no clear output/deliverable
Images
  • Clarifies what the user should expect to see after completing a step
  • The focus of the image is clear or highlighting is used to direct the user's gaze
  • Has captions, alt text, and contrasting colors
  • Unclear what in the image the user is looking for
  • No captions, alt text, colors are very similar
Tutorial FundamentalsWriting a Tutorial