Webware

With video search being what it is (see Truveo, Blinx, etc.), we're possibly over the need for video how-to sites that simply compile from other sources. However, I wanted to write about video how-to site WonderHowTo because it's got a great collection of clips, and an even better way to sort through them--maybe more so than your standard video search tool.

Each category goes about two levels deep, but that second level is where all the care has been taken. For example, if you dig into Arts & Crafts, there are 13 different subcategories, each of which has been meticulously sorted. You can divide up the results even more with tags and keywords. There are also alternate ways to explore videos related to what you're watching with a little sidebar of clips that sits to the left, and will continue to play down the list as each video finishes.

WonderHowTo's categories go deep. From basic bartending to preparation for terrorist attacks.

Unlike some how-to sites that create content that can only be found there (see HowCast), nearly all of the content found on WonderHowTo is picked from video hosts like YouTube. In fact, the submission process doesn't actually let you upload a how-to video you've made, and instead just lets you drop in a URL where it will slurp up the video and house it with its grading wrapper. What's neat is that you can give the video a new title and description, much like Digg and other user news sites, which has led to some more useful or simply entertaining creations than the video author may have originally intended.

The service recently introduced little widgets you can drop on your blog. Each widget can be set up to show the daily featured videos, but you can also set it up to show off your latest playlist. Unfortunately the videos don't play within the widget. You can, however, run a search from inside the widget, which is a nice touch.

Between all the various how-to video sites (see: 5Min, VideoJug, Instructables, Graspr, Sclipo, and SuTree), the staying power of WonderHowTo is in its curation. The service has a full-time curator alongside the users who are pumping in content and categorizing it, but without providing a way for people to add their own bits without having to go through another service first, it's missing out on a chance to offer some of the depth offered from competitors like HowCast, which have really innovative ways to change the way people are interacting with these user-created instructional videos.

Learn how to do almost anything with WonderHowTo. Its categorization and player controls are top notch. Missing however is a simple way to add videos you've created. (click to enlarge)

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Howcast is a great new how-to video service that launched back in early February. This morning I met with co-creator Sanjay Raman to talk about what they've been up to in those two months. The site already has a wonderful, and fast growing collection of videos that teach you how to do all manner of things in just a few minutes, and has some really great features just around the corner.

Part of the site's success is due to the novel approach to the somewhat tired medium of how-to videos. People can still throw up their 5-minute shaky cam footage of how to plug in speaker cables, or cut up onions the right way, but Howcast is doing something very different from the rest by building itself up as a platform for fledgling self-proclaimed experts or videographers who want to put together slick, professional looking videos that don't suck. It's also got some great video player technology that blows the competition away.

The crux of the service revolves around the directors program. Howcast provides reasonably credentialed enthusiasts with a zip file full of goodies to create how-to shorts that follow a certain format. Included are overlays, bumpers, templates for Apple's Final Cut Pro, and voiceovers. There's also a growing repository of over 100 tracks to use as background music. Directors get paid $50 a pop for the videos they create, and have the option for further revenue sharing if their clip gets over 40,000 views. Raman says no video has yet to reach that height yet, but that they'd be offering something similar to YouTube with the creators getting a fair percentage cut.

Going forward Raman alluded to moving away from Final Cut and giving people a way to create videos using alternate tools. My guess is that it's a Web based video editing tool the likes of JumpCut or EyeSpot. Such a feature would let people create content without the need to shell out a few thousand dollars on hardware and software. Raman said the feature was coming in the "near future."

The second component to Howcast is the video player, which has been designed like a DVD player with chapter markers to separate the steps. Users can skip back and forth between each steps, and read little tool tips that gives them a bird's-eye view of what they're about to see without actually having to watch it. Raman walked me through how content creators add and edit these markers in the video, and the process is dead simple. You can play around with it yourself with the video embedded in this post.

In addition to video content, Howcast has an integrated wiki. Right now there are more wiki posts than videos, but that's because they're far simpler to make. Every video starts out as a Wiki, and that the ones that go into production are fact-checked in house by a Howcast staff member and linked up to the video post. One big thing that differs from Quamut, which I checked out last week, is that these wiki guides are printer friendly, so you can take them with you when it's time for semi-complex tasks.

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