Developing an iPhone® App Tutorial on a Budget

Kate CarverDocs-to-You, LLCPhoenix, Arizona

kcarver@docstoyou.com

The Problem“We need a tutorial to get users to download and use our free iPhone App, but it’s a non-revenue generating project so the budget is tight.”

The Solution Skip high-priced video production and create a simulation.

The Process & Tools 1.WebEx meeting with Marketing & PM2.Script in a simple Word table (three iterations)

The Process & Tools3. Screen captures from my iPhone4. PhotoShop to drop into iPhone case

image (“Learning to love PhotoShop layers”)

The Process & Tools5. PhotoShop to fake the lacking sample data6. Captivate (F4V output) and MP3 Audio Recorder

Utility (free) Highlights Captions Audio alignment

7. AVS Video Converter ($50) to convert and compress from F4V to MP4*

*Captivate 5.5 provides MP4 output. License cost was the limitation.

The ChallengesMost common user scenario = lawyers viewing

the tutorial from their iPhones over 3G, which dictated tutorial length and file size limitations

Dev database did not contain complete sample data and the PM tasked with this dodged all requests

No separate voiceover talent due to limited budget

Resolving conflicts between Marketing and PMChange requests

The Result2.5-minute MP4 tutorial5 MB53 billable hours (budget was 50)

MetricsTask TimeWebEx Meeting to walk through app with Marketing & PM (discussed which features to showcase, etc.) 1 hour

Developing the script (three iterations/review cycles) 9 hours

Acquiring screen captures from iPhone *issues with development database

2 hours

Using PhotoShop to drop each screen capture into iPhone case image (involved resizing, aligning, etc.) 3 hours

Using PhotoShop to fake the lacking sample data 5 hours

Using Captivate to import images, create captions/tips, and add highlighting to mimic screen taps 10 hours

Recording audio and aligning to Captivate slides 6 hours

Generating output, reviewing, and making corrections 6 hours

Sending preliminary tutorial for review and assessing impact of change requests 2 hours

Implementing change requests (included video & audio) 6 hours

Generating final output and delivering video 3 hours

TOTAL DEVELOPMENT TIME 53 hours

Tutorial Development LessonsInsist on storyboarding or scripting up front.Ask reviewers to read out loud as they review.Know that despite above, there will be

changes after initial recording.Communicate that what seems like a small

change requires many steps on the back end. (May be helpful to share your Captivate or Camtasia screen and show them).

Q&A