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Scrimba: a video format for communicating code

scrimba.com

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Re: Scrimba: a video format for communicating code

#22

Wow this is so much better than a traditional video explanation of code. Really well done and polished for a beta project. Speaking of 'beta', what is the plan for Scrimba? Are you interested in it being an open place for sharing videos and demonstrations? Or are you planning on monetizing in some way?

We plan to add monetization options yes. Basically sell courses through Scrimba. But it will also be possible to simply share casts for free.

Re: Scrimba: a video format for communicating code

#23

Very cool. In the last few weeks I've been thinking something similar would be great for podcasts. Not on-screen editing, but tools for displaying information and soliciting feedback. In my case I've been listening to a lot of podcasts about real estate. Frequently they reference a PDF or web site to sign up for more info. It would be nice if that just showed up onscreen rather than having to open a browser on my pho…

There is so much opportunity for learning here... I agree, I wish podcasts had some kind of technology that allowed you to follow things that are hard to convey through Audio.

Re: Scrimba: a video format for communicating code

#28

Very cool. In the last few weeks I've been thinking something similar would be great for podcasts. Not on-screen editing, but tools for displaying information and soliciting feedback. In my case I've been listening to a lot of podcasts about real estate. Frequently they reference a PDF or web site to sign up for more info. It would be nice if that just showed up onscreen rather than having to open a browser on my pho…

There is so much opportunity for learning here... I agree, I wish podcasts had some kind of technology that allowed you to follow things that are hard to convey through Audio.

I once started writing a podcast app like that. As a listener I would reallly like the idea. Unfortunately I don't see why a podcaster would do the job of adding metadata on my platform if they don't get anything out of it. If it was a core of their value proposition, they would probably use a mooc platform and not a podcast.

Then I though I would probably need to build a more useful tool to manage other needs of a publisher, like website, feed generation, pushing to multiple platforms, etc. That way I would have all sorts of metadata for free AND I would provide value to the publishers (automatic publishing to all other platforms). I could host the content too and give them download numbers, could post listening habits from my app, and all that. But that is a lot of work though, before I can provide any value to either the listeners or the publishers.

Then I listened to a podcast about the podcast ecosystem (how meta) about how podcasters actually benefit from the ecosystem being so distributed. If there was a single format for metadata dictated by a single company (would probably be apple) it would eat into their advertising revenue. They would not admit it, but it's actually good for publishers if they only have rough download numbers. Without clicks, they can just make up their numbers, and sell ads even though everyone fast forwards on the ads. If they had actual clicks, their revenue would become dependent on it.

Re: Scrimba: a video format for communicating code

#29
I really like the idea and I expect to see a lot of great tutorials in this format. I would really use a version that works with tmux or iterm though, something like asciinema but for multiple terminals + a browser. I wouldn't even mind if the result is read only as long as the viewer can copy paste from it.

Edit: Just to add one more note: I know recording terminal and chrome at the same time is too complicated to productize, but I wouldn't mind having to set it up. I am a developer. I set things up.

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