Writing training material is an interesting psychological experiment. I find that no matter how much time and details I try to add to a set of instructions, there will always be some room for interpretation. Someone will invariably require some level of clarification and in a classroom setting, questions will abound. Step-by-step can be quick to write but long to explain. Training videos will walk users through every single click but they are typically long to produce. There is a soft spot between these two methods: providing written instructions with screenshots of the essential steps. Natalie Rector discovered and shared with the Tech Ambassadors a fabulous new tool to design training material efficiently: iorad.
RTM
The simplest way to demonstrate iorad’s capabilities is to show you a tutorial created by Natalie on how to use Flipster:
There are two ways to navigate visual instructions created with iorad:
Interactive View
This interactive view will take you through the steps in a very realistic way, as if you were actually doing them. In this view, each step step will be represented by one large screenshot. To move to the next step, you will be able to click on the highlighted element on the screenshot. The full written instructions for each step are indicated in the left sidebar.
Interactive View
Step by Step View
The step by step view is a more traditional way to look at the instructions where the screenshot of each action is a little smaller, allowing the user to see multiple steps on the screen.
Step by Step View
These two views give your user the freedom to determine which view suits them best: a fail-free one step at a time or a more global view of the multiple stages of the process.
The interface features a bottom navigation bar with options to skip forward or backward in the tutorial, share it and embed it (like Natalie’s tutorial above) and return to the main menu.
Create Your Own Tutorials
The beauty of a iorad’s approach to design training material is contained in this one sentence at the bottom of the screen.
Design Training Material Efficiently
3 minutes to create a 10-step tutorial with all the screenshots highlighted is phenomenally quick! If you are curious to see how iorad accomplishes this, read on through.
Once you install iorad’s app or extension (read below to find out how), all you need to do is follow the process you want to describe and iorad will record the steps automatically. Watch this 55 second video on how the magic happens:
Design Training Material Efficiently
iorad
You can find iorad on the web at www.iorad.com. After creating an account on the site, you will have two choices: create instructions from the web by installing an extension to your Chrome browser, of download the app if you want to design training material from your desktop:
Design Training Material – iorad app
Have you used iorad? What do you think of it? How else do you write instructions? Share your best ideas with us by leaving a comment below!