Mastering Utopian's Tutorials Category

Hello Everyone! It's me again with another post. This time I will dive into tutorials category and leave some of my insights which can help you master the tutorials. I will also let you know what types of tutorials are appreciated and which are not.

I've contributed to tutorials for some time now and I think I have understanding of that category and I would like to share my knowledge with all of you so you can outperform others.

Repository

https://github.com/utopian-io/utopian.io

Post Body

The Goal

To fully master tutorials category, we will first need to understand what Utopian wants and why this category even exists. Tutorials are necessary for libraries, softwares, languages and others so users can easily use the open source software. There are two types of tutorials, one for end users and one for focusing on languages and development. The main thing that Utopian wants in tutorials is "value". Here's what I mean by that, the tutorials should have unique information that helps FOSS.

Creating tutorial on "how to install audacity" will never be appreciated by the community because that by no means add any value to the open source community. The tutorials that are staff picked always have something interesting or unique and adds value. The tutorial of mine which was staff picked provided base to build new cool Discord bots. Here's how I added value to two projects from that single tutorial contribution.

• Letting people know about Beem, Steem and Discord.
• Using basic Beem functions.
• Allowing users to easily get on board with Discord.py.

After reading my tutorial, if someone likes it. They will try to do what I did themselves and thus using the Beem and Discord.py which is our main goal and so is Utopian's.

Choosing Topic

Now, you know what type of tutorials Utopian likes. You sit down and are 100% motivated to write a tutorial but then you think "What should I write on?". I have this writer's block kind of thing very often. Here's what I do when I get that kind of thoughts and nothing is coming into your mind.

• Go to Trending Developments
• Look at different projects
• Get ideas from them

This is a good way to get ideas to create tutorials that are focused on developing something and teaching about things used in that development in the way. This is my favorite kind of tutorials. Now you know a topic but how to tell if your is good or bad.

To judge your topic, I will point back to the first part of the tutorial. Ask yourself these questions before starting writing your tutorial.

• Does it add value?
• Does it help others?
• Is it unique?
• Is it not trivial?

If answer to all three of these questions is "Yes" then I am sure that you have found a great topic to write tutorial on!

Starting Writing

Now you have a great topic and you are all pumped up to start writing the tutorial but there are somethings that you should keep it in mind so you can really take your tutorial to next level.

Planning It First

Instead of just going all in, first plan your tutorial. What you want to do? How in depth will you go? How you will explain certain things? and much more. These small things matters a lot and trust me, they can save you a lot of time.

It has multiple times to me where I start writing tutorial. I have good topic but then I just fail to explain certain things causing me to get overwhelming and deleting all the tutorial. This way, I have wasted many hours. Plan it first and you won't regret it.

Following Guidelines And Template

While writing you should always follow guidelines, if you want better score which you always want which is why you are reading this in first place. You can find the link of the guidelines here. You should also follow the template even though it is not necessary, I highly recommend it. There's a reason, template was made in the first place.

I also recommend reading guidelines thoroughly and understanding each guideline correctly, If you have any question, you can ask that question on Utopian's Discord Server where many users are active, ready to help you. You can find get the template of Utopian's tutorial category from here.

Formatting

Formatting is very necessary for your tutorial. Even though, poorly formatted post will still me accepted, it won't be the staff pick we want. Poorly formatted posts are also very hard to read for the users and they can get annoyed by this. Here's how you can improve formatting of you posts.

• Using shorter paragraphs.
• Using headlines correctly.
• Using all types of markdown to make your tutorial pretty.
• Leaving one line completely empty after each paragraph.
• Adding codes only in code blocks.
• So on...

The point is using good formatting will have a great impact on your tutorial. Nicely formatted tutorials are always more appealing to eyes and thus catching more attention.

Be Formal But Not Too Much!

I think you should be formal while writing your tutorial but that should be that case 100%. It's good to have a joke here and there to make sure the reader is still enjoying while reading hardcore stuff that you are teaching.

If you will be serious for all tutorial, the reader will be bored. Just like kids don't read books that don't have pictures, normal person doesn't like reading articles/tutorials that are boring.

Adding Images

You should add images to your tutorial but as questionnaire says the pictures should be adequate in quality and quantity. Without images, a tutorial will look very colorless and boring which is not we want. Here's are some tips to improve the quality of your images.

• Always center your images.
• Try to maintain a fix aspect ratio for all the images of that tutorial.
• Use 3rd Party Software to capture screenshot as they have much more features.
• Add a shadow to images and make the borders rounde
• Add image source

Following these tips may increase quality of your images drastically. If you're using Mac then you're very lucky because it has one of the best screen capturing program, installed by default.

After Writing

Now you have written the tutorial and you are pretty tired. I would say not post the tutorial right away but take some rest and perform these actions after writing your tutorial to finish it off.

• Add the code to Gthub.
• Create summary at the end.
• Check grammar mistakes in your tutorial.
• Look for any thing else that you have missed.

Doing these things will add that finishing touch to you tutorial and make it "SUPREME". I know following all these can take some time but I assure you that you won't regret following all this. It will really make you proud when you see your name in weekly top contributions.

Additional Tip

If you are writing for too long and you think that you should take some rest then you probably should. I recommend to leave the computer for 10 - 15 minutes, refresh your mind and then come back!

End

Utopian is all about making connections and increasing the quality of your contributions. Once you get the flow, you will find it way easier. Every single time, it will get easier and easier till it just becomes a habit to do all these things while writing your tutorials. You can also follow some of the tips in this tutorial for other categories like Blogs which I am writing at the moment. : )

Hopefully, this blog will help you write better tutorials in the future and increase your score for better rewards. If there is anything that you think I have missed, kindly state them in the comments. If you have any suggestions on which I should make my next post, kindly state them in the comments as well. With that being said, I wish you all a happy writing session. Thanks!