• Home
• Forum
• About
• Suscribe to Updates

How do I do something? – Sites That Show you How…

Growing up, when you needed to know how to do something. There were very few sources to find them. First, you probably went to your parents, and if they didn’t have some homespun advice, you went to the library to look for books like Ask Heloise or something like that. One of the blessing of the web is that it is a great media to share information and ideas on how to do things. It is easy to share ideas and procedures that worked for people in the past and thus you can benefit from the collective wisdom of the web. There many websites that facilite this function that the web can have. Recently the web trends blog, Mashable, posted an article entitled, “HOW TO GUIDE: 60+ Great How To Sites and Resources” listing some of the more popular ones. Perhaps a student asked you how to ___ and you have no ideas. Here are the places to find out.  Here are some sites of note that I have used in the past.

• Howcast gives video tutorials on how to do many different types of things. Recently, I had to replace a toilet in my home with now clue on how to do it, and with my handyman father in California, I had few people to ask how to do it quickly and easily. I went to my Howcast app on my iphone (in addition to a website, they have a iPhone application) and I watched a video from Home Depot on how to do it. It was great being able to actually watch someone do it. Also because they have a mobile app, you can bring it with you to the place where you are doing whatever you want to do. Topics include technology, home, religion (I don’t know what this is about), crafts and hobbies, etc. A similar site is Expert Village, the first video how-to site I was exposed to when looking to learn how to do certain things on my computer. It boasts over 130,000r 130,000
  English: World English Bible - WEB
  Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!
  
  WP-Bible plugin videos on just about every subject.
• eHow uses a different format to teach you how to do things, they use a format where it gives you a step-by-step list to complete the task. Their list of topics is HUGE. They are a 2008 Open Web Awards Blogger’s Choice award winner. I seem to recall using this site to learn how to step by step cook an apple cobbler using a dutch oven for one of our campouts.
• PCWorld: How to Section – has a wonderful selection of how-to articles related to PC’s and computers in general. PC world is my “go to” source for computer information and this is one of the reasons. If you are looking to buy technology stuff (computers included), one of the best sites is CNET’s. The have incredible product guides, reviews on just about everything from mobile phones, to laptops to, Auto electronics (GPS, stereos) etc. In terms of learning about Web 2.0 and sites related to them, Mashable is a great site to stay on top of what you need to know.

• One last site of note is lifehacker which is ”an award-winning daily blog that features tips, shortcuts, and downloads that help you get things done smarter and more efficiently.” It “covers tips and tricks for streamlining your life with computers (and sometimes without). Updated several times daily, Lifehacker points out software downloads, web sites, do-it-yourself projects, howto’s, tutorials, shortcuts and tips for going beyond the default settings and getting things done in the most clever, unexpected and efficient ways. Think of Lifehacker as self-help for power users.” It is designed as a guide to make your life easier and more efficient.

Maybe someday, there will be a way to download “how to” information directly into our brains (like in The Matrix) but until then, this is a great way to learn how to do a lot of things quickly and easily.

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.