One of the best things about the internet is the plethora of instructional content. If you want to learn how to do just about anything, you can find a tutorial out there to teach you how. For me, tutorials have been absolutely essential to learning how to use Illustrator and Photoshop in particular. When someone asks me what books I recommend for learning the programs, I point them not to a book, but to online tutorials because you’ll learn much more quickly that way. One of the best sites for tutorials these days is the Tuts+ network of sites. I am a long time fan of their content, so was pleased to be offered the opportunity to review their “Plus” program which offers premium conntet for a monthly fee of $9 (or $22 for 3 months).
Benefits of membership:
Access to source files – the free tutorials are great, but frequently I find that having the actual source file makes it much easier to put the tutorial to the best use. It makes it easy to copy layer styles and see exactly how the layers are set up, especially if you’re like me and tend to rush through and accidentally miss a step.
Exclusive content – there are tutorials and sources files available only to Plus members, as well as brush sets and vector packs. The bonus Photoshop and Vector tutorials are great, but what I found to be of the most value were several of the Net tutorials. The series, “WordPress: Beginning to Master” is very good and even teaches how to create an options page for a theme.
Affiliate program – I don’t get into affiliate programs much, and only mess with it if it’s something I feel offers real value to my readers. The Tuts+ program has a nice payout and is easy to recommend because the content is great.
Nit-picking:
Nothing is perfect of course…
1. The bonus tutorials are download only. There is no option to go through the tutorial online. Though I understand why they chose to set it up that way, I still would prefer the option of doing the tutorial online and only download it if I want to save it with the source file.
2. I wish the thumbnail preview images were a bit bigger on the bonus tutorials. It’s a little difficult to see what you’re going to be creating, and since the only way to really see the image to decide if you want to spend the time on the tutorial is to actually download the whole thing, it’s rather a hassle. I would suggest they make it possible to click on the thumbnail to see a larger preview image.
There is a 100% money-back guarantee, so you can’t go wrong if you decide to give it a try. What do you think? Has anyone else tried the Tuts+ Plus Program?
Ironic. I just signed up for the Tuts+ program a few days ago.
I was a little disappointed in their approach too. The content is terrific as always, but I was expecting an actual learning environment – something more like Kelby Training. Also it was slightly annoying that the instructional content (that I’ve DLd so far) has lengthy horizontal scrolls. I couldn’t figure out why since there didn’t appear to be any code samples or content which would force a scroll. On a laptop, using a track pad, that can be really distracting because the page likes to jump about while moving through the material. It’s trivial, but still a put-off.
Anyway I bought a quarterly membership and I’m anxious to spend some time working through the tuts that caught my eye. At one point I was paying $18.99p/mo for the other service I mentioned and Tuts+ is a fraction of that cost so I’m sure the price will be quite justifiable.
Could you send some links for good tutorials?
@Charity – thanks for your comments. I haven’t experienced the horizontal scroll, but I’m also on a big monitor.
@gabs – good tutorials on what topic? Pretty much anything on the Tuts+ sites is good.
To be fair I haven’t opened any of the files on my 24″ yet. Don’t know your monitor size but sounds like it won’t be a problem then. Thought the small screen issue was worth noting at least.
I tend to share Charity’s opinion here. For your information, I’ve signed up the tuts program 3 weeks ago. Although it doesn’t have the actual learning environment as Kelby Training did, but in overall, I still satisfy with the service! After all, everything has its own advantages and disadvantages…
Hi Randa, thanks for your sharing about Tuts+. I’m going to try it. Since it money back guarantee…hmm worth to try right?
Regards,
Budi
tutorials I actually seem to be some of the most popular content on the Internet to date since it is the easiest way to be educated in the least amount of time.
Good tutorial, and thanks for links on tuts+, very good site
Would it be easier to learn from a Dummies book though?
Referencing back would be an important thing
Lol online tutorials helped me mass math in collage
O and thanks for the link
Money back guarantee says it all! I tend not to trust products who don’t offer that. I just hope I don’t get overwhelmed with the amount of things and don’t know if I DO like and need it or not. I guess we’ll see!
For me tutorials are the best choice when I want to learn some software. But you never need to pay for that! Go to smashingmagazine or netmag or elsewhere and you will find tons of heigh quality tutorials… Just do some research on google
Thanks for the post Randa,
I like how you have some “Nit Picking” about the Tuts site also. It’s good to get the full scoop. It’s my first time checking out your site and I love it. You have a lot of great useful information. Thank You.