Jamis Buck recently posted about his giving a Rails  demo/talk to a
Java group.  He mentioned (among other things):

> There were a few technical things I would do differently next time:
> 
>  1) Don't try to be clever and type out method comments in the screen
>     capture videos. It might be nice for later, when you distribute
>     the video, but during the presentation it just makes it lag.
> 
>  2) Keep the action in the videos as close to the top of the screen
>     as possible, so that people sitting WAY in the back can see it
>     better.

I've been mailing software movies at my current job as means of
documenting how to install and configure assorted software.  I'm
interested in what ways others have found to ensure good results.

I found that manually typing things while recoding is slow and error
prone, so I've taken to having vi open, from which I can cut and paste
text.  (But if I'm not careful the app-switching is blatant and ugly).

On the other hand, one's sense of time while recording something
familiar may not be the best gauge for what speed a viewer might
prefer.  So the typing part can help certain info sink in.

Does anyone have, or know of, a collection of handy tips and tricks
for such endeavors?  (I should probably go see what Jon Udell has on
his site ...)

There's a Wiki page that seems like it might have been created for
recording such things, but it is empty (and possibly poorly-named)

http://rubygarden.org/ruby?DemoScreenCap

James