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Show HN: BackboneScreencasts.com

77 points by joeybeninghove 15y ago

niyazpk 15y ago
Hi Joey, I remember watching a screencast by you on the same topic (linked from HN) a few weeks ago. Is this a different video?
- joeybeninghove 15y ago
  Yes, the one you probably watched a few weeks ago was one that I published a couple months ago which just gave a basic introduction and only covered the Views aspect of Backbone.js. This new one I just published a couple days ago, and it's a longer screencast that demonstrates how to build a complete Backbone.js application from the ground up, using a live coding format. All major aspects of Backbone.js are covered including Views, Routers, Models/Collections, Templating, etc. Hope that helps.
avolcano 15y ago
I've been trying to get into using Backbone for a while, but I've been frustrated by the lack of resources - the official docs are essentially just a lengthy reference and an extremely basic Todos demo, neither or which has been all that helpful in getting normal app started. I'm excited to try out this screencast :)
- joeybeninghove 15y ago
  Awesome, I really hope it helps you out! And don't hesitate to ask me any follow up questions as well. :)
- atomical 15y ago
  I agree. Documentation and a simple example isn't enough. I look forward to going through the material.
- rapind 15y ago
  FYI, there are a few other resources kicking around too. Thanks to OP for another. http://peepcode.com/products/backbone-js http://peepcode.com/products/backbone-js http://peepcode.com/products/backbone-ii http://peepcode.com/products/backbone-ii http://workshops.thoughtbot.com/backbone-js-on-rails http://workshops.thoughtbot.com/backbone-js-on-rails
  - mshafrir 15y ago
    I'll second the Peepcode screencasts, they worked really well for me.
- jashkenas 15y ago
  The Backbone.js homepage assumes that you're somewhat familiar with building JavaScript-heavy web applications ... I can see how it would be lacking if you're coming at it fresh. Would you like to see an official tutorial listed on that page, or would a screencast be better? Doing a section linking out to all of the third-party tutorials is another option.
  - mccutchen 15y ago
    I would always rather see a text tutorial than a screencast.
  - ez77 15y ago
    Yes, please! Any form of official tutorial would be welcome. And indeed, if you could "endorse" high-quality tutorials by linking to them it would be great.
  - avolcano 15y ago
    A good official tutorial would be fantastic, one that walked through something with a little more complexity than the basic to-dos demo. It's not that the official docs are particularly hard-to-read, it's just that it's very much a reference that doesn't give you a good place to start or "big picture" overview.
  - ramanujam 15y ago
    This is a great step by step tutorial leading to the Todos example. http://arturadib.com/hello-backbonejs/ http://arturadib.com/hello-backbonejs/ Including it or something similar would be beneficial for beginners. As someone else mentioned, an official collection of good tutorials will be really helpful.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- thomasdavis 15y ago
  I work on a site called http://backbonetutorials.com http://backbonetutorials.com
ramanujam 15y ago
I started playing with backbone.js and stumbled upon your other intro video where you explained the basics. Combined with the docs and another example, it was pretty helpful for me to get started. Thanks for that and I will try this screencast as i move ahead.
- joeybeninghove 15y ago
  You're very welcome. Really hope this new one is a help for you too! Let me know if you have any other questions about the code. Thanks!
jcapote 15y ago
This is cool but do they all have your face on the bottom corner?
- joeybeninghove 15y ago
  Haha, I know. I have an ugly mug for sure. :) That's always been kind of my style for screencasting in general. I think it gives it a nice personal feel. But would you rather have the option of just seeing the code without the live video?
  - jcapote 15y ago
    Not that it's ugly, its just distracting from the code, also it takes up screen real estate. Just my 2 cents, if that's your style, go with it.
    - joeybeninghove 15y ago
      Thanks man. That's great feedback. Perhaps I could play around with the sizing of the video a bit. I try to keep it out of the way of the code so that it doesn't overlap too bad.
      - petercooper 15y ago
        My straw polls (or "market research" if I ever needed to big it up ;-)) showed a general dislike (though not strongly) for live video throughout a screencast but including portions was OK. That said, everything Gregg Pollack does seems to have him in it the whole time, and he's doing OK ;-) I avoid it mostly because it adds overhead to the file size. You can crunch down a screen / presentation only screencast to pretty incredible sizes with H264 but as soon as you mix in live video, you either need to sacrifice its quality severely or put up with large files.
        topfunky 15y ago
        I've found the same thing. Solid colors of a screen capture can easily compress to under 200 MB for 60 minutes of video, but live action (even with only small movements) can double or triple that in size.
mshafrir 15y ago
The Backbone source code is concise and well documented. If you feel like you've hit a wall, it might be worth your while to read through it. Check it out at http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/docs/backbone.html http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/docs/backbone.html
leeohsheeus 15y ago
I really like the "live" style of these screencasts. It seems almost like I'm pair programming. I appreciate the polished feel of screencasts like the RailsCasts, but this feels more... real somehow.
- joeybeninghove 15y ago
  Great compliment! That is the exact type of experience I'm hoping to bring with both these screencasts as well as CastingCode.tv. I know I really enjoy sitting down and pairing with folks myself, so I really hope I can bring a similar experience with these types of screencasts and live coding events. Thanks!
  - petercooper 15y ago
    Not going to be cheap enough to do a plug here ;-) but I had exactly the same comment from someone about 1.9 Walkthrough today (that is, warts and all live coding with only minor editing). So perhaps there are legs to this approach! :-)
pjmurray 15y ago
I'd be interested to see what value this adds compared to the documentation and existing (free) blog posts on it's use. IMHO Backbone's docs are super friendly and if you're really wondering what's going on under the covers the source code is relatively easy to jump into and understand (assuming you're a javascript programmer not a jQuery hacker)
- joeybeninghove 15y ago
  I agree about the Backbone.js docs being quite awesome. I think they get a bad wrap myself. But I've also found that some folks like the option of watching screencasts to learn about certain topics as well. I kind of fall into both categories. I really like reading the docs (and more importantly, the code itself) as well as watching someone demonstrate certain topics. I guess I'm weird like that. :)

Hi Joey, I remember watching a screencast by you on the same topic (linked from HN) a few weeks ago. Is this a different video?

joeybeninghove 15y ago
Yes, the one you probably watched a few weeks ago was one that I published a couple months ago which just gave a basic introduction and only covered the Views aspect of Backbone.js. This new one I just published a couple days ago, and it's a longer screencast that demonstrates how to build a complete Backbone.js application from the ground up, using a live coding format. All major aspects of Backbone.js are covered including Views, Routers, Models/Collections, Templating, etc. Hope that helps.

avolcano 15y ago

I've been trying to get into using Backbone for a while, but I've been frustrated by the lack of resources - the official docs are essentially just a lengthy reference and an extremely basic Todos demo, neither or which has been all that helpful in getting normal app started. I'm excited to try out this screencast :)

joeybeninghove 15y ago
Awesome, I really hope it helps you out! And don't hesitate to ask me any follow up questions as well. :)
atomical 15y ago
I agree. Documentation and a simple example isn't enough. I look forward to going through the material.
rapind 15y ago
FYI, there are a few other resources kicking around too. Thanks to OP for another. http://peepcode.com/products/backbone-js http://peepcode.com/products/backbone-js http://peepcode.com/products/backbone-ii http://peepcode.com/products/backbone-ii http://workshops.thoughtbot.com/backbone-js-on-rails http://workshops.thoughtbot.com/backbone-js-on-rails
- mshafrir 15y ago
  I'll second the Peepcode screencasts, they worked really well for me.
jashkenas 15y ago
The Backbone.js homepage assumes that you're somewhat familiar with building JavaScript-heavy web applications ... I can see how it would be lacking if you're coming at it fresh. Would you like to see an official tutorial listed on that page, or would a screencast be better? Doing a section linking out to all of the third-party tutorials is another option.
- mccutchen 15y ago
  I would always rather see a text tutorial than a screencast.
- ez77 15y ago
  Yes, please! Any form of official tutorial would be welcome. And indeed, if you could "endorse" high-quality tutorials by linking to them it would be great.
- avolcano 15y ago
  A good official tutorial would be fantastic, one that walked through something with a little more complexity than the basic to-dos demo. It's not that the official docs are particularly hard-to-read, it's just that it's very much a reference that doesn't give you a good place to start or "big picture" overview.
- ramanujam 15y ago
  This is a great step by step tutorial leading to the Todos example. http://arturadib.com/hello-backbonejs/ http://arturadib.com/hello-backbonejs/ Including it or something similar would be beneficial for beginners. As someone else mentioned, an official collection of good tutorials will be really helpful.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
thomasdavis 15y ago
I work on a site called http://backbonetutorials.com http://backbonetutorials.com

ramanujam 15y ago

I started playing with backbone.js and stumbled upon your other intro video where you explained the basics. Combined with the docs and another example, it was pretty helpful for me to get started. Thanks for that and I will try this screencast as i move ahead.

joeybeninghove 15y ago
You're very welcome. Really hope this new one is a help for you too! Let me know if you have any other questions about the code. Thanks!

jcapote 15y ago

This is cool but do they all have your face on the bottom corner?

joeybeninghove 15y ago
Haha, I know. I have an ugly mug for sure. :) That's always been kind of my style for screencasting in general. I think it gives it a nice personal feel. But would you rather have the option of just seeing the code without the live video?
- jcapote 15y ago
  Not that it's ugly, its just distracting from the code, also it takes up screen real estate. Just my 2 cents, if that's your style, go with it.
  - joeybeninghove 15y ago
    Thanks man. That's great feedback. Perhaps I could play around with the sizing of the video a bit. I try to keep it out of the way of the code so that it doesn't overlap too bad.
    - petercooper 15y ago
      My straw polls (or "market research" if I ever needed to big it up ;-)) showed a general dislike (though not strongly) for live video throughout a screencast but including portions was OK. That said, everything Gregg Pollack does seems to have him in it the whole time, and he's doing OK ;-) I avoid it mostly because it adds overhead to the file size. You can crunch down a screen / presentation only screencast to pretty incredible sizes with H264 but as soon as you mix in live video, you either need to sacrifice its quality severely or put up with large files.
      - topfunky 15y ago
        I've found the same thing. Solid colors of a screen capture can easily compress to under 200 MB for 60 minutes of video, but live action (even with only small movements) can double or triple that in size.

mshafrir 15y ago

The Backbone source code is concise and well documented. If you feel like you've hit a wall, it might be worth your while to read through it. Check it out at http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/docs/backbone.html http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/docs/backbone.html

leeohsheeus 15y ago

I really like the "live" style of these screencasts. It seems almost like I'm pair programming. I appreciate the polished feel of screencasts like the RailsCasts, but this feels more... real somehow.

joeybeninghove 15y ago
Great compliment! That is the exact type of experience I'm hoping to bring with both these screencasts as well as CastingCode.tv. I know I really enjoy sitting down and pairing with folks myself, so I really hope I can bring a similar experience with these types of screencasts and live coding events. Thanks!
- petercooper 15y ago
  Not going to be cheap enough to do a plug here ;-) but I had exactly the same comment from someone about 1.9 Walkthrough today (that is, warts and all live coding with only minor editing). So perhaps there are legs to this approach! :-)

pjmurray 15y ago

I'd be interested to see what value this adds compared to the documentation and existing (free) blog posts on it's use. IMHO Backbone's docs are super friendly and if you're really wondering what's going on under the covers the source code is relatively easy to jump into and understand (assuming you're a javascript programmer not a jQuery hacker)

joeybeninghove 15y ago
I agree about the Backbone.js docs being quite awesome. I think they get a bad wrap myself. But I've also found that some folks like the option of watching screencasts to learn about certain topics as well. I kind of fall into both categories. I really like reading the docs (and more importantly, the code itself) as well as watching someone demonstrate certain topics. I guess I'm weird like that. :)