Tips and "10 resources to help you do X" content will be the detritus of the social bookmarking age.
Though just because they're reasonably easy to produce and provide little insight doesn't eliminate their value. Tips and resource posts can act like a "swipe file" of ideas, providing inspiration and provoking different ways of thinking about things.
I might be a complete Photoshop pro, but if I see some tips that do things in a slightly different way, those tips could inspire me to come up with new techniques of my own. That's why all those "design gallery" sites exist.. not so people copy / steal designs, but so creative people can be inspired.
So, sure, real advice requires real insight, but there's still serious value in all the tiny bits and pieces that get our minds thinking.
Tips or resources that might inspire me to use it. I know there have been some impressive tutorials that have encouraged people to get more into using Photoshop by their effect. I enjoyed a lot of them myself in the late 90s.
I think the point is, that any odd idiot trying to do something, is better than someone who knows a ton about the topic but has never gotten his hands dirty with actual work.
The example of the guy with the perfect, undamaged running shoes is very fitting, and can be seen in real-life if you go to the gym. The guys (and gals) with the muscles are training; the chubby people are talking about 'workout techniques' and 'diet tips'.
Brilliant article. This quote is going to be posted somewhere I can see it, daily.
"You get good at something by doing it repeatedly. And by listening to specific criticism from people who are already good at what you do."
I can't count the number of times I have read a tid-bit or passage in a book on a topic for insight and later, realized that when I actually follow the advice given, layers and layers deeper is the real meat. This is the meat I would have missed had I not done the actual act rather than simply read a tip.
The times I got better by leaps and bounds were when I practiced, and showed my result to someone better than me who took the time to critique.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 32.3 ms ] threadThough just because they're reasonably easy to produce and provide little insight doesn't eliminate their value. Tips and resource posts can act like a "swipe file" of ideas, providing inspiration and provoking different ways of thinking about things.
I might be a complete Photoshop pro, but if I see some tips that do things in a slightly different way, those tips could inspire me to come up with new techniques of my own. That's why all those "design gallery" sites exist.. not so people copy / steal designs, but so creative people can be inspired.
So, sure, real advice requires real insight, but there's still serious value in all the tiny bits and pieces that get our minds thinking.
The example of the guy with the perfect, undamaged running shoes is very fitting, and can be seen in real-life if you go to the gym. The guys (and gals) with the muscles are training; the chubby people are talking about 'workout techniques' and 'diet tips'.
"You get good at something by doing it repeatedly. And by listening to specific criticism from people who are already good at what you do."
I can't count the number of times I have read a tid-bit or passage in a book on a topic for insight and later, realized that when I actually follow the advice given, layers and layers deeper is the real meat. This is the meat I would have missed had I not done the actual act rather than simply read a tip.
The times I got better by leaps and bounds were when I practiced, and showed my result to someone better than me who took the time to critique.