polyshCONTENT STRATEGY / PRACTICAL GUIDE
When to use video, written steps, or both.
Choose the format for the way someone will use the explanation. Watching a path and doing a task are related, but they need different kinds of help.
Use video when seeing the path matters.
Video can show a sequence that is difficult to explain as isolated images. It helps when the audience needs to notice where a control sits, how a screen changes, or what a successful interaction looks like.
Keep the story focused. A product demo should show the benefit of one useful action, and a tutorial should help someone complete one task. Good narration connects the clicks to their purpose.
Use written steps when someone is doing the task.
A guide lets the reader pause, find a specific instruction, and keep their place beside the software. It is useful for a repeated procedure or a task with prerequisites that someone must check before starting.
Write each step as an action and a result. Add a screenshot when it makes the control easier to find. Put background notes outside the numbered steps so the reader can distinguish context from work.
Use both when people need to learn and return.
Onboarding is a good example. Someone may watch a narrated walkthrough once to understand the task, then keep the guide nearby when they try it in their own account.
A customer support explanation can work the same way: the video shows the path and the guide gives the person a reference to revisit. With Polysh, you can make both from the same source recording.
Review each format for its job.
The guide should not read like a transcript. Remove presenter asides, name the prerequisites, and make results explicit. The video should not sound like someone reading a checklist without showing the relevant action.
Test both outputs against the same task. Can the viewer explain what they saw? Can the reader reach the intended result? Those are useful review questions before you share either version.