One of our favorite resources here at SparkFun is our Tutorial section. We put a lot of work into creating and hosting a wide range of step-by-step instructions that will help you do anything from mastering Ohm's Law to building an LED pizza valentine (which is actually very timely). We include everything from related and recommended reading, to suggested product wishlists, to big shiny photos so you know exactly what things should look like.
Soft Circuits: LED Feelings Pizza
February 13, 2013
Here we will learn how to say how you feel with pizza. Electric pizza.
Our love for tutorials is definitely biased, but recently we became curious which of SparkFun's tutorials are your favorite. We put our analytics czar Kirsten to the task, and this is what we learned based on site visit data from the past quarter.
- The number of visits to our website that view at least one tutorial is up 67% year over year. About 23,000 site visits view a SparkFun tutorial every day! This is fantastic.
- The most popular tutorials overall (those receiving the most page views) are usually our concept tutorials, such as:
Voltage, Current, Resistance, and Ohm's Law
Learn about Ohm's Law, one of the most fundamental equations in all electrical engineering.
What is Electricity?
We can see electricity in action on our computers, lighting our houses, as lightning strikes in thunderstorms, but what is it? This is not an easy question, but this tutorial will shed some light on it!
Alternating Current (AC) vs. Direct Current (DC)
Learn the differences between AC and DC, the history, different ways to generate AC and DC, and examples of applications.
How to Use a Multimeter
Learn the basics of using a multimeter to measure continuity, voltage, resistance and current.
Educators
The most popular tutorials for Educators are:
How to Install FTDI Drivers
How to install drivers for the FTDI Basic on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Easy Driver Hook-up Guide
Get started using the SparkFun Easy Driver for those project that need a little motion.
Large Digit Driver Hookup Guide
Getting started guide for the Large Digit display driver board. This tutorial explains how to solder the module (backpack) onto the back of the large 7-segment LED display and run example code from an Arduino.
Distributors
If you're a Distributor, these are the tutorials you've clicked most often.
SparkFun Inventor's Kit for Photon Experiment Guide
Dive into the world of the Internet of Things with the SparkFun Inventor's Kit for Photon.
Photon RedBoard Hookup Guide
Your guide to commissioning, tinkering, and programming the SparkFun Photon RedBoard.
ESP8266 Thing Development Board Hookup Guide
An overview of SparkFun's ESP8266 Thing Development Board - a development board for the Internet of Things.
Employees
Yes, we use our own tutorials all the time! When it comes to SparkFunions, we have our go-to guides too.
How to Install FTDI Drivers
How to install drivers for the FTDI Basic on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
ESP8266 Thing Hookup Guide
An overview of SparkFun's ESP8266 Thing - a development board for the Internet of...Things. This tutorial explains the circuitry driving the board, and how to get it up and running in an Arduino environment.
There you have it! Some brief data on which SparkFun tutorials our customers (and us!) have found the most useful. What tutorial would you like to see us add to the catalog?
How about a tutorial on setting up a small company in your dorm room that grows into a $30 million company in a few years?
We know just the guy, we'll see if we can get him on it. :)
definitely the most important reason for my purchases from sparkfun are the tutorials... you manage to make things simple.. so i spend time on designing/comming up my crazy inventions not getting a phd in electronics to get them to work. This site empowers people and shows them the ropes... my favorite tutorials are the espthings' various alternatives.. My most used one was the wellding tutorial.. and quite often your friday post is just what I needed to make things work.. keep up the awesome work
SparkFun's tutorials directly contributed to my successfully earning my MSEE after graduating 16 years ago with a BSME. And while I was in school, I heard many students express the opinion that the SparkFun tutorials were more valuable than the class lectures (for some topics). Keep it up!
I view this as hope for the world.
Just heard on the radio that the top three "pastimes" culled from Facebook were "Justin Bieber", "Cell Phones", and "Crying". I guess I did figure out (in part with SF Tutorials) how to trigger my camera with a cell phone; I did shed a couple of tears in the process so I shouldn't judge.
This is my new favorite comment.