Everyone has abandoned a tutorial at step 4. You followed every instruction, but the command does not run, the screen does not match the screenshot, and you close the tab. It is almost never your fault: it is the author's. Things can be done differently, and it is not difficult.
Before you write, answer two questions
Who is this for, and what will the person be able to do afterward? If you cannot answer both in one sentence, the tutorial will wander. "For a junior developer who has never run a container, who will have the app running on localhost:3000 by the end." Done. Now you know what to cut and where to stop.
One path, and it works
A tutorial is not reference documentation. Choose ONE path—the most direct one—and ignore the detours. No "if you use macOS, do X; if Windows, do Y; if you prefer yarn..." Each branch doubles the chance that the person will get lost. Branches belong in footnotes or another article.
Show where the person will end up
Show the result right at the beginning. A screenshot of the final screen, the response JSON, or the live website. This provides context and motivation: the person knows the effort has a destination. Without it, every step is a leap into the dark.
Commands people can copy without thinking
A good command is one the person can paste and run. Avoid docker run <your-image> with a placeholder that no one knows how to fill in. Provide the complete command:
bash docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --name my-app node:20
Use code blocks, with one command per block when it makes sense, and show the expected output right below. If the person does not see the same output, they immediately know that something went off track.
Make the mistakes for the reader
You already know where people stumble: a port is occupied, permission is denied, or an environment variable was forgotten. Anticipate those problems. After the risky step, add a short block: "If EADDRINUSE appears, port 3000 is already in use; switch to 3001." This saves the person from opening three Stack Overflow tabs and giving up halfway through.
The final test: do it yourself from scratch
The tutorial is only ready when you follow it on a clean machine, without skipping anything or relying on what is already installed on yours. Use a new container, a new folder, and copy and paste every command as if it were your first time. This is where the steps you thought were obvious—and nobody else does—come to light.
A good tutorial is not the most complete one. It is the one the person finishes. Write so they reach the end.
