Checklist.video – Research backed tips for great video calls

It’s been a whole year since the pandemic started and video calls are still terrible. We&#x27;ve been doing a lot of research into how to make them better and wanted to share what we&#x27;ve learned.<p>We were aiming for something whimsical and easy to read so the tips primarily focus around illustrations that were inspired by IKEA instructions. For people who are interested in delving into the details we put the meat of the advice behind a &quot;Why?&quot; button.<p>This was also our first foray into writing a responsive site that renders well on mobile and desktop, built using Next.js and Tailwinds CSS.<p>What are some of your favorite video call hacks or tips?

It&#x27;s interesting to me that nobody&#x27;s really taken the initiative to come out with a high-quality video-only UVC camera yet. I have in mind something like Arducam&#x27;s offerings* but with autofocus. Even taking a Raspberry Pi high-quality camera and trying to make a webcam out of it is difficult.<p>I have no interest in buying a thousand-dollar mirrorless camera for this purpose, and even less interest in taking Michael Lopp&#x27;s advice and buying a $4,000 BlackMagic camera for this. All the pieces are in place for a decent autofocus dedicated UVC camera with good color imaging, but for some reason the market hasn&#x27;t landed there, and I&#x27;m curious why.<p>The closest is probably the Logitech Brio, but even that camera is horrible in lighting environments in which the Arducam&#x27;s manual-focus larger lens excels.<p>* <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.arducam.com&#x2F;product&#x2F;arducam-high-quality-complete-usb-camera-bundle-12mp-1-2-3-inch-imx477-camera-module-with-2-8-12-mm-varifocal-lens-c20280m12-metal-enclosure-tripod-and-usb-cable-b0288&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.arducam.com&#x2F;product&#x2F;arducam-high-quality-complet...</a>

Glad to see “hide self view” on this list - that’s made a huge difference for me in the last few months.<p>I’d suggest removing the need to click through the “read now” button - seems like if I’m on the page, I want to read the tips.

&gt; Keep an arm&#x27;s length away from your camera<p>&gt; Eye contact is incredibly important for showing others you&#x27;re engaged and paying attention. Taking a small step back from the camera will decrease the angle between your eyes and the camera, making it seem more like you&#x27;re making eye contact.<p>this is actually a really great trick! and straightforward explanation.<p>thank you, nice project, wondering why you made it a standalone site. are you intending to build on this further?

I would add to the reasons for &quot;Use wired headphones or speakers&quot; is that many (all? not sure) combination &quot;bluetooth headphones with mic&quot; hardware will bottleneck at the bluetooth link. You end up sounding like you&#x27;re on an old landline (and incoming audio is equally low-fi).<p>I ended up using my bluetooth headphones just for incoming audio; and a dedicated mic on my desk for my speech. It improved both my voice and everyone elses&#x27; dramatically.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_Bluetooth_profiles#Hands-Free_Profile_(HFP)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_Bluetooth_profiles#Han...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_Bluetooth_profiles#Headset_Profile_(HSP)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_Bluetooth_profiles#Hea...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stackoverflow.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;40951060&#x2F;how-to-make-a2dp-and-hsp-work-simultaneously" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stackoverflow.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;40951060&#x2F;how-to-make-a2d...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;techsupport&#x2F;comments&#x2F;44sxms&#x2F;bluetooth_headset_goes_to_low_audio_quality_when&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;techsupport&#x2F;comments&#x2F;44sxms&#x2F;bluetoo...</a>

&gt;Make sure your face is well lit<p>To do this, make sure you have your window in front of you, and certainly not behind you (backlighting is awful)<p>If you are on a call at night, or in a dark place, make sure your laptop screen is not your main source of light: if someone shows a red slide, you will look red.

Why the additional button click to show the checklist? Why not display the checklist when opening the checklist?