Is there a general effects tutorial online

Effects is a method for allowing the DM to track "conditions" thay have been applied. For example, "ongoing fire damage of 5".

For direct damage attacks, creating effect is not typically your best course of action - since there is no mechanism to determine that the attack actually landed (if you play a cersion of D&D where magic missle never misses, this would be appropriate).

 

Yeah, when you create an effect, there is a Hit Point tab. There you can set hit point modifications (damage or healing) and even set dice for the hit point effect, such as 10d6 Fire or 2d4+2 force. You can even set a save for the effect.

If it's an effect you use a lot (like your favorite fireball) you can even create a Special Ability in the Abilities tab to quickly apply the effect. The Ability tab is also a good place to track Wands since you can set abilities to have Charges.

But Thurgian is right - it's much faster to set a dice macro for your magic missile (5d4+5) and just click that once when you cast it and have the DM apply damage on the fly. Effects are good for mass saving throws (like fireball) or tracking durations and numerical modifiers.