Great tutorial, especially the use of a char* and parsing...
While it's not really suitable for beginners, I feel that you dismiss Serialevent() far too easily...
Depending on using Serial.Available() is akin to using delay() instead of millis().
Serialevent() allows your program to acquire incoming characters 'asynchronously' which is a big deal in embedded or real-time systems.
Definitely not needed for flashing LED strips, but as users need more predictable functionality it's worth learning about.