Well, I spent most of today working on my Author web page on this site:
Now I want input from those that might access such things. Are there any problems, glitches, confusing elements, or things you think should be changed or improved. I only have access to one web browser, so it might be helpful if you include your web browser if you list a problem.
I wanted to make it easier to find a story you might be interested in reading, but I'm not sure that is what I actually did. How can I make it more user friendly (especially for people who have never visited the site before). I figured I needed to work on it since I have been giving out the web link to it several times over the last few months. If I'm going to be directing people there as a way to see what I've written, I wanted more than just a list of stories. I wanted them to have some way to judge if they might want to read a particular story. Anything people think I should do to improve them?
Any advice and suggestions appreciated. Not sure how much the site will be used by the regulars on this site, but I know it will be used by non-site users. And if they like what they see, maybe they will explore other authors on the site.
Thanks in advance for your help
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
Comments
Teek, I like it. Teddie
Teek, I like it.
Teddie
Great!
I spend a fair bit of time editing my author’s page, for just the reasons you mention. I wish I had your technical sophistication! Linked sub-pages, big, colorful fonts, hyperlinks that don’t show the whole URL, copies of summary screens . . . it’s really very nice. Well done!
Emma
No Clue
Believe it or not - I have very little idea of what I am doing. Except for help several years ago (by Piper if I remember correctly) to figure out how to put the picture next to a title using tables, most of what I do is through the buttons just above the box where we type this stuff in.
Linked sub-pages - create another page, and then go back to the first and use the link button (button with a ball in it) to connect them
big, colorful fonts - The "H" button will create a heading. So write your title, highlight it and press the "H" button. I'll also highlight it and press the "B" and "U" buttons to Bold and Underline it. - - Color of the font, is a little bit harder but only because you have to go look them up on the web. Do a web search for "HTML color codes" and find the color you want. In the code created by pressing the "H" button, replace the # with the new one you found on the web. Be careful though, you can make something hard for people to read if you choose the wrong color. Just because it works for you, doesn't mean others will be able to see or tolerate certain colors.
hyperlinks that don’t show the whole URL - - Use the ball button
copies of summary screens - - When creating a story, you have control over what the summary is going to be for that story. I just copy and pasted that from my individual stories, onto my author page
Remember to keep Piper happy and pay attention to the "Allowed HTML tags" listed just above the "Preview" button. I have no clue in the world what all of those do, but I have figured out some of them. When you start using the buttons above, like the "B" or "U" buttons, it is easy to see the basics of HTML coding dynamics. Make sure you always click that "Preview" button to see if what you did is what you want before you press the "Save" button.
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
Thanks, Teek!
What a wonderful tutorial!
Emma
I am impressed
I took a look at your Author Page that you linked above. The classification in the four main categories of poetry, minis, shorts and novels is a nice touch. Then the listing of your novels with a short blurb each, not to mention the brief statistics, is a very nice way drawing in potential readers. There is also enough info for potential readers to decide if there are some obvious triggers that they personally might want to avoid, or prepare themselves to face, in order to decide on whether to read a story or not as the case might be.
I do not know how easy (or impossible) it might be to maybe just list the titles of the other categories in their own sections further down the page. If it means that you have to manually edit the page each time you post a new mini or short story, then it might not be worth the extra effort. But if the listing could be automated it would be a nice touch.
Greetings from Europe.
Jessica Nicole
Everything is manual
There is no automation with this Author page, so yes, every time I add any story, I have to also edit the Author page to include it. Fortunately, what I put on the Author page, is almost identical (except for changing the title to a link) to what I create for the splash screen we see on the BCTS Home Page when we post a story. This allows me to mostly just copy and paste that into my Author page. I wish there was a way to get the tags in this process, they are the only thing that is missing from my author page that I wish was there.
So, are you suggesting I put at the bottom of the sub-pages the links: Poems - Mini Stories - Short Stories - Novels ?
I can easily do that with a cut and paste, but I would want to make sure everything's right before I go about doing that four more times (one for each page). My autism is still really annoyed at that section, because on my screen the titles are up and down in their sections. I don't really know what I'm doing, so I haven't figured out how to fix that yet.
Or do you mean for this "list the titles of the other categories in their own sections further down the page." - that I list all my stories titles at the bottom of the page? That would all be manual and be a ton of work, and your right, real annoying when I add a new story, for I would have to go add that new link on all 4 subpages.
Thanks for the input though, I will take it into consideration.
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
Tags are possible
You just need to use your old friend, Cut and Paste. On your story page, highlight the tags; paste the into your word processor and edit them into a single line; copy them and paste them into the page below the tittle. If you want to make it more like the tags at the top of the story, highlight each tag and press the n button.
Here's what that looks like for TSS
Organizational: Title Page Audience Rating: General Audience (pg) Other Keywords: disability Autism Magic TG Themes: Sweet / Sentimental TG Elements: Childhood
If you want to include the links with the tag, that would require another step.
The same thing could be done from the teaser.
From "New Resident":
General Audience (pg) Short-short < 500 words Non-Transgender Sweet / Sentimental Childhood Child
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
future project
I will probably do this for at least my Novel length stories - - Thanks
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
Web browsers galore, and more ...
https://portableapps.com/ has a lot of web browsers, plus a complete Windows Office Suite (called LibreOffice), compatible with 'micro-squish' software and files.
Plus a lot of other stuff.
All of it is >Free<. It's built to not mess with your computer and to not leave 'crud'.
It is meant to 'live' on a USB 'memory stick'/drive, or is just as happy on your hard drive.
Again, all free.
-
It's best to first download the menu system, then use the menu to download wanted goodies. Uninstalling things is easy.
It looks good to me.
I'm using Firefox 120.0 (64-bit). Your author page looks really good to me.