On this thread I'll try to answer as many questions as I can.
A few notes:
Remember that any post is one of fifty on the front page. The bottom 5 to 15 posts are "in the white" -- they have white backgrounds to the title -- meaning that they are stories posted more than a week ago, blogs, forum topics, weblink announcements or old announcements from me (or Bob, sometimes). The top 35 to 45 posts on the front page are "in the yellow" -- they have yellow backgrounds to the title -- meaning mostly stories less than one week old, plus a few announcements, forum topics or weblinks I have chosen to float up into the yellow.
Every story posted pushes more than forty other stories down. Stories below the top 5 to 8 are less likely to get hits. Taller story blocks push other stories down further, real estate wise.
I reserve the very top spot for announcements from me, including Hatbox/Doppler Press announcements. Sometimes I will take the two top spots for announcements. If I'm not using it, then the most recently posted story goes in the top spot.
The part of the story that appears on the front page is called the teaser. It includes the title, in red on white or yellow; the categories in blue; a box with a peach background containing the title and author and maybe a graphic or a "text teaser" (I call this part "the squib" to distinguish it from the whole title-and-box teaser). Below the box are links to comments, pming the author and a read more link.
Graphic images used in teasers should not be more than 400x400 pixels. I try to keep to this myself. If you upload your graphics to BC's server, it will automatically limit the size to those dimensions or smaller. Two people have permission from me to use larger graphics inside their posts but they limit the use in the teaser to 400 pixels wide. Graphic images hosted elsewhere than BC's own server should NOT be used in the teaser as this can cause the front page to hang.
Don't use the blockquote HTML command in the teaser to set off the squib; it puts in an unnecessary blank line above the text inside the blockquote and makes the box look tall and unbalanced. Try to make sure your HTML commands are nested properly abc-cba, as a construct like abc-cab will give some browsers fits. End your teaser with a break command that looks like this: <!--break-->
The squib ("text teaser") should be one to eight lines of pithy comment or extract, the shorter the better almost. Two lines is nearly perfect, one may be too short. The best squibs ask a question the story answers.
Always, always, always include your name as author (or the author's name if you're posting for someone else) in the teaser box.
I may alter teasers that do not meet these formats. I've always done so, not by whim but by how much time and energy I have to make the front page look good and load properly.
Any other questions? :)
- Erin
Chapters and Parts
I usually take care of organizing chapters and parts of longer works into order. One of the things that makes this easier is consistency in spelling and punctuation of titles of the subsections.
My preference is to indicate chapters with simple hyphens with any chapter title following after. Like this:
Boob Squad -1- Boobs 'R' Us
Boob Squad -2- A Boob in the Hand
Boob Squad -3 & 4- Boobalot and The Boobsy Twins
Boob Squad -5- Once Upon a Boob
This makes it easy to order the chapters by just depending on natural alphanumeric order and there's no need for words like Chapter or Part in the titles.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Not getting read
I'm trying to affect things without making direct changes myself but some of what I said above is not getting read. Requoted below:
The squib ("text teaser") should be one to eight lines of pithy comment or extract, the shorter the better almost. Two lines is nearly perfect, one may be too short. The best squibs ask a question the story answers.
Please remember that everyone who posts a story would like for that story to remain near the top longer and tall posts push earlier posts further down the page more quickly. A big graphic plus a long squib is stepping on other authors' toes.
Hugs,
- Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
format
The title is already there in red, and the author is there in blue, but you want them repeated inside the teaser box? That seems kind of silly to me, but if that's the format you want to standardize on, I can do it.
Should we edit older stories to conform to the standard?
Up to you about older stories
And no, the title as in red above the box is not always the title in the box; they don't have to be. And the author's name in blue is there if I put it there on the first story the author writes. If there's no author name in the box, I have to go with the poster name which may not be the name the author actually wants on the story.
Too, some people copy the stories to their hard drives by copying the content of the box when the story is opened, it's better if author and title are with the story. The story is the part in the box, the stuff around the box is just a wrapper.
These policies have been thought about. :) But any of them might be improved by a good suggestion.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.