(no subject)

[heidi]

I cannot explain how much I adore everyone on FA's tech team, who have given us this.

It's taken about 2 months of coding work to get to this point, but o my is it phenomenal!

Comments, issues? Feel free to post here!

Comments

[cygnusfap.livejournal.com]

I have finally managed to get it.

I WUV IT. :)

[prettyboytowa.livejournal.com]

Does this mean that when we send fics, we don't put in all our info (rating, summary, etc.) ourselves? The form does it for us? I always do my formatting by hand, I'm just slightly confused here.

Good idea though. I'll figure it out eventually. ;)

[morganmalfoy.livejournal.com]

Does this mean anything goes on FA, or is it still being screened?

-Morgan, who has no plans to submit, but is always curious

[thepiratequeen.livejournal.com]

Heidi (and the rest of the FA team), this is absolutely great. Of course I have no excuse now not to submit but that's okay.

Congrats! :)

[ex-mahoney365.livejournal.com]

Ah, much easier! However, a suggestion, with background first:

I was really confused first time going over that page. The introductory text is full of linked text, which I skimmed looking for specified directions, saw no directions except a mysterious assertion that the images on the page didn't work (and thought, huh? Why not?). Then I looked through the images, pretty much understood what was being required, and spent a little while *not* being able to find the actual working submission form.

Then I went back to the introductory text and started clicking on text links until I clicked on the words Submission Form which, naturally, took me to the working submission form.

So, my suggestion: make it very clear, i.e. spell out distinctly and condescendingly, that the page shows what the submission form will look like and explains what to put in the fields, but that the *actual* submission form is found [insert bells, whistles, bright colors and italics]HERE[/insert]. And HERE is where one must click to actually fill out the submission form, so come back HERE after perusing the how-to page.

:P Does that make sense?

Otherwise, very spiffy. Once I figured out where the actual submission form was, I would have been able to submit a fic in a snap. Bravo

Feedback on New Submission Process

[heart-of-wine.livejournal.com]

Congrats to FA for this new automated submission process! I really hope that it helps people to submit fics easier (and I also hope that it makes things easier for our lovely mods).

Some initial feedback:

- The Submit explanation page seemed rather confusing to me. It is a bit wordy and I think if I were a newbie I would feel quite intimidated. There were really no clear instructions as to what to do if you are a newbie and have no boards set up at all(now I know this is probably taken care of by the "Review formum not listed radio button, but explaining this might be helpful").

- As a returning author, I was left with several questions:

1. Will I be able to include all of my author's notes in that limited space? What if I want to thank all of my reviewers? Can I simply add more author's notes at the end of my html page?

2. I used to code my previous/next chapter and Author Page links. Should I stop doing this now? Or will it still be helpful?

3. It would be great if the process created a new review thread automatically instead of still having to go back and create one ourselves, then post the link in the submission field.

- Might want to consider a more visual set of instructions (clickable and referenceable) that people can walk through to help them learn the process better... or maybe just some FAQ's. (I'll try to put together a visio flow chart and send it to you and see what you think)

- It is not clear to me if I need to post a thread on the Review Board request page anymore or not for new fics. It seems like you don't have to from what I am reading, but I am still confused.

- Perhaps a numbered list of steps to take might be helpful too. I guess I just found the instructions rather interspersed with lots of links and I kept losing my ocus as I read.

- the screen shots were very helpful and a very good way to instroduce people to the new interface.

I would be willing to discuss this with you or anyone else further. I will try and take a crack at making some sort of flow chart or something to illustrate my point about making this more visual and user-friendly.

I hope that this is helpful. I do not mean to sound overly critical, and I truly want to help you make FA the best site it can be!

Congrats to the team for a huge step forward in the submission process.

Elia

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Right! The form now does it for you! While some people were wonderful and submitted the information, most people didn't - this will save the coders a terrific amount of time when they get the fics ready for the site!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I think it's clearer now. Thanks for the tip!

Re: Feedback on New Submission Process

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

- The Submit explanation page seemed rather confusing to me...
I hope the jump links I just added explain it a bit better. But we're really hoping that people go right to the submission form itself, which is clearer, in and of itself, than trying to explain it is. Writing this was sort of like trying to explain how to put toothpaste on a toothbrush, starting from buy the toothpaste.

1. Will I be able to include all of my author's notes in that limited space? What if I want to thank all of my reviewers? Can I simply add more author's notes at the end of my html page?

You can, but we've really just translated the previous size limit into a character limitation (hint: it's actually longer than that :) ) - but of course, you can add anything into the story file that you think you need - also, there's no place on here for chapter titles - it was too problem-laden - so we hope that people will become accustomed to adding a chapter title at the top of the file they submit.

2. I used to code my previous/next chapter and Author Page links. Should I stop doing this now? Or will it still be helpful?
Not helpful. And I just added (because of this) a note on the top that people should stop doing it. Very few people actually did, btw.

3. It would be great if the process created a new review thread automatically instead of still having to go back and create one ourselves, then post the link in the submission field.
Can't do it yet, but we're working on it. But now, if you click on the links to your reviewboards in the Review Forum: section, it opens your forum in a new window - VERY easy to access it that way! And to make it obvious, we're going to change
Go to your review board (if it's already set up) and start a new thread, then post that thread's URL here. to Click on the link to your Review Forum (if it's listed) in the box right above this one - it'll open your Forum in a new window, so you can create a new thread right now.

- Might want to consider a more visual set of instructions (clickable and referenceable) that people can walk through to help them learn the process better... or maybe just some FAQ's. (I'll try to put together a visio flow chart and send it to you and see what you think)
I worry that more instructions might confuse rather than help, but I'm thrilled to see anything you put together! Thanks!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Go to your review board (if it's already set up) and start a new thread, then post that thread's URL here. --> Click on the link to your Review Forum (if it's listed) in the box right above this one - it'll open your Forum in a new window, so you can create a new thread right now.

[alice-and-lain.livejournal.com]

Huzzah for Paul, Yael and Jon! They are truly wonderful...

~Amber

[smilie117.livejournal.com]

Well, since I read other's comments first - I clicked straight on the submission link - just wow! Very easy to follow on the submission's page - this coming from someone who doesn't write and hasn't submitted before - so I guess I'm a newbie in that respect - but I understood it clearly and through one pass through it too :) - Go FA tech team - woo!

Re: Feedback on New Submission Process

[heart-of-wine.livejournal.com]

OK, here's what I got. I kind of helps explain the process prior to using the form (becuase I think the form is rather self-explanatory)... This decision tree graphic would probably be more useful for newbies, but I have also included logic for returning users. It is very rough, and I think someone with actual graphic talents (unlike moi) would be able to make it look all nicey nice.

Here it is (I hope this display works properly):




I will not be offended if you choose not to use it. I think it might be a good supplement for those who are more process/visually inclined. There would have to be color and links added to it to make it more user friendly.

Let me know if you want the file - it is in Visio format.

Cheers,
Elia

[londonfog.livejournal.com]

It looks fabulous, Heidi-- congratulations to the whole FA team on what looks to be a great, and considerably easier, way to submit your fics.

Makes me want to go write this instant just so I can have the thrill of using it. :D

Great job, and many thanks for all the effort that you all must have put into this. You guys are the best!

- Allie

*looks on in wonder*

[anya-writer.livejournal.com]

FA tech team - Great job! That makes submission so much easier.
Thanks for giving us the preview on chat earlier, Heidi!

:runs off to write next chapter of fics just to try out new submission process:

Elia's flowchart also looked good. Would be a big help to confused newbies.


Anya

squee!

[anastasiamalfoy.livejournal.com]

It looks great!

-AVK

Re: Feedback on New Submission Process

[dixie-malfoy.livejournal.com]

You can, but we've really just translated the previous size limit into a character limitation (hint: it's actually longer than that :) ) - but of course, you can add anything into the story file that you think you need - also, there's no place on here for chapter titles - it was too problem-laden - so we hope that people will become accustomed to adding a chapter title at the top of the file they submit.

Good, I was wondering about that as well.

Great job! I'm really glad you guys did this, especially since I plan on submitting a chapter of my new fic soon. :)