Overwhelming. One word that holds true for many an aspiring Times Writer. Memories of hunting for help articles and seeking the aid of the older and wiser come to mind. While some may push through these tedious tasks, others can become overwhelmed and shy away, causing us to lose a promising writer.
For this very reason, change is necessary. This possible change would not only benefit the newer writers, but our veterans and seniors alike. Wishful thinking, we think not! Why don't you take a look for yourself?
Our current help bar is a great resource for new writers looking for help on submitting articles. There are however, some setbacks present, namely in trying to find it. Maybe we're just blind, but we thought adding brighter colors or bigger fonts might really help to make it pop! Also, when clicking the "Whyville Help" or "Gallery" links, you are led to the same place. This makes having both of them a repetitive space-consumer. Another observation regarding this purple bar is that the "Staff" bar leads you to an outdated list of writers. For rookies in need of some experienced help, this proves to be a tense, not to mention awkward, situation of waiting for a y-mail reply that might not even come.
The main cause of confusion, by far, is the actual submitting. It seems like having to send in an article off of Whyville resembles the ponderings of a parallel universe. Our solution to this problem consists of a brand new "Submit" link that leads to our user-friendly on-site submission page, in all it's glory.
Submission would be made simple with this easy to use system where writers could simply enter necessary information into the delegated boxes, eliminating confusion and leaving little room for forgetfulness. It might also include options to use bold, italics, or underlining when the author felt necessary.
Writers could choose to expand upon their article with an easy to use options box. It would include a sections drop down box, making it easy to select the category they feel their article would fit into, as well as a place to remind writers to enter in any sources they may have used.
For those who would want to add any pictures to their articles, an 'attach a file' button as in e-mails could be made available. Just as the setup is now, the attached pictures would be sent to the editor, and the author would dictate where they'd like their images to be through text in the body of the article.
Of course no plan is fool-proof, and getting started with writing for the Times can be a confusing experience for anybody. For those new writers who would still be in need of assistance, a help link could be provided on the submission page where the writer would find a list to varying Times helps articles from the past!
Another feature that we felt would be nice would be the option to save a draft of your article, and be able to go back to it under a 'Saved Articles' file on your account at another time. Then, when you finally were done writing up your article, you would be able to hit the submit button to send your article to the Editor!
Maybe we're just dreaming, and our far-fetched ideas may never see the light of day. Even so, we feel an on-site submitting process would bring benefits such as preventing confusion and forgetfulness, making submitting an article quick and easy for all writers, and perhaps, best of all, bring some new faces and talent to the Whyville Times community we all love so much.
What do you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Let us know!
Editor's Note: Thank you Xoxkitkat and Bibi4evr for this great idea. We're always thinking of new ways to improve Whyville and of course the Times. As you know, change takes some time and resources. What I like about this idea is that it will help writers to submit their articles in a more organized manner. Keep up the good work.
