Better Portfolio Management!

Nate · 2008-05-30T23:18:24Z

Know how when you go to someone's profile, you see a tab called "Portfolio" in the middle? Have you ever been annoyed that you couldn't better manage your own? Well... now you can! Three new features have been introduced to help you out. First (and already announced in a prior, now deleted, announcement), you can now order the items in your portfolio. This way, what you want read is up top. When ordering, it is best not to do: 1, 2, 3, 4... If you do that, then you have to change every single one around every time you want to change the ordering. Instead, it's better to do something like: 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000. This way, if you want to add a new story between 1000 & 2000, you can place it as 1,500 (or anything else), and you don't need to change anything else whatsoever! You can use any number up to 8388607, so don't be shy about using large numbers. Second, you can now choose to make some items invisible in your portfolio. This is really useful for someone like me who has a lot of topics (e.g., the "Rules - Must Read" threads), which appear in the portfolio by default, but don't really want there. However, this only makes the item invisible in the portfolio; not the forums! Third, the second new feature makes it necessary for an author to see how their portfolio looks normally. Thus, you will now see "Portfolio - Normal View" in your profile. What's more, all the above is done using AJAX, which means it's all completely and utterly seamless. No reloading of pages, no back and forth, no unnecessary anything. [s]So once again, this just goes to prove that YWS is not only the best site for young writers (none even come close to offering something like this), but the best site for writers in general. Sure Writing.com still has a better portfolio system, but we allow unlimited items for free! And really, who can beat free? Or user subdomains, or fully configurable blogs, or user chosen featured works, or the dozens of other things YWS has to offer?[/s] EDIT 1: May 31, 2008 You may now organize your portfolio into folders! That's right: folders! How does it work, you say? First, create the folder by going to your own profile then to "Portfolio." You'll see a section called "Folder Management." Read the information over, then when you're ready, type in the name of a new folder, and hit "create." Once created, the folder is automatically added. But to see any changes, you do need to refresh the page (there is no possible away around this). Go to the items you wish to place in folders, choose the folder from the drop down menu, then click place. Then to view what it all looks like, just go to "Portfolio - Normal View" in your own profile. What you see there is what everyone else sees. Note that this is not the last update to the portfolio system. My first priority is to make it look cleaner for when you're managing it (it works for now, but I imagine it's getting pretty confusing), but there's a couple more cool features in the works as well. What you got is already far and away better than anything else out there, but it's about to get even better. EDIT 2: June 1, 2008 The portfolio system has gotten so complicated now for me to code, that this is really the last update. There'll be a few minor things added on after this, but they'll be quite minor. Given that, this is a pretty major update. It does not add any new functionality, but it can give your portfolio a very distinctive character. That is, you can now change the folder and item icons. Changing is, as with everything else, very, very easy. Just go to "Portfolio" in your own portfolio, and you'll see drop-down boxes under all the images. Select the drop-down box, then select an image. The icon image then automatically refreshes right there on the page! Cool, eh? There are 25 different folder icons you can choose from, and 17 different item icons. Have fun!

chocoholic

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:34 am

chocoholic says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:34 am

Love the changes Nate!

Just wondering, can we delete folders? Because I had a spelling mistake in one of my folder names, so I made a new one, but the other one is still there. It would be nice to delete it.

*Don't expect to see me around much in the next couple of weeks. School has started again, and it'll be a couple of weeks before I've settled in. If you've asked me for a critique, you will get it, but not for a little while. Sorry*

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Nate

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:38 am

Nate says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:38 am

chocoholic wrote:Love the changes Nate!

Just wondering, can we delete folders? Because I had a spelling mistake in one of my folder names, so I made a new one, but the other one is still there. It would be nice to delete it.

Yep, you'll be able to, and thanks for reminding me. It's something I plan on putting in tomorrow, but for now, I'll quickly delete that folder for you.

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chocoholic

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:39 am

chocoholic says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:39 am

Thanks Nate!

It's How ou Break My Heart.

Can't wait to see what's coming next.

*Don't expect to see me around much in the next couple of weeks. School has started again, and it'll be a couple of weeks before I've settled in. If you've asked me for a critique, you will get it, but not for a little while. Sorry*

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Emerson

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:21 pm

Emerson says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:21 pm

You're making my life really amazing with this thing, Nate. Can I make you a cake, or something?

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BigBadBear

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:37 pm

BigBadBear says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:37 pm

So... how do you delete folders? I accidentally made two of the same folder, and I want the empty one out.

How do you do it?

-Jared

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Would love help on this.

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Emerson

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:38 pm

Emerson says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:38 pm

Nate wrote:
chocoholic wrote:Love the changes Nate!

Just wondering, can we delete folders? Because I had a spelling mistake in one of my folder names, so I made a new one, but the other one is still there. It would be nice to delete it.

Yep, you'll be able to, and thanks for reminding me. It's something I plan on putting in tomorrow, but for now, I'll quickly delete that folder for you.

Nate hasn't set it up yet. ^^ You should read things, silly Jared!

By the way, my portfolio looks so beautiful now. So much prettier than Sah's

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BigBadBear

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:04 pm

BigBadBear says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:04 pm

Suzanne wrote:
Nate wrote:
chocoholic wrote:Love the changes Nate!

Just wondering, can we delete folders? Because I had a spelling mistake in one of my folder names, so I made a new one, but the other one is still there. It would be nice to delete it.

Yep, you'll be able to, and thanks for reminding me. It's something I plan on putting in tomorrow, but for now, I'll quickly delete that folder for you.

Nate hasn't set it up yet. ^^ You should read things, silly Jared!

By the way, my portfolio looks so beautiful now. So much prettier than Sah's

Pffft. I thought he wrote that yesterday. XD

Anyway, thanks Nate. I finally got the hang of it, and it's all coming together. Thanks.

-Jared

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Would love help on this.

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JFW1415

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:57 pm

JFW1415 says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:57 pm

Suzanne wrote:By the way, my portfolio looks so beautiful now. So much prettier than Sah's

Pahh. Mine rules all.

(Haha, I thought the same thing, Jared.

)

~JFW1415

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:26 pm

Nate says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:26 pm

Heh, be glad that Suzanne replied first Jared! What I usually do in cases like that is take a picture of the screen, then edit it by putting in an arrow from your post to the one just two comments above you.

Anyhow, deleting is now functioning. When you delete a folder, the contents of the folder get moved to the front. That is, they go back to being unorganized.

Also, the interface for managing your portfolio has been overhauled. It's essentially the same, but probably a lot less confusing/intimidating.

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Rydia

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Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:44 pm

Rydia says... · Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:44 pm

Awesome, Nate! I'm really loving the new layout =)

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Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:21 am

Nate says... · Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:21 am

Last major update!

You can now change the image icon for the items & folders in your portfolio. Changing is very simple; so simple that you can probably figure it out yourself by just going to your portfolio. But if you want, I have updated the first post.

Some other things...

A number of people are requesting that you once again be able to view your latest reviews, and I'm sorry for removing that! It'll be added again, but better and more improved this time around. Once I'm done, you'll find it in My YWS under a "Reviews" tab.

A couple more things remain to be added to the portfolio system, but these are very minor things. 95% of the portfolio system is now done!

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Lynlyn

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Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:13 pm

Lynlyn says... · Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:13 pm

Nate wrote:A number of people are requesting that you once again be able to view your latest reviews, and I'm sorry for removing that! It'll be added again, but better and more improved this time around. Once I'm done, you'll find it in My YWS under a "Reviews" tab.

Excellent! That's what I was worried about. And I love the ability to change the icons [s]and hide really bad old stories[/s]!

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Adnamarine

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Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:57 pm

Adnamarine says... · Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:57 pm

Nate wrote:A number of people are requesting that you once again be able to view your latest reviews, and I'm sorry for removing that! It'll be added again, but better and more improved this time around. Once I'm done, you'll find it in My YWS under a "Reviews" tab.

Haha, I was totally about to write another request for that to be added again, till I noticed the comment above me:)
Thanks Nate!