Wouldn't it be cool if YWS...

...had an easier portfolio, a chapter option for novels, a favorite button, a better use of subscriptions, and a traffic stat for views?

Maybe these are all things that Nate has thought about and it's a project for the future, but nonetheless, I was curious to see what it would look like if YWS had these options, so I photoshopped screencaps instead of working on my huge pile of homework that I've been procrastinating on. (Man, I really need to get my priorities straight...)



"All" Option for Portfolios

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I don't know about you, but sometimes I want to read someone's story that they have recently submitted, and to do that, I'd have to click through a bunch of folders and look at each individual date for each story. This was the main reason why I thought an "all" option for the portfolio would be great; it would be the first thing you'd see once you access someone's portfolio, and all their works would be right in front of you from most recent to old. If you want to be specific and, for example, only want to see poetry, then you are free to access it (assuming the user made a poetry folder, of course).

Also, if there is an "all" option, I don't think an unsorted button is really necessary. Basically, all the works you're just "eh" about are in the "all" folder, and you can categorize works you think are good somewhere else, but they'd still be in the "all" folder.



Chapter Option and Favorite Button for Novels

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*the chapter button in the picture is taken directly from my old account in FictionPress.com*

(I currently do not have a novel submitted in YWS, so for the sake of this topic, I'm going to pretend that one of my short stories is a novel.)

There are three new things in that picture: a "last updated" text box, a favorite button, and a chapter option.

The favorite button could also be called the watch button, the alert button, the bookmark button (which I'm vaguely aware YWS has, though I'm not sure how to use it, lol), etc. Basically, the button would give you a notification every time the novel is updated with a new chapter.

I've noticed that YWS has this thing where, if there's, say, a tenth chapter of a novel out, the number of readers decline. It's like a decaying exponential graph; there's a lot of readers for the first few chapters, but after that, it slowly declines.

Why does it do that?

I think it's because people are seeing the words "Chapter 10" and think, "Oh, boy, this story looks really interesting, but I don't feel like reading all the way from chapter one," or, "Chapter ten? Well, I haven't read the earlier chapters, and it would be awkward if I randomly started to review earlier chapters posted a year ago, so I'm going to skimp out on this one," or, "I'm too lazy to find chapter one."

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the site FictionPress.com or FanFiction.com, but stories there get more views and more reviews. Yeah, maybe it's not much of a comparison since YWS is puny compared to those big boy sites, but I think it helps that those two sites have a great way of organizing novels.

Unlike YWS, FictionPress stories update when a new chapter is out; that means new chapters would not be titled "Chapter 2" or "Chapter 3" while being cut out from its original chapter, but would instead by embedded into chapter one, as seen from the picture above.

Pretend that my story The Box is the first chapter to a novel.
When I update it with the second, third, fourth chapter, there will be a drop down menu with all the chapters there so readers can easily navigate back and forth.

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So, if I updated The Box with chapter ten, the story would be back up in the "most recent" pile, maybe looking like this:

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Again, there's the "last updated" text box. And, although I didn't put it in, maybe there can be the original submitted date. Also, on the side against the blue boxes, there a gray box that says "CH10." That means there are ten current chapters in the story.



A Better Subscription Tab

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If there was a favorite button, then there should be a list for all favorited work. This would be only limited to literary. (And if someone favorites a story, should it be listed in their profile? I've seen some sites do this.)

The subscription list is similar to the current subscription list here, but would not be a hassle to use and would only be limited to the forums. For example, if you really wanna know Nate's Apollo thread for all the updates, there could be a button on the bottom of the page that says "subscribe," and if you click on it, that Apollo thread will be on your listed subscriptions.

Then there's the storybook option. This is only limited to storybooks you've posted in—both for the SB and the DT.

Also, I made the picture late at night and forgot to put the profile option. So the little tab would tell you about wall posts and comments on your profile, too.

All the tabs would have a (1) notification next to the text if there's a new novel updated on your favorited list, a new post in your subscribed thread, a new post in the DT/SB, or a new wall comment on your profile. So, if you scroll your cursor over the "1 Notification" button on the top of the page, the drop down menu would come down and tell you specifically what the notification is.

Of course, you can also control the notification type. Maybe you don't want to be notified every time there's a new post in your subscriptions—that's alright, you can change the setting. However, if you click on the subscription tab on the drop-down menu, you can see that the thread has new posts; you just wouldn't be notified of it.



Traffic Stats

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Views! All other sites where I can post my work has them, but YWS doesn't. It's just really cool to see how many views a work you posted can get, and...well...I JUST THINK IT'S COOL, ALRIGHT?

Here's what it could look like with all the stats and stuff (once again taken directly from Fictionpress):

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Here's what a month-by-month could look like (taken from FictionPress):

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...And maybe for each country, too?

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Hmm...yep, I think these features would be really great on YWS. :) They're just thoughts thrown up there for possible updates.

What do you think could make YWS better?
I spent way too much time on this...

TL;DR
Look at the shiny pictures and bask.

Now that sounds just fab.

Just for the record, I can't see most of those, so check your image format. Or maybe my computer's just dumb.

I agree about the portfolio. It would be nice to have an option to see most recent stuff first.

About the "Traffic Stat" thing, are you talking about like "X work has 79 views" or whatever? The works used to have that, as they were posted in forum format. However, I recall somewhere that Nate said he took it away in the re-design because it wasn't very helpful. A lot of those "views" are from ad bots or the writer clicking on their own work. He said he could reintroduce that but I don't know if he will.

The novel thing could be interesting, but might also be really complicated to program. I also don't know what the benefit would actually be compared to say, putting all the chapters in the same folder. An easy "favorite" button does sound like a good edition.

The subscription thing just seems unnecessary to me. I don't usually get enough notifications that it would make sense, plus it's spelled out what's what when you check them. It's fairly easy to check "Notify me for all replies" under Full Reply in a topic you want to watch, but I agree it could be more visible.

I feel like Nate has a lot on his plate, but in the long term some of these could be cool. We've come a long way since the tiny phpBB forum days, though.

Some of these are really cool features to add to YWS. The chaptering would help more members, the popdown for notifications is sweet and a breakdown for literary work stats is simply marvelous.

However, even though some of these are good features, all of the in general is very complex. Those ideas might have already been conceived before. Why hasn't been it implemented yet? Maybe because all the programming might slow the system. There are some features before that aren't here now for the reason that they complicate the system, thus slowing how the page loads, complicating the navigation and making some bugs. Also, Nate is increasingly becoming busier and busier these days, so, yeah.

Although, these features would help more users, so let's see and wait! These suggestions are well appreciated!

Those ideas are great, Carina! Since you took the time to write up all that, I'll try to respond to everything there:

Portfolio "All" tab

Good idea, and simple to boot. I like it and will try to implement it this week.


Chapter option and favorite button for novels

Right now, the related works is the chapter option, but I like how it looks in your mock-up. Plus, it's more logically place the way you have it. So, I'll implement this as well -- this week probably.

The favorite button I see as redundant to the Like button, and if introduced, I think it would cause some confusion. That being said, there does need to be a way where people can see the stuff they liked. Unfortunately, that takes a bit more time, but it is on my to-do list.


Updating chapters and bumping

I'd really like to hear what everyone thinks about this. My big concern is that allowing people to bump their works to the top after updating would lead to some abuse. However, as Carina mentioned, many sites do have this feature and people do seem to like it. Plus, when all the literary works were in a forum, any comment would bump something to the top and it worked alright.


Subscription tab

Agreed, and some of this is already built into phpBB (YWS is built on top of phpBB) so it wouldn't be too difficult to do this. But it requires about an hour or two of work. I'll jot it down as asap since I like the idea a lot, but it probably won't happen for a few weeks.


Notification types and drop-downs in general

This is the first one I'm a "nope" too. I get a lot more notifications than most people probably do, but I still don't feel any need to sort them through. I just don't see much of a value to that.

However, the notifications can be made better. For example, instead of listing each individual reply to a comment, it should just say "X and 9 others replied to your comment." New notifications should also be separated from notifications you've already seen. So, more of a qualified "nope."

On drop-downs, I hate them. They don't work on smartphones and tablets, and they usually confuse users. Plus, if something is important enough to include in the header, then it shouldn't be hidden away in a sub-menu.

The only time drop-downs work is when you have to click them to make them appear (such as the "Me" menu), and that's only a good idea in certain, limited situations.


Traffic stats

I like this idea a lot, and I'd like to apply it to everything. However, it's also tremendously complicated to do, and I wouldn't be able to do them retroactively. So... let's do this in July.


Overall

What I can do this week:
- All tab for portfolios
- Better chapter organization
- Bumping stuff to the top when updated (if people want it)

What I can do soon but not immediately:
- Accessing of previous likes
- Better subscriptions
- Minor renovations to the notifications area

What I can do later:
- Traffic stats

Thanks Carina for taking the time to write this out and to include mock-ups. If there's something I missed or misunderstood, please just let me know.


Everyone ->> Please feel free to share your own ideas as well. The simpler, the better, but even complex ideas can be good. Just keep in mind that as Alfred mentioned, I am quite busy, which means that even if something is a really good idea, I may never be able to do it. For example, a mobile-friendly YWS is an excellent idea, but it requires creating an entirely new website, which is quite time-consuming.

I remember the days when YWS had the novel page, and you could create a synopsis and everything, and it was like the back of your own book. I'd love that back, merely because I loved using it then.

Anyway, Carina, wow! These are great! I honestly kind of miss the old version of the portfolios, when the folders were in the little squares in the middle of the page instead of on the side. In my head, they were easier to view that way. But then again, I like the new way as well, it's much more clean.

I love stats. I spend hours surfing through all the different traffic stats for my blog. Hope something like this implemented soon.

Wow, Nate, glad I could help! Of course, these are only ideas, so I'm not expecting them to be changed right away or immediately or even at all. I just thought I could throw my own opinion based on other writing sites like YWS that I've been in. (And YWS is the best, obviously, haha!)

Also, when I said bumping back as new when updated, I meant it as if the story was following a chapter-based novel. So, if the story was all strung into one with chapters as sections, the story would be bumped back as new if a new chapter was updated.
But actually, the updated thing isn't such a bad idea..though you are right; it can definitely lead to abuse. Maybe you can do this if enough changes were updated, or put a limit on it?

I, too, just love the stats thing. Call me obsessed, but everytime I see a unique visitor come to my page/story, I get all giddy and excited. The traffic flow, in my opinion, could really motivate people to write some more. I do understand that it's terribly complex to program, but I'm sure a lot of people would be happy if or when it comes out. :)

Speaking of other sites and organizing, I'd like to say that, in my opinion, FanNation has the BEST organizer for stories, ever. They've got a ton of options from collaborative co-authors (which is another idea that maybe YWS could have), to the option of adding stories to a trilogy/series (again, another idea), to the option of creating author notes (yet again another idea), and, like SparkOfDoubt said, an option to create a cover page.

I'm not sure if a lot of people would use the co-author and series option, but I do think that adding author notes and a cover page for a story is a great idea

Nevertheless, Nate, I'm glad I can help. Try not to strain yourself, too; we don't want our awesome admin to be too exhausted now, do we? :)

I think it'd be really cool if you could get small point for writing in Storybooks! c:

That might also stop people from quitting a storybook in the middle, or at least make them less likely to. Or maybe to join a storybook you lose points, but you gain them back and extra when the storybook is finished or the creator decides it just won't continue any further? Just an idea to consider, and I'd love people to point out the flaws and/or expand on it.

I'm pretty sure at one point it cost points to post in Storybooks, plus people post there pretty frequently without incentives. I do think it would be good to have the incentive to complete a storybook, but that might be tough to coordinate.

I'm reposting because I do think there should be a more intuitive bookmark system. For example, what if you find a work you want to review, but don't have time right now? You don't really have to be notified about it, but it'd be nice to be able to find it quickly. Right now I only see it for forum topics and it's hard to find.

Aye, it used to cost points to post in the Storybook area, and that was a spectacular failure. That was back sometime in 2008 when the Storybook forums were far more popular than they are now and pretty much took over the site. For comparison's sake, in April 2008, there were over 7,000 posts in Storybooks. In April 2013, that number was ~650. At the same time, visits to the site have increased by 28% between those two time periods.

So, we have more people visiting the site, but storybook activity is currently down more than 90% from its April 2008 high. One way to possibly fix that is (as a couple have suggested) to allow people to earn points by posting in that forum. That may work, and it may not work.

But, what I do know, is that when storybooks took off in late 2007 through mid-2008, I didn't do a single thing to help that along. It was purely driven by the site's users with a strong push from two moderators: Griffinkeeper and Dono (now Ego).

I think Sanctumn could be a cool thing if it were properly organized.

Also, the SB forum is slower than it was a couple of months ago, and it seems like it's getting slower. I think that we should do a complete overhaul of the SB section.

Of course, there's not much I can do without the help of a mod or admin.

Maybe there could be something that would directly represent the SB section in the next few months?

1.) A way to report stories. Whether they be spam, unaccurately rated, breaking site rules, or just nothing. Just a work that has been edited clean of no text. Those annoy me the most.

2.) Being able to edit our posts in the club forums.

3.) Being able to quote and mention someone is a post in the club forums.

4.) Clearer notifications, especially for SBs. I hate getting a notification and going to view it, only to see 1 new post in The Castaways, 1new post in The Fundamentals, and so on and so forth. I have to go view every link just to see which one had the new posts. Is there a chance we can fix this, have the numbers change when needed? I hope this makes sense.

I think that's all for now. Thanks, Nate! You rock.~

Well, what I do for notifications is get all of the notifications I receive and put them in tabs, then clear the notifications. I do this every time I check my notifications so it doesn't get cluttered and I'll be able to see every new notifications and where they go.

I don't know if you do that, Iggy, but it might solve the problem you're talking about, or at least lessen it.