Young Writers Society

Sometime in early 2009, the Young Writers Society will be getting a major face-lift. As such, a lot is going to change. However, since everything is still in the planning stages, you have a chance right now to affect how the new YWS will look and function.

I am very much interested in three things: (1) What do you not want to see changed at all?; (2) What do you want changed?; and (3) What would you like added? I want as many responses as possible, so feel free to ignore those questions and answer in any way you choose.

[s]Free money[/s]

1) I like the idea of the current My YWS page; it's clear and easy to navigate. Also, the double-spaced lines in the literary sections are great--the guestbook's too.

2) I would just say all the white space on the pages.

3) Added? Now that's too creative for me. What about a ticker on the member's profile for their blog?

Can't wait for new YWS.

The bar up the top of each topic that says the name and how many pages it's run to. Could it be a lighter grey, so you can see at a glance how many pages a topic is?

Twit ->> That's an easy change, and I've already updated it for the current YWS

Blink ->> Thanks man. Fortunately, you came to your senses and realized that free money is not a viable proposal.

So an rss ticker like we have on the front page but for member's blogs and on their profile? I like that idea.

For literary sections, what I would love to do is offer users the choice of layout. They could choose to have it double-spaced or single-spaced, with a drop cap or without a drop-cap, and even the font type. Plus, you'll have the option of what image to associate with it (or upload a new one), and maybe even the background for it. That'll allow a lot of flexibility in the presentation of the piece.

Cool stuff. But on the choosing your font type, what if somebody wants to do a work in Old English font? Or will the fonts be limited to readable ones?

Also, just a personal thing, but will the community forums be trimmed down? It seems like so much is posted there when compared to the literary forums.

On Fonts:


Do the mean the READER will get to choose or the writer will get to choose the font?

If we're tossing random ideas out there, I like the thought of having a section in the user profiles to post about current writing projects. Some people make the point in My First Book Will Be, or they make a footnote in their biographies, but I think it would be helpful to have a completely separate My Current Projects section: not every project is a novel, and I think it steers the emphasis of user profiles back to writing, to some extent.

Perhaps?

Just please don't make the profiles like they are on myspace? That'll be awful, especially with choosing top friends and for the newbies. But to some extent personalization will be awesome.

~JFW1415

One thing I would love would be for the bio section in the profile to be a little more formatting-friendly. As is, no matter what I do, it always comes out in one big block of text. If nothing else, the ability to make seperate paragraphs in the bio would be hugely appreciated.

Maybe on the top right hand corner it could tell you if your friend's are on.

To everyone: Calm Down!

On fonts ->> The writer chooses the font and it'd be limited to web safe fonts only. Fonts such as Verdana, Helvetia, Times, Arial, Comic Sans, and Georgia.

That is, if it happens. If the reader doesn't like what font the writer chose, then the reader can choose to not read what the writer wrote.

On profiles ->> As I've said in the past, you won't be able to choose top friends.

On Gryphon's bio formatting idea ->> I like that a lot, and I'll definitely try to add that.

Writing for love's idea ->> At the moment, YWS is still so small that saying which one of your friends are on would be of little help. If you're interested, then just go to "Who's Online" under the Community tab. However, a few years from now, that may become something to look at.

Dream Deep's Current Projects Area Idea ->> I like that idea a lot, and it wouldn't require too much work. I'll definitely try to add it.

Can we pleeeease keep Bartemius? He's my friend...

-Jared

The header and footer will both pretty much stay as is, Bartemius and all

I am so excited for this! I demand... uh... an awesome new site.

I should have thought on what to write before I clicked "reply".

Hey, I got it! *snaps fingers* Nate, you should put Fred back in the chat.