THE NEW CHYOO (with link)! Also, what features should be part of an updated CHYOO?

ChaosMuramasa said:

I'm on a desktop with a 1680x1050 resolution and everything looks perfectly fine to me. Extremely desktop friendly. Your resolution might just be way too small.

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1366x768

My main complaint is just that everything is too big and spaced out. I'm not asking for everything to be changed to suite my opinions, all I'm asking for are options in the settings to customize this. An alternate "Compact" layout or something to choose from, and an option to decrease the text size on story pages. There's not really any need for story text to be much if any larger than the size of the text displayed right here on this forum, for example.

I like the new look. Thanks to all the hard work that went into it.

Loving the tag idea too. Clever. Is there any way to add tags to old stories?

In general, I like the new site a lot. I do feel like I'm reading a large print book, and there is a lot of scrolling. I suppose I could write a custom CSS file, like I did for the old site, but that might be a tad drastic.

Torg said:

In general, I like the new site a lot. I do feel like I'm reading a large print book, and there is a lot of scrolling. I suppose I could write a custom CSS file, like I did for the old site, but that might be a tad drastic.

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Have you tried changing your settings to Compact view?

PM system is not currently implemented. Please remember the site is still in Beta and not all planned features are online yet.

Sixth said:

Have you tried changing your settings to Compact view?

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I cannot find any Compact view. Running Chrome. I found Standard, Contrast, and Inverted.

It would be really nice if we could get both the date that a thread was originally created and the date it was last updated. I'm actually more interested in the original date than the updated date.

A few more bugs:

Seems like the links (jump from one branch to another), doesn't work on the new site? Jumps to a page just named <NO TITLE>

Along with what I mentioned previously (symbols not translating well to the new site) it would leave alot of work on the writers or editors of the different stories, and many stories are missing active writers/editors due to people no longer writing and such.

Then there is the storymaps: large part doesn't show up on them! (e.g. the Dark Angel story)

I'm also not seeing an overview of stories I've contributed to (as member.story.list on the old site) - one could bookmark the stories, but I like(d) having a quick overview like that!

Keep up the good work! I'm thinking of writing a little, but I think I'll hold of posting until the site is up and running! (Non-beta, that is!)

dkgooner said:

Keep up the good work! I'm thinking of writing a little, but I think I'll hold of posting until the site is up and running! (Non-beta, that is!)

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Length of beta is indeterminate at this point, especially since Friedman is the only coder working on the site. If anyone else is interested in helping debug/improve the site, you should drop him a message.

rippitydoo said:

...But realize the chances it will change anything are slim to none.

For instance, I am interested in helping, but have near-nil computer/tech knowledge. Also, I have posted & PMed to make him well-aware of things the site could use/needs, & he appears to be actively ignoring the idea that he has created a less-than-perfect site.

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It's almost as if development is a process or something, and that life is a journey, not a destination!

Another report.

I just noticed almost all the stories are now marked as read (from the story map)
I said almost cause the newest ones still have the green color.

Nilth said:

Another report.

I just noticed almost all the stories are now marked as read (from the story map)
I said almost cause the newest ones still have the green color.

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That's right. I've changed the color labeling because of the previous discussion in this thread. "New" is now called "Unread". Imported threads from the old site are now labeled as read (at least if the user is a veteran). Let me know, if a "Mark all as read" would have solved the problem in a better way.

rippitydoo said:

Pretty much everything after the comma is a Steven Tyler lyric, & I'm a HUGE Aerosmith fan so I didn't need that!...

Nor do I need told/reminded that development is a process. However, in any process, nothing will get done if the people who can accomplish tasks are knowingly attempting to do nothing!!!

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Attempting nothing is a very dangerous process. I kept accidentally doing things instead, but eventually I mastered the process and now I do nothing like a professional.

Friedman, I know you're a little bogged down right now, but I have a feature request that I'd love, even though it isn't high priority.

I'd love a way of finding the threads that have comments and ratings. I can see one of my stories has three ratings, but I can only find them if they are threads I wrote.

Is it possible that ratings and comments can be marked on the story map? Like a little star next to the thread title?

Friedman said:

That's right. I've changed the color labeling because of the previous discussion in this thread. "New" is now called "Unread". Imported threads from the old site are now labeled as read (at least if the user is a veteran). Let me know, if a "Mark all as read" would have solved the problem in a better way.

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Thx Fridman.

I guess it's ok, but to be honest (as pointed out by anoteher user) there is already a "mark all as read" on the bookmarks menu on the top right and while not the perfect solution (it would be better to be able to mark as read single stories too) it was ok.
To make an example, if I now search for an old story I missed in the past the result is I cannot make use of the new story map system.

Sorry for making you go back and forth but that's what I think

What's the moderator situation, both now and in the future? But mostly the now situation. The now is pretty important.

Some points regarding ratings:

~ I can see that my story has 9 ratings, and 2 of those 9 are in one thread, but when I go to that thread and check the ratings, I just see the cumulative rating of the entire story.

Maybe leave that cumulative rating only on a story's cover page since that's for the sum of it, or make it a secondary note next to just the thread's ratings? For example, [Thread: 4/5 (2 votes)] [Story: 4/5 (9 votes)].

~ My story has 9 ratings, but I can only see 5 of them, meaning the remaining 4 are ratings on threads done by other writers. However, due to the just explained issue of only seeing a story's entire rating on a thread, I have no idea of knowing which threads by which writers were rated and what those ratings were exactly, since I can only access a list of my personally written threads and their details.

On the old Chyoo, there was a page that listed the writers of your story aside from yourself and the cumulative ratings of just the threads they wrote (http://www.chyoo.com/index.php/member.writer.list/xxxx, the x's being a story's ID, though it's only accessible if you're logged in as the author of a story). By clicking [view threads] under a writer's name in that page, it listed all the threads they've written and the specific ratings of those threads. Currently, the only way to see this kind of information on the new Chyoo is to go to their user page by going to their thread in the story and clicking their name, finding the list of their threads at the bottom of their user page, hitting More threads for a specific search of what they've written, and then you can see their ratings...it would be much easier if we could skip that process by having that sort of list back for the other writers of our stories.

Though, I'd also think that if we have that sort of list for our stories, the button for viewing their threads should list just what they've written for the story in question. Combing through pages of threads they've written to find the thread they wrote for my story to see how people rated it would be clunky.

Hopefully that made sense. It's nothing too critical, but I do like to think that it'd certainly help with curiosity, and to see what readers are enjoying so that we might know what branch to focus on expanding on in our stories.

Disable the ability to create hotlinks in stories. Not only is this a major spam vulnerability, but linking to images is not writing. It's our job to describe the entire world: What it looks like, what the people look like, and so forth. Linking to images is not writing and essentially a form of cheating. Not only should we prevent this ability in the users, we ought to make it a rule not to violate.

GreenBanana said:

Disable the ability to create hotlinks in stories. Not only is this a major spam vulnerability, but linking to images is not writing. It's our job to describe the entire world: What it looks like, what the people look like, and so forth. Linking to images is not writing and essentially a form of cheating. Not only should we prevent this ability in the users, we ought to make it a rule not to violate.

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Let's focus on getting the site up and running as intended - not pass judgement on what "writers" can do with their stories. A picture could help set the mood (I like to visit the RP section on here now and again), and try to look up the work of Jaymal (and his blog at jakemalden.blogspot.com), I think he's a pretty damn good writer - and the pictures, GIFs in particular, that goes along with his small "stories" are pretty nice! Hell of a writer, if you ask me!

I haven't tried posting anything on the new site yet, but if you can post click-able links it would be much nicer then the copypast that otherwise would take place! Could also link to further writing that the CHYOO story is inspired of or has inspired.

GreenBanana said:

Disable the ability to create hotlinks in stories. Not only is this a major spam vulnerability, but linking to images is not writing. It's our job to describe the entire world: What it looks like, what the people look like, and so forth. Linking to images is not writing and essentially a form of cheating. Not only should we prevent this ability in the users, we ought to make it a rule not to violate.

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Not a good idea. I agree it can constitute cheating, but there are ways in which a hotlink isn't cheating. For example, if the story involves a real board game like Scrabble or Monopoly, then having a reference to the board and any accessories would be a great way to help maintain realism. Additionally, for fan-fiction stories, I don't object too profusely to links of the real person or character to ensure everyone has the correct mental picture, though would reserve that link for the author's notes of each thread and give my best effort in the thread body, especially since special outfits would probably require descriptions anyway.

On that note, let's bring back author's notes and editor's notes for individual threads. They were a great means of keeping certain story elements in line for contributors as the story progressed while visible where only contributors would see them.

Cheating? It's amateur writing. I don't think there is such a thing as cheating.

I've used pictures in my stories. It's useful sometimes, and I've put a lot of work into some of them.

I don't see the value of trying to say that 100% words is real writing and anything else is unacceptable.

In fact, I'd really like it if I could imbed images. If some people want an option in their story settings that disables that, fine. If you run your story that way and I try to make a choose-your-own-adventure erotic comic book, then I don't see why we can't both be happy.

GoodBoy741 said:

If some people want an option in their story settings that disables that, fine. If you run your story that way and I try to make a choose-your-own-adventure erotic comic book, then I don't see why we can't both be happy.

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You're so right on this. Let people write what they want (within reasonable limits), and how they want to. If someone else disapproves for whatever reason, then they're free not to read it.

I've just confirmed something. Threads are not locked after they are submitted. I added a thread to Sweet Desperation a few days ago:

https://chyoa.com/story/sweet-desperation/thread/program-your-new-toy

and now I've added a thread to it:

https://chyoa.com/story/sweet-despe...needs-especially-the-redhead-on-her-back-need

Under Manage-My Threads both are listed as pending. The second thread also has a "add a new thread" button.

I acknowledge, this may only be absent due to the site being a beta and a few other reasons, but I'd still like to draw attention to the absence of an on-site report feature for threads and stories that violate the rules.

Threads missing

Just to let you know there are some of the threads on the Chyoo (Old) site that re not on Chyoa (New) site in my stories, not sure if anyone else is having this problem.