| Author |
Message |
Singapoor
Member
Joined: 6 Feb 2009
Posts: 170
|
# Posted: 6 Jul 2009 05:05
Reply
My first lens is now up! I took my time with it, hopefully folks'll find it useful.
I'd love to hear feedback. And lensmasters.... improvements? Omissions? Too wordy? I don't know, any insight you'd like to relay would be great  .
__________________
|
A8ch
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 643
|
# Posted: 6 Jul 2009 09:58
Reply
Singapoor: My first lens is now up! I took my time with it, hopefully folks'll find it useful.
Excellent 5-star effort, Singapoor!
The preparation, attention to detail and thoughtfulness that you put into the lens, shows. Your selection and placement of graphics, and the dark blue background you use to contrast the white text links in the Contents and Back to Top sections, give the lens an attractive appeal.
I like how you engage readers with the "And Where Are You Now?" quiz section and get them to interact with the lens to discover the answers. Nice touch!
Did I mention that the lens is also very informative?  I left a comment, rated and favorited it.
Very well done!
Hermas
__________________
|
mountainmom5
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 2145
|
# Posted: 6 Jul 2009 10:35
Reply
A8ch: Did I mention that the lens is also very informative? I left a comment, rated and favorited it.
My thoughts exactly - wow, what a great lens ando easy to read and informative... you go girl!
__________________
|
johnjimat
Member
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 357
|
# Posted: 6 Jul 2009 10:45
Reply
i dont know what to say. they looks excellent for me. good job Singapoor
__________________
|
Singapoor
Member
Joined: 6 Feb 2009
Posts: 170
|
# Posted: 6 Jul 2009 12:59
Reply
Awww, I've such a warm cozy feeling now - thanks Hermas, m5, john. It seriously took ages because, well, I wanted to be informative and absolutely accurate (which is always my effort) so the content wasn't a 2 hour thing. And I also wanted that the look mirror my normal information site (it's the same colour scheme and feel with the navy enclosing the tan and white), so it's good to hear that the lens is, in fact, useful and attractive from the visitor point of view.
NS was right when he wrote in his lens that often you have to fool Squidoo into doing what you want it to do *sigh*. Anyhoo, I'll keep fine-tuning and coming up with helpful topics.
A8ch: I like how you engage readers with the "And Where Are You Now?" quiz section and get them to interact with the lens to discover the answers. Nice touch!
I thought that would help... since, in verifying data, I saw that there are quite a few misconceptions out there, I thought I'd point out a few to start. Actually, it allowed me to omit some stuff too (I was fearing it was too lengthy, at the time), but I won't ramble about that reasoning. Also, I was hoping it would add an element of fun... even if it came off as strange (that's why the Cheshire Cat). I mean, there were no quiz modules, so I assume it would be strange to come across a quiz on a lens (unless lensmasters are hand coding 'em, which could be too).
mountainmom5: My thoughts exactly - wow, what a great lens ando easy to read and informative... you go girl!
And keyword optimized too... assuming I did that properly *giggle* . That's the next step in the learning curve... getting the right balance so that people can actually find the useful content.
__________________
|
johnjimat
Member
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 357
|
# Posted: 6 Jul 2009 17:31
Reply
how long that it takes to build your lens?
__________________
|
Newbie Shield
Joined: 22 Sep 2007
Posts: 2232
|
# Posted: 6 Jul 2009 18:26 · Edited by: Newbie Shield
Reply
Hi Singapoor,
I agree with Hermas.
Nice first lens - attractive CSS backgrounds and borders, good interactivity, nicely written and informative content, good assortment of images, and the TLC + effort is admirable.
I rated the lens, favorited it, and joined your fanclub. I'm the electric guitar avatar.
Good job,
~Newbie Shield~
Edit/PS - Yep, Squidoo doesn't allow all HTML, so when you tweak, you'll have to see what works and what doesn't. Great idea that you used the same colors as you have on your site.
By the way, they do have a poll module. You can use one or more poll modules in a row to replace your quiz area if you like. For the heck of it, I created a music polls lens that had very little besides poll modules. I think there are around 40 polls on that lens, hee Fun to push the boundaries and test limits from time to time.
I think that a series of polls would increase the interactivity on your lens. Be sure to give each one a different title.
|
Singapoor
Member
Joined: 6 Feb 2009
Posts: 170
|
# Posted: 7 Jul 2009 07:14
Reply
Hey everyone,
Thanks again for commenting and starring it . And in general, for the perspective, help, and feedback... actually, not just with the lens, I mean in general.
johnjimat: how long that it takes to build your lens?
Off and on, about three weeks. Coming up with an idea on what would be a useful topic then writing and verifying the data didn't take really long. But.. Squidoo, as a concept, was very foreign to me. So I also put some time into looking at other lens' and basically getting a better feel for what it is really.
Then came the code. I'm not an html/css/php/etc. expert or anything, but I've used code enough over the years to be comfortable doing backend stuff on websites. And I've found that not all platforms react to code in a straightforward way. So I read through NS's How To Lens first for a heads up on what to expect.
Then there was picture gathering and formatting and the process of plugging everything into the lens and (really) using a lot of trial and error to make it all fit the layout I'd envisioned.
Newbie Shield: By the way, they do have a poll module. You can use one or more poll modules in a row to replace your quiz area if you like.
I did consider using a series of polls to accomplish that task, but thought against it because I felt that it would be prettier to do things the way I did it in the end.
That's a great idea - a music polls lens. Innovative AND engaging.
__________________
|
A8ch
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 643
|
# Posted: 7 Jul 2009 08:44 · Edited by: A8ch
Reply
Singapoor: I did consider using a series of polls to accomplish that task, but thought against it because I felt that it would be prettier to do things the way I did it in the end.
The way you did it is indeed "prettier" than a poll module and that will get one's attention every time. The tradeoff is you sacrifice the ability to track the poll results.
I have two other observations:
1. You could bold the quiz questions to make them stand out from the answer choices.
2. For skimmers and those readers who don't "get it" the first time - like me - you could add a brief instruction/reminder under Answers: to Highlight above for answers!
By the way, I appreciate the humorous and complementary interplay between your graphics and the section titles. And I support the Shield's observation that the lens is very "nicely written."
Hermas
__________________
|
Singapoor
Member
Joined: 6 Feb 2009
Posts: 170
|
# Posted: 7 Jul 2009 11:58
Reply
Thanks Hermas,
Two great points there. I just went ahead and made those changes. And actually, in the reread, I saw that in the process of reordering, I'd actually answered one of the questions just a few lines before the quiz comes in *doh*.
I'm glad the text is enjoyable. I was kinda wondering if it was too random... I mean, there's an elephant, Homer Simpson's workplace, a half-dressed knight, and a fashion mogul all hanging out on the same page. Even though there's an order there, wasn't sure how people would take to the randomness.
__________________
|
