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[The Founder]

The terms of service have been updated. In particular StoryCrafter.com now uses a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License for all material published through our various services.

http://www.storycrafter.com/main/terms.php

[Alhaja]

While I applaud the increased number of stories on the main page, I really don't like the genre images. There's far too much variation in any one genre to be able to do it justice with a single image.

To take a few examples from the current main page, some science fiction doesn't have space travel, some fantasy doesn't have dragons and Yoda is utterly out of place in some fantasy/sci-fi stories.

I'd say an image that badly misrepresents the story is far worse than no image at all.

[The Founder]

I agree. It is a work in progress as with everything on the site.

[Scattercat]

Still, if one is able to categorize one's story into one of the broad groupings already listed, then the images certainly seem to apply. "Star Wars" is about as perfect a representation of the notion of Science Fiction/Fantasy as there could be.

'Nother words, if the images are a problem, then so are the categories themselves, and that's all a bit too post-modern for me. I think the pics add a nice touch, though it could be a bit distracting in the long run (especially if images in the game descriptions are also shown.)

Now, Yoda is a copyrighted image and etc., which causes issues and complications of its own, but still. Perhaps if the larger pictures were instead smaller, less obtrusive icons, such as some libraries put on stickers on the book bindings? A little space ship for scifi, a wand and star for fantasy, etc.? Either that or ditch the idea of sub-categories entirely.

In fact, if instead of sub-categories, we simply had a place where an author could type in keywords which described the story, which could then be flagged for a search engine of some kind such as many blogs now feature...

[castlemage]

[The Founder]

Right now the Default story theme can be customized. This will enable you to create a story theme that allows for as much flexibility as you want.

I'm considering how to make the other themes customizable as well.

[Syndra]

Please remember to NOT put giant pics or any animations in the Description field because that shows up on the menus and can be annoying and frustrating. That's what the Top Box field is for!

Thanks for the flexibility, Founder.

[The Founder]

You can now also customize the Combat BDU theme and the never-used Black-Yellow-Red theme.

[The Founder]

Here is an example how you can customized the theme: Black Yellow Red
http://www.storycrafter.com/story/index.php?storyid=1

Here is the code for those interested.

Code:

@charset "utf-8";
/* CSS Document */
/* Modifying this style sheet is recommended for advanced users only */
<style type="text/css">
<!--


A:link {
color: #FFCE00
}
A {
color: #FFCE00
}
.headerlinkbar {
background-color: #666666;
        font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 8pt;
}
Body {
margin: 0in;
marginleft: 0in;
margintop: 0in;
border-style: none;
background-color: #2F2F2F;
font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 8pt !important;
font-style: normal;
text-decoration: none;
        background-image: url(/sgfx/1/1375.jpg);
}
TR {
font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 8pt !important;
font-style: normal;
}
.level1nav {
font-weight: bold
}
.border {
background : #FFCE00;
}
.c_table {
background: #FFFFFF;
text-indent: 5pt;
margin: 5px 5px;
padding: 5px 5px
}
.header_bg {
background: #666666;
margin: 5px;
        font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 8pt;
color: #FFFFFF

}
.cheader_bg {
color : #FFCE00;
font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 12pt !important;
font-style: normal;
        background-image: url(/sgfx/1/metalbar.gif);
       
}
.table_bg {
text-indent: 5pt;
margin: 5px;
padding: 5px 5px;
background : Black;
color: #FFFFFF
}
td.top a {
color: #8d5110
}
td.top {
background-color: White;
height: 3em;
text-align: left;
width: 16.66%;
margin-bottom : auto;
margin-left : auto;
margin-right : auto;
margin-top : auto;
padding : 4px
}
.h1font {
font-family: Georgia, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;
margin-top: 8px;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;
}
.h2font {
font: normal 8pt/12pt Georgia, Arial, sans-serif;
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;
}
.bfont {
font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 8pt;
font-style: normal;
text-decoration: none;
}
.afont {
font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 7pt;
font-style: normal;
text-decoration: none;
}
.color_1 {
background-color: #FFFFFF;
}
.color_2 {
background-color: #e1d4c7;
}
-->
</style>
                                                                                                                                                                                                               

[The Founder]

If your linking to your story from outside story crafter typically you have to do something like this:

http://www.storycrafter.com/story/index.php?storyid=3952

But now you can also do this to achieve the same effect:

http://www.storycrafter.com/3952

Just insert your stories ID number instead of "3952";

[argyle2001]

While I'll admit that's neat, I don't usually remember my stories' numbers off the top of my head.  I go back to the page and get the URL, at which point this is just a clean-up technique more than a shortcut.

Can this feature (DNS?) be mapped so we can link to game name?

[The Founder]

Names are not unique - any game can have any name and multiple games can have the same name then there is the issue with spaces in the name that would have to be URL encoded (not a shortcut).

In short = yes but that wouldn't be easier than just checking your number. Perhaps is your story had a one word name that was fairly unique but otherwise no.

I suppose I could do something like p7.storycrafter.com but I would have to add those subdomains manually. [/url]

[The Founder]

Don't be alarmed if you see links saying publisher controls showing up in your stories - I'm working on functionality that will allow you to publish your stories for general consumption and while I'm working on it you may see some of that for a bit.

[The Founder]

I completed the story icon functionality. You can select your own story icon on the options page, to do so you must have first uploaded an image that was the correct size (100x100) to your story's image archive.

You may also select from the basic genre icons if you don't like the default one assigned to your genre.

The story icon will now display in the new story list.

[The Founder]

Finished new story browser. Now you can show only the stories updated in the last five days by checking the active box, or if you are only looking for stories that are taking applications check the "Open" box to limit the results to only those open to new cast members.