Site Creation, Design & Nurture

[StormWolfe 557]

Hey Y'all!

 

It is likely this topic has been addressed here at some point in the past, but it bears reviving! This is not about the nitty-gritty such as HTML/CSS, templates and all that wonderful jazz. Pssst! We actually have a Site Design coterie if y'all are  interested. No, this is about your process. What you do and how you do it. Have fun with this. Tell us your highs, lows, and whoopsies!

 

I've listed some questions below as ideas for discussion points. Please don't feel you have to answer all of them. Feel free to add your own questions too.

 

So, you've decided to start a new roleplay. You have the basic premise, maybe even a core group of members that are interested in joining up.

• Where do you go from there?
• Do you follow a checklist of things to do or follow the leap and scream method of site building?
• Do you have an initial design or vision for the site in mind from the get-go or does that form as you work on it.
• How do you know that you have all the bases covered.
• Your site is running and doing okay. Do you keep tweaking it to try and make it better, add new features, etc. (i.e. how do you nurture it).
• What do you hate, loathe and have nightmares about when site building?
• What was your biggest whoops when building a site.

 

[Jaxx 317]

Do you follow a checklist of things to do or follow the leap and scream method of site building? Checklist. I find a skin and templates first. Then I request graphics, unless I'm making them myself. I write rules, plots, and other background info after graphics requests, or before making them, depending on which. Then I make the forums and subforums and put in the background info topics. Then I write my characters, put up their apps, do claims, and put up a shipper. Then I start advertising. 

 

Do you have an initial design or vision for the site in mind from the get-go or does that form as you work on it. Bit of both. I always have a base idea, because I wouldn't be building a site otherwise. But the plot, species, and background lore do tend to be changed around while I'm building the site. 

 

How do you know that you have all the bases covered? Honestly I just assume that I don't. Because I always manage to miss one or two things. After I've checked everything off the checklist I managed above, I just kinda ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ because I know I've likely forgotten something but I'm not going to remember what it is right now. 

 

Your site is running and doing okay. Do you keep tweaking it to try and make it better, add new features, etc. (i.e. how do you nurture it)? Absolutely! I usually focus on getting things off the ground for the first couple months. Then I start adding in things like blind threading signups that can encourage plotting and help keep things active. Updates are kind of irregular, to be honest. I add things as I think they'll be needed or wanted, or at request from members. 

 

What do you hate, loathe and have nightmares about when site building? Site to site advertising. I honestly only do it when I first open a site. After that? Can't be assed. It's a time-consuming hassle that doesn't bring in members. I only do it in the beginning because it seems to be expected by the rpc. All my advertising after that is answering site searches and such. 

 

What was your biggest whoops when building a site? For my very first site, I did no advertising. None. Only posted one ad, on one directory, and the site died in two months having only had three members besides myself. Other than that, I always manage to forget to set up permissions for some membergroup or forum. Every single time. No matter how many times I check. Apparently permissions are my kryptonite. 

[Kit the Human 759]

I don't do a checklist until I'm three quarters of the way done, because what's left are either things I've been putting off or nitty gritty stuff I forget about. I wouldn't call the first three quarters a leap and a scream though! I know I need to knock off three important things, lore/setting, rules and theme and I'll bounce between all three as inspiration strikes. 

 

After the initial creation comes the revisit revisit revisit. I read what I've done multiple times before asking someone else to give it a read. Is my lore easy to read and clear? What about my rules? Have I contradicted myself? Around this point I take myself through registration by following my guide. Is there any step missing? Can I be clearer? It's at this point I know whether or not my bases are covered. Anything else I might need to add are things I wouldn't possibly think of myself, but becomes apparent once the site is out in the world (leaving aside anything my friends might pick up when they do their look through.)

 

And of course, I might drop, add or alter, throughout this process. A lot of these changes is about: does this undermine or support the site idea and values? 

 

I didn't emphasize it above but, for me, the single most important step is getting other people to look at what's been done and encourage them to say what's confusing, doesn't make sense, etc. Even if they come back with things I feel are explained, I know I need to hit that point harder or move it so that it flows with the rest of the information.

[Nevermind 64]

Where do you go from there? As a first-time site creator, this is an excellent question I don't know the answer to. I have created a site, put many hours into making it a comfortable and (what I'd imagine to be) welcoming place. I had some previous experience as a staff member on another site, so I didn't go into the process entirely ignorant, but it has been a learning process figuring out everything that needs to be done before a site can be run effectively.

 

Do you follow a checklist of things to do or follow the leap and scream method of site building? Checklist, absolutely. I had basics written up months prior to even finding a host for my site. Once I had the nitty gritty set up, I went about methodically implementing everything I could think of. I tend to get fairly scatterbrained and attempt to work at multiple things at once, so the checklist helps keep me somewhat organized.

 

Do you have an initial design or vision for the site in mind from the get-go or does that form as you work on it. I knew what I wanted the site to be in spirit and how I wanted it to function. What I wanted it to look like all came later on. 

 

How do you know that you have all the bases covered. Checklist, but also I don't. You can never know for sure you are 100% covered until someone brings up a concern you didn't think of. I've had a few moments where someone has brought something to my attention and I've slapped my forehead wondering why I didn't think of it before. The best I can do is go on faith that I've done everything I can until an opportunity comes up to improve. 

 

Your site is running and doing okay. Do you keep tweaking it to try and make it better, add new features, etc. (i.e. how do you nurture it). Always tweaking, though I'm biased in that my site is incredibly new. Once it grows and becomes more settled, less tweaking may be happening regularly, but knowing me I'll always be searching for ways to improve my members' experience. 

 

What do you hate, loathe and have nightmares about when site building? No problems with building a site, terrified about keeping it going. I've encountered more than a handful of defunct RP sites while wandering around the internet, figuring out how I should continue building and it's scary to think that all this effort might just be for nothing. However, I try to stay optimistic and remind myself that this is something I genuinely care about and want to succeed, and if I work hard enough it will. 

 

What was your biggest whoops when building a site. Nothing yet, shockingly enough, but I'm sure something will come up with time. 

[Yona Carlin 44]

I keep things simple. I make a custom skin, get the information up, advertise and start RPing. I enjoy tweaking things, but usually it just ends up being for my benefit. I've never rolled out a feature and had everyone go insane over it; in my experience people just want the goods: plotting, chemistry and writing, so that's what I focus on. Engaging the members I have, and not worrying about the members I don't.