1. Not a priority for me. I already use a naming system that does not give away any clues.
2. Would be nice but not a priority for me.
3. Selecting hyper thumbnail would be nice:) - again, not top priority.
4. Would love to see an optional solution/explanation/comment section for hypercrosses.
5. Would be nice if the open hyper clues do not block the grid. Although Philana showed me how to fix this when I build hypers, it would be nice for everyone to just be able to enter clues and not worry about grid-block.
6. Would love an easy way to search/locate old puzzles. When I create new puzzles, I often wonder if I've seen them before or if I'm really thinking of something new:) It would be great to be able to check the archives more easily.
7. Please fix the puzzle ratings feature - this works only some of the time now.
8. I often wish OWW's were labeled as easy or hard again - just a thought, not a priority.
9. Being able to see the puzzles quickly at Tanga time is still a big priority on my list. Although there are still timing issues now and then, THANKS for keeping this up to speed!
10. Thanks for asking! Thanks, too, to Tanga and all the mods for making puzzle creation and puzzle solving so much fun!

Thank you for asking!

1. Not a priority. I use a generic name while creating and then submitting a puzzle, and then I rename it afterwards when I save it in my own files.
2. Not a priority. I don't submit a hypercross until it's done, and I enter clues in the order I want them.
3. Not a priority. It's not that difficult to make sure that the image you want for the thumbnail is the last one you load (or reload).

In order, my wishes are:
1. My highest priority would be for the ability to search the puzzle archives. A full seach feature (on author, type, date or date range, and/or answer) would be most helpful, but it would even be a small help if puzzles in the archives were presented in some logical order and if checkmarks didn't completely obscure puzzle images.
2. Although I appreciate Tanga's efforts to make the puzzles appear quickly at Tanga time, I bemoan the loss of timely feedback on the number of solvers on a puzzle; that information is now typically delayed 10-15 minutes or longer.
3. I'd like to see an an optional solution/explanation/comment section for hypercrosses.
4. Sometimes the puzzle ratings feature doesn't work; although this is not a high priority for me (because opening the puzzle in a different browser usually works), it would be nice if it was fixed.

Thanks!

1. Not a big deal for me.
2. It WOULD be nice for the odd time you want to add an extra clue way up at the top. However, frankly, it's probably not worth prioritizing.
3. Even though it's not that hard to reload the clue you want as thumbnail, it would be nice to be able to KNOW (i.e., see) which is the current thumbnail for a given puzzle. Right now, there is no way to know what is the thumbnail right up to the point where it gets featured (in the "view upcoming puzzles" section). Being able to easily click the thumbnail you want or even being able to select a thumbnail that's not one of the clues might be fun too.

I agree that it would be nice to have:
- a comments area for the puzzlemaker once the puzzle is solved,
- a way to see the solution after 24 hours, and
- a searchable archives section.

Another thing that may be fun (and, Arnott, I believe you had mentioned this once before) would be a functionality whereby some of the puzzle squares could be shaded or marked somehow.

All in all, I think the puzzle submission system/interface is really straightforward and fun. The moderators also definitely add to the enjoyment of the Tanga experience. Thanks!

edit: something else that might be neat would be to display, for each puzzle, the person that was the first to solve.

I think the filename issue is ridiculous and of my biggest peeves. As a puzzle creator, I hate coming up with a cryptic filename. In what other setting do you intentionally name the file something other than what it is? That's just ridiculous on CP and OWW, but even much worse on HCs. Solving this problem is not one of the great mysteries of programming either. It's got to be a relatively simple task.

I'm on board with the changes already suggested regarding HC and puzzle archive search. The search feature would be great and could be into a really, really nice tool if it's done right. I'd suggest asking Philana or some of the true veterans around here to draw a mock-up for what they'd like and then let the programmer(s) go from there.

Asking for feedback from the people who use the system is a good idea. The programmer(s) rarely use it after they create it and need some good ideas after it's been roadtested for a while. I think we're at the point where the feedback would be meaningful, so kudos for asking the questions!

Don't know if this is the area to bring this up again. But. Being able to delete TG's would be nice.

I believe in repeating things already mentioned so you know how much a point is agreed upon. How do you know if we don't all reply to this forum?

So here is my copy paste list:

"Would love to see an optional solution/explanation/comment section for hypercrosses."

"Would love an easy way to search/locate old puzzles."
"A full search feature (on author, type, date or date range, and/or answer) would be most helpful, but it would even be a small help if puzzles in the archives were presented in some logical order and if checkmarks didn't completely obscure puzzle images."

"I often wish OWW's were labeled as easy or hard again."

"Being able to see the puzzles quickly at Tanga time is still a big priority on my list."

It would be useful to have a link to "Guidelines for PuzzleMakers", either under the heading "Contribute" on the home page or on each page where a puzzle is uploaded. Alternatively, each contribution page could include some pertinent information such as the size of the image, the name of the image file(s), the thumbnail for the Hypercross.

I'd be interested in an optional explanation section for a hypercross. Maybe there could be hints for a hypercross.

REQUEST:

I wish the system would provide information regarding the state of unpublished hypercross puzzles.

JUSTIFICATION:

I created a hypercross weeks ago. I am frustrated. How does the system know when I'm done adding rows to a hypercross? I saw no "SUBMIT FOR MODERATION" button. While I was adding rows, I was afraid someone would publish my incomplete puzzle. I worked as quickly as I could. But now I don't know if my puzzle is in a moderation queue at all. Was there a SUBMIT button and I overlooked it? Was there some bug in the system and has my puzzle been virtually misplaced? I don't know if I should I should keep quietly waiting or if I need to contact a system administrator. I don't want to bother anybody, but I don't want to be naively waiting forever either.

I am NOT frustrated with the waiting. I'm frustrated because I'm IGNORANT. I don't understand how Philana knew his cryptopix would be published Wednesday, January 27, 2010 while I don't know if my puzzle will be published EVER.

I just wish the system would tell me what to expect. Something like

"Thank you for your submission. Your puzzle is 1034523 in the moderation queue. Please check back in 431 days for feedback".

I find myself checking my tanga account several times a day, hoping to find something in the "moderation feedback" section of my puzzle. I am disappointed every time I check. I suspect maybe I'm stupid and I over looked a "submit" button. I spent hours on this puzzle. I felt excited when I first created it but now I just feel confused and ignorant.

[7] The system can be very confusing for a newcomer. It would be best if you talked with an old-timer who could answer your questions and allay your fears. I've sent you a TG.

The HC system is awkward at best. I know we've figured out work-arounds, but that's not right. Good software design isn't "uhhh ... rename the file to something cryptic, then upload it, then edit the entry, then rename your file back to something else ... and if you want it to be your thumbnail, then you'll have to (yada yada yada)."

To be frank, that's the kind of workarounds I use on software that I've written for my own private use. I know how exactly how it should be used to keep it from breaking, but I'd never put it in production until the interface is smoothed out.

If I were to design an HC interface from scratch, I'd add:
+ a "sort" function,
+ a "select thumbnail" function,
+ a "creator's corner" where they can explain it (ala CP and OWW),
+ a "to paper" version that would allow me to print it out (currently, a bear to cut/paste images, etc.). The paper version would be wonderful because I published several of my puzzles that I created as a teacher. Some puzzles would be nice to print out for a rainy day or just to take it with you. Pencil solving still happens (believe it or not).
+ a "xx% correct" answer rather than the all or none answer you get when you submit the puzzle. On some of the big ones, it's frustrating when you've got alternative spelling issues and intersections don't help and you sit there and plunk one letter changes until it works. Doesn't happen all of the time, but often enough to be frustrating. It's easy enough to write a function that calculates "x of y" matches between two data sets.

And while I'm thinking about it, it would be nice if the submission process actually allowed animated submissions. The HC explanation still claims to offer a "multimedia twist" but it doesn't. If you submit an animation, then the first frame is all that sticks in the puzzle. Tanga scrubs the images when submitted (which is likely a good spot to add the filename change code). At one point, I thought the submission page mentioned you could submit AVIs, but that's been edited out a while ago. Let us submit those ... it could add a little fun to same old/same old.

BTW, one of the biggest and best changes Tanga has made in recent memory was fixing the punctuation submission issue. That has completely eliminated a whole class of comment complaints. So take heart all ... Tanga actually has a track record for taking feedback like this into consideration. When they've done it in the past, they've made this a better site.

Hope you're enjoying your vacation, Arnott!

In the like 5 times I've built a Hypercross, I've wished that while I'm building it, it would show my work in a numbered grid because sometimes if it looks really off-balance I want to find a better layout for the words but I just don't Feel Like It once it's in the system! If (only while it's being built) the grid showed numbers, then it would be so much easier to rearrange the puzzle and give it a better layout.

I don't know what everyone's talking about with the file names. Hmmm?

This is a great topic because I have a bunch of newly acquired time on my hands and have been thinking about creating more puzzles.

I really agree with Must's #6, too.

Thanks!

[10] Your comment made me take another look at your "Toast" hyper ( http://www.tanga.com/crossword_puzzles/1396-1-25-2010 ). The file names gave me some hearty chuckles--especially #11!

Ok, time for me to chime in on some of the suggestions here...

1. File names: It's a little bit of a pain to have to give your files cryptic names, but I don't consider this a priority. Plus, it gives the puzzlemakers a way to include an extra "hint" for those who know where to look. Maybe what we need is a "randomize filename" checkbox on the Edit Words page, so you can upload it with your desired filename, but choose to make it display something different. ([10] To see the image filename, right-click on the image and look at the properties... or view the image separately from within the puzzle.)

2. Re-ordering HC clues: I think this would be very helpful, but I'm particular about the order of the clues, whereas many people may not be. Shifting the clue order around is not a trivial task right now.

3. Selection of HC thumbnail: Not such a big issue, since you can just re-upload the image clue for the one you want to be the thumbnail. But it would be nice to just be able to select it, maybe with a radio button next to each of the images on the Edit Words page.

4. Puzzle search: This would be excellent, particularly if you could even search for hypercross clue answers. Unfortunately, answer searching may be tough, since that would expose puzzles that a user maybe hasn't solved yet. But searching by author, dates, and puzzle type would still be an improvement, as well as displaying them in a logical order.

5. Number of solvers real-time update: As a mod, I try to avoid being one of the first to solve the puzzles, and when I'm here at puzzle-publishing time, that is difficult since the "number of solvers" isn't updated in a timely manner... so this would help me.

6. HC comment section: I would like this, since some hypers can use a little more exposition/explanation. This would be like the "solution" block in the other puzzles, in that it wouldn't appear until after the puzzle is solved.

7. Easy/Hard OWWs: I always thought the difficulty designation was helpful, so you know to look for something obvious, or be prepared to dig in with multiple steps to the solution... or how soon to start trolling the message board for salt. But I don't consider this to be a priority.

8. Link to the "Guidelines": I suggested this a long time ago... many of the questions I'm asked are answered in the puzzler FAQ and the puzzle maker's FAQ.

9. Percentage complete in HCs: This would be nice, particularly if you have two answers wrong, and you correct one of them and see the percentage increase. There have been times when I've been unsure of multiple answers, and had to bounce around trying different combinations of possible answers... and this feature would help with that situation greatly. Though it would also encourage more "brute-force" solving.

10. Multimedia HC clues: This used to be available, but I guess it got removed with the many iterations of the site. It wasn't really utilized enough for me to consider it important, but it would be cool to have a different clue medium now and then.

And here are some HC authoring suggestions of my own:

11. When editing a Hypercross, it would be helpful to have an "Edit Word" button to edit the currently-highlighted clue, instead of clicking on "Edit Words" to bring up a list of all of the clue words, and then having to scroll through that to find the one you want to change.

12. Add a "check puzzle" button for Hypercrosses, to validate that all of the crossing letters match up. Not a big priority, though...

13. Add a "flip puzzle" button for Hypercrosses, which will automatically swap the rows and columns (turning a "wide" puzzle into a "tall" puzzle instead). All this would need to do is swap around the row/column values for each clue (and the grid itself), and toggle the down/across setting for each clue as well.

14. Add a way to "shift" the answers in the Hypercross, either by adding/removing rows or columns on the top or left side of the puzzle... or being able to move all of the clues up, down, left, or right.

Ok, that's it for now... I hope my long-winded diatribe doesn't kill this thread. (That's why I waited a couple of days to respond... LOL)

This might be considered part of the general archive search functionality, but being able to display ONLY UNSOLVED puzzles would help us relatively new folks work our way through the archives without the constant paging. There may be a way to do this now but I haven't figured it out.

Also, as someone already mentioned, I think there needs to be an "I GIVE UP" button for Hypers. There are many in the archives that are very difficult and there's no salt to ask for 2 years later! Eventually, I'd like to get into the "solved them all club", but I can see some hypers preventing that.

As an aside, I must commend the mods - When you look back through the archives you can see how the puzzle quality has improved over the years. EDIT: I didn't mean there haven't been GREAT puzzles all along, I meant there are less "dogs" that are virtually unsolvable without specific knowledge. Just wanted to be clear!

[15] One problem with looking at the salt on old HC puzzles is that once you go back past the database rework (or whatever happened), the clue numbers given in the salt no longer match the puzzle and make absolutely NO sense in many cases.

Yeah, I know - this thread was dead over a month ago but I just now noticed it. I'd really like the comment section on the Hypercross too. I know you said it wasn't a priority, but I'd still really like it.

I think I prefer the puzzle name the way it is. I get a kick out of folks hiding salt in the file names.

I'm also with jimu on the puzzle feedback. I've had OWWs published but my HCs are just sitting there. I learned from jebediehard that sometimes HCs take awhile - the EXCELLENT chess one took 3 months. So I've learned to relax. But it'd be nice if the submission window gave more information on how the nomination/feature process works. And it'd be nice to get some feedback on whether a moderator has even opened your puzzle.

I'm glad to hear that puzzle maker help is on the list. When I went to submit my first puzzle, there was NOTHING telling me what to do as far as file sizes, etc. and I hadn't found the forums yet. It wasn't until Jebediehard sent me a TG encouraging me to get into HCs that I felt I had someone to ask questions of. Now I know everyone is happy to share but I didn't know that then.

(12) A flip puzzle would indeed be a big help as doing it by hand can be tedious.

Arnott - still looking everywhere for Arnott. Paging Arnott, please pick-up the white courtesy phone in the lobby, tanga is calling you.