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Thanks for your feedback Colin. I'm working on sorting out the problems you raised with the article. I agree with most of what you are saying here, however I do

Thanks for your feedback Colin. I'm working on sorting out the problems you raised with the article. I agree with most of what you are saying here, however I don't understand what you are saying regarding the start of the section titled EditFlow. I stated in the introductory section that I'd be talking about two plugins. Do you think I needed to give it more an introduction? As for your final comments, I was trying to be as detailed as possible. Regarding narrative / thread, I may have avoided that as I wanted to review each section in turn. Can you further explain what you mean by that please? Thanks for taking the time to give me some feedback here, most appreciated.

ColinWright 15y ago
I know from your introduction that EditFlow is most likely a plug-in, but what does it do? What is it for? You say: > The early versions of EditFlow were pretty basic, > allowing you to add custom post statuses. I don't understand that at all. What is a "post status"? > Since then, it’s grown to have quite a number of > new features and is still in active development! Don't care - what does it do? > The idea for EditFlow came from (now closed) > not-for-profit company CoPress, ... Don't care - what does it do? > ... who aimed to help the student press write > online using WordPress as opposed to paying > for a bespoke CMS. Don't care - what does it do? With regards the level of detail, you need some sort of hierarchy so if I get to the point of not caring about the level you've got to I can skip ahead to your next major point. Newspaper articles are written so they gradually increase in detail. In that way no matter where you stop, all you're missing is more detail. If you want to tell two stories you need a way of skipping ahead. I'd much rather see a brief overview with links to pages giving more detail. Your click-through rate will then tell you how engaging you've been in the story you tell. With regards narrative, it feels like you're giving an unmotivated list of "stuff." I, the reader, need to do the work of deciding what's relevant and what's not. You could consider presenting the problems being solved, rather than the features present. As with most technology people, you're focussing on the technology and what it does, rather than concentrating on my problems, and how the plug-in will solve them. Finally, you writing remains littered with small typos. I know that you - as most - don't spend as much care on quick comments, but personally, I feel that you should work to remove them from all your writings. Making it a habit will mean that you won't need to work as hard when it actually matters. Example in point: > Do you think I needed to give > it more an introduction? Hope that helps - I'm impressed by the positive tone in your responses. Cheers!
- relequestual 15y ago
  If you don't know what a "post status" is, you probably are not the sort of person who would be interested in this article. The sub section of the site the article is featured on is all about Wordpress, a CMS designed to publish content. If you worked with Wordpress and didn't know what a post status is, I wouldn't expect you to be very good. Still I see where you are coming from; I may have been better to give an overview of the plugin before a history. Re level of detail. Thanks, I will take this on board for future articles. Re narrative. I guess I was drawing on my previous work of reviewing software, trying to give something more than just a problem and how it's solved, more opinion, thoughts, history. Would, "Do you think I should have given the plugin more of an introduction?" be better? Spelling and grammar have always been a weakness of mine, so I need to improve if I plan on doing more writing. Thanks for replying.
  - ColinWright 15y ago
    > If you don't know what a "post status" is, > you probably are not the sort of person who > would be interested in this article. Actually, knowing about what plug-ins are available for WP, what they do, and how easy (or not!) they are to use is the sort of thing I do want to know. Your article potentially has a much wider audience than the one you've assumed. It would only take a sentence to create the scene of what a "post status" is and does. I always have an eye on the next widest audience, and it's always useful to set the scene. > The sub section of the site the article is > featured on is all about Wordpress ... Still > I see where you are coming from; I may have > been better to give an overview of the plugin > before a history. It is always important to know your audience, but one can always write for the slightly wider circle. > Re narrative. I guess I was drawing on my > previous work of reviewing software, trying > to give something more than just a problem > and how it's solved, more opinion, thoughts, > history. I guess that depends on the purpose of what you're writing, and it wasn't clear to me. Stating clearly at the beginning that this is a review rather than an explanation, presentation, whatever, might be useful. Again, you were perhaps expecting a much more specific audience, but even so it's worth setting the scene somewhat. It doesn't take many words, and even if someone doesn't need it, it serves to ease them in gently. Just a thought. Again, hope that helps. I can see that we were slightly at cross-purposes, but I hope the unexpected viewpoint has been useful.

ColinWright 15y ago

I know from your introduction that EditFlow is most likely a plug-in, but what does it do? What is it for? You say: > The early versions of EditFlow were pretty basic, > allowing you to add custom post statuses. I don't understand that at all. What is a "post status"? > Since then, it’s grown to have quite a number of > new features and is still in active development! Don't care - what does it do? > The idea for EditFlow came from (now closed) > not-for-profit company CoPress, ... Don't care - what does it do? > ... who aimed to help the student press write > online using WordPress as opposed to paying > for a bespoke CMS. Don't care - what does it do? With regards the level of detail, you need some sort of hierarchy so if I get to the point of not caring about the level you've got to I can skip ahead to your next major point. Newspaper articles are written so they gradually increase in detail. In that way no matter where you stop, all you're missing is more detail. If you want to tell two stories you need a way of skipping ahead. I'd much rather see a brief overview with links to pages giving more detail. Your click-through rate will then tell you how engaging you've been in the story you tell. With regards narrative, it feels like you're giving an unmotivated list of "stuff." I, the reader, need to do the work of deciding what's relevant and what's not. You could consider presenting the problems being solved, rather than the features present. As with most technology people, you're focussing on the technology and what it does, rather than concentrating on my problems, and how the plug-in will solve them. Finally, you writing remains littered with small typos. I know that you - as most - don't spend as much care on quick comments, but personally, I feel that you should work to remove them from all your writings. Making it a habit will mean that you won't need to work as hard when it actually matters. Example in point: > Do you think I needed to give > it more an introduction? Hope that helps - I'm impressed by the positive tone in your responses. Cheers!

relequestual 15y ago
If you don't know what a "post status" is, you probably are not the sort of person who would be interested in this article. The sub section of the site the article is featured on is all about Wordpress, a CMS designed to publish content. If you worked with Wordpress and didn't know what a post status is, I wouldn't expect you to be very good. Still I see where you are coming from; I may have been better to give an overview of the plugin before a history. Re level of detail. Thanks, I will take this on board for future articles. Re narrative. I guess I was drawing on my previous work of reviewing software, trying to give something more than just a problem and how it's solved, more opinion, thoughts, history. Would, "Do you think I should have given the plugin more of an introduction?" be better? Spelling and grammar have always been a weakness of mine, so I need to improve if I plan on doing more writing. Thanks for replying.
- ColinWright 15y ago
  > If you don't know what a "post status" is, > you probably are not the sort of person who > would be interested in this article. Actually, knowing about what plug-ins are available for WP, what they do, and how easy (or not!) they are to use is the sort of thing I do want to know. Your article potentially has a much wider audience than the one you've assumed. It would only take a sentence to create the scene of what a "post status" is and does. I always have an eye on the next widest audience, and it's always useful to set the scene. > The sub section of the site the article is > featured on is all about Wordpress ... Still > I see where you are coming from; I may have > been better to give an overview of the plugin > before a history. It is always important to know your audience, but one can always write for the slightly wider circle. > Re narrative. I guess I was drawing on my > previous work of reviewing software, trying > to give something more than just a problem > and how it's solved, more opinion, thoughts, > history. I guess that depends on the purpose of what you're writing, and it wasn't clear to me. Stating clearly at the beginning that this is a review rather than an explanation, presentation, whatever, might be useful. Again, you were perhaps expecting a much more specific audience, but even so it's worth setting the scene somewhat. It doesn't take many words, and even if someone doesn't need it, it serves to ease them in gently. Just a thought. Again, hope that helps. I can see that we were slightly at cross-purposes, but I hope the unexpected viewpoint has been useful.