Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
II
Figure 7.6
In polls, the devil is in the details.
5.
Use the check box to randomize the answer order or No. Randomizing answers prevents an
answer from getting picked more because of its placement in a list rather than its actual mean-
ing. This is good for casual polling and important for serious polls. Don't use this for answers
that have an inherent order, such as lowest to highest, or a customary order, such as yes,
then no.
6.
Use the check box to allow other answers. Allowing other answers is probably bad for your poll;
polls are all about simplicity. They're great for learning from your site visitors though; they can
come up with things you never thought of. (Also, perhaps, an occasional obscene suggestion you
had considered anatomically impossible, but don't worry—your users won't see the actual text
entered, just you.)
7.
Use the check box to add a Share This link. Share This is a
viral
feature—a (frighteningly named)
characteristic making it easy for a desired action, such as taking your poll, to spread from one
person to another.
8.
Choose the Design from among the many options. Choose from among the PollDaddy styles—20
as of this writing—and widths (three for most styles). The options are listed in Table 7.2. Most of
these styles will clash with many blog themes, due to color, size, or both, so your actual usable
choice in your specific blog is probably fairly limited.
To expand your usable choices, Wordpress.org users can create Custom Styles with another
visual editor that lets you edit colors, widths, borders, and the like. If you know CSS, you can
even draw up your own style sheet to upload to your blog. Because there is some JavaScript
involved in custom styles, WordPress.com blogs are restricted to the standard PollDaddy styles.
To learn more, visit http://support.polldaddy.com/custom-poll-styles/.
9.
Choose whether to show results to voters. You can show the (numeric) results, only percentages
(which helps keep people from knowing if you have embarrassingly few votes), or hide the
results. We favor the first if you have a reasonable number of voters and the second if the
number of voters is likely to be smaller than you'd prefer. (At very low numbers, even the
