Adding Content To The Website

If you've been to Whodunnit Mysteries anytime in the past 10 years, you've noticed that the site hasn't changed much over the years.  Not that we haven't tried, mind you.  In fact, we've re-vamped our website on six different occasions.

For some crazy reason, our visitors never seemed to like the new website. Sales would invariably halt in their tracks as soon as the new site was rolled out.   So we've gone back to the old one and started again. (sigh)

It's been several months and we have yet ANOTHER website just about ready to roll out.  We're crossing our fingers, knocking on wood, wishing on stars, and saying prayers to the powers that be that this new website will be a winner!

All we have missing is the slider!

I've purchased several different slider programs in hopes of finding something that would work, but to no avail.  So when I was offered a free trial of  WebAnimator Plus, I snatched it up.  This had all the elements of the PERFECT little program for idiots like me who don't have the ability and/or inclination to learn Javascript.  This program has the functionality of being able to make full-on animation, even small videos, sliders, slide shows, presentations, and everything in between.

Because I'm not quite as tech-savvy as I used to be, I wasn't able to create my slider on the fly. It took watching their first (they have several) video tutorial to nudge me in the right direction.  But once I had the basics down, it was all a matter of a little trial and error.  By the time I was done, I had a slider with eight of my mystery games, pics, and short descriptions ready to go.

The tutorials show you how to make animations, how to rotate 2 dimensional objects and all sorts of things I never imagined I'd be able to do.

By the time I was done making my first slider, I had 5 other uses for this program already planned out.  However, this is where things went downhill and the finished product looked pretty darned amazing, if I do say so myself.

HOWEVER...that's when things began to fall apart.  The whole simplicity of this program was the ability to be able to cut and past a little code into your website and onto your server and viola! Instant animation. I followed the instructions, downloaded the files and crossed my fingers.  Nothing.

I repeated the process again, thinking maybe I'd missed a comment or a bracket, or mis-labelled a file. Still a no-go.  I went onto Web Animator's help desk and found 3 boards in 3 different languages.  Pretty cool.  Except the English language board had lots of questions posted, but no answers.  Plus, there had been no activity by ANYONE in more than a month.  So I e-mailed my contact (I was, after all testing a product in exchange for a review, right?) and told them of my problem then asked for help.  No response.  I waited a week, e-mailed again, and no response.

Hmm.

Summary: Web Animator is a pretty stinking cool program.  I was able to create my animation quickly and easily.  I have no doubt that I am probably missing one small step that keeps me from downloading my program onto the website.  However, it could be the coolest animation in the world, promising to make me billions of dollars and still be absolutely worthless if I cannot get the public to see the finished product.  I cannot endorse a product that I don't honestly believe has any decent customer service in place.

If you feel you are computer savvy and don't need help from the manufacturer, then by all means go for it! But if you're a normal consumer who occasionally needs tech support, then buyer beware.

For this reason, my overall grade of this product is a C-


*Please note:  I received a 14-day sample of this product in exchange for an honest and unbiased review of this product, with the promise of the complete version should I complete my blog in a timely manner.  However, because I was out of town, I did NOT complete my review in a timely manner and I will NOT get a full product download.  Regardless, I stand by my review.  This is a product I'll be using whether I get it for free or have to pay full price for it.

Full Speed Training Series

As a writer of mystery games, I am expected to hone my writing skills on a consistent basis.  Otherwise, the games we offer will be dry, predictable, and uninteresting.

One of those ways I work on my writing skills is writing actual books.  I am on my third of a 7 book series, but have not even attempted to publish any of them yet.  I have young children, and do not feel that now is the time for me to be on the road promoting my manuscript.  So, right now, I am in the learning and writing stage.

I write every chance I get, as evidenced by my oodles of blogs.  Whodunnit Mysteries is only one of  eight blogs I participate in , 6 of which I am the sole contributor to.

As I plan to finish my third book this summer and my fourth by the end of the year, I have finally given myself a deadline to do all the steps necessary to prepare for publishing.

When I was given a chance to try out a video training series called Full Speed Ahead, I was excited - giddy actually.  This series was exactly what I was looking for and I wanted to be able to tell my fellow writer-friends about it.

The first of three videos opened with a lady giving an introductory speech about what to expect in the video series.  The problem was that her mouth never synched up with the voice over the speaker.  I shrugged it off, thinking it might be my internet connection and my computer didn't buffer correctly. Her accent was so strong, that I couldn't understand what she was saying and often had to refer to any writing on the screen, if available, to understand. Regardless, I pushed forward with the program.  The further I got in to the video, the more upset I became.  The pictures were fuzzy, even though I didn't have the video in full-screen mode, and the instructions were generalized.  For instance, we were told that in children's story books, you want to write a story that is a child's age level.  Yes, that is good information.  However, It would have been nice to give a specific example of what is appropriate and what is not by giving one page of appropriate text and one page of inappropriate text. This issue was recourrant throughout the video, and I was often being told things I already knew, or would be considered common sense.

I muscled through the first video, determined to give this program an honest effort.  The second video didn't have the lady.  Instead, the speaker was computer generated.  In theory, this might be a nice alternative.  However, it appears the creator didn't take the time to listen to the finished product because I ultimately had to shut off the second video after five minutes because the computer-generated voice was untilligible. The voice would try to read domain names instead of spell them out, or there would be glitches were coherent sentences weren't formed.

The third video had the same problem with the computer-generated voice, many of the same fuzzy, pictures, and even gave marketing SEO advice that would be detrimental to a website or marketer if they opted to use the suggested marketing advice.

After reviewing this product, I contacted the company telling them of the problems I had.  But I never received a response back.

The problem with giving reviews, is that I must eventually meet a deadline.  So here I am, on the absolute last possible day until I'm penalized for not giving a review for a product I received for free, and forced to give a crummy review to a product because I was never able to get through to the company.

To sum it up, I would grade this product as a D-

There were a few small redeeming qualities, but they were so small, few, and far between, that it wasn't worth wading through the rest of the junk to get to the tidbits of insight.

I was unable to talk to someone from the company who made this product, which means that anyone else who tried to contact them would probably get the same response.

This is the worst review I've ever given a company.  And it pains me to give it, because I know what it takes to put a video program together ( I used to do instructional videos in my prior 'life').

I would never suggest this product to another writer or friend.  And for that reason, I am not even going to give you a link to their company site.  I hope you understand.

~Susan

Terminal Justice - a Book Review

Part of writing a good mystery, is being an avid reader.  And reading mystery & suspense novels are an absolute MUST for us.  How are we supposed to get our creative juices flowing if we have nothing to glean from? 

One of the books we have recently read was Terminal Justice by Lyle Howard.  

This book is about terminally ill individuals who use their last few days or months to inflict vigilante justice to the criminals who "got away" in exchange for giving their surviving families financial stability.

It's a character-driven story that is filled with several twists and turns.  Though slow in a few parts, it has a fairly consistent flow throughout, and a pretty unexpected ending.

I particularly like how the story line is relatively unique, and clean - all things considered.  It's not too graphic (though there are a few parts that get iffy - this is after all a story geared around murder).

Overall, I'd give this book 4 stars.  The story and writing were good enough that I would certainly buy a book from Lyle Howard again.