I can't seem to get the hang of using the "reserved box" feature.

I just reserved a bunch of boxes by choosing the "reserved" option on the "add letterbox" page. I then proceeded to fill in the pages that followed. You will notice that you don't have some of the options such as the hike length, whether it is a traditional or mystery, and the address. Once you save this clue, you can see it under My Logbook/Plants, and then choose the dropdown and look at your reserved boxes. When you are ready to make it active, go to the reserved box and choose "set type" on the initial clue page. It will take you into the clue itself and you can fill in the rest of the details and save it as a listed box.

OK, I figured it out. I've been clicking "reserved" and then checking the box type as "traditional" at the very first screen, not having any idea that when I checked "traditional" it automatically removed my check on "reserved."

This seems like a really weird way to do it and it's not intuitive. Why not just allow us to save drafts that do not go live, which is how things usually work online (blogs, etc)? If I can't indicate the box is a traditional, does this mean I can't fill out the info such as parts of the clue or location ahead of time (which was my primary goal)? And if "reserved" is a type of letterbox, rather than the status of the clues (draft), then why have the reserved option to the far right while the letterbox types are to the far left? That's what really confused me. I would rather the options of "draft" and "go live."

Since I always have this same problem, is there a way to save this thread for future use?

Go to the first message and click on Bookmark in the upper right corner; it will be saved in your own bookmarks. Then when you access your bookmarks (drop down menu under Boards), you can click Thread at the bottom right and get all the replies to that message.

You can only choose one thing on that first page, and "reserved" is one of the options. You aren't yet setting the type.

A reserved listing allows you to work on the clue in a draft form until you are happy with it, and also gives you a box number for those who like to put that in the log or on the stamp.

You CAN'T set the location yet, because that is part of the TYPE. For example, a Cootie or LTC doesn't have a location. You can only set the things that are universal to all types, like the owner and carver.

When you are ready to go live with the listing, you set the type, and then add all appropriate information for that specific type of listing.

K

I've been clicking "reserved" and then checking the box type as "traditional" at the very first screen, not having any idea that when I checked "traditional" it automatically removed my check on "reserved."

This seems like a really weird way to do it and it's not intuitive.

You must be pretty young. They're called radio buttons, and that's how radios used to work. When you selected one button, whatever was selected before was deselected automatically. =) If you could select a type and the reserved option, the reserved option would have been a checkbox--an on/off switch that has no affect on any other buttons. Radio buttons are circular, checkboxes are square. They work differently, and they're both pretty standard web designs. Just remember, if you're ever clicking a radio button, whatever was selected before will be deselected. It's important to recognize if you're clicking on a radio button or a checkbox.

If I can't indicate the box is a traditional, does this mean I can't fill out the info such as parts of the clue or location ahead of time (which was my primary goal)?

You can fill out anything that is common to all letterboxes: it's name, planters, individual boxes within a series, the carvers, the clue and restrictions. The major thing you can't do is select most attributes (the hand carved, store bought, and custom made options can be selected since those are common to all box types, but that's about it) and, in the case of traditionals, the location.

And I'll be honest, it's not ideal. It would be nice to select the type beforehand and fill out all of the information about a box but there are a couple of reasons it doesn't.

First, for purposes of properly counting P-counts, it makes things a lot easier when listed boxes are completely separated from the unlisted ones rather than mixed together. That's why it's a different type rather than a "subtype" of box.

Second, it's a heck of a lot easier to implement one new box type than seven of them. (Traditional Reserved, Hitchhiker Reserved, LTC Reserved, etc.), which is why there's only one reserved option instead of seven of them. It also means I don't have to add/delete a reserved type whenever a new type is added or an old one is removed. The code is considerably easier to maintain. I know, that doesn't matter to you, but it's an important consideration for me for everything I have to implement on AQ. I have limited time and resources and I need to figure out how to get the most "bang for the effort" as it were.

Third, the main reasons people wanted to "pre-list" boxes was so they could get an ID number for the box and to store a clue they were working on, and this setup satisfied that requirement. Not much more than that, but it was enough to meet the goals and I could focus my effects on more important projects.

then why have the reserved option to the far right while the letterbox types are to the far left?

This depends on your screen width. If you have a very narrow page, all of the options will be in a single column. If you have a very wide page, you'll find it spread out in three columns: Traditional options, non-traditional options and reserved. Because... reserved boxes aren't traditional boxes and they aren't non-traditional boxes, it makes sense that they deserve to be in a group of their own.

which is how things usually work online (blogs, etc)?

You're comparing apples to oranges here. Blogs don't have Hall of Fame counts to worry about, and nor do blogs give you seven different types of blog entries to choose from. (Or maybe they do. "Today I have a recipe to post--where's the 'recipe' option? Tomorrow I might need the 'close family member died' blog option if my grandmother doesn't survive the night. And next Saturday, I'll be needing the 'son playing soccer' post option." But I use Blogger and I definitely don't have those kind of options available. "Oh, crap! I just posted about my grandmother's death on the 'son playing soccer' form! How do I undo that?!")

Be that as it may, you are right that there is room for improvement.

However, I cannot afford to hire a large team of people to do this for me and I don't currently have time to do it myself so for now, you'll just have to work within it's limitations or store your clues on your own computer until they're ready to post.

-- Ryan

You must be pretty young. They're called radio buttons, and that's how radios used to work. When you selected one button, whatever was selected before was deselected automatically. =) If you could select a type and the reserved option, the reserved option would have been a checkbox--an on/off switch that has no affect on any other buttons. Radio buttons are circular, checkboxes are square. They work differently, and they're both pretty standard web designs. Just remember, if you're ever clicking a radio button, whatever was selected before will be deselected. It's important to recognize if you're clicking on a radio button or a checkbox.

Yeah, I'm 53 and I remember back when FM was still new and was ruled by hippy outlaw DJs playing whatever they wanted because nobody cared. I don't think the average person of any age has an understanding about the technical aspects of webpage coding or knows the difference between radio buttons and check boxes. I didn't know you couldn't select more than one option because 1. I'm not a computer programmer or web designer, 2. It didn't say you could only choose one, which normally isn't an issue, but in the case of 'reserved' boxes could be if you considered reserved to mean "unpublished draft", 3. The location of the two options I was trying to check off at the same time were in very different parts of my screen so I didn't notice when the first check disappeared and 4. The idea of creating draft clues by creating a new type of box isn't intuitive, so it feels like you HAVE to check both 'reserved' and 'traditional.' I would suggest some help text next to the "reserved" option explaining that if you select "reserved", you cannot select another box type at the same time, such as "traditional."

Would it be easier to just create draft boxes listings by showing the box as unavailable?

I don't think the average person of any age has an understanding about the technical aspects of webpage coding or knows the difference between radio buttons and check boxes.

I'm sorry I seemed to have ruffled your feathers. It's the first time someone's gotten mad at me for thinking they were young, though! =)

And you're right, I could be wrong and most people can't tell the difference between a radio button and checkbox, but it's been a pretty common standard for decades. It's not really cutting-edge stuff we're talking about here. If it's not something you haven't noticed before, it's worth knowing!

Would it be easier to just create draft boxes listings by showing the box as unavailable?

No, because it goes back to one of the original problems people doing that created--it messes up your P-counts. It usually doesn't take more than an extra minute or so to click the additional attributes and location. The clue is the part that takes people the most time and effort and they tweak and edit most often--which can still be done with reserved listings.

Or, you can do what I usually do: just create the clue on your own system and create the listing when it's ready to go live. The only real advantage (I think) to reserved boxes is getting an ID number before you plant the box. If you don't need that ahead of time, reserved boxes can't do anything that you can do on your own computer already.

-- Ryan

Ryan,

On that one part where it says, " be careful, when you select box type it is permanent"- I think if you just add: By selecting the box type, you are now activating the box, and it will be published, and no longer in Reserved Status. I think that will clear up the confusion for most people. I admit the first few times I did it, I was confused. Or maybe instead of just Set Box Type, it could be "Select Box Type and Publish/activate. In addition, I know a lot of people have a hard time finding where to activate the box, if they come back to it at a later time. So maybe a little note about, coming back to it by looking in their logbook would be helpful.

A lot of this seems very easy for computer saavy people, but believe me, I have shown quite a few people how to navigate Atlasquest, and there are still several aspects of it that I don't use, and don't know much about. (Searching boxes along a route is just one, which I will be figuring out in the next few days). I'm really good at Atlasquest and Facebook, but make me do Excel or Powerpiont and I cringe in fear.... Lol.

Anyway, those are my 2 cents...

does this mean I can't fill out the info such as parts of the clue or location ahead of time (which was my primary goal)?

You can fill out the clue ahead of time but you are correct that the location will not be available to be filled out until you Set the Box Type.....because not all box types actually have locations.

One suggestion is to create your reserved box and then use the "Edit Notes" pencil icon to store the details about your location until you are ready to go live. After you Set the Box Type, you can cut/paste the location details from your notes into the Location field. I find that easier than storing my clue and location info in a separate document on my computer until I'm ready to create a box.

I agree with Ryan that the clue is the piece that I edit the most often before I change a Reserved box into a 'live' box....and you can do that with a Reserved box. I like that I can get the Box ID# once I have a Reserved listing and use that in my logbook and/or in the box itself.

Good luck and I hope this all makes sense.
Peace
CTEE

I think if you just add: By selecting the box type, you are now activating the box, and it will be published, and no longer in Reserved Status.

You know, you're right--that's a badly named button. I called it "set type" since that's what it does, but calling it "activate box" tells people what it means. I've changed the name of the button. (And gave it an "on" switch rather than that the shape-shifting icon of before.)

I know a lot of people have a hard time finding where to activate the box, if they come back to it at a later time.

That's another good point--a lot of people have to ask that question. Both that, and how to activate the box. So now after someone saves a reserved box (after adding as a new one or editing an existing one), it'll display a set of "directions" of what to do next including where to find the listing and how to activate it.

-- Ryan

Oooh, excellent!

I like the new letterbox listing page. Much more user friendly. Thanks!

OK, I just reserved a box, and it had a very nice explanation of how to find it again, but when I clicked the "Details Page" button at the bottom it tried to take me to Box 0 (and I got the 404 not found) instead of taking me to my reserved box details page. Just thought you should know.

-TKV

but when I clicked the "Details Page" button at the bottom it tried to take me to Box 0 (and I got the 404 not found)

Whoops! Sorry about that! It should be fixed now. =)

-- Ryan

Thanks!

Speaking of "Activate Box" (and yes, the "new" button is awesome)...

I started/reserved a listing in 2014 that I'm only just now getting around to. If/when I activate it, will the date on the "plant" show as 2017? Or as 2014, with a 2017 "modified"?

-Dave

I'm interested in learning the answer to this as well. I've hidden about 20 boxes for an upcoming event and don't want to publish them until a couple of days before. However I would like to start writing them up now. I was afraid to put them in reserve too early for fear of the system dropping them (the event is in about 2 months) but if it's held yours for 3 years I guess I'm ok, yes?

I started/reserved a listing in 2014 that I'm only just now getting around to. If/when I activate it, will the date on the "plant" show as 2017?

I reserve a box every time I carve a stamp which has a planned setting. I do this because I usually add notes to the listing so I remember why I carved the stamp and where I want to place it, most often for a continuing series that I am working on to place a stamp in every Pennsylvania state park. Since I never really know when I will get to these parks, I prepare the boxes and notes ahead of time and just grab them when I have the opportunity to plant. When they are actually planted, I change the date and add the clues. I just planted one on Friday which had been reserved for over a year and all I had to do was change the reserved date on it to the actual planting date.

I was afraid to put them in reserve too early for fear of the system dropping them

I don't think I have ever heard that this would happen. The oldest box I have in my reserved list is now two and a half years old.

Reserved boxes are never deleted. The plant date is whatever you set it to, but it might default to the date you convert it into a real box by default.

i have yet to figure out the purpose of a reserved box.

smile

When you are ready to make it active, go to the reserved box and choose "set type" on the initial clue page.

GT has now switched set type to activate box to make things clearer.

GT has now switched set type to activate box to make things clearer.

Once you activate the box, you still have to set the type of box - traditional, HH, postal, etc.

Thanks for the info, that helps.

The plant date is whatever you set it to

Cool. I didn't know this was changeable. Thanks.

An important thing is notifications. What I understand is that a reserve box notifies people (who want to be notified) from the day you set the type of the box.

What I understand is that a reserve box notifies people (who want to be notified) from the day you set the type of the box.

Yep, when you activate a reserved box, it sends out notifications as if it's an entirely new box.

-- Ryan

Ok, I made a reserve box. Screen shot the directions for finding it again.... but can't find the screen shot :/

Go to your logbook page. In the Action box select Plants. In the Box Type box select Reserved. In the Year box select All or the year in which you made the reserved listing.

Thank you!