Advice for a budding quiz-maker :)
For a while now I've been wanting to dive into the world of quiz-making. I've made a list of hundreds of quizzes I could create and I'm eager to start getting some of them up and running for people to enjoy :)
I'm quite the perfectionist, and although I have made a couple of simple quizzes before, I'd really like to perfect this art and produce top-quality stuff.
So my questions are:
- What tips and advice do you have to elevate a quiz from decent to great, and from great to brilliant?
- Do you have any techniques that accelerate the quiz-making process (I have lots of quiz concepts to actualise 😂)?
- Are there any general principles you adhere to while creating quizzes? e.g. naming quizzes, number of caveats, links to sources, time allocated, appearance, etc
Sincere thanks in advance for any and all advice offered!
fraaab :)
I haven't got much time on my hands currently, though I can tell you some key points. For amount of caveats, try to keep it short otherwise people might be discouraged from reading them. Of course, if there is essential information which has to be said and doesn't really fit in the instructions, then feel free to add it all. Links to sources are usually added when a quiz is based on a certain set of data, it makes your quiz look a tad more 'official' so as to say. Sources are usually put in the caveats and are made as hyperlinks, which you can learn to make from here, among other things.
All this being said, nothing is forced and official, after all, you would want a quiz to be your own, and not just a copy and paste of a template.
Have fun quizmaking!
Aside from that, I'd say to take your time and make sure the "finishing" on your quizzes is good. Typos, errors, and functional issues are frustrating/annoying for anyone taking your quiz. I ALWAYS make sure to run a trial of my quizzes before hitting the submit button. Errors happen, but previewing your own quiz helps.
Another thing for time I like to keep in mind is the number of questions, on the Countries of the World quiz there are 4.5 seconds per answer, so go off of 5 or so seconds if you're naming a group of things. If you have to read hints then 15 seconds per question is fine, and for most other things about 10 seconds, but it's probably best to keep in the mind the quiz type and test and all that.
Quiz techniques go on for a while so you can just ask if there's a better way to do something or poke around the editor :)
- Learn how to use Inkscape. It's fairly easy to do so and there's a guide on jetpunk. It's absolutely invaluable for svg quizzes.
- Avoid making duplicate quizzes (basically search up the type of quiz you wanna make and see if it's already been done by another user).
- Although they are super interesting and I do like making them myself, most JP users are not interested in niche topics, so if you want to get many quiz attempts try sticking to more mainstream stuff. They will also be more likely to get featured.
- Use your nominations on other users' quizzes (they get replenished every 3 days or so).
- Bonus: use html to implement graphics, font colors and text size to make your quizzes prettier.