It’s time for our first major deployment of 2016! This deployment will feature some amazing new features and enhancements to current features, along with our usual system upgrades and bug fixes. We now deploy using our Zero Downtime model, so we do not expect any interruption in your service.
New Features
Tags: Tags are a new way to organize and filter your entries. The event administrator can create tags in the competition’s set up area and then label the entries within Play/Manage Entries. There are 2 different types of entry tags:
- General Tags: These tags can be used on any entry in any bracket.
- Tags as Subcategories: These tags can only be used within a particular bracket.
In addition, you can now also tag judges. Examples and illustrations are below. We recommend discussing how to use tags with your account manager when first setting up your competition.
General Tags
In this example, we are using our general tags to flag entries for specific types of review. Other examples of general tag use may be age or grade for student competitions, or state/geographic region of entry. General tags may now be used for both entries and judges.
Tags as Subcategories
In this example, we are using tags to note the type of solution that each entry provides. This may be different in each bracket. Other examples of subcategory tag use may be region, age division, or field of expertise.
Once tags are created, they can be assigned to each entry. The Tags tab appears in Play/Manage Entries, on the detail pane of each entry. Clicking on that Tab will open the tab selections. The administrator should mark his or her selections for that entry and then click save.
You can also use Tags in the Play/Manage Entries area to filter your entries. Note that the Tags as Subcategories changes depending on the bracket selected, while the general tags remain.
Judge Tags
In our example below, we have created tags that reflect the judge’s expertise.
In Play/User Management, you will be able to mark an individual judge with either General Tags or Judge Tags, or both.
You can use these tags to filter in the Judging Assignment window as well. In Judge View, you will be able to filter by General Tags and Judge Tags. In Entry View, you will be able to sort by General Tags and Tags as Subcategories.
Entry View
Judge View
Tags will also be shown on the Export Entries report so that you can use data filter tools to refine your selections
TIP: When to use tags instead of brackets (categories):
- Your entry form would be the same in each bracket
- Your scorecard would be the same in each bracket
- You are judging all entries against all other entries
Design Options: The User Interface tab in the Event Set Up area is where the design code of the public-facing Skild pages should be entered. A public facing page is a page that the user can see prior to logging in. This includes Log In, Registration, Nomination, and Public Voting pages. We now have 3 options that you will see when you are in the User Interface area:
- Original: Our legacy setting. We recommend this for users that have a design they like on a prior event and would just like to copy it to their newest event with minimal changes.
- Responsive: This is a good choice for users with more limited time or budget. We have a fully responsive template already coded for you. You may make certain text and logo changes to this template. Illustration below.
- None: This is for clients who want complete customization. This setting gives designers a blank slate on which to place their code.
What remains the same is that you will still use the Top HTML, Bottom HTML, and CSS boxes. The code placed here will wrap around the Skild element on the page. All of the pages will pull the same code from this area.
Download Entry: Users will now be able to download a PDF copy of their completed entry. Once they submit their application, the onscreen submission message will include a link. Clicking on this link will download the application as a PDF inside of a zip file. Any application attachments will be displayed in the PDF as links.
Rich Text (Beta): Depending on your package, our form builder may now include a Rich Text element. This allows contestants to include basic formatting in their responses. Note there is currently no manually configurable character limit on the Rich Text field; the default character limit is 2000.
Admin View
Contestant View
Contestant View with Text
Judge View
Enhancements
- Uploading video from mobile: Our system is now capable of uploading video files directly from a user’s mobile device, making it easier than ever for contestants to enter video competitions.
- New CMS tags for customized emails: We have added additional mail merge tags to help administrators completely personalize emails to contestants. You may now add the entry title (@@TITLE@@) and entry summary (@@SUMMARY@@) when emailing users from the Play/Manage Entries area. For a complete list of these tags, please see our support article athttp://support.skild.com/customer/portal/articles/1041275-how-can-i-personalize-outbound-cms-email-messages-.
- Streamlining the administration application: You may notice changes in the Administration portal, as we are tidying up the options available, removing legacy features, and other subtle improvements to make being an event administrator as easy as possible.
If you have any questions regarding any information in this article, please contact us at support@skild.com.
