Thank you in advance for your consideration, Universe and Potential Betas.

[constance]

I don't know what it is about Sunday nights. Maybe working at the bookstore, especially late nights, wrecks my sleeping schedule, or maybe it's just my general lack of enthusiasm at having to return to alarm-clock regulation that messes me up, but I have a hell of a time getting to sleep most Sundays. I wrap things up like a good citizen and am almost always in bed by midnight, but then nothing happens, and I lie in bed, afraid if I so much as move that I'll wake myself up for good, and I can't look at the clock because that will just upset me, and I lie awake and lie awake and lie awake, and then I am more or less useless the next day. It doesn't happen every week, but it's definitely most of the time, and I AM TIRED OF IT DO YOU HEAR ME. IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE.

Here is my wish for the week, Universe--are you listening? I would like a nice full night of sleep this Sunday.

:::

Anyway! Hello! Hi! You have been unexpectedly busy writers while I was away! I have not caught up with your news yet, but I will do that tonight! If I have a connection! And in the meantime I will dutifully answer all queries via email! Which I can do from work!

I spent my weekend either feeling like utter shit or working on my project for the HP nonfiction fest--or sometimes I multitasked and did both at once--and I had a couple of Java-related false starts, but after my weekend I have mastered the subtle and multifarious pleasures of the mouseover script, and I am now, I believe, inarguably The (Java) Man.

Even The (Java) Man, however, must occasionally seek an outside opinion, and so I am wondering if anyone would care to beta my project for me when it's done by the end of the week. And before you recklessly offer your services, allow me to tell you both what the project is:

a PG-rated floor plan of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, on five levels, one page per level, with each page numbered, image-mapped, and scripted so that when you hover your mouse over a number, you get a little detail about the numbered room or object. (There are about 55-60 numbered links over which to hover, and there'll also be a couple of little hidden bonuses here and there, if I have the time and energy.)

and what I'll need from a beta:

• a grammatician-cum-speller who can read the copy and tell me where things are wrong or awkward.


• a brit-picker who can correct the more blatantly American phrasery and spelling.
  
• a certified canonista who can tell me if there are any details which contradict canon. (There are places where details are invented or fudged, but I don't want anything to contradict canon.)


• a technical advisor who need not be able to tell me where my code has gone awry so much as just click around and make sure all the links and scripts work the way they're supposed to, especially in alternate browsers like Firefox or Netscape, or on a non-Windows OS.


• someone who can turn it around within a week.

It looks like kind of a lot, now that I look at it, but it's not really. It's not that complicated, and there's plenty of time to make changes before it's due on May 1. I've just been looking at it for so long that I can't tell what's wrong and what's not any more. Is there enybody who's willing to take a look for me? You wouldn't have to do all of the above--even one part would be a big help.

Comments

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Sign me up! I'm definitely not a brit-picker, but I think I can do the mouse-in-a-maze click-throughs from a Firefox point of view, spelling/grammar checking, and perhaps I can fake the canonista stuff, as long as I've got my trusty copy of OotP by my side. And after tomorrow night, I won't even have any big projecty things hanging over my head, so I'll have time, too.

Unfortunately, I can't help with the sleep situation. My lie-awake night is Monday, because we're always starting a new artist on Tuesday, and I'm fretting about stuff that could go wrong.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Yay! I was hoping you'd be one of the people to respond, since you've been encouraging me to do it for a while now.

And I hope you sleep well tonight! I'll be thinking sleepy thoughts at you. Who is the artist-to-study this week?

And speaking of artistry: onigiri! :D:D:D:D:D I need a bento icon too.

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely no helpful beta skills to offer but I am DYING to see this project of yours. It sounds fabulous!

::waits patiently::

[tofty.livejournal.com]

aha! I'm sure you'd be great as a beta, silly. No pressure, of course, but I'll give you an informal sneak preview if you promise to tell me about any mistakes you find, okay? You can be my test subject, rather than my beta. :)

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

I'm more than happy to be a test subject - I promise to give feedback though no guarantees re usefulness. : )

I'll be out most of today and early evening but will be in and online later tonight.

[(Anonymous)]

Excellent! There's no need to worry about it tonight, though--I won't be finished until tomorrow night at the very earliest--otherwise it'll be up for looking over on Wednesday, and I'll leave it up for your convenience.

I am flexible, you see? :D

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

You are indeed. ::peers at inverted Tofty:: : )

I leave town Friday so I will look at it Wed night. Am excited to see it!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

:O That was me up there! For some reason my email reply didn't log me in.

[submarine.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD I would volunteer purely for selfish reasons of wanting to seeeeeee it. I have Firefox, though! I am also, believe it or not, a fairly good speller/grammatician. England is Australia's motherland, too. Man, I am racking up points all over the place. Except that somebody else also has Firefox and is already on the beta list. Well... whatever. I AM HERE TO BE USED, CAMMY.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh good, you're in! I have faith in your britpicking abilities--I mean, you spell color as colour, right??

And besides, there is no one better to critique the plan as a whole, my floor-plan-pal!

[submarine.livejournal.com]

Of course I spell colour as it's supposed to be spelled. You guys and your denial of the usage of U. Poor thing. It just wants to be loved!

You have no idea how excited I am just over the idea of your project. Sdjlskdjhsdjsd. That keysmash is just the tip of the iceberg.

[21stcenturysei.livejournal.com]

Sign me up for grammatician or canonist, as I've read and reread HP and still not read any fanon and thus won't be confused (I know, I need to get on that train before it leaves the station). Especially if you get a chance to do my own blog's usability study of cds before tomorrow. If not, I'm all over Grimmauld Place like Kreacher on ephedrine. (Besides, it'll be a terrific breather from my plethora of papers.)

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh! You can be my non-fanon beta, then--thank you!

My email wasn't working last night--stupid connection--but I did your study last night anyway, because that sort of thing is the sort of thing I love. I am all over it like Dobby over Harry Potter. :D:D:D

(Good luck on your papers, too!)

[quartertosix.livejournal.com]

I cannot offer you any help, but holy fucking Jesus! This is quite possibly the most amazing idea I've seen for HP in a long-ass time. When it goes up, would it be too much trouble to give those of us who are totally out of the fandom loop a heads-up?

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Hahahahaha, sure!

[dahlia-777.livejournal.com]

I offer my services. I can manage points 1, 2 and 5. I can also check things out in my Safari browser for you if you like.

I lie awake and lie awake and lie awake... Try playing a talking book. I recommend Jeeves & Wooster read by Simon Callow, who is amusing but also has a lovely soothing voice.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Ex-cellllent! And don't you use a Mac, too? I will be covered on all fronts!

And how are you doing? Will you by any chance be free on Sunday (assuming I can get online, but if I can't I'll let you know)?

[dahlia-777.livejournal.com]

I do use a Mac (OSX). It's Easter this Sunday so I'll be home with the family - probably enduring my mother's Easter egg hunt. I could do Monday though - do you have a bank holiday on Monday?

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I don't have Monday. I have Wednesday, and then next weekend. Any of those times good for you?

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh! And I forgot to say: I usually do fall asleep listening to some sort of book on tape or DLed TV show with the picture turned off. Just now it's Battlestar Galactica, but before that it was mostly HP. The Jeeves and Wooster is a fabulous rec--I'll look it up!

[dahlia-777.livejournal.com]

The BBC radio series of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is another fun choice. Also, I tried going highbrow with Shakespeare for a while. If you lie there really concentrating on the language, and trying to follow the exact course of the plot... you can drop off to sleep very quickly! This is not meant as a criticism of Shakespeare - it's self-criticism because I find him hard to follow. But if I kept rewinding nightly to the place I'd left off, I eventually got a fairly good understanding of an entire play. It just took a long time...

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I have been tempted for ages and ages to look into an audible dot com subscription--I'll have to see what I can find there, and then I might sign up.

Or maybe I'll start going to the library again! Our library is so small here that I'll go for a while not be able to find everything I want, and then get out of the habit of going. But I need to go back, because free books! They are good!