PollGadget Online Help

PollGadget is a tool that allows you to quickly build and publish opinion polls to be used on your web site. Using a simple, web-based interface, anyone can create customized polls that can be placed easily into your web site, simply by cutting and pasting the HTML that PollGadget creates into an HTML document.

Click below for an explanation of PollGadget's features:




Setting the Poll Attributes

Setting the poll attributes allows you to control the look and feel of your polls. This includes such aspects as the poll's colors, font, and width. Selecting the Set Poll Attributes link from the PollGadget toolbar displays a form containing the poll fields that are customizable. The initial values displayed in the form will be the most recently set poll attributes. The reset button at the bottom of the form will return the attributes displayed in each field to these values.

Poll attributes are set before a poll is created. Once you've created a poll based on a set of attributes, there is no way to go back and change the poll without re-creating it. Changing the poll attributes will only affect polls that are created after the attributes are set.

The following is a summary of the customizable fields that are found on the Set Poll Attributes form:


fig 1.1: Sample Poll
Poll Width:

Defines the width of the poll in pixels, NOT percentages (see fig 1.1). The minimum allowable width for your poll is 55 pixels. There is no maximum. To set the width for your poll, enter a valid number (equal to or greater than 55) in the box labeled Poll Width.


Font Face:

Defines the font which will be used for the poll and the poll results. To set the font face for your poll, select one of the choices from the drop-down box.


Font Size:

Defines the size of the font for the poll and results. To set the width for your poll, select a value from the drop-down box.

Poll Colors:

Defines the colors that are to be used throughout the poll. Colors are defined by their six-digit hexadecimal codes (i.e. 000000 through FFFFFF). The following aspects of the poll can have their colors customized:

  • Background color for the title bar
  • Font color for the title bar
  • Main body background color
  • Main body font color
  • Percentage bar color (see fig 1.2)


    View Results Link:

    Allows you to place a link on your poll (see fig 1.1) allowing users to view the results of the poll without casting a vote. To set this option, select yes from the drop down box to include the link, or no not to include the link.

    • fig 1.2: Poll Results

    When you've finished filling out the Set Poll Attributes form, press the Set Attributes button to save your settings. If there are any errors in the values you entered, they will be displayed and you will have the opportunity to fix them. If the form is free of errors, PollGadget will save your settings for you.   


    Creating a Poll

     Once you've set the poll's attributes, you are ready to create your poll. The Create Poll link in the PollGadget toolbar will bring you to the Create a Poll form where you will be asked to fill out the following fields:


    Poll ID:

    The poll ID is a unique, one-word identifier for your poll. This will allow you to manage your polls based on their unique poll identifier. The length of the poll ID can be a maximum of 30 characters, and must be alpha-numeric (i.e. can only contain letters and numbers.) You may, however, use underscores (_) to separate words (i.e. sports_poll, food_poll etc.)


    Poll Title:

    The poll title contains the text that will appear in the poll's title bar (see fig 1.1). The title is to contain only plain text - HTML tags are not supported. The poll title may not contain any of the following characters:
    ;   <   >   &   *   `   |   \   $   #
    Any text that does not fit on one line in the title bar will wrap onto the next line, making the title bar as long as it needs to be to accommodate the title. If you choose not to enter a title, no title bar will be displayed.


    Question:

    Write the question for your poll in the textbox labeled Question. Your question is to be entered in plain text - HTML tags are not supported. The following characters are not permitted as part of the poll question:
    ;   <   >   &   *   `   |   \   $   #

    Number of Choices:

    The Number of Choices field allows you to specify the number of possible answers you want displayed in your poll. To set your number of choices, enter the number you want in the box, and click Continue. This will display textboxes for the number of choices entered. Enter the choices for your poll in the Option fields. Like the other fields, these are text-only values - no HTML tags are supported.
    When you've finished filling out the Create a Poll form, press the Create Poll button to create your poll. If there are any errors in the values you entered, they will be displayed and you will have the opportunity to fix them. If the form is free of errors, PollGadget will create your poll for you.   


    Viewing a Poll

     Viewing a poll gives you the opportunity to see the poll as your users will see it. When you click the View Poll link in the PollGadget toolbar, you will be prompted to select a poll from a drop down box, which will be displayed in the main PollGadget window. Casting a vote in the poll or clicking the View Results link on the poll (if that option was selected as part of the Poll's attributes) will display the poll results in a pop-up window. This is how the results will be displayed after the poll is inserted into a Web site.


    Changing the Height of the Pop-up Window:

     To change the height of the poll's pop-up window, select the Click here link from the View Poll window, and enter the new value in the text box. The value that initially appears in this box is the current height of the pop-up window. You may have to set the height a few times before finding the appropriate value for the window. Remember to close any existing pop-up windows when testing a new window height, otherwise, the results will appear in the old window, and no change in the window height will be seen.

    Note: Changing the height AFTER a poll has been pasted into your site will NOT change the height of the pop-up window for the live poll.   

    Viewing a Poll's Results

     The View Results link in the PollGadget toolbar is a way for poll administrators to monitor results on live polls without casting a vote, thus affecting the outcome of a poll. The results of a poll will appear directly in the main PollGadget window, not in a pop-up window as seen by voters. To view a poll's results, click the View Results link and select the poll from the drop down menu.   


    Resetting a Poll's Votes

     Resetting a poll's votes allows you to set all the vote counts for a poll back to zero. To reset a poll's votes, select the Reset Poll Votes option from the PollGadget toolbar, and choose the poll you wish to reset from the drop down menu. A warning screen requesting confirmation will be displayed before your poll is reset.   


    Adding a Poll to your Web Site

     To add a poll to your Web site, you'll need to cut and paste the HTML code for your poll into your web site. This HTML includes calls to the appropriate scripts in order for the poll to function properly. Once the poll is inserted into your web site, edits to the poll's HTML are strongly discouraged. We cannot guarantee that the poll will function properly if edits are made.

    To add a poll to your web site:
    1. Click the Add Poll to your Web Site link from the PollGadget toolbar, and select the poll you'd like to insert into your Web site.

    2. Cut and Paste the HTML code which is displayed in the main PollGadget window into your Web Site:

      • Highlight the HTML code with your mouse. This includes everything between and including the following tags:
        <!-- POLL BEGINS HERE --> ... <!-- POLL ENDS HERE -->
      • Copy the selected code by clicking the right mouse button and selecting Copy, or select Copy from the Edit menu on your browser.

      • Paste the code into your Web site by placing your cursor where you want to insert the poll. Select Paste by right clicking your mouse, or select it from the Edit menu on your HTML editor.   

    Deleting A Poll

     Deleting a poll in PollGadget completely removes all files associated with a poll. Please note, however, that any HTML code inserted into a Web site is not removed. For this reason, it is important that you remove the poll from your Web site before deleting it in PollGadget. Any polls deleted in PollGadget will not work if the HTML remains in a Web Site.

    To delete a poll, first make sure that any HTML associated with the poll is removed from any Web sites. Once all HTML is removed, click the Delete Poll option in the PollGadget toolbar, and select the poll from the drop-down menu. A warning screen requesting you to confirm your selection will appear before the poll deleted.   


    Ballot Stuffing

     Efforts have been made to prevent voters from casting multiple votes, thus skewing the results of a poll. Whenever a vote is submitted, PollGadget searches a log file which keeps track of the voter's IP address and a timestamp. If the user's IP address is found, his or her vote is not counted. Otherwise, the results are tabulated with the new vote, and the voter's IP address is added to the list.