Friday, June 18, 2010

Designing a Webpage

Have you ever tried to use our HTML Tutorial to learn how to design a webpage? What did you think?

Today going through our "Contact Us" mail, we got a letter from Juliet, aged 10, that said our HTML Tutorial was confusing. We're sorry that this happened, and we would love to fix it!

So we're wondering: what could be improved? How far in were you when you got confused? We'll go back and try to fix it up and make it easier to understand.

You can leave your comments here or email us with your suggestions directly to admin@smartgirl.org.

Also, here's a shoutout to Sifi, age 18, who said our website was fun! Thanks, Sifi!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Interviews

It's the week of the interviews, I guess. Erika's book, Beneath the Cobblestones, is finally available to purchase on Amazon. It's been a long time in the works, and we can't wait to read our very own copy!

But what's super cool is that Erika is willing to let SmartGirls ask her lots of questions about her success as a writer getting published at such a young age. We set up a page so you can submit your interview questions:

http://www.smartgirl.org/writing/interview-erika.html

Next week, we'll send her your questions and she'll pick some out and answer them for you! Send her serious ones, fun ones, and whatever you're curious about.

Also, we didn't tell you this, but we've been interviewed, too! Amiko from My Unfastened Diary (M-U-D) has a blog where she is interviewing web designers and giving advice and sharing stories submitted by tween girls. You can check out her blog and our interview here:

http://myunfasteneddiary.blogspot.com/

We had never done an interview like this before, and it was actually pretty fun. I tend to like to talk a lot though, so it was hard to keep things short!

Have you ever interviewed someone or been interviewed by someone? What was it like? Any especially memorable moments?

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Our New Contact Form

Recently on SmartGirl we added a Contact Form. There were lots of reasons to do this, and two of our favorite reasons are:
  • This is a safe way to contact us without revealing any more information than you want to
  • It's a more convenient way to contact us so that you don't have to go and open up your email client just to send a simple message
Already we've had several messages from our contact form, and I'd like to address some of those concerns here!

  1. We change our site layout too often without giving any warning
  2. Everyone should be able to be a SmartGirl Author without having to submit an application

First, I'm sorry that you've been feeling left in the dark with some of our site changes! I realize now that there's only one link on the site to this blog, and it's hidden at the bottom of the Real Life page. To help give visitors more notice when we make site changes, I'll add more links to this blog and try to put more notices up on Facebook.


Second, I also believe that anyone who wants to be a writer should get that chance. However, there's a lot of work that goes into being a SmartGirl Author and I can only take on so many at a time! When the new site gets up and running we'll be able to take on more SmartGirl Authors, but for now, unfortunately, we have to limit the number of applications we accept.

In the meantime, new SmartGirl Author positions open up all year round. If you make sure that your author application is well-written and original, you might not hear from us immediately, but you will probably hear from us eventually as soon as a position opens up!

Keep sending us your questions and concerns. If you are over 13, we can respond to you directly. Otherwise, you can look for responses here on our Development Blog!

Sincerely,
Boowee