This POSOWOCO frequently asked questions and user help guide page will answer some common queries.

Select the FAQ button to see frequent questions – we have some initial questions and their answers.

Select the Help button for help on all our content and features.

We are currently developing the help section to best serve this website.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following guide may be useful for anyone wanting to get the answers to some frequently asked questions of us, our website, application and content.

What's it all about?

We love writing works for people to enjoy!

We have been writing poems, sounds, stories, worlds and other great things and we want to share them with everyone for all time. The poems may help you in the classical poetry sense of timeless thoughts and informal words. The sounds may help you relax or the music to smile and hum along to. Our worlds range from online games to videos and fantasy maps, all have poems too. Our correspondence covers personal stories and views to technical comments and tools; there are hidden poems in there to pause for thought. We hope that some of our works may help you in your life by triggering enjoyable ideas and experiences or just plain distracting you for fun.

See also About Us 😊

What's with the name?

We chose letters from words we love!

The name has been derived from our core offerings of Poems, Sounds, Worlds and Correspondence - the name is abbreviated from the first 2 letters of each. Names can mean everything in life. The words we chose are ordered by the importance we put on them in terms of writing, loving and remembering. POems SOunds WOrlds COllections

See also About Us 😊

Where are you based?

We are based in Stratford Upon Avon in England!

Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town with more than 800 years of history, containing not only many buildings that survive today and would have been familiar to Shakespeare but also a thriving POSOWOCO hub offering a good variety of media pleasures 😊

Why the logo?

We love catchy, meaningful graphics!

A logo is a small picture or design that a company or organisation uses as its symbol to identify it. We needed something that indicated the coming together of the 4 portfolios of our work as explained by the name POSOWOCO. The portfolios are represented as yellow bubbles all flowing upwards to the sky finally escaping from the earth. Burst one soon to see and hear its song. 😊

What do we mean by collections?

We love to illustrate our narrative!

We use collections to illustrate our narrative in an unusual way as we believe they can communicate ideas quickly and with more fun. We use them to illustrate the gathering of our non-core set of thoughts and writings, for those things and ideas that we want to include but are not core poems, sounds or worlds specifically. Although used throughout the website, in time our specific collection will grow on their own from our companion topics. 😊

Is this site free?

Yes, it's free! This is currently a NON-COMMERCIAL website.

We are doing this because at the moment it is our gift. Perhaps one day we may publish books or correspondence of some form. Until then we would be pleased if you enjoyed any or all of our content.

See also our Terms Of Service 😊

Do you use A.I. text generators like ChatGPT?

Absolutely not!.

All our work comes from OUR creative effort be it Poems, Sounds or Worlds 😊

What about the protected posts?

We have reserved some articles for our special followers!

We have done this so that some of you can help give us moral support to keep our servers and radio station going - see below 😊

How can I Help?

Support us using Ko-FI

Ko-fi is the original, fun and friendly way to receive donations and messages of support from fans of what we do! We use it as a tip jar to let fans contribute to our goals.

See also https://ko-fi.com/posowoco 😊

Support us on Patreon

If you've enjoyed our posts, you have my patrons to thank at least in part. #Patreon makes an important contribution to helping us stay free & making more #poems #music and #worlds for everyone to enjoy!

See also https://www.patreon.com/posowoco 😊

Subscribe

Take a moment to subscribe to our monthly newsletters. These contain all the stuff we've been doing in a month including features, content and bug fixes.

See also Subscribe 😊

And finally

Thank you so much to everyone supporting us in any means 💖 💖 💖 These juicy support buttons are at the bottom of each page. 😊

Help

The following guide may be useful for anyone wanting to get the best from the website application and content.

Application vs Content

We divide the site into application and content. The "App" is the set of features we have implemented to allow content to be viewed in a novel way or request services from the server. The App version is shown at the bottom of every page and is incremented after additions and improvements.

Typically, web apps are written using additional languages to HTML. We employ CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and others to provide more dynamic capabilities. Some of these functions include search bars, interactive forms, and tool features.

The content is all about the posts. These are the main portfolio subjects, the ones we are passionate about. The main connecting factor is they are all linked to poems and sounds.

Sitting just around the posts are the static pages. These serve to give the site structure and provide ancillary information like what we are up to and privacy policies etc. At the top and/or bottom of each page, you will find a set of handy tools.

Some pages or posts require a password to see the content. This means you must subscribe to view further - it's still free any!!

All the pages and posts contain their last updated date at the bottom.

All the pages are responsive to the device they are rendering on and for every feature, we have developed there is an attribution link below the widget for further details.

See the Sitemap for all pages, posts, tags and categories navigation. Protected items will be red.

Theme

We use the Avada dark theme, for its functionality and responsiveness. Avada is expertly crafted and adheres to all industry standards.

The Avada Global Styling Options provides us with a plethora of tools to ensure that the site's layouts and elements are rendered pixel-perfect on all mobile devices.

The mobile visibility system is a particularly handy set of options that allows us to choose what to display on small, medium, and large screens.

Navigation

Website navigation allows the visitors to flow from one page to another without difficulty. If we have done the job well, you will leave the site with the intention to return.

You can find the main navigation menu appearing in the header section at the top of the page. This collapses to a hamburger menu for mobiles.

We also have footers, which often contain links to the site's main content, as well as popular themes. These "fat" footers allow for more links, which should mean a better user experience.

At the top of each page below the header, the page name tells you where you are. Then you can see which category that page belongs to, the part of the site in which it exists (blog), and "See also" links to navigate to other relevant content. Below this will be a ticker-tape giving a possibly uplifting quote. Click on this to refresh the quote. Turn these off in the User Preferences.

We use the hamburger menu within the header section for all mobile devices.

The website navigation and hyperlinks aren't the same. We have links scattered on each page but are not part of the navigation structure. We mainly use tabs and buttons to show and hide different pieces of the content. These are all responsive to the type of device you are viewing from.

Another feature we have introduced for the posts is the concept of the "shelf". Here you can quickly navigate to a post or media item from any page.
  • The post shelf provides a list of the most recent POSOWOCO posts - select an item to jump to a specific post.
  • The music shelf provides a list of all POSOWOCO tracks - select an item to either play the audio or jump to a specific post if we have written about it.
  • The video shelf provides a list of all POSOWOCO videos - select an item to play the video.

Header

The website header contains mainstream content navigation elements. It consists of the quick menu and a navigation bar.

The Quick Menu displays:
  • LOGO - go to the home page
  • SHELF - see the bookshelf pop-up
  • ASSIST - see the Web Assistant options
  • RADIO - see the radio station and play the live stream
  • PLAYER - see the cassette player with any chosen track
  • PREFERENCES - set the User Preferences
  • LANGUAGE - select the display language
  • SITE TITLE - POSOWOCO and our tagline


For desktop browsing, each page and post will also contain clickable navigation breadcrumbs.

SHELF

Click on the SHELF button and you will see a pop-up of all the posts. They are arranged chronologically as books on a shelf. They have their featured image and their category as a front cover. Click on the book to access the POST.

ASSIST

Click on the ASSIST button and you will see a pop-up of all the popular assisted URLs. These are arranged as a list of actions. Click on one to act. The Web assistant is always monitoring every URL to see if it can further select items on the chosen page or post.

RADIO

Click on the RADIO button and you will be presented with a pop-up allowing you to listen to Radio POSOWOCO. From here you can see which track is playing. Select the play icon to stream the audio. Selecting the plus/minus button will show/hide the next few tracks.

MUSIC

Click on the MUSIC button and you will be presented with a pop-up with a cassette player. From here you can see which track has been selected for the post.

PREFERENCES

Click on the PREFERENCES BUTTON and you will see a pop-up with all the User Preferences for the site. Changing an option will cause the page to reload and if the browser can store local options, the User Preferences will now be active.
You can currently change the browser App Settings :
  • SHOW COMICS - Turn on/off comic themes on all pages
  • SHOW COMIC HEADERS - Turn on/off comic headers on all pages
  • SHOW COMIC SLIDES - Show comic slides on all pages instead of the full strip
  • SHOW AUDIO VISUALISATIONS - Turn on/off any audio visualisations
  • SHOW QUOTES - Turn on/off the quote ticker shown at the heading of all pages
  • COMIC STYLE - Change the default comic style
  • COMIC COLOUR - Change the default comic header colour
  • POEM STYLE - Change the default poem theme
There is a Server Settings section at the footer to describe any operational news.

LANGUAGE SELECTION

All the pages use google language translation and right-to-left friendly. Select the language from the drop-down list. Default is English.

Content

The content consists of:
  • HEADERS - front page header images and details for the post or page
  • PAGES - static web pages describing us and the website
  • POSTS - the cornerstone content of the 4 portfolios plus images
  • FEATURES - the media toolbar, galleries, book browser, media players, comics, analysis buttons, themes

HEADERS

The headers consist of images from the media gallery. These header images are all black and white and are taken around multiple locations in the U.K where we are based.

Sometimes the headers will have navigation buttons on them to let you go to a related page.

PAGES

The pages represent the static content of the site. Each page is very different in content but all are headed by the navigation pages.

You can always go to the inline Sitemap and navigate from there too.

POSTS

These are the main creative content pieces of the website or the Cornerstone Content.

We publish posts on the 4 portfolios where each post has different content but the same features e.g. Media Toolbar.

The posts are divided into standard posts for Poems, Sounds and Worlds and more varied layouts for the Collections.

A page or post may have Content Protection . They can be one of 3 kinds:
  • Free content - have a look!
  • Protected content - sign up to the newsletters for the password!
See the features section below to get help on what's available.

FEATURES

Our web app features apply to any content or static pages. These are explained in sub-sections below.

We have:
  • Main Menu - static menu for all pages
  • Context Menu - dynamic menu for all pages
  • Media Toolbar - play media for the given post
  • Comic Strips - comic strip visualisations for the text
  • Instruction Button - specific page/post instructions where needed
  • Go Button - start/stop configured media for each post
  • Analysis - text analysis of the page in terms of words
  • Media players - playlist/cassette/turntable/Image
  • Views - a standard set of views augmenting the main content
  • Themes - static and animated background themes for the poems

Main Menu

Our main menu contains links to the main pages -
  • Home - landing page for the website
  • Portfolios - the playful portfolios of poems, sounds, worlds and collections
  • Galleries - collections of all good stuff across the site
  • About - who are we?
  • More - more detailed articles on who we are, what we do and other notices

Context Menu

Our context menu is dependent on the page it is on but contains some common links -
  • Share - a share icon that will allow you to share the page to social media
  • Dictionary - a 'D' icon brings up a wikipedia dictionary page for the title keywords as a pop-up
  • Help - a question icon brings up this help page as a pop-up
  • Shelf - brings up the "shelf" as a pop-up
  • Presence - brings up the web presence contacts page as a pop-up
  • Chronicle - brings up the browsing history on the site for immediate favtheite navigation - the history is not shared and can be cleared

Media Toolbar

Our media toolbar has at most the following buttons -
  • Sound - play a random sound effect, useful for setting the scene whilst reading a poem for example
  • Voice - play the text-to-speech voice recording of the featured poem
  • Music - play the music specifically written by us for the post, for the Sounds posts this will be the featured soundtrack
  • Drum - play a random drum rhythm, useful for setting the tempo whilst reading a poem for example
  • Rain - play a random storm sound, useful for meditation
  • Noise - play a random Binaural sound, useful for meditation
  • Morse - play the morse code of the featured poem - imagine being sent the poem over some tapped water pipes
If a button has a question mark icon on it, this will launch a pop-up showing more detail on the media being played. Clicking the Morse button, for example, will show the dots and dahs being sounded as each letter is transmitted.

If a button has a recycle mark icon on it, this will change the underlying media to another random selection enabling different SFX and music combinations

Just below the media toolbar is a collapse/expand button to hide/show the toolbar.

Comic Strips

Our comic strips provide an alternative visualisation for the content. By default, comic strips are turned off. You uncheck this on the user preference (COG) icon at the top of each page. The underlying text will now be shown instead of comics unless you select a strip inline.

There are several comic strip styles to choose from. These have been built on by us from our favourite JavaScript comic generator tools. Select the round links above the comic to change the layout and styles. The X link disables the comic for this page and session.

All of the comic strips have a question mark icon - use it to view the "raw" underlying text. The comic strip can be viewed as a slide. Click the Slid icon (camera) and you will be presented with each comic panel in the strip. You can advance to the next strip by clicking the slide or on the next/previous buttons on the control bar. A count is shown of the slide navigation state. The comic slides can be turned on by default in the User Preferences.

Instruction Button

On some posts, you can select the instruction button (the question mark icon) to show a pop-up page with what you can do specifically for this post.

Go Button

Select this link (the play icon) to start/stop configured media for each post. This may mean the poem being read out and some animation music playing in the background.

Analysis

Select the Analysis link to see analysis tables and graphics created from the current page - you can then find posts containing its top words (and select one to follow).

Media Players

Our media players aim to mimic old devices currently making a comeback:
  • Cassette - play audio using an old cassette player with all of its transport controls
  • Turntable - play audio using an old record player turntable complete with strobe to check the correct speed!
  • Image - play audio as though it were just a record sleeve
  • Radio - play audio using a radio interface (not yet implemented)
Our Media list player features a list of selectable media with a:
  • link to the media's Cloud presence e.g. SoundCloud/YouTube
  • link to any post the media features in
  • link for downloading where available
  • visualisation generated from the sound - this can be turned off/on in the User Preferences

Views

Within all posts, there are a standard set of views, navigable by selecting the view name above the post content. The default view will be the one best suited for the media. Standard Views are:
  • Poem - view the poem and select a theme to go with it
  • Music - listen to the audio content using the media players
  • Notes - read about the background to the content
  • Animation - the cartoon animations; the cartoon will be chosen from the tags on the Post e.g. Love, Life. There may be one or many cartoons to watch! Selecting the attribute button will display the animation script.

Themes

When viewing a poem you can change the background and style of the text. Select the button Chose Themes and try a few layouts. Reselect Chose Themes to close the selection.

Author

Author biography gives a brief background of the post/page author with any recent picture.

Footer

Our "fat" footer contains further information, opportunities and useful links.

We have:
  • Subscribe - email sign-up to the monthly newsletters
  • Analysis - analyses the content's text
  • Print - print this page/post
  • Tag Cloud - all the current tags
  • Common Pages - all common page links
  • App Version - the application version number
  • Contact Details - the email address
  • Last Updated - the date this page/post was last updated
  • Disclaimer - our standard disclaimer notice
  • Copyright Notice - standard copyright notice for the content

Give Support on Ko-fi

Select this button to navigate to a Ko-fi sign-up page to support us.

Subscribe

Select the Subscribe link to subscribe to the monthly newsletters and new posts emails. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Platform Share

Share this page on the social media accounts. Click on the icon for the social media platform.

Analysis

Same as the analysis link above.

Print

Select the Print link to see a print-friendly version of the page which you can then print.

Tag Cloud

A Tag Cloud of labels to navigate to the same tagged posts.

Common Pages

A link to the portfolios, news, RSS, privacy and terms of service.

App Version

Shows the App version number. This is year/month/version based and updated almost daily as we develop the WebApp. Currently in Alpha testing.

Contact Details

Shows the main contact email address. Click on it to send an email.

Last Updated

Shows the time and date the page/post was updated. This indicates the freshness of the content.

Copyright Notice

Contains a standard copyright notice for the content and a link to the sister sites and main hosts.