I am creating a survey and want to have a few classmates test it out before it goes live, but I am having a problem...

1. I create the survey (no problem so far).
2. I make the survey password-protected and also 'active' -- just for a minute so that I can grab the survey's URL (so far, so good).
3. I then 'de-activate' the survey (because I don't want anyone to see a link to it on my home page).
4. I try to go to the URL I grabbed in step #2 above, but the browser hangs and I cannot see/test the survey. As a result, I cannot send this URL to my testers. I am using Firefox 10.0 in case that matters.

Bottom line: How do I create a survey and enable a few people to test it in a 'hidden mode' where a link to it is not displayed on the main menu? Note: I've done this sort of thing a number of times with the 'custom pages' (e.g., sent the URL to a few classmates to review the custom page before making it 'live') and have not had a problem, but with a survey I'm having a problem.

And you've just discovered an awkward part with surveys. You can't test them. Once you disable them, they can't be accessed.

Maybe you can put something at the top so classmates stay away while you test. Or test at 3 am in the morning.

This is also why they are not a good choice for creating extra pages - use galleries instead.

Ouch. That's what I feared. Thanks, Jack for a super-quick response.

btw, I read in another forum that Class Creator is coming out with a quiz-specific module. If someone knows when that will be available, I'd be interested to know. (More generally, is there a place on this forum or elsewhere that describes the Class Creator release roadmap -- i.e., features and projected availability?)

You say, "use galleries" instead. Can you tell me what this means, where to find, and a brief tutorial?

Carmela,
When Jack said 'use galleries instead', I think this is what he was saying...

Class Creator lets you create up to 8 custom pages. It's easy to create a draft page and email the URL to a friend to review it before you make it an 'active' page. For example, your site has a page called "Reunion Refunds". When that was in draft mode, you could send the URL (http://www.classcreator.com/Euclid-Ohio-1972/class_custom4.cfm) to someone to review it before you made the page 'active'. A problem arises when you use up all 8 custom pages. What Jack was saying was in order to create a 9th custom page, click on "Gallery Creator" an create a new page that way... he was saying to do this rather than using a survey page (e.g., clicking on "Survey Maker") because you cannot share a draft survey page with someone in the same fashion as a regular 'custom page'.

Hopefully this explanation helps. In any event, I ran into a problem because I created a 9th custom page for my site (using "Gallery Creator") and discovered I could not share the draft page with others to review. I had to make it 'active' (or 'live') in order for others to review it. That is, of course, suboptimal because I'd rather have a few people be able to review it privately because making the page 'active'.

Tom, not sure what you mean. Are you saying you created a main gallery page link (with no data) and one more page within that gallery which becomes your "new" custom page? That's how you create more pages.

Jack,
I created a new main gallery page and one new photo gallery page within that gallery. My 'new' custom page is actually the main gallery page itself. The system forced me to add to the new photo gallery so I simply added a single photo.

I was unable to make the new main gallery page 'inactive' and send a URL to someone for review... the only solution that I found was to make the main gallery page 'active' to enable someone to review it.

From what you are saying, it sounds like you would have suggested that the new main gallery page be 'empty' (no data) and then use the new photo gallery as my 'new custom page'. I'll keep that in mind for next time as I suspect I'll need another custom page in the future. Thanks.

There are a few tricks. You are almost there.

The first thing is to not add any photos to the main (first) page. Just leave it empty as you noted.

Then just add the next page within that gallery and create your page.

Temporarily make the "named gallery" active and the subpage active. Click left side to get the link name. Then deactivate again.

You do not need the main gallery or the sub-gallery active for passing the link.

You can add multiple pages within a single gallery. IOW, you do not need to create another main gallery link. This comes in handy for lots of things. It's how I did the Bothell History link and the 7 pages within it (not counting the "buttons").

Just play with it and make some pages. It's easy to delete test pages or just leave them for future use. I have many test pages. It's how I develop concepts for future use. Sort of like a scrap book of ideas.

The other nice feature of gallery pages if you use these pages instead of custom1, etc, you can reorder the links in any sequence you like.

Jack, I follow what you are saying and this is very helpful. However, when I did just what you said (new main page with no data and clicking on 'Create New Photo Gallery' to create a subpage and adding some dummy text), I grab the link, deactivate both pages, and try sharing the link with myself (in another browser) and the page says 'No photo galleries available.' It seems like I am being forced to add photos to the subpage (photo gallery)? I must be doing something wrong.

p.s. Being able to create multiple pages and reorder them is really great, so I really want to get this to work

Sorry, you have to have the first sub-page active all the time, but not the main link (the one that generates the link on the left).

Sub gallery pages after that you do not make active (if you want multiple pages within the same gallery).

I should have thought of that. Just tried it and it works like a champ. Jack, thanks a million!

p.s. due to an apparent bug, the post above (February 26, 2012 at 10:36 AM) was actually written by me but somehow the class creator forum put Jamie R. as the author.

Good - I sometimes forget little "details". You'll like the gallery way of doing things.

That posting bug has been around for a long time. There's a mistake in the CC lockout code. That's code that serializes some events to make sure they occur in the proper sequence. Sometimes it will give an error message .. I think it says something like tired of waiting ...

Jack, it turns out I need a little more help... if you have a moment...

I looked at your Bothell History page, and clearly that is a main page for a gallery. However, I can't figure out how you added the yellow/black buttons at the top of that page to link to the subpages (the individual gallery pages).

When I create a new main page and a couple of subpages, the links to the subpages from the main pages is a default standard-looking photo-gallery icon (the image with a paper clip). I'd like to use something like the yellow/black buttons you created.

Can you point me in the right direction about how you did the navigation buttons on your Bothell History page?

The History page is one main gallery with all the other 7 pages sub-galleries. Only the main and first subpage are active. The rest are not active - otherwise it does as you describe.

There are many ways to do links. Some are easier to describe than others. I'll talk about the ones on those pages that you can "see" - although you still need to crunch the code a bit.

Use the view source in your browser to see details. It also helps to get a local html editor for development. That will make progress about 10X faster, although initially there's a bit to learn meshing with CC.

The one on the bottom with 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 is the easiest. It's just a table with links. Try that one first.

The arrows and the other graphic buttons are driven by javascript. The arrow stuff is just something I made along with the script.

The yellow graphic "buttons" were created by MS Expression, but you could do it yourself too. The java code that makes the buttons "change" is also done by MS (with a bit of mod by me). I would ignore that for now and just make some buttons with text and a link.

There's also a CSS link example (something more common since it's easy to change) HERE. Much easier to modify, but more a commercial look which I didn't like