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ADDING RATING TYPES
Introducing the Rating Type
A rating type, or attribute (the term is used interchangeably in this tutorial), consists basically of two parts: (1) a question, and (2) a numeric scale, which usually will consist the values 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (though the scale can have as few as 2 and as many as 10 selections). When we want a user to rate some aspect of a reviewable item we place a rating type on the review form. If we want the user to rate several aspects of the item, we place several of these attributes. Collectively, we call this set a "rating template". On this page we will see how Clare can define the following rating template, which she intends to use specifically for the category Kids & Family > Disney. If displayed as it would appear on the review form, the intended rating template would look like this (click on the menu for each rating type to see the possible user responses):
In this instance Clare has in mind five rating attributes which she intends to define and assign to the Kids & Family > Disney category which she has created. Any number of these attributes can be assigned, though common sense suggests that users may look negatively on a review form that requests a rating for more than about 5 of these attributes. These 5 ratings will be displayed with the collected review once the review has been approved. On pages listing items, only the average of these five ratings will be displayed. So there is no need for Clare to add an overall rating attribute.
Creating a Rating Type
Before assigning a set of rating types to a category, each of the types must first be created. Here we consider the steps necessary to create the Storyline rating type seen above in the first position of the rating template. The process is covered in more detail in the manual.
To create a rating type Clare needs to click on the Database link in the middle of her admin navigation bar. The Database control panel allows the Review Foundry webmaster access to all of the editable tables in the application. In order for Clare to add a new rating type, she needs to "edit" the RatingType table. To begin, she selects the table in the menu on the left of the page, and chooses Add for the database action. When she submits the request, the right side of the page loads the form used to add a new rating type. Here is what it looks like, with the appropriate fields filled in for the Storyline attribute:
To understand the various form elements better, see the corresponding page on this subject in the manual on Creating a Rating Type. In short, Clare chooses "Storyline Appeal" as the short attribute descriptor, she adds the question that will be asked of the user rating a movie on its storyline, and she adds the 5 possible responses that the user may choose from. The Rating Scale (here 5) must match the number of user responses she types in--the numbered choices--or Clare will simply get an error message when she attempts to submit. She has chosen a Default Choice of "none" for this rating type to force the user to select a rating rather than have a default value filled in already when the form is presented on the review page. She has also provided a Level, or priority for the attribute. Level is used to order the rating attributes on the page. If Clare wanted the Storyline attribute to appear at the top she would have to ensure that the other 4 attributes she adds later each had a smaller Level than 10. Attributes without a Level are treated as though the they had a Level of zero.
Finally, Clare has filled in the Rank DESC field which will appear in a menu which allows visitors to sort the reviews from highest to lowest Storyline rating. Likewise the Rank ASC field is used to indicate the choice to sort reviews according to Storyline rating, but in the reverse order--from lowest to highest rating.
IMPORTANT: Once Clare starts collecting reviews that make use of a given rating type it is important that the meaning of that rating type does not change. Otherwise displayed ratings which depend on it, and display the Rating Question along with the numeric value, will convey the wrong interpretation of the data. If you decide you need a similiar rating type to an existing one, and are tempted to slighly modify the meaning of the existing rating type to cover the old and new meanings, you will almost always be better off simply creating a new rating type and using it in the new rating template that you have in mind. That way there is no possibility of "skewing" your existing ratings data.
Once the Storyline rating attribute has been saved, it is ready for incorporation into a rating template, which will be covered next.
Next Section: CREATING RATING TEMPLATES
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