Introducing our new poll type Video Contest
Today, we are excited to introduce an exciting new feature: Video contests! Now, our users have the opportunity not only to create surveys, votings, and photo contests but also to organize video contests.
You benefit from the comprehensive features and customization options that you already know from our other PollUnit types. These include our various voting types, the ability to create custom designs, comment on submissions, or request any information from submitters and voters. Embedding a video contest on your own website is also possible.
Video-specific features
PollUnit accepts all common video formats and can automatically convert them into web-ready videos. The videos are stored in different resolutions and qualities. When a video is streamed, the quality adjusts automatically to the available bandwidth. This allows people to view your videos smoothly.
Adjustments to our packages
In order to offer you video contests, we had to make changes to our packages. The prices remain as affordable as usual, and our free account still allows you to create free video contests. Since videos need to be transcoded and consume significantly more storage, there is now a new storage limit. This limit is chosen so that you can create countless photo contests. If you create many video contests or collect particularly long videos, you will need to upgrade to a larger package. This way, the costs are fairly distributed among those who consume more storage and cause more server load.
Published at: 2024-03-13 11:31 AM
Introducing our new poll ty...Attach files to surveys and votes
The PollUnit Poll Maker have always allowed for files such as images to be directly provided as options for voting. We are now expanding this functionality to include file attachments.
By attaching data in various file formats, additional information can now be provided that goes beyond mere text or image. This can help explain complex topics better, present visual examples, or provide detailed instructions that enhance participants' understanding.
These file attachments can be associated with various objects in PollUnit, enabling a whole range of new use cases.
File Attachments in Surveys
Each online survey consists of at least one step. Each of these steps in your questionnaire consists of a title, an optional description, and the associated questions. The description can include not only text but also images and videos. With the new file attachments, you can now provide additional information and instructions, up to presenting product designs or other data such as PDFs, Excel documents, etc.
File Attachments in Votes
Each vote itself, as well as each voting option, can now be enriched with additional files. Whether it's a photo in a photo contest, text options, or a person in an online election. For example, resumes, candidate profiles, election programs, and much more can be added.
File Attachments in Idea Collections
If you create an online idea collection, ideas can be better visualized through images, graphics, or videos. This allows participating individuals to get a clearer picture of the proposed ideas and understand them better.
File attachments can provide additional information that complements or supports ideas. This can include relevant research results, statistics, case studies, or reference materials that help strengthen the credibility and relevance of the ideas. Complex or abstract ideas can be made more understandable by attaching diagrams, infographics, or presentations.
Published at: 2024-03-06 10:23 AM
Attach files to surveys and...
Prevent cheating with email confirmation and restricted domain scope
Depending on the requirements of a vote or competition, various options are available to prevent multiple votes. Not all methods offer the same level of security; some require additional steps from voters, while others necessitate a technical background that not all organizers can provide. In our tutorial »Preventing Multiple Participations«, you'll find an overview of the security measures and their prerequisites available to you in our poll maker.
Our latest update introduces two new measures that allow you to prevent multiple participations by checking the email address of your voters.
Email Confirmation
Implementing email confirmation adds an extra layer of security to the voting process. Participants are required to verify their email address by clicking on a confirmation link sent to them. This not only ensures the authenticity of participants but also minimizes the risk of fraudulent entries.
But by creating different email addresses, users could participate multiple times in the same process, compromising the integrity of votes or competitions.
Email Confirmation with a Restricted Domain Scope
To further enhance security, we offer the option to restrict voting to specific email domains. This means participants must use an email address associated with an allowed domain, significantly reducing the likelihood of unauthorized or multiple entries. For instance, if your domain is »yourdomain.com«, only email addresses ending in »@yourdomain.com« will be accepted.
By combining email confirmation and limited domain scope, we provide a robust solution to prevent cheating and maintain the integrity of your online voting events. Especially if you have control over the domain, this method provides a low-barrier and highly secure option. It allows you, for example, to permit only company addresses that cannot be independently created by individuals.
For organizers looking to employ advanced security measures for their voting events, selecting a reliable web hosting service is crucial. Namehero, known for its fast web hosting and domain services, can provide the technical reliability and support needed to maintain website integrity during high-traffic events such as competitive polls or votes requiring email confirmation and domain restriction.
Published at: 2023-12-06 12:17 PM
Prevent cheating with email...Prevent self-voting
Self-voting refers to the ability of an individual to vote for their own submissions or suggestions. In a voting context, this means that participants have the permission to support their own choice or contribution. This can occur in various situations and use cases, including group or team voting, photo contests, and more.
The ability for self-voting can have both positive and negative implications, depending on the specific rules and objectives of the voting process.
Positive Aspects
- The ability for self-voting allows individuals to actively support their own preferences or contributions, leading to a stronger sense of self-expression.
- In certain contexts, self-voting can make the evaluation process more transparent, as participants can openly vote for their own contributions.
Negative Aspects
- In some cases, self-voting may lead to bias when individuals tend to favor their own options, regardless of the actual quality or relevance.
- In competitions or votes where fairness and equality are crucial, self-voting may be considered an unfair practice.
With our online poll creator, you can now specify whether participants have the ability to vote for their own submissions. If this topic interests you, you should also take a look at our tutorial on preventing multiple participations.
Published at: 2023-12-06 11:42 AM
Prevent self-voting
Ranking questions in online surveys
Feature release: a ranking question, also known as a ordinal question, allows participants to rank elements or options according to their preference or importance. Instead of selecting a single answer, respondents are required to arrange the various options in a specific order.
PollUnit then determines a relative ranking based on all submitted lists. This question type not only yields the most preferred option but also helps understand the importance or popularity of different options, taking into account nuances in respondents' preferences.
Participants in a survey must weigh which options are most important to them. This fosters an awareness of the relative importance of various aspects or features and assists them in prioritizing. In complex decisions where many factors need consideration, a ranking question can help participants gain clarity and determine overall priority. This can facilitate decision-making for participants. However, it should be noted that ranking questions with numerous options may make it challenging for participants to establish a clear hierarchy. Therefore, we recommend using this voting type only for short lists.
To establish the relative ranking or average rating, points are allocated. The higher the position, the more points the option receives. The results of ranking questions allow for a deeper analysis of respondents' preferences. Researchers can identify patterns in the rankings and gain precise insights into the hierarchy of preferences.
Ranking questions, along with all our other rating types, are available to you for free. Why not give it a try right away?
Published at: 2023-11-30 09:00 AM
Ranking questions in online...Pairwise comparison voting
The pairwise comparison, also known as pair comparison analysis, or pair comparison method, is a technique for prioritizing and evaluating options. In this method, options are compared pairwise to determine which one is preferred. In the end, we obtain a ranking of the options.
PollUnit now allows you to create an online pairwise comparison. Options that compete in pairs can include free-text or images.
To generate the ranking, we use the ELO rating. The ELO rating is a metric used to assess the skill level of participants. Originally developed for chess players, it assigns points based on their results against stronger or weaker opponents.
The advantage of this system is that not every voter needs to compare all options. PollUnit allows you to configure the number of voting rounds per participant. Thus, for each participant, several pairs of options are randomly drawn. In each pair, the voter can choose their favorite. PollUnit then creates a relative ranking of all options.
Pairwise comparison is a powerful tool to effectively evaluate and prioritize situations with many options or images, such as selecting photos for websites, photo contests, social media, or in scientific studies. It reduces subjective influence, increases efficiency, and provides a structured method for decision-making.
Random allocation of pairs also makes fraud more difficult. Voters do not know in advance which pairs they will evaluate. This makes it harder for cheaters to focus on specific pairs they want to manipulate.
Published at: 2023-10-26 08:15 AM
Pairwise comparison voting
Let survey participants draw on images
In the world of research and data collection, the ability to create surveys that are versatile and adaptable to various needs is crucial. We are proud to introduce an exciting new feature that allows respondents to draw on images within a survey. This feature opens up a world of possibilities for researchers, educators, and professionals in various fields.
A Use Case: The Quest for Cognitive Assessment
Imagine a scenario where you are conducting a study that involves cognitive assessments. One of the most reliable self-administered assessments for detecting mild cognitive impairment is the Self Administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE). However, the SAGE test is traditionally paper-and-pen-based, making it challenging to administer online.
The SAGE test includes various elements such as identifying and naming pictured objects, copying images by drawing them, and freehand drawing after specific instructions. This is where PollUnit's new feature comes into play. It allows participants to draw on images, making it easier to conduct these assessments online.
The introduction of PollUnit's image drawing feature not only serves this specific use case but also opens up opportunities for professionals in various domains. Healthcare professionals, educators, market researchers and more can now harness the power of visual data collection in their surveys.
Published at: 2023-10-24 10:38 PM
Let survey participants dra...Create photo contests with image series submission
Traditionally, PollUnit photo contests have been limited to single images, leaving photographers constrained within a single frame. While single images can undoubtedly be powerful and impactful, they often fail to capture the complete narrative or deliver the full range of emotions that a photographer wishes to convey.
The Image Series Submission feature addresses this limitation by enabling participants to submit a collection of images that work together harmoniously, unveiling a more profound and comprehensive visual experience.
Enabling the submission of image series, will not only enrich the photography competition experience for both photographers and judges. In the realm of sculpture and object competition, it allows artists to capture the details and varied perspectives of their sculptures and objects that showcases their artistic vision and craftsmanship.
When voting on the images, the series of images will be judged as a whole and not each image individually. To use our new feature, you can enable image series in the »Advanced« step in the »Allow image upload« section.
Learn more about our PollMaker and its various voting, event management and decision-making capabilities. If you're interested in image and photo voting you may also want to take a look at the different possibilities how to vote on images PollUnit has to offer.
Published at: 2023-07-26 07:15 AM
Create photo contests with ...
Customization of background images in themes
PollUnit Themes can change the appearance of your polls and surveys to match your brand image or design preferences. The themes include various visual elements such as color schemes, fonts, background images, and layout options.
Especially the use of background images can have a significant impact on the visual appearance of a poll or survey and create an appealing atmosphere. However, background images also have an influence on the loading speed. A fast loading speed improves the user experience and contributes to a high participation rate. It is thus one of the most important aspects when choosing an Poll Maker. For this reason, we have adapted the processing of the background images to the latest web standards.
An important aspect of processing background images is adapting them to different screen resolutions and devices. PollUnit Themes offer optimized responsive rendering of background images that ensures they look equally good on mobile devices, tablets and desktops. For this purpose, we create several derivatives with different aspect ratios and resolutions in WebP (a modern image format, with excellent compression for web images). Depending on the device, only the necessary section of the image is downloaded. A small cell phone will get a low-resolution portrait format, and a desktop computer with a graphics monitor will get a high-resolution landscape format.
For you, the creation of the themes remains as uncomplicated as before. You upload your image and we create the derivatives automatically. For optimal support of all aspect ratios, we recommend an image with a minimum resolution of 1920x1920 pixels. You can't do anything with that? No problem, just upload the photo as is and we'll take care of the rest.
One more note: the theme background images are images that fill the screen behind the interface. Images that contain logos and lettering are not suitable. But you can also add a dedicated logo to your theme or more images in the description of your PollUnit.
If you are missing options in our themes, please write a feature request. We are looking forward to your ideas.
Published at: 2023-07-19 11:44 AM
Customization of background...How quick survey tools deliver better results
A critical factor in the success of surveys and votings is the speed at which they load. In the worst case, long waiting times cause people to abandon participation in surveys or other interactions.
The loading speed is particularly relevant on mobile devices, also because smartphones and tablets do not necessarily have to have a fast Internet connection. If participants are located in different parts of the world, geographic distance alone can play a role and negatively affect loading times. These are just a few factors that a poll maker must take into account.
The search for the last little millisecond bit usually happens behind the scenes. A few milliseconds here, a few milliseconds there – today we want to bring this invisible »high speed feature« to the fore!
By regularly testing and monitoring the speed from different locations, we can identify potential problems early on and make improvements. We use automatic monitoring tools for this purpose but also perform regular manual tests. Continuous performance improvements and adaptations to new possibilities offered by modern browsers ensure an optimal user experience. This includes database optimizations, caching, smart loading strategies, serving data via a CDN (Content Delivery Network) and automatically scaling servers and much more.
So with PollUnit, participants spend less time waiting for content to load! As a result, they have more time and desire to provide answers to your questions. Fast polling tools offer the benefit of an improved user experience, increased willingness to participate, time savings, and of course, efficient data analysis. This leads to high-quality data and more accurate insights.
Published at: 2023-07-04 06:43 PM
How quick survey tools deli...