I decided to give PollDaddy a spin today. It’s a free web-based tool that allows you to build a poll and gives you the code to place it on your website. This article is a test of that service and a review of the tool as I go through it.
Since I’m doing some stuff around the mobile phone industry, I wanted to ask everyone about how they use their phones. Vote below on what you use your phone for:
I’ve got to say that I’m really impressed with PollDaddy. It’s simple to set up a free account and equally simple to set up your polls. The part of the page that you build the answers in is very customizable and intuitive. All you do is double click on any line to start editing it (see image below).
At this point you have the chance to use a custom look for your poll. I had not set this up in advance, so instead I picked one of the pre-made PollDaddy skins. You then copy and paste the code that they generate into your blog. Very simple.
October 27, 2006 at 12:08 pm
I know it’s not absolutely true, but people my age are mind boggled by Web tools. Your writing about the Web really stands out as being understandable. You’ve probably seen this page http://siteadminstuff.com/all.html but it’s a great example of of list of useful information on a single page.
October 27, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Have you ever used the democracy wp-plugin? It seems to do just the same but as a plugin not dependant on a external webservice. I think I’ll give it a try…
October 27, 2006 at 12:37 pm
It would be great if I could add my own answer to the poll. I use my mobile as calendar and for talking. I’m still waiting for suitable 3G tariffs.
October 27, 2006 at 12:44 pm
How do you find these little obscure but interesting sites?
October 27, 2006 at 4:52 pm
mzeecedric, I didn’t know about the WordPress poll plugin – thanks for mentioning it.
John, grea link! I have it bookmarked in my Del.icio.us bookmarks now.
69, all I can say is that it’s part of my job to be on the front end of this stuff. I only know about 10% of what’s out there though, there’s just too much information.
October 28, 2006 at 1:05 am
Looks interesting! I tried the democracy plugin some time back but had lots and lots of ajax issues … maybe they’ve polished it up somewhat?
October 30, 2006 at 8:18 am
Cool tool! Nice one Hash!
October 30, 2006 at 3:54 pm
I know this is totally off topic but I just found your blog and I wondered about the name. How come you get to be called “African” when the rest of us are belong to a country. I currently live in a country where “Africa” is seen as one big country which annoys me to no avail. Makes everyone so happy they are not racist when they can identify with “Africa” but can you honestly say there is not something wrong with you propagating the idea that “African” is a thing to be called. Identify yourself as belonging to one country that way the rest of us “Africans” can stop feeling that you are not only “white” but are allowed the priveldge of coming from wherever you want to come from. Just a thought. Sorry if it sounds like I am taking it personal. I just think that if you are as non-racist as you probably want to come off you should know better than that name.
October 31, 2006 at 1:09 am
is it related to the GoDaddy? Lemme check it out
October 31, 2006 at 4:02 am
Correctly speaking I am a White Namibian. But that is to confining for me. I prefer to be known as a White African too. HAsh has not cornered the market on this epithet!
An epithet (Greek and Latin epitheton; literally meaning ‘imposed’ ) is a descriptive word or lapidary phrase, often metaphoric, that is essentially a reduced or condensed appositive. Epithets are sometimes attached to a person’s name, as what might be described as a glorified nickname.Not every adjective is an epithet, even worn clichés. An epithet is linked to its noun by long-established usage and some are not otherwise employed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithet
In fact I think we whites all prefer White African to European which is what the apartheid regime labelled us as while they governed South Africa and Namibia or the then South West Africa. As much as blacks hated being called anything other than black or African, I recall as a young teenager wondering why I was not referred to as an African. Hell I was born in Africa so why was I European?
Now as an iScatterling, I am still wondering! (oh yes the pun is intentional!)
November 13, 2006 at 8:49 pm
i am also looking for a good free or cheap poll software. the only thing is i wish that i didn’t have to link to the makers of the product.
does anyone know of an alternative? i would spend up to $100 to not link to the owner. i want to be as professional looking as possible
January 3, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Jay. My feeling is that people today don’t consider organizations using available web apps to be unprofessional. Many professionals, especially those who are tech savvy use Google calendar, Flickr and other free web apps openly. I wouldn’t hold anything against someone using openoffice.org’s apps instead of Microsoft’s for example. In fact, I’d say that they are players in the new world of work who use technology well. There are a lot of quality free apps available online today. Many are ad-supported, but there are others that aren’t.
If you’re interested in something a bit more robust, you might be interested in our GroupSurveys product. There are both free and business accounts. You can customize your survey with your own branding. I linked to it above.
All the best
Tom