Effect Generic Templates
Customizable layouts for Effect Force
Author: Laurens Verspeek
Every Requester is unique and has different needs. That’s why Effect Force introduces Generic Templates. Generic Templates make it possible for Requesters to create tasks in an isolated environment with HTML, CSS and JavaScript features in their tasks, including Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) callbacks. This allows Requesters to build out incredibly unique and custom tasks on the Effect Force platform.
The custom template will be loaded in on the Effect Force worker interface. Effect Force will detect all the input fields (text fields, radio buttons, dropdown lists etc.) that the Requester created in the template and the platform makes sure that the values of these fields will be registered and saved. With this feature Requesters are no longer dependent on the task types that are currently supported on Effect Force, but they can create their own customized tasks with no limitations.
Compatible with Amazon Mturk Layouts
It’s no secret we want every Requester from Amazon’s mturk platform to join and use the Effect Force platform instead! To accomplish this we need to give those Requesters as many reasons as possible to make the switch. That’s why the Effect Generic Templates are 100% compatible with Amazon MTurk Layouts. This gives Requesters the possibility to seamlessly copy and paste their tasks from Amazon MTurk directly to Effect Force without having to change anything!
Parameter Substitution
The Generic Templates also allow Requesters to use placeholders in their templates. These placeholders are replaced with values from a list of tasks where each row contains all the values for the parameters of a task. The column names of the list with tasks must match the parameter names used in the template. Requesters can use this parameter substitution capability to create a large number of tasks that all share a common layout and design (template).
For example: you want to create a tasks that asks Workers to provide keywords for images. You create the template for that task for a single image once and you use a placeholder ${image_url} for the source of the image:
This template can be used with a list of placeholders for each task:
"image_url"
"https://force.effect.ai/image1.png"
"https://force.effect.ai/image2.png"
"https://force.effect.ai/image3.png" image_keyword_tasks.csv
This will result in three tasks that each contain a different picture, but share a common template. A single task will look like this on the Effect Force platform:
Design
As the Requester is allowed to put any code in their HTML template, he can also include CSS or links to stylesheet files to create a nice design for their template. A Requester could completely create the styling of the template himself or choose to start from a library, like the Bootstrap library, to automatically improve the appearance of the form elements and other elements.
There is also the possibility to start with default styling of Effect Force. This feature will style all (form) elements and text to be in the same style with the same colors as the Effect Force platform. This will make your custom task template seamlessly blend in the rest of the site.
HTML Tools
As not everybody is able to write HTML, it might be easier to use an HTML tool that will let you drag and drop form elements. There are plans to incorporate such a form builder in Effect Force, but until that time you could use existing form builders like Bootsnipp.
Start by visiting https://bootsnipp.com/forms. You should see a form builder that looks something like this:
NOTE
each item in your form needs to have a unique value for ID/Name. The value you include will correspond to the results you get back from your task.
Using this tool you can add items to your form by simply dragging elements from the left side of the page to the right. When your form is ready, go to the “View HTML” tab and copy the source over to Effect Force.
Default Templates
Effect Force provides a large set of Default Templates that make it easy for Requesters to get started creating tasks for Workers. It is important that the design of the tasks are clear and easy to use, as it enables Workers to efficiently complete the work and provide better quality. The Default Templates are great starting points and samples for Requesters to make it easy to design tasks that Workers will love and will save Requesters a lot of time. Each Default Template is easy-to-use and can be used immediately just by reviewing and customizing to your needs. All Default Templates are mobile-ready from the start, and has been created to make it easier and faster for Workers to do work. Effect Force already provides default templates for surveys, images, video, audio transcription, map annotations, pixel annotations, bounding box annotations, sentiment analysis and many more!
Soon we will open source all Default Templates and provide a tool that can be used to create, test and preview templates. We will call upon our large and diverse community to help us create even better and more templates for the Requesters to use.
Web | Telegram | Twitter | Facebook | Youtube | Github | Reddit | Linkedin| Medium | Steemit
