#1: Tom O'Connell (sensei69) on Jul 23, 2010

1. do you like b/w or multi?
2. do you like small or large?
3. do you like faces, famous places or life scenes?
4. do you like serious or funny?
5. enlighten us

thanks all

I like everything as long as there's an actual picture not some random painting accident.

thx Merili, i feel the samo

i like logically solvable puzzles
i think it takes talent to make them that way and still end up with a good image and thats why i dont make any haha
i like 2 colored puzzles mainly but there are a few people who can get away with using more than 2 colors and you know who you are
and like merilinuke said as long as there is a picture at the end then the puzzle is at least ok

Well, I do make puzzles, but they really have nothing to do with what I like to solve.

I like monochrome puzzles the best. And, on the web, I like 30x30 or smaller. (IRL I like larger ones because I have tricks that can't be done on the computer.)

The picture is a far second to me. Of primary importance is the solve. The puzzle is just numbers, pixels and logic until the last one is placed. If the logic is beautiful, the puzzle is a success.

Of course, if the picture is nice it makes up for a boring puzzle to some extent. However, no white space = bad puzzle, period.

Descriptions can often make a good puzzle great. "I wuz board" is not one of those.

Oh, and I do not care if a picture has been done before! The logic is probably quite different in the new picture, and thus it is a completely new puzzle.

thx for imput

I do make the occasional puzzle, which are not necessarily an indication of what I like to solve. I prefer puzzles that are small enough to fit comfortably on my screen at med or large size (small is too small for comfort, and needing to scroll is very frustrating), which usually means up to about 40 tall, depending on the clues. I prefer B&W, also enjoy a little color highlight, but if the puzzle is in full color I expect much more out of the final image for rating purposes.

A lot of what Joe mentioned applies to me as well, particularly about the beauty of the logic, no white space = bad, and descriptions can make up for a lot. (Sometimes the description is what makes the image "pop," bringing it from a 1 for being unrecognizable to a 3-5 for being clever.)

thx wombat

I'm curious about the tricks Joe uses on large paper puzzles. (I've been thinking a lot about how to design better interfaces to solve large puzzles on small screens, so the subject is of interest to me.)

Sorry about the delay, Jan. I was off at an anime convention with my daughter, and then our cable modem died. Tiredness and sadness all around.

Nearly as important to me as marking "done" clues is being able to mark "in progress" clues - ones that I have partially placed or are limited in placement. I circle those clues on a paper puzzle.

Also, when going along a long row of clues, I make tick-marks where clues end to compare with the opposite direction. (If this were enabled, it would be good to have an erase-by-row feature.)

Um, that's all I can think of without a puzzle in my hands.

i have an imput .... one site i once visited had this (?)you could put in a square... meaning its a possibility

I rarely try puzzles that are more than 30 cells high because I'm using a netbook with a 10-inch screen. Also, I like small puzzles so I don't need to make a big time commitment to finish them. Any number of colors is okay. A pleasing picture at the end is good, but an interesting design is okay, too. I get frustrated with some of the really hard puzzles that Gator puts up, but I wouldn't publish a puzzle that doesn't have a unique solution.

Tom, I don't think I'd ever use that. I know I hate it in minesweeper, and I think I'd find it similarly useless on these puzzles.

I'm not saying they wouldn't be useful for other people, but I'd definitely want it to be an optional extra. For that matter, I'm sure there are those who would want my "possible" clue markers to be able to be disabled.

I enjoy the solving most, but I do appreciate a good image and a sense of humor. Mostly, I prefer puzzles that require more than just one-line logic, but late at night when I am not so sharp, the more simple puzzles are fun, too.

thx for imput, Susan

My very favorite sort is one that keeps me guessing until the very end, when I get an Aha! moment. I enjoy B/W portraits, but I paint portraits myself, so I'm biased. I did strictly B/W for the first few months, but I'm getting the hang of color puzzles.

Double puzzles are also fun, like Teresa's homonym series. First you solve, then you guess the riddle.

A really beautiful final image is a really nice payoff for me, but I also enjoy the tiny puzzles, and the skill involved in conveying meaning through so few pixels.

i solve at work mostly so a puzzle of 30x30 or smaller is best for a quicker solve.

i prefer the puzzle be logically solvable and a good quality image when i'm done. good quality can be found in even the smallest puzzles, unfortunately so can bad quality.

as for how many colors; i agree with others that "no white space = bad puzzle" but as long as the puzzle creates a decent image it doesn't matter to me how many colors are used.

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