Mini-Quizzes have become a fad in today's busy society as countless individuals are looking for different ways to relieve their stress. Many find these quizzes habit-forming because players only need a grasp of general knowledge to succeed. Because of the popularity of Mini-Quizzes, it is slowly developing into a favorite pastime and gradually becoming at par with other hobby games such as online poker and chess. Here is an article that shows what mini-quizzes are all about.

Input Fields: These are fields which require Mini-Quiz-takers to type text into blanks or select options from lists which you provide. It is important to include at least one input Field in each Mini-Quiz which you create (preferably an Input(Text) Field or at least an Input(Select) Field with a GREAT number of options. A Mini-Quiz with no input fields will be static; it will always display the exact same set of results, which is boring and defeats the purpose of making a Mini-Quiz!

Note that for the functioning of the Mini-Quiz, the specific contents of input Fields are not important. Memegen.net assigns random numbers to each possible combination of inputs that a Mini-Quiz can have. Obviously there are a great many possible inputs for an Input(Text) Field, and only two possibilities for a simple Male/Female Input(Select) Field. The numbers thus generated are each then matched to a set of results, determining one result from each one of the results Fields in the Mini-Quiz. Because of the way this is done, if you enter the EXACT same inputs, you will get the same results every time unless the Mini-Quiz has been subsequently edited and one or more results changed.

There are two types on Input Fields:
Input(Text): Users can type whatever they want into this Field. One assumes that in a Field called "Name" that they will type a person's name or an alias, but from a technical standpoint that doesn't matter. Having at least one Input(Text) Field is generally considered crucial to making a good, well-randomized Mini-Quiz.

Input(Select):Users select an option from the list which you enter (much as you would enter the possible results for a Random Select results Field). This generally provides much less randomness than an Input(Text) field, but if you aleady have at least one Text field it can be a good complement. Again, the specific choices in the Select do NOT impact other aspects of the Mini-Quiz (for example, a Male/Female choice would not change "his" to "hers" in results), but they can help add character. Don't forget: wazky input selects can be funny too! And unlike Random Select results fields, every user gets to see all the possible selections of the Input(Select) field. Be creative!

Results Fields: There are a number of different Field type options for displaying results on your Mini-Quiz.

Random Date: This Field asks you to specify an Earliest Year and a Latest Year. Whenever the Mini-Quiz is taken, it will generate a calender date (such as May 29, 2010) within that range of years. If you set the two bounds to be the same, that will force all dates to be on that specific year. However, MemeGen is not set-up to give dates within a range less than one year. If you wish to display only a random month, for example, you must instead use a Random Select Field with the twelve months as its values.

Random Number: This is the simplest numeric Results Field, and will simply generate a number within the Maximum and Minimum values you supply with no special formatting.

Random Money: Just like Random Number, but Money Fields are format the result with a dollar sign before the amount.

Random Select: The most common type of results Fields, each Random Select is simply a list of possible results, created by you. Each result must start on its own line - results too long for the box will wrap around and still work fine, as long as you do not try to add linebreaks in them (breaking up the line by hitting [ENTER]).

There are several more advanced forms of Results Fields, which with a little more work can yield impressive results.

Random Image Select: If you enter internet URLs pointing to image files, this type of Field will display one of those images right inside the Mini-Quiz. Images can make your Mini-Quiz much more visually attractive, but please see the adding an image section for important details on Image Hosting and the use of images on Memegen.net

Random Link Select:This field allows for hotlinks to be displayed, so that users can simply click to be taken to another page on the web. A Mini-Quiz using Link Select Fields can become a powerful tool for exposing users to exciting and interesting content, and sites they may never have seen before. Each line in a link select should be a full URL (http://www.yoursite.com). Optionally, if you want a text label to be displayed rather than the raw link address, on the SAME LINE as each link, you can enter a comma (,) followed by the label that you want displayed on the link (Yoursite). The final result should be in the same form as the two examples:

http://coolsite.com/,A cool site
http://www.dumbsite.com/,Here's a sucky website.

Whether the raw URL or label are displayed, users can simply click the contents of the field to visit the web address selected by the random field.

Random Percentage: Another variant of the Random Number select, but for this Field, the range is always 1 to 100. The advantage is that a Random Percentage select graphically displays the result as a simple bar. From the two pulldowns, you select a background color scheme (a gradation from one color to another) and the color of the percentage progress bar itself. The number will be displayed above the bar as well.

Random LJ Friend and
Random LJ Friend-Of: these two results Fields take advantage of www.livejournal.com's blog friendslist functionality. In order to use either of these Field types, you must include in Input(Text) Field called "Username". If there is no Username Input Field, the LJ Friend functionality will fail for your Mini-Quiz. If the Username Field is there, anyone taking the quiz can enter a Livejournal user's username, and these Fields will randomly select a Usernam from their LJ Friends List or Friends-Of List (the latter is a list of other users who have "friended" the user in question). This can be an amusing way to assign traits/roles or whatever to your fellow bloggers. These functions are adapted (and made possible by) the uniquely code-friendly way in which livejournal implements their friendslists, and is regrettably not available for users of other blogging sites.