The vote button takes you to the 'vote' page. One of the current competition themes will automatically appear in the competition themes pulldown list as the default. The default theme will be for the competition which is scheduled to expire soonest. If you would like to cast votes in another competition select a different theme from the pulldown list.

Voting Styles:
There are two different ways to cast votes on artractiondotcom. One way of voting is based on a relative comparison of two images at a time called 'BATTLE VOTE.' The other way to vote, appropriately called 'RANKING VOTE' is to rank individual images one at a time.

More on 'BATTLE VOTE:'
The battle vote page serves up two images randomly selected from the pool of images of a given competition theme. That is, whichever competition theme you choose from the pulldown list on the main vote page will determine which pool of images you are voting on. You can only cast votes on images belonging to one competition theme at a time.

When casting battle votes you basically indicate a preference between two images. Your preference is indicated by clicking on the image you would like to choose. When you choose an image the image of your choice becomes highlighted with an orange border, then the other image greys out and is replaced by a new randomly selected image from the remaining pool of images in the same competition theme.

And so the voting proceeds. Each time a preference between two images is indicated by a mouse click the selected image is highlighted and remains on the screen whilst the opposite image is replaced by a new image from the remaining images in that competition theme. IN ADDITION... each time an image is chosen over its rival the overall score of the chosen image INCREASES by one point (1) while the score of the opposite image DECREASES by one point (1).

When all of the images in a given competition theme have been voted on at least once the voting for that competition ends. You will be returned to the main vote page and asked to vote on a new competition theme.

Each competition theme has a limited vote phase determined by the DURATION of the competition for that theme and the SEATS. Competition themes will be allotted a finite period of time during which votes on that theme may be cast. The deadline for a given competition will always be displayed on the 'themes' page in the column marked 'time left'. The deadline also appears on the main vote page under the themes pulldown list. 'Seats' can mean different things depending on the context. In the context of voting, seats refers to the maximum number of votes which can be cast on a given competition theme during its vote phase.

If a competition theme either TIMES OUT on the deadline, or once the SEATS have been used up, the vote phase of the competition theme ends. After passing through the vote phase a competition enters the 'view winners' phase. (See themes -> view winners...)

More on RANKING VOTE:
In order to cast votes in ranking vote mode a ranking system is used. Images from the pool of images within one competition theme are served up one image at a time. To vote you must choose a 'rank' for each image. The range of choice for ranking goes between negative one (-1) and plus one (+1). That is, by selecting a single radio button next to each image it is possible to 'rank' the image with one of three 'scores'. By selecting the radio button labeled (+1) one point is added to the overall score of that image. Similarly, by selecting either (0) or (-1) no point modification is made or a point is deducted from the overall score of the image in question, respectively. Once a 'rank' has been given, the image is immediately replaced with a new image from the pool of remaining images within the same competition theme. Voting may proceed in this manner until all of the images in the pool have been voted on, OR the deadline for the given competition theme is reached, OR, the maximum number of SEATS allotted to the given competition theme is used up. When any one of these conditions is met voting ends for the given theme and you will be returned to the main vote page and asked to vote on another competition them.

When voting has terminated for a given competition theme, winning entries will be selected and prizes (to be implemented at a later date) will be presented to the winning entries. Winning entries for a given competition theme can be viewed with an orange background highlight on the 'thumbnails' page. (See 'thumbnails')