Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Archive Format Change

Hey LabRat and crew. Did you know the format of the Archive changed in the title and filename sections? The Author & What's New remained the same. Is this a permanent thing? I've got to admit I really enjoy the old format.
Here's hoping the change is temporary.

Artemis

I'm wondering if it's a glitch, Artemis - I've just taken a look and I see what you mean. However, the By Filename lists seem fine to me. It's just the By Title which is different. Given the look of the Kerth certificates, I'm pretty sure that it's just something gone a bit wonky.


Wendy

It's not a glitch - it's actually part of the changes we'll be making to the Archive, bit by bit, as we put together the new database search engine.

This project was put on hold last year, but we've now found ourselves a website designer who is pretty hot <G> and are all systems go. Lauren and Janine have been working hard over the last few days, co-ordinating which changes are necessary to make life easier for Janine as she puts the data together and writes the necessary programs.

You should see the website changing gradually over the coming weeks and months until finally the database is live, as we test out various new programs and formats to fit with the database.

None of the current changes may be considered permanent, some might be. We'll just have to wait and see.

I kind of like the new title page, where you click on the highlighted title rather than a box to get to the story. Apparently, this format is also easier for readers using blind access software to recognise the links.

The new Kerth symbols are a work in progress. They need to be smaller to solve a textwrap problem, but I know that Lauren will be trying out several different replacements and it's not settled yet which one we'll end up with.

LabRat

Hmmmm. The point about blind-access software is a good one and might reconcile me to this look though, like Artemis, I much prefer the old one. :p

But it would really be nice - and helpful - if the Kerth certificates still carried the year on them, unlike the design currently showing. Is that possible?


Wendy

Currently, we're leaning towards no longer showing the year on the Kerth icons. If we don't have the year it means the icons can be uploaded yearly by way of a simple automatic coding, instead of Lauren having to do it manually as she has in the past.

We figure that if anyone is really keen to know which year a particular story won its Kerth, they can always check out the details on the Kerth website.

In this case, it's probably going to be a case of the change being worth it for the reduction in workload for Lauren.

But, again, nothing so far is set in stone.



LabRat (who really needs to stop trawling the mbs and get to bed...which she planned to do an hour back... You guys need to quit being so interesting...)

A possible compromise - although there would still be extra work involved - would be to add a few words in parentheses at the end of the description blurb, such as

Kerth winner 2004
OR Kerth nominee 2005

This would need to be done for the nominees/winners each year. So you wouldn't have to manually upload the icons, but would have to spend some time after the ceremonies adding a few words to the descriptions. I don't know if this would be more or less work...

Kathy

Wow!!! Thank you all SO much for all the hard work you do just to... wow! I'm really blown away at the dedication of folcs in this fandom!! It's folcs like you that make our fandoms one of the best around! IMO



Sara

Kathy, that's an excellent idea. I'll pass it along. There was some techno-talk about the story descriptions, but I'm pretty much techno-idiot just listening and nodding my head in the appropriate places at the moment, while these geniuses whirl around me, doing all kinds of amazing things. <G> So I've no idea what's being planned there.

Thanks, Sara - it's looking like a heck of a lot of work for Janine and Lauren (and Janine isn't even a FoLC <G>), but from what I've seen of what they're cooking up together it's going to be spectacular.

LabRat

Thumbs up from me on the title pages. I like the look, it fits better with list conventions on other web pages around the internet, and I'm all for improving accessibility.

Thanks for all the hard work on our behalf.

Yvonne

<geek-mode on>
I don't know how they have the database set up. I'm guessing there might be a Kerth Nominee=Y and Kerth Winner=Y. You could always add a KerthYear field, fill that with the year, and then either put the year underneath the picture, or point it KerthYearPicture. Or something like that.

Just a possible suggestion if they want to go that route.

</geek-mode off>

I like the new look of the page and the clicking on the titles instead of the icon next to them. Very nice work, Lauren.

One niggle... I was very, very fond of the old Kerth icons, and I'd be very sorry to see them go. The new ones look a bit too anonymous to me and don't say that it's about the Kerth Awards or whether the story was a nominee or a winner, so it might be very confusing for someone new who runs into the archive and has no knowledge of our awards at all. And as some other posters said, they don't tell anything about the year either. I'm not very techy myself, but is there any way to keep them the way they were? At least keep "nominee" and "winner" and the current look of the icons, even without the year (which can be added to the fanfic description, though that seems even more work than uploading the icons every year... but as I said I'm no expert).

Anyway, that's just my two cents. I'll be forever grateful if you save the Kerth icons, because they're really too lovely to be lost.

Kaethel

Kaethel - the Kerth icons are in a state of flux and I'll reiterate from my previous posts that nothing is set in stone there. The ribbons aren't a permanent change, so don't worry about them.

In fact, things are moving pretty rapidly, with ideas and suggestions flitting back and forth at lightspeed, and decisions are pretty fluid right now. Already we're beyond the ribbons, I think, and I suspect those won't be the final icon chosen. Lauren gave us several options and there are some cute ones in the mix. It's probably certain <G> that whichever icon is chosen to replace the originals they will include winner/nominee.

Basically though, this is very much a work in progress and it will be months yet before any permanent changes show up on the Archive. So do bear in mind that anything you see for the moment is subject to change at short notice.


LabRat

Well, I've got to agree with Artemis (going back to the title page)-The font or something is bigger, and makes the descriptions look very busy on the page-like there's much more information coming at you. If it helps certain programs run, I guess that's okay....wait, what kind of programs?

Sarah

The blind access software, you mean, Sarah?

Blind users of the internet use software which enables them to 'see' what's written on the screen. The fact that the title of the story is highlighted and is the link to accessing the story makes it easier for this software to pick out the link. The box link we had previously is more difficult for the software to identify, as I understand it.

This is only a byproduct though of the change and it wasn't the primary reason for making the switch. It was just a bonus. I haven't asked for details, but I presume that it was also done to facilitate the programming that Janine is doing to switch the Archive website over to a database-run system, with an advanced search engine, so that readers can properly search for stories based on certain criteria. Year submitted, author, season, certain theme keywords and so on.

The changes will also be designed to make the Archive website much easier to manage - it's becoming very large these days with all you prolific authors out there - with options that will make uploading data faster and smoother.

I think the reason that the title page looks busier than the previous format is that there are no longer any dividing lines between the entries. Before, each story was in its own little box - if you check the author listings, you'll see that still in place. The new format simply lists the stories, so it does look as though the entries are closer together than previously. I think the fact that the titles are now highlighted though, provides a dividing element between the entries all on its own, so there's really no need to include any artifical dividers any longer.

I think the change makes the page look cleaner and much more streamlined than the former format. Which is quite surprising really, because I hate change of any kind and am usually the first to take against something solely on the principle that it doesn't look the same as it did. So this is high praise coming from me. <g>

LabRat

Thanks for the explanation! I'm a pessimist, so it's good for me to see the positive side of things.

Sarah :p

Personally, I like the changes, though I am happy to find out that the Kerth related items are still in flux.

James