Epic Recs - New Look

New Look

Mar. 3rd, 2008 at 11:00 AM

jane-elliot.livejournal.com

Ya'll might notice that Epic Recs looks *very* different than it did yesterday. I personally loved the old layout, but unfortunately it didn't have an automatic tag list on the sidebar and, since Mei and I spent all of last week tagging *every* *single* *entry*, we really needed something flexible enough to handle a long and ever growing list of tags. Thus, the new layout. Let me know if there's any improvements you'd like to see in the color or presentation as I'm still tweaking this week. After that, I anticipate a looong stretch before any more major changes.

The good news: we now have every entry tagged for fandom, length, pairing, and (best of all) genre! It's lead to some interesting results:

Top five fandoms by number of recs:
The Sentinel (32)
Stargate: Atlantis (32)
Due South (22)
Smallville (17)
Highlander (16)

Top five genres by number of recs:
Angst (88!)
AU (44)
Humor (34)
Hurt/Comfort (24)
Fluff (23)

Length: (these made me very happy, as I've feared that I hadn't been able to find enough epic stories to justify the comm's name)
Epic (72) huzzah!
Long (48)
Medium (32)
Short (7)

And now I must go and continue to pimp fanficfinder, *sob*. Next time I decide to start a new comm? Stop me.

Comments

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autumnbook.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 04:11 am (UTC)

I thought you took on a lot when you started Epic Recs. How long did it take for it to build a following? I think you do an excellent job running Epic Recs, writing fanfic and original fic. I'm sure over time your new comm fanficfinder will pick up. You need to pimp your comm to every fan fiction group you can. Now if RL would stop interfering with my fanfic reading for a year or two I might even get caught up on that.

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 03:32 pm (UTC)

The problem is that I feel so...shameless when I pimp a comm, so I'm limiting myself to newsletters, which doesn't seem to be working. On the other hand, the comm is answering most of my questions, so I'm pretty happy with it:)

You've been quiet for a while. Crazy busy?

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autumnbook.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 5th, 2008 03:10 am (UTC)

Not crazy busy just trying to caught up on RL stuff that I didn't do last year because I was down 12 weeks with my back. I try to do too much too fast and it gets to me. That's why I'm impressed with all you do for fan fiction on LJ so many comms, excellent writing. 2 talents I wish I had but don't. My gifts go a different direction.

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 5th, 2008 03:37 pm (UTC)

Thank you:) Though I have to admit, I'm feeling pretty ragged around the edges.

Good to hear that your back is better:)

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(Anonymous) wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 03:51 pm (UTC)

I think the old layout looked better. *sigh* How did we come up with so MANY tags???
Mei

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 03:54 pm (UTC)

I totally agree -- I loved the old layout and if there was any way I could have kept it, I would. But it turned out we have dozens (probably approaching hundreds) of tags, and there's no way I could have kept it up-to-date if I were coding it by hand. *sigh* Though, if you see a different layout you like, let me know. I'd be thrilled to find another option.

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(Anonymous) wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 04:56 pm (UTC)

Do you have the codes to the old layout? Maybe I can see what I can do... I don't think I can code anything from scratch.
Mei

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 05:19 pm (UTC)

The old layout was a pre-set theme on LJ and there doesn't seem to be any way to add an automatic tags list to it without having a paid account. If I knew anything at all about style sheets, I might be able to create a theme based on the old one, but unfortunately I'm only versed in old-school HTML.

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(Anonymous) wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 06:16 pm (UTC)

I'll let you know if I ever see anything. I know there are some artists on LJ that design LJ layouts. Hm, maybe we could get a volunteer (which would require a lot of pimping...)?
Mei

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 06:22 pm (UTC)

Gah. I'm so tired of pimping right now. Though it would be nice to have a new layout.

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(Anonymous) wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 06:25 pm (UTC)

I'd love to offer the artist in return, but seeing that I don't write and I don't draw...
Mei

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(Anonymous) wrote:

Mar. 4th, 2008 06:27 pm (UTC)

I meant 'something in return'. It's been a long day.