Library
The library is a general list that lists every bookmark that you have in your library, whether external bookmarks or internal ones.
Deleting a bookmark from this list will delete the bookmark and all its related information from the library system.
Reading Queue
The Reading Queue is just that, a queue. When you add a new story to the library, there is a box (checked by default) for the reading queue. If you leave the box checked, then the story will be added to the reading Queue. The first story added will show up on top.
This list is useful if you're just browsing and picking stories that you find interesting but you're not ready to start reading yet, so you add the stories to the queue and once done browsing, you go to the library and click on Reading Queue and the stories will be there.
You can add stories that are already in your library to the Queue by cliking the 'Info' link next to the story's name and then click the 'Edit' button.
When deleting items from the reading Queue, you'll be given the option of deleting them from the Queue only or deleting them from the library completely.
Active Serials
The Active Series list, lists all stories that are in progress and sorts them by last update date in descending order.
This list is where you keep track of the serial stories that you're following.
If a serial story is concluded, it stays in this list until you access it, after that it won't show up there anymore.
You can't delete items from this list without deleting them from the library.
Authors
When you click 'Add to Library' in the top right hand side of the author's story listings page, they get added to this page. The author date update will be highlighted in yellow if the author has posted something after the last time you accessed their page.
Accessing a story by the author, even his/her latest one, will not remove the highlighting from the page. Only direct access to their page will.
Exclusives
The exclusives list shows all the stories on the site that are exclusive to the premier area.
Using the search field (under the lists links) will allow you to search through the library -- Not through all of storiesonline. You can search in story names or in story keywords. The keywords are keywords that you enter for each bookmark, either when adding it to the library, or later on by clicking the link in the 'Info' column for the story.
If you don't add keywords to the bookmark records then this feature won't work; you'll be able to search by story name only.
The site's other search functions are integrated with the library. In the 'Advanced Search' page, you can click the 'Search My Library Only' to restrict the search to stories in your library. Same thing for the 'Categories Search' page.
If you click the 'Advanced Search' link or the 'Category Search' link in the library under the search form, you'll end up in those pages with the library check box checked already.
The link 'Add External Story' under the site's navigation bar in the library
This function allows you to organize links to stories on other sites or on your own system, in the library. You can almost treat them as if they're on the site. This is just an organizational tool that allows you to manage all your reading from one place. So instead of bookmarking the stories in your browser or having to keep an organized file structure on your hard drive, and remember all the details in your head to know where to find a story that you're following or that you like, you simply add it to the library with this function and give it keywords if that are helpful in finding it and categorize it whichever way you want.
Adding an external story to the library, whether from another site or on your own computer, does not transfer the story to storiesonline's server. The story remains on its own server or on your own computer.
To add an external link from another website to the library:
To add a story on your own computer to the library:
This feature works for files supported by the web browser, like text files and html files and pictures, normally it does not work for word processing files like MS Word or WordPerfect. It could work for PDF files if your browser supports PDFs.
The link 'Preferences' under the site's navigation bar in the library
When Accessing a Multi-part Story:
This setting affects any story that is in the library wherever it's accessed from on the site, not only through the library.
Current Chapter Indicator:
For serial stories, the window title shows at which chapter/part you are out of the total that the story has. This preference allows you to set whether the indicator is displayed to the left or the right of the chapter; handy if you use multiple tabs to read.
Default List: Choose which list is displayed first whenever you access the library. Your Bookmark Tags are added to the end of this menu. So you can choose to see all the stories tagged with a certain tag when you load the library.
Default Sort Field for Library: Choose by which criteria the library is sorted by default. '[desc]' is for descending.
Default Sort Field for Favorite Authors: Choose by which criteria the 'Favorite Authors' section in the library is sorted by default. '[desc]' is for descending.
Default sort order for the reading queue: You can sort the reading queue so that the earliest bookmarked stories are on top or the bottom.
Number of rows per page: Choose how many rows you want to see in the library listings, whether custom lists or library default lists. This setting does not affect the 'Exclusives' list.
Confirm Deletions from My Library: Choose whether the system will ask you for confirmation before deleting bookmarks from the library.
Show Details for Addition of Bookmarks: Choose whether the system will ask you for more details when adding a story to the library.
Keep track of the last # stories accessed: Choose whether the system keeps track of your story accesses, just in case your forgot to bookmark a story that you liked and forgot its name and author. Enter a number between 1 and 100. A new list title 'Recent Stories' will appear in the library. After you activate this feature, any story that you access on the site, that you haven't already bookmarked will show up in that list.
Activate Rising Star Stories List: this option, along with the following three fields, creates a new list in the library title 'Rising Stars' that lists all stories with a customizable minimum score and minimum number of votes and excludes your squicks. This way it gives you a potential list of good stories for your reading pleasure.
Hide Inactive Serials in Serials List: this option will cause serials marked as 'inactive and incomplete' to be hidden from the Active serials list in the library.
Authors' list preference: Checking this box will make the site mark an author in your favorite authors' list as 'Read' whenever you access any of their stories.
Active Serials Unread Chapters: Checking this box will make the library hide all the active serials for which you have read the lastest chapter.
Bookmark Tags in Listings: if you want to see the tags that you've used on bookmarks in the library, check this box.