Why do I now have a link to "Continue reading Norse: a Star Academy Prequel by G Younger" on it's own line above the main part of the sol home page?
SunSeeker
Why do I now have a link to "Continue reading Norse: a Star Academy Prequel by G Younger" on it's own line above the main part of the sol home page?
SunSeeker
Yeah, I have one of those for a different story/author. In fact, I finished that story the other day and voted on it.
I have one for a story I've just read the latest chapter of.
I guess readers must have requested it but it's not something I can see benefiting me.
AJ
I've never received that story for ANY story I'm currently reading (i.e. didn't finish the latest chapter of an ongoing story), instead it keeps reminding me to re-read the chapter I just finished reading, so it's incredibly annoying (just another pet-peeve).
Even worse, it never reminds me to read the chapter I haven't yet finished reading, instead it'll remind me three or four days afterwards that I should continue the chapter I read at the beginning of the week.
So it'll be nice shutting this newest 'nag feature' off. ;)
instead it keeps reminding me to re-read the chapter I just finished reading
If you have a premium account,that could be a preference issues.
On your library preferences, the first option is "When Accessing a Multi-part Story:"
The options are last chapter read or index/cover page. I keep mine set on index/cover page, so when going back to a multi-chapter story it always opens the index page.
When I use the continue reading link with it pointing to a multi-chapter story, it goes to the index page.
instead it keeps reminding me to re-read the chapter I just finished reading, so it's incredibly annoying
Zeroing out the info would require that I put up a button at the end of each story to 'Mark As Complete' and then it would remove that story from your 'last story' field in the database and it wouldn't remind you.
Or you could hide the link if it's too annoying.
I'm reading the story but don't need to be reminded. Guess just wait and see what it is about though I don't care or see a need for it at all...
SuSeeker
Why do I now have a link to "Continue reading Norse: a Star Academy Prequel by G Younger"
I hadn't noticed that because I don't use the home page much, but based on what I see, I'm going to guess that it's the last story you accessed.
Why do I now have a link to "Continue reading Norse: a Star Academy Prequel by G Younger" on it's own line above the main part of the sol home page?
I get a lot of 'I was reading this story and now I can't find it' type of questions. So I added that box.
Since you guys complained a lot right away, I made it opt out. There is now an 'x' in it on the right. Click it and you won't see it again. To toggle it back on, there is a checkbox in the 'My Account' page for it too to toggle on and off.
Thank you Lazeez! I love the site the way it is...simple and intuitive!
SunSeeker
Thank you Lazeez! I love the site the way it is...simple and intuitive!
With use it become intuitive.
It's hard for you guys to see it with newbie eyes. The site's design now is very rich feature-wise as I keep adding features, but to a large percentage of people, the interface can be overwhelming as there is sooooo much info to take in on the home page. New users don't know where to look.
I need figure out a way of onboarding people so that they're not overwhelmed. But it's a tricky thing with people looking for a quick read to get off, as you can't delay them, they'll just leave and the site loses them.
Most things are configurable on the site. I don't know of any other site that can be configured as extensively as SOL. But way too many things aren't obvious enough.
So it's always a struggle to balance the interface between power interface and newbie interface.
So it's always a struggle to balance the interface between power interface and newbie interface.
Hmm, maybe you need a newbie theme and make it the default for new accounts. :)
It's hard for you guys to see it with newbie eyes. The site's design now is very rich feature-wise as I keep adding features, but to a large percentage of people, the interface can be overwhelming as there is sooooo much info to take in on the home page. New users don't know where to look.
Not just new users.
I use the same features most of the times I'm on SOL, and they are a small subset of all the features. So when I want to do something out of the ordinary for me, I struggle to find it (if I even know it exists). So from that aspect, I'm like a newbie.
It would be nice to have a quick search to find a feature. I first tried the quick search on the home page, but that's for searching story content. Then I went to the "help" and used that search. I searched on "history of stories read" thinking it would point me to my history or some place explaining how to access my history, but it gave a list of things that had nothing to do with what I was looking for.
So a feature search would be nice to help navigate the site. Maybe even a listing of all features that someone new could peruse. And in the listing, a note that the feature is "premier only" could entice people to become premier members if the feature is something they want.
Since you guys complained a lot right away, I made it opt out.
It doesn't bother me, but as I said, I don't use the homepage much.
Since you guys complained a lot
I wasn't complaining. I just said it was present for me too. And I was surprised it said to continue reading a story that was finished. I don't have a problem with it being there.
I always forget how to access my history, but wouldn't that be a place for readers to go if they couldn't remember a story they were reading?
I always forget how to access my history, but wouldn't that be a place for readers to go if they couldn't remember a story they were reading?
I guess I should find a different place to link the history page so that you or others don't need to remember it.
A lot of the site's power is hard to use. Or not obvious enough even with extensive use.
There is now an 'x' in it on the right.
As in w-a-a-y over to the right.
This particular feature is totally unnecessary for Premier members, all we need to do is click on our user-name top left, and then on "History". We get to see the last 100 stories we have read.
This particular feature is totally unnecessary for Premier members
Everyone's not premium, as I'm sure you're aware. I don't know the percentages, but some of us peasants might find this a useful feature.
My comment was more along the lines of "only have this feature for non-premier members".
My comment was more along the lines of "only have this feature for non-premier members".
Playing Devil's Advocate, now it's there it might as well be left. And it's quite possible some premier members aren't aware of 'History' and where to find it.
AJ
I'd be vaguely curious about the percentage of premier members who have deactivated this feature, along with the percentage of non-premier members who have not.
I deactivated the feature because I remember which stories I'm reading by external means and the home page already feels cluttered.
I suspect My usage is very idiosyncratic and unlikely to be representative.
AJ
I deactivated the feature because I remember which stories I'm reading by external means and the home page already feels cluttered.
I'm actually finding the new link beneficial.
I spend most of my time on the Forum, not SOL. But when I want to continue reading a story (I only read one at a time), I click on "home" (from the Forum) and then "my library" and then scroll to the story in my library I've been reading and click on it.
That's a lot of time consuming activity. Now I simply click on "home" (from the Forum) and then the new "continue reading" link and, presto, I'm where I left off in the story.
But when I want to continue reading a story (I only read one at a time), I click on "home" (from the Forum) and then "my library" and then scroll to the story in my library I've been reading and click on it.
When you are in "My Library" on the "all bookmarks" list, you can sort by when you last accessed it.
I click on "home" (from the Forum) and then "my library" and then scroll to the story in my library I've been reading and click on it.
This function has been available in the library for the last 20 years.
Click 'My Library' click 'Back to Last Story' in the yellow bar, to the left of 'Manage Flagged'.
Click 'My Library' click 'Back to Last Story' in the yellow bar, to the left of 'Manage Flagged'.
Never noticed that. I use a tiny subset of the SOL functions. Good to know (if this old brain can remember it next time).
But the new link still saves me a click. I don't have to go to My Library.
Click 'My Library' click 'Back to Last Story'
I will be using this. Thanks.
I looked at one of my stories with a Bookapy ad at the end to see if the mouse hovering problem was fixed. That changed the story in the "continue reading" link on the home page. So the "Back to Last Story" on the My Library page came in handy.
I get a lot of 'I was reading this story and now I can't find it' type of questions. So I added that box.
Often I cannot find my keys. Could you make a box for that as well? 🤪
It could be a useful feature, but it's nagging me about a story where I've already read all posted chapters, which doesn't seem like correct behaviour. Clicking on the X makes it go away, but it doesn't stay away; it's right back there next time I go to the home or My Stream page.
Clicking on the X makes it go away, but it doesn't stay away; it's right back there next time I go to the home or My Stream page.
That's odd. It is supposed to save the setting your account.
What's your browser? it's not doing the javascript that tells the server that you don't want it.
It's gone now. I'm not sure why the delayed reaction. Maybe a caching thing? I tried three or four times to get rid of it, but it just came back the next time I went to the main or My Stream page. Then I posted my last comment, went back out to the main page, clicked it away again, came back to the forum, and when I went back to the main page, there were new stories at the top of the list and the message was gone.
I'm running an old-ass SeaMonkey on this machine: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0 SeaMonkey/2.49.4
Firefox/52.0
That's the problem. Firefox 52 doesn't send cookies properly with javascript requests.
I'll fix it tomorrow.
I get a lot of 'I was reading this story and now I can't find it' type of questions. So I added that box.
How does it select the story?
I see the "continue reading" link for stories I downloaded but never opened. It doesn't match the last download in the day history either.
How does it select the story?
It's done in the function that increments the counters. So whenever the reader does something that triggers a counter increment, like reading a chapter, clicking on a single part story, or downloading a story, the 'last_story' field is set and used to display the 'continue' link.
It's done in the function that increments the counters.
Doesn't this mean that for basic members the link is not set until the 'click for more' is clicked? So, for basic members, it's best to scroll to the end, click the 'more' and scroll back up, to force this page to be remembered.
But then the autoscroll-to-current position on load will be messed up until they reach that position during reading (as it will have been set to the 'click for more' position), and after reaching that point the autoscroll will still be messed up because on reload (to continue reading) it tries to scroll to a location that hasn't been loaded yet, and the scroll-to position is lost before they can click for more (this latter already happens).
I can see two ways round this - either A) provide a second 'click for more' at the top of the page (to avoid having to scroll to the end) and also remember it has been 'clicked for more' when setting the 'last_story' field and load the whole page on reload (so the autoscroll can work correctly for locations below the fold), or B) add a pair of hamburger menu items to remember current position and to return to it (a bit clumsy and I don't think will work well).
I've been meaning to post a bug report on the problem of autoscroll to below the fold for a while, so I suppose this is it.
Doesn't this mean that for basic members the link is not set until the 'click for more' is clicked?
No, the counter is incremented on chapter load.
It's done in the function that increments the counters.
Just to be clear, even if the action doesn't result in a counter increment (like reloading a chapter the same day) the last_story field is set.
I click the button so it is no longer is selected and the link disappears for a while then comes back. Has happened a few times now. Just "unselected" the button again so the link will not appear...Firefox 136.0.1
SunSeeker