I know I'm being horribly spammy...

[valis2]

...but honestly, I've just thought of two things I could have done in my fest fic that would have been quite nice. I'm having fest fic regret! haha.

Have revised five more chapters of tLS. Unfortunately, I will be spending the next several hours in the nightmare of eBay. (Running to the PO, the grocery store, and then coming home to revise the shipping charges for every single item AGAIN, because it all worked out WRONG. argh! And then preparing for a listing tomorrow, and relisting store items that sold.) Hopefully I'll be able to revise more tonight. Honestly, it's going a lot quicker than expected for the actual revising. (The C&Ping, recoding, and reuploading are really what takes the most time.) I warn those of you who have the tLS sekrit comm friended: spamming will commence very soon.

To those of you who read fics on LJ...I have a question. In the tLS comm where I'm uploading everything, I will have no other fics hosted, so it is a simple matter of hitting the arrow keys to read the next entries. However, I know some people like to have links as well. I have two choices about how to embed links in each chapter.

Either:

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 etc.

or:

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Obviously they both have pros and cons. Which do you like better?

If I go with the second choice, I'll also embed a link to chapter one in every entry as well, I think.

Comments

[iamrighthere.livejournal.com]

Hey, I read fics galore and prefer the first choice.

Love your page, BTW~

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for the input! It will help a lot. ;)

[saruwatari.livejournal.com]

And I have to be a pain and say that I prefer the second. I also think that a link back to the start of the fic on each chapter entry is a great idea.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

hee! Well, someone else will comment and be the tie-breaker...

[imafarmgirl.livejournal.com]

What's the address for the TLS comm? Didn't realize there was one. Are any of these chapters new? I like the previous and next option best.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

There are no new chapters yet. I'll announce the comm when it's ready...otherwise you'll end up wading through fifty-six chapters on your friends page, and that's pretty aggravating!

*heartache*

[sailorcrackhead.livejournal.com]

Revising is fun....but so are new chapters...

I'm dying. I'll stop complaining now. You are teh busy.

But oh how I want.

Re: *heartache*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Aw, so sweet!! Thank you so much. It spurs me on!

I'll try to finish the next chapter today or tomorrow, if I can. I'll be so happy when all of the chapters are revised and uploaded, though. Finally it will be smoothed out a little! Hooray!

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

I forgot to comment on this. I like the first option because I like to know where I am in a story - it's like a marker.

I do have the comm friended and when I saw those revisions go up for a minute there I thought it was a new chapter. The thought made me very happy. Oh well. I will be patient. : )

You don't want the comm advertised until you're ready, right?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to spam you! You might want to stop watching the comm for another week...I'm still uploading like mad, and I have another 46 chapters for the comm.

Now I'm tied on this poll. Hmm. I'll do a new entry and send people back here...

And you're completely right, I'm not going to advertise the comm until it's all put together. I think I am going to put all of the chapters up, and then edit them all to include the chapter links, and then send a note to snapenews. I can't imagine any other place to mention it, so if you think of something, let me know.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

a Previous and Next chapter is enough I think, as well as a link to an index of all chapters so far.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so much! Every suggestion helps.

[perverse-idyll.livejournal.com]

I prefer the first option, because I find it easier to navigate, to go back and find points of reference if my memory needs refreshing. Or to revisit scenes I especially liked.

Btw, is this sekrit comm open to petitioners, or shall I seek out tLS in an archive somewhere? I haven't read it yet (yes, I am that lame; also, eyesore) and I don't see a link to it on your sidebar. And yes again, I know I should be able to figure this out myself, but I'm pleading holidays as my all-purpose excuse. December is Crunch Month for me, and I'm already a-weary to my bones. (Retailers? Raise hands and sing Hell on Earth, Good Will to Mammon.) /unsolicited whining

[valis2.livejournal.com]

You can always find the link on my info page (http://valis2.livejournal.com/profile) here at LJ...I never thought of adding it to the sidebar, great idea!

The comm is definitely open, but I won't be advertising it until after it's all uploaded. I would hate to spam people with the revised chapters.

I've revised up to chapter 50 at this point, and have uploaded corrected versions at the different archives up to chapter 30. I plan on adding a few more today.

I'll advertise as soon as the comm is finished, hopefully within a week or so.

[cordelia_v]

I like the second choice, myself.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's nice and simple, and it looks clean. Thanks for the input!

[tudorpot.livejournal.com]

I find it helpful if there is link to the next chapter at the top of the page. Being on dial-up, I save each chapter, which means I have to scroll to the bottom of each chapter before I can go to the next one. Rather petty, but thought I would share the process. Would it be very much a bother to have links at the top and bottom of each page? Thank you for asking.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I'm going to look through the responses and see what I can do. So far I'm leaning towards having a separate "index" post with all of the chapters listed, and links to previous/next...

[snegurochka_lee]

I like the first option. If I want to go back to chapter 5 from 17, then, I don't have to go through 12 "previous chapter" links. At the bottom of every chapter, I'd also put a "go on to next chapter" link. Hope that helps!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm starting to lean toward that, it seems like most people like having a full chapter listing. I'm thinking that because of the number of chapters involved, though, that I might just have a single "chapter index" entry link instead, just to keep the page clean.

[summerborn.livejournal.com]

Personally, I like the idea of a link back to the start at the top of each chapter, and at the bottom all you really need is a link to the next chapter. (Though "previous" doesn't hurt, obviously.) But the list of all chapters makes me stop and wonder what chapter I'm on, know what I mean? Just my two farthings :)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to think that I might just have a link to an index of chapters, and then still include previous/next links. Having a big list of chapters at the top can get pretty cluttered, especially since I already have 75 chapters. ;) Thanks for the input!

[dark-cygnet.livejournal.com]

I prefer the first option as it helps me keep track of what chapter I'm on and if i happen to miss a chapter I can easily go back to it. Hope this helps.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Heh...I think I'll be doing a link to a chapter index, plus previous/next chapters. Thanks for the input!

[julian-black.livejournal.com]

I think the chapter index would be a great idea, especially since your chapters have titles.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

...unlike other, subpar fics, who only have chapter snails.

[ms-hecubus.livejournal.com]

Previous chapter, next chapter. Perhaps with numbered chapter links in the comm info.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I think that's a great way to do it. In fact, I might just do an entry at the end with all of the links in it, and that way I can just link to it.

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

I like the first version better.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of sticking all of the chapter links into one entry, and then have a link to that in each chapter. Just to make it easier for me. Thanks for the input!

[gmonkey42.livejournal.com]

I like option 1, provided it's obvious which chapter I'm currently on. Like, whichever one I'm on isn't a link, it's just text on that page.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Aha. That does make sense.

I'm thinking, though, that because there are so many chapters it might get too cluttered, so I might just make a link to a single entry with all of the chapter links in it.

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

I like the first option with the Chapter One, Two, etc.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I'm leaning toward that, but in an entry of its own, with a link to it in each chapter. Thanks for the input!

[julian-black.livejournal.com]

The second choice--and the link back to the first chapter is a great idea.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's what I'm leaning toward, though I think it'll be a link to the entire chapter index.

[rinsbane.livejournal.com]

I like previous and next because I tend to lose track of what chapter I'm on when reading long, chaptered things, and therefore get confused. But if the only link at the bottom gives a chapter number, there's not much chance of me getting confused because I have no other choice, so I'm fine with that as well. Also, one thing that drives me nuts is when you're on a website and the link doesn't change color once you've clicked. I never remember what I've read and what I haven't.

Oh, wait. You're posting this on LJ? Never mind. The color thing is only an issue on external websites. *g*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I really hate links that don't change color as well. I'm all over the place, and I hate clicking on things twice...it clutters up my tabs. ;)

Yeah, I like previous and next myself, makes it easy. Then I can just leave the tab open until the next day, and pick up where I left off...

I can't wait to finish this comm. Jeepers, what a lot of work.

[cruentum.livejournal.com]

I favor the chapter 1 chapter 2 and so on version since I quite often do not read in one go but come back to it later and it is SO much easier to find the chapter you were on with the first version.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it's definitely a good idea to have a chapter index. I'm really leaning toward one. Thanks for the input!

chapters

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

As it is only 5 chapters,listing them all seems good.

Re: chapters

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Er...actually, it's seventy-six chapters, and will probably be about a hundred when I'm done. ;)

Re: chapters

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

If there are so many,then I'd go for previous,next or people will get lost.A link to the start would be good too,

[lunafish.livejournal.com]

All the chapters, definitely. :)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Hee! Love the icon.

I am definitely going to make a master index, you are totally right, that's very helpful.

[mimbulus.livejournal.com]

I prefer the first option.

Another thing that I like is that if you post a chaptered fic, you can dedicate a tag to it and create with it a sort of chapters-index that you can link to in each chapter.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm definitely going to create a chapter-index entry so that it's easy to go to other chapters. Thanks for the input!

[amayaris.livejournal.com]

The first one. Oh, and I second the tag suggestion.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm still trying to understand the tag idea fully...the thing is, this is the only fic in the comm, so tagging as "fic" or anything wouldn't be helpful, as the only things in the comm will be the chapters themselves and the chapter index entry. I plan on having the chapter index available on every index as a link, and I think that will solve most of the problems. Thank you so much for the input!