As some of you may already have noticed, we’ve made a couple of improvements to the site over the past week. First up is the addition of the Site Map page to replace the horrendously long Categories and Archives tabs at the top. With the number of entries we have, navigating down to the bottom of those lists wasn’t practical at all, not to mention that the drop-down actually appeared behind flash videos. In addition to categories and archives, we also included direct links to the Season Previews for easier access.

Beside each of the category links are post counts. They should help provide a quick glimpse as to which sections have a fair bit of content. For some categories, you’ll also notice a downwards arrow. Clicking on it will provide you with direct links to all the posts under that category. This was done for popular ones with a relatively large number of entries, where your only alternative before was to go to its category page and click on “Next Page” a bunch of times to find what you’re looking for. Overall, this static page should make it easier to jump around the site, especially if you’re on a notebook/netbook and limited to a touchpad.

Next is the new Categories sidebar, which has been (finally) cleaned up. You’ll find a list of the series we’re currently covering first, as well as links to the most recent 15 posts for each series. Again, use the downwards arrow link to expand the list much like the Site Map page. Fifteen posts allows it to show all the posts of a one cour series (e.g. one season of 12-13 episodes) plus any OP/ED PVs. Below that, you’ll find a list of popular and often used categories (e.g. Anime News, Miscellaneous, PVs, Snapshots), followed by a drop-down list for all the categories and another for monthly archives.

Hopefully with these changes, browsing through the site comes easier. With the First Impressions category nearing 3000 posts, there’s a lot of older content available here should you want to take a trip down memory lane, or be looking for a completed series to watch. These are just some of the things I’ve been working on on the side, in hopes of a potential site redesign/face-lift in the future. As such, feedback and suggestions are welcome.

 

As for a blogging status update, I officially started my vacation time today and won’t be heading back to the office until early next year. Having not taken any time off this past year and a new project swamping me all of a sudden, today’s been mainly a recuperation day. I’m a fair bit behind on watching my shows, which should indicate where I am in terms of blogging them. I managed to find time to watch a few though, so I’m going to prioritize writing posts accordingly.

Series finales for Kampfer and Nyan Koi! aired today, but I haven’t had a chance to watch them yet. However, the recent 11eyes episode was really surprising and shocking, so I’d like to get some thoughts out about it sooner rather than later. For those who enjoy the semi-sarcastic remarks in my write-ups, I have plenty in mind when it comes to 11eyes so stay tuned. That said, I still have Natsu no Arashi, Nogizaka Haruka, Sasameki Koto, and the Naruto manga in the pipe. You’ll have to bear with me as I work through the near week of backlog I have. Having so many things left undone is an unfamiliar situation for me to be in.

21 Comments

  1. I don’t always follow along with a series as it airs, so I often use the category tags to go back later on and find posts on older stuff. This makes it a much easier task, and is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

    boznia
  2. Nice changes. enjoy your vacation. 11 eyes ? what about no eyes grrr more later.
    I hated the long drop down glad is history. If any wish comes to mind for next year is the edit button for post 🙂 but hey is just a wish

    Island Esper
  3. Thanks for the feedback so far.

    I don’t have any plans to go away anywhere, so I’ll be around. It’s just nice not having to go into work for the next while! I’m trying to catch up on my shows at the moment.

    Now if only my copy of Final Fantasy 13 would arrive already. That’s when the real “vacation” starts!

  4. @divine
    So jealous you’re getting ff13 this early.. I really wish I knew Japanese well enough to play a game, or watch anime unsubbed. I’m taking a class to learn it next semester, but it can’t come soon enough.

    Also I must say that I like the updates on the navigation, even though I’ve had fun in the past shifting through piles of old posts just reading random entries.

    ffmx
  5. Like the new layout as well. 🙂 Interested in hearing your impressions of 11eyes #11, I’ve watched it already and it’s a crazy-wild episode. And enjoy your vacation from work!

    Guardian
  6. I really like the new layout. Saves LOADS of time.

    When I rewatch anime I go to each episodes’s commentaries and community comments and read through them. Helps a lot. Thank you.

    Samurai Pumpkin
  7. There seems to be some links missing. When tried to go to xxxholic I had nothing come up.
    Not sure still if its me or the actually site. I’ll try to find more links that don’t seem to be here.

    Kelfistan

Leave a Reply to Mearex Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *