[Aspen][24][Writer][Crochet] Haven't used Tumblr in so long [Bluesky: @blackcatandrue.bsky.social] [ArchiveOfOurOwn: @Thanatos_Daughter] π»πβπ
For anyone who hasn't seen them before, Hidden Search Operators are handy tricks you can use when you're either searching or filtering AO3.
summary: string is a generic way of explaining that you can search AO3 for a specific word that appears in a summary. You can do this from the search bar in the header, from the Any Field box at the top of the Advanced Search form, or from the Search Within Results box at the bottom of the filter menu.
Examples:
summary: Bruce
summary: "Bruce Banner"
summary: Bruce OR summary: Banner OR summary: Hulk
You need to put quotation marks around your search term if it is more than one word. The quotes make sure that the site searches for those two words together.
The other two operators listed work best in the Search Within Results box.
expected_number_of_chapters: 1 will return results where every fic has only 1 chapter currently posted.
You can use -expected_number_of_chapters: 1 if you want results where every fic has more than 1 chapter currently posted.
otp:true will return results where there is only 1 relationship tag on the fic. If you want results where there are 2+ relationship tags (and no fics with only 1 relationship tag) then you can use otp:false
This post is going around again (with an unfortunate syntax error on it - this version is correct), so I thought I'd add some information that folks have mentioned wanting in the notes.
Any time you want help with how to use AO3, look for the question mark bubbles. Clicking or tapping on those bubbles will open up a pop up window with information on that specific part of AO3. For example, here's the information for Include filters.
2. When you log into AO3 for the first time, you'll have a banner on your dashboard that gives you a ton of links and information that's useful for new users. A lot of people will dismiss this banner without ever reading it, but you can get it back at any time.
Go to your Preferences, scroll down to Misc. and check the box next to Turn the new user help banner back on. Update your preferences, and the banner will return.
3. When you first tap or click into the search in the header bar, a little popup tip appears below the text box. This is showing you an example of a search that you can do.
4. If you've never seen the filters before, click or tap on any tag that you're interested in. On a wide screen like a laptop, the filters will appear on the right hand side of the screen. On a narrow screen like a phone, you can tap on the Filters button for the menu to appear.
5. The FAQ has a series of questions related to Searching and Browsing on the Archive. You can find the FAQ in the dropdown under the word About in the header.
6. You can also just click on stuff and see what happens. For example, if you're wondering what the four icons at the top corner of each fic blurb mean, you can just click on them and get a popup with the key. Same thing if you're wondering about the icons at the top right of a bookmark.
7. I almost forgot βοΈIf you want to see fics based on the primary pairing but you're okay with additional ships being in the fic (so otp:true won't work for you) - there's a script for that! AO3 Only Show Primary Pairing.
This post is extremely long now, but if you're wondering about other things just drop them in the notes.
AO3 is exiting open beta! Learn more about how far we've come since launching open beta, our future plans for improvement, and what you can do to contribute at https://otw-news.org/4w2dn3tcΒ
A little preview of a Nosferatu (2024) ao3 site skin ive been working on! Still a lot of tweaks i want to make but its been so much fun getting to work on this so i wanted to share a few pics
Originally just started as wanting to make the tags in the Dracula's Castle ao3 site skin by ao3commentoftheday a lil bigger and then a million little tweaks later this happened
A glowy dark mode AO3 skin with a castle in the background. Transparent and glow effects. Best enjoyed on a landscape screen. - memorizingth
Large Text and Rainbow Borders AO3 site skins (light and dark)
I discovered how to put gradients in borders and that was pretty much the whole idea behind this pair of skins.
As I was building them, I recalled the number of people who were sad that custom skins often don't work because they need the text to be larger, so I built these two to have the text set at 120% bigger than normal in the fic blurbs, the fic body, and the comments.
Light mode has some comments to help guide you if you want to modify this to suit your own needs.
You can find both skins, and instructions for how to apply them to your account, over here on github.
This one's more for your lurkers than the front porch, but this redditor has a brilliant way of humanizing their kudos to understand what the number actually means.
a guide by a newbie who knows nothing about code. please feel free to correct me and/or provide your own resources.
so if you're here at all you've likely heard of site skins on AO3. this is going to be your main "modifying medium" and the method that allows you to stay vanilla. the two other things I'll be talking about are bookmarklets, based in your bookmarks, and user scripts which you need an extension and sometimes a different browser to use. (BUT THEY'RE TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!)
I'll be, in order, doing a quick explanation, helpful resources and a list of each kind of add-on. This is made by someone on a tablet, but a combination of common sense and provided resources should make doing this stuff on other devices fairly easy.
IF LIST ITEMS DO NOT HAVE CREDIT LISTED, I EITHER FORGOT, DON'T KNOW THE CREATOR, OR THE LINK IS TO THE CREATOR'S POST/WORK.
LIST ITEMS ARE LINKED ON THE COLORED TEXT
Site Skins!
What are they?
Site skins are the vanilla method of changing how your AO3 looks. Going to your dashboard and then skins [you need an account to use skins], you can see a list of your skins and public ones. The most popular, and likely the only skins you've seen before, primarily change the appearance of AO3. However, there is another kind of site skin that I've decided to call 'functional skins'. Functional skins differ from decorative skins in that they change things beyond font and color. My primary examples are perma-blocking tags, shortening blurb tags and adding a scroll bar, and replacing the (rating, relationships, etc.) icons with writing providing the same information.
To create a functional site skin, simply create a new skin and copy and paste your code below the CSS header! (the skin upon creation should automatically be set to a site skin with the CSS code box.)
To use a functional site skin in conjunction with a decorative site skin, set the F skin as the D's parent skin under "Advanced" in the D skin editor. If it doesn't immediately work, try flipping the parent chain around. If that doesn't work, your decorative skin might somehow block the function. (this is sadly the case with one of my functional skins.)
Resources
The best resources I can give you for site skins are Tumblr users @ao3commentoftheday and @ao3skin ! (sorry for the tag!!) Not only do they have a lot of decorative skins, they also both have functional skins!
The List
- warnings/rating/etc icons in text form
(I never really memorized the icon meanings so this is both easier for me to understand and is still colorful! I did change the text color to be lighter to work with my dark theme, though)
- shortens tag section and adds tag scroller
li.blurb .tags {
max-height: 7.5em;
overflow-y: auto;
}
(genuinely don't know where I found this one nor the link to it so here; very useful in preventing tag walls while browsing)
- perma-blocks tags (you won't have to filter them!)
(SO SOS SO SO SO AWESOME! haven't finished my list yet since it's (in my opinion) a bit tedious but definitely worth it and not all that difficult)
- rainbow text!!!
(very pretty! works with my decorative skin, too!)
- changes the color of links you've visited
(neat, but doesn't work with my deco skin :[ wanna try to figure out why!)
- my current decorative skin :]
(it glowy!!!!! prebby!!!!! need I say more)
Bookmarklets!
What are they?
Bookmarklets are bookmarks! But with javascript and therefore funky functions. Genuinely don't know how to explain them, nor how to free hand but the javascript from my understanding goes certain places in the bookmark's URL.
Resources
Again, I know nothing about javascript and therefore.... can only provide you a couple handy bookmarklets myself!
The List
- replaces y/n with specified name
(what it says on the tin! haven't tried this one out since I don't read y/n docs but it seemed helpful.)
- saved filters
(I should NOT need to explain why this one is awesome. seriously guys it's awesome)
- saved filters specifically filtering out smut tags
(This is my personal use of the last one listed! this is not an exhaustive filtering out but it's that many more that you won't have to type out next time. COPY AND PASTE THE TEXT ABOVE INTO AN EMPTY BOOKMARK'S URL TO USE!)
User Scripts!
What are they?
User scripts are where it gets spicy. They're outside the site, so can modify it beyond appearance, add new features and generally do stuff the other options can't.
To use a user script, you need a script manager extension, and some browsers don't support extensions (cough CHROME cough). Fear not, though! It's easy to download other browsers and find compatible script managers.
Resources
A good basic guide to scripts! Greasy Fork
A good, fairly universal script manager! Tampermonkey (search for downloading on your current browser)
A list of AO3-specific user scripts! Greasy Fork
The List
- adds Marked for Later button to work blurbs while browsing and on the home page/top of the screen
- recommends fics based on certain tag combos in a work
- adds download button to work blurbs while browsing
- allows filtering bookmarks by length
- assigns length to works and compares them to a list of published novels' lengths
- removes kudos button when you've already left kudos
- floaty reviewer box! for writing comments as you read
- when browsing, collapses blurbs of works that are later than part 1 in a series
- rearrange the tag order when editing works and bookmarks
- puts a badge in the menu when you have unread inbox stuff
- easy interface for formatting comments with HTML
- style editor, blacklist, bookmarks that mark your exact place, good all-in-one
(you can disable functions you don't want/need for this one β)
- score calculators based on kudos/hits ratio and chapters and a more complicated "engagement score"
(I more use these scores out of curiosity than anything)
Enfin!
Thank you for reading my guide! I don't usually do stuff like this but I suspect I'm hyperfixated. I'm very tired, worked pretty hard on this and it's currently past midnight for me so if this was helpful please share it!!!! All credit due to the respective creators in here.
Comment Icons for people without pfp, visitors, and guest
And more!!!!
Find instructions on how I did it with code here:
MUST READ!!!! This skin contains βparent skinsβ. So in total you will be making 5 skins to add onto the main skin. This includes stuff like
As a reminder, I am not a coder - I did this for fun. So if this isn't the "correct" way or something goes wrong, I am so sorry. This has just been the way I've been making personal skins for myself over the last year.
izzy806
theartofmadeline
origamiaround
blakekathryn
pixelskylines
ellievsbear
snowghoul
baratheonpilled
dailybridgerton
