Fannish Browsing Tools, Part 2

[gnatkip]

I don't know if this is a good time to make this post, but then I don't know when IS a good time, what with all the hell and all the handbaskets. It's a list of some bells and whistles for LJ, LJ clones, and other fannish places. See also Part OneI use some of these a lot; some not at all. I am not endorsing any of them. As with anything you

Comments

[missyjack]

Thank you so much for all these, I can't tell you how much I love discovering these things. It has been an unexpected bonus for me that fandom lets me hang aorund people like you who know stuff! I am going to set aside an evening to explore them all.

[gnatkip]

Heh, I don't know much; I just like gadgets and whatsits. ;) Hope you find some useful stuff.

[yourlibrarian]

# Removes "Comments & Responses" and "Related Videos," with the option to toggle them back on. Fantastic. Because YouTube comments are the sort of thing that you shouldn't have to face unless you're actively seeking punishment.

Hee! Wow is this true. I forget sometimes how intelligent this corner of LJ is by comparison.

Re: the StatCounter, have you found it to be useful? How does it compare to ljtoys?

[gnatkip]

I love the statcounter, yes! I have one on my sidebar, my profile, and a couple on select posts like this and my art index. Occasionally it displays wrong, and some words are visible, so I wrap the code in this:

I've thought about ljtoys, but I've never actually used it. I understand it's on every post, and it makes a guess on the usernames of who's looking? It seems like it has the potential to make me paranoid(er), heh. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding it. Because statcounter can tell you country and ISP info on your visitors, too -- not just a head count -- if you go to the trouble of clicking that button. Do you use it? Would you recommend it?

[yourlibrarian]

Yeah I think the ljtoys is pretty useful. There's both a paid and unpaid version and I use the free one so I can't speak to all its features. The downside is that you have to log in at least once a week for it to keep tracking your stats. I usually do but sometimes I'm traveling or I forget in which case it stops collecting, and it also doesn't let you go back longer than a week. So I guess I was wondering about the StatCounter's longevity.

Otherwise they seem to do much the same -- ljtoys requires you to either load a mood theme in your journal or paste a line of code in each post. It tracks IP and countries and, as you said, guesses at users. Does it allow you to track hits per post or is it a general journal visit tally?

[gnatkip]

Ah, thanks for the info about ljtoys

[la_fono]

Thanks for those! I've just started to run Firefox on the Mac - it'll be interesting to see if the extensions work on both platforms, particularly the IJ Skins Greasmonkey script. The default 20% grey page is nasty for viewing art on. :P

Free, invisible hit counter that works with plain html, not javascript. In the interest of disclosure, there's one on this page right now! *paranoia fingers*
Haha! Is that like Burns!fingers, or something ruder? *hopeful* :D

*pootles off for another look at Part One*

[gnatkip]

I was wondering while I was drafting this what browser you use most, actually! I should probably have said something about these being from a Windoze-centric perspective. :\

SHOCKINGLY RUDE.

;)

[la_fono]

You were? Hee! Well, a week or two ago I would have said Safari, but I found out it was that that was slowing the entire system down (to the extent I was debating some extra RAM), so now I'm giving Firefox a go. :)

I should probably have said something about these being from a Windoze-centric perspective. :\

I don't think you have to worry, actually! All the extensions seem to be bi- or multi-lingual, as far as I can make out, anyway ;P

YUM.

[dbassassin]

Thanks - some of these look really useful even for a non-power user like me.

# Cuz the Face Ain't Listening

Hide entries in communities based on the poster's username, with an option to toggle them back on.

I think I love you. Seriously, I've been looking (admittedly, not very hard) for something like this for years.

*scurries off to download*

[gnatkip]

Hee! Love the people who built the stuff; I'm just reporting. ;)

Isn't "Cuz the Face" a cool idea? It doesn't work for all layouts, but I believe that it can be adapted for several of them. (Except Smooth Sailing, which I'm using now, argh. I'm about to change my layout over to Expressive, though.) I'm assuming that it would be adapted in the same way as Talk to the Hand, and those instructions are here.

[spectralbovine]

Thanks! Some of these are really useful. I especially love the inline commenting feature; I've been wanting that for ages. I hope it works well.

Heh. It didn't. I think that's the same one I tried before that didn't work. Le sigh.

[gnatkip]

Oh noes. Maybe it's not playing well with your layout? Did you enable ?nc= comments? Sorry. :(

[spectralbovine]

Oh, actually, I hadn't. But...even when I did, it was screwy. It didn't work like the picture showed. My layout's not even that complicated.

But I really like that IMDb one! I'm going to have to get used to having to click, but I think it's worth the feeling of safety! Because it's hard to avoid seeing some of those things when you're just browsing, and sometimes I just can't help not looking because it's right there on the page. This way I shouldn't get spoiled by Plot Keywords like "Twist at the End." GEE, THANKS.

[gnatkip]

Oh, there's also LJ Instant Comment, but I haven't tried it.