(back to ao3-ing)

userscript recommendations

as you might be able to tell from the fact that i, like, made a whole-ass website and then put a whole-ass lot of effort into it for some god-forsaken reason, i like it when coding can be used to achieve custom effects. stuff like browser extensions and userscripts tend to be a pretty integral part of my online existence as a result.

a recent firefox update on mobile andriod devices allowed for the installation of the tampermonkey browser extension on, like, y'know, mobile devices, so you can actually use all these things on mobile if you use firefox on an android device! :D

anyway, userscripts are basically just little browser scripts one can install on their internet browser with, like tampermonkey (or greasemonkey or greasyfork (i forgot what they're called outside of firefox lol but you get the idea)), and then they'll, like, do shit for you.

…just take my word on it for now n lemme show you stuff, though bear in mind that all these screenshots are of slightly modified versions of the scripts linked. if you want to know more abt my modifications or have a copy or w/e, feel free to shoot me an ask.

without further ado~

1. ao3 floaty review box

   

   this was the userscript that introduced me to userscripts. i learned about it in a text post on tumblr, and it has served me well in the years.

   basically, what it does is it lets you make a little pop-up box that you can type into as you read a fic! like using one's notes app to write comments as you read, but it's, like, right there for you now! it even automatically transfers what you type into the comment box at the bottom :^)

   the userscript linked also has other features, like sorting bookmarks by kudos and adding first/last chapter buttons on works, but i mostly use it for the review box and first/last chapter buttons, so i modified the script i installed slightly to just include those things. the default script also has the ability to bring up a pop-up with review tips, or insert highlighted text into your review box, but i also commented those out of the version shown in the screenshot bc i don't use them lol

   the most common version of this script (as in the one you'll find by just googling "floaty review box" or smth) also adds a "download" button to work indexes, but the way that version worked was that it would literally access every single fic listed's first page to fetch its download link, thus putting you in ao3 jail pretty often and also filling up your ao3 history with literally every single fic whose summary you so much glanced at lol. that version is no longer actively maintained by the creator, which is why i linked to a version being maintained by someone else, who is doing so w/the original coder's blessing hehe

   

   this script has to be mod­i­fied slightly to be aes­the­tic­ally pre­sen­table on mo­bile (as seen on the right), but hon­estly not that much, since the only changes are made to the css aspect of the script, and not the witch­craft that is javascript.

   well, i say that like it's obvious how to modify the script.

   i'm not very good at explaining compsci anything, but basically just open up the script editor in tamper monkey and copy-paste this code over everything from where you first see var sHtml = to .draggable().appendTo("body");

   var sHtml = '<p style="position: relative; border-radius:1000px;top:-12px; right:-5px: float:right; z-index:999;" class="close actions" id="close_floaty"><a aria-label="cancel" style="padding:5px; margin: 0px;">×</a></p>';
// Button to insert highlighted text and for a help list
// sHtml += '<ul class="actions" style="float: left; margin-top: 10px;"><li id="insert_floaty_text"><a>Insert</a></li><li id="pop_up_review_tips"><a>Review Tips</a></li></ul>';
// Textarea
sHtml += '<textarea style="box-sizing:border-box; position:relative; top:-65px; font-size:0.9em;margin: 2px 5px; width: 98%; max-width:99% min-height: 3em!important;max-height:99%;height:95%" id="floaty_textarea"></textarea>';

   // Create popup box
   jQuery("<div/>", {
       id: "reviewTextArea",
       width: 380, // Change for dimensions
       height: 200, // Change for dimensions
       css: {
           backgroundColor: "#ffffff",
           opacity: 0.75,
           border: "thin solid black",
           display: "inline-block",
           "padding-right": 2,
           position: "fixed",
           top: 300,
           right: 5
       },
       html: sHtml
   }).resizable().draggable().appendTo("body");
   

   
   

2. ao3 sticky filters

   this screenshot was taken on 1 may 2023, when genshin had 131,257 works in its tag.
   [larger img here]

   okay this one is technically called "saved filters" but for some reason i dubbed it "sticky filters" in my head and there is no going back from it now.

   basically, what this script does is that it makes an extra drop-down in the filter sidebar, where you can put in some things you want to always have filtered out, either on a global scale or a per-fandom case.

   aaaaaaaas you can see i have a LOT of shit i have permanently filtered out, affectionately dubbed "the cocktail" lol. a lot of stuff is kinda minor depending on what circles of the fandom you're searching, but since i tend to hang out in various spheres, i have to filter a lot of shit out to catch everything, hence why i literally filter out 45% of the fics tagged as genshin lol.

   in case you're wondering what all this filter_ids nonsense is, you can read about it on the old-fashioned filtering page (when i get to it lol), but basically, since this filter just automatically inputs your permafilters into the search within results box, whatever you put into your permafilter boxes is beholden to the search within results box syntax and will catch everything from author's notes to fic summaries if you input plain english otherwise.

   the filter_ids method for filtering also requires this ao3 tag id fetcher bookmarklet by flamebyrd

   "this is a lot of work–" shhhh. shhh. i know. but at least i never have to see my notps or kinks i'm not into ever again.