News Archive

  • 197 weeks
    Downtime & Server Move

    Hi all. Firstly, apologies for the extended period of unexpected downtime. Obviously any kind of downtime is non ideal, but unexpected is more annoying all around.

    On Friday morning (GMT) we experienced a hardware failure on our database server. To our knowledge there is no data loss of any kind. We have fairly regular backups hosted off-site, regardless. The exact cause isn't entirely clear at this time, but instead of wrestling with trying to get the hardware sorted (it was a dedicated server) we decided that this was a good opportunity to make a server move we've been planning for a long time over to Digital Ocean.

    Read More

    236 comments · 15,316 views
  • 274 weeks
    BBCode updates

    Performance improvements

    Over the last few days I've been working on improving the performance of the BBCode parser. I've managed to implement a few major optimizations, reducing the run time in common cases to around 1/4th to 1/20th compared to the older version. This has reduced total server-side render times on some of the more complicated test pages I've been using to around 50ms–70ms, which should be a noticeable improvement.

    New features

    Opacity

    Read More

    49 comments · 4,871 views
  • 297 weeks
    Recent Changelog

    We've done various unannounced changes of the past few weeks so I thought I'd group up the things we've done so you guys know what's changed.

    • Added account linking page for Patreon / Twitter
    • Added ability to cross post stories, blogs and bookshelf additions to Twitter
    • Added twitter userpage module
    • Added account deletion page
    • Reorganised user toolbar dropdown to better fit more items
    • Added session management page to see logins and active sessions on your account
    • Added new articles system and moved some existing ones into it
    • Redesigned PM page a bit to be cleaner
    • Increased font size in major places across the site to improve readability
    • New cookie consent controls for EU users and updated privacy policy
    • Recommended groups list on groups page - WIP
    • Tooltips in many locations around the site with helpful tips

    Read More

    114 comments · 5,990 views
  • 298 weeks
    Help Articles

    Something I've worked on the last couple of days is adding the ability for us to add arbitrary "articles" to the site which we can use for various things. Sort of an extension on the manual articles we've added in the past like the bbcode page, writing guide, etc.

    So far I've added 3 guides:

    I'd love to know if you guys have any idea for articles that would have helped you out when starting out or anything else that comes to mind.

    65 comments · 5,166 views
  • 325 weeks
    Night Mode

    I've been working on it for ages but only really got the impetus to finish all of it off over the last few days. In the "settings" dropdown at the top on desktop, or the bottom of the slide out bar on mobile you'll find a toggle for night mode. Enjoy!

    Oh, and although I've tried to cover everything there is a 100% chance I've missed styling some things so apologies in advance for any funky pages.

    246 comments · 6,754 views
  • 326 weeks
    Additional Search Update

    Hey folks,

    Over the last few days I've added a few things to the new search system. A lot of people were unhappy with not being able to filter various things as quickly as they used to be able to. To that end, I've added a little filter dropdown to the right of the search box which effectively contains everything the old sidebar used to. It even has some niceties like quick word count filters and a highly rated filter.

    Read More

    132 comments · 5,270 views
  • 327 weeks
    December 2017 Update

    Hey guys, got a whole bunch of updates for you today.

    Tags

    This is a small but important step on our way to the tagging system I envision. The existing way we handled things like characters and genres has all been merged into a single tagging system. That won't result in much difference for you viewing and using the site but it makes it a lot easier to add new tags especially.

    We now have a couple of new tag types: series and warnings.

    The series tag is for identifying what series (franchise) your fanfiction contains. I've added a whole ton of various TV shows, movies, comics, books and games but clearly we will have to add a ton more in the coming future. Stories must also contain one of the four MLP tags which are FIM, EqG, Movie and Comic, as this is a pony fanfic site after all. Feel free to bug me on Discord if you have a requirement for a series to be added.

    Read More

    630 comments · 13,753 views
  • 327 weeks
    Math BBCode tag

    I've added [math] and [mathblock] BBCode tags, which can be used to display formatted math. We've had a few requests for this, particularly for group forum threads and blog posts. Most math-related TeX syntax is supported. (We are currently using MathJax to handle the layout.)

    The documentation from the BBCode guide is repeated below for your convenience.

    Read More

    84 comments · 4,394 views
  • 350 weeks
    Fimfiction API

    If you're not a developer you can probably ignore this post.

    It's been like 6 years, but hey, things take time. The API is currently very WIP still but it's ready for people to get working on in our development chat room.

    API documentation can be found at https://www.fimfiction.net/developers/api/v2/docs and you should join the Discord Chat and PM me to add you to the private API channel and I can help you get started. The functionality is very limited right now but I'm dedicating all my time to it at the moment and would love to have people add their input to the process.

    60 comments · 7,365 views
  • 354 weeks
    New BBCode Tags

    Hey guys,

    One of the features in this new update was reader-side paragraph formatting. This helps improve consistency for readers across the site, especially for those of us who can’t stand reading indented text on a computer screen.

    However, one thing that wasn’t accounted for was the legitimate need for specific indenting of passages and for certain blocks of text to have no paragraph formatting. Some examples would be lyrics and poetry.

    Taking this into account, we have come up with a couple of new tags that remedy this situation which are documented below (copied directly from the bbcode guide)


    [indent] Indent

    The indent tag can be used to, unsurprisingly, indent portions of your text.

    [indent]The indent tag can be used to, unsurprisingly, indent portions of your text.[/indent]

    It also support levels of indenting

    Read More

    168 comments · 6,377 views
May
27th
2015

Site Update » New user/story headers · 8:27pm May 27th, 2015

I've updated the user and story headers today to bring them more in line with the rest of the site and stop them being between the nav bar and user toolbar, which was always stupid. Functionally basically nothing has changed but if you have any issues, let us know.

Only real change is that the online/date joined indicator for user pages is shifted to the bottom left for wide monitors.

Hopefully you like the new look!

Report knighty · 3,126 views ·
Comments ( 137 )

Brace yourselves, drama is coming.

By the way, nice update.

3103668 No one can prepare for it....

I approve of this new look.

3103668 I only miss the days when this site had color.

i like the new look. It is clean and efficient. Thank you for your hard work in making the site better!

:heart:

I approve of the new look Knighty. Where are you getting your site design tips from?

It looks far better and is much more intuitive!

Next update can we get a system to save blog posts like bookshelves?

I like it, it's just really gray is all. Anything you could do about that?:twilightsmile:

Is that why the avatar bar things are new looking?

One moment, I was looking at how it used to look about 5 minutes ago...and then I refreshed the page. I was like "OOOHH! NICE!"

I can take or leave it. Lot of empty space to the upper right now though, it feels like it could use some improvement there.

3103687 The site does already calculate per-user background colours for the pop-ups when you hover over a user name. Could this colour be reused in the user banner?

3103702 I think that'd be nice. It's too dull right now.:applejackunsure:

3103676 It would surely be nice to have more options to customize the site. Everyone likes to personalize their pages, even something as simple as color schemes.

3103702
3103710
Seconded!

Also, is anyone else hoping Knighty creates a section on story pages where the author can find out everypony who has favorited said story?

fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2015/019/3/b/sig_by_flyingbrickanimation-d8elwjm.png

Jeb's Law: Regardless of what change you do, no matter how small, someone will complain.

3103728 I'm just hoping for some color is all. I don't mind change, but it's just gray now. The change is nice actually, the sites just too bland looking you know?:applejackunsure:

I'm not a fan of this change because it's increasing the move toward the entire site design being excessively bright. Some contrast is a good thing, and you've pretty much taken away the only real piece of contrast there was. It actually hurts to look at the new design.

I don't really have anything against the new look, but when I'm using mobile, the drop down list icon for user headers is ever-so-slightly more difficult to see now:

i.imgur.com/zNSyK15.jpg
i.imgur.com/BqbXlGb.jpg

When the header had a black background it was easy to see because of the three white lines, so is there any chance at all of maybe making those three lines darker against this light background? I do realize that this is a very, very minor thing... :unsuresweetie:

Kinda preferred the old header. I liked the dark look of it. But the new one is okay, so I'll just get used to it.

3103702 That would be great

It's good.

Five minutes of UserStyle editing later and it now fits in with what I like as well.

Keep up the good work, knighty.

Can we call this whole affair the Banner Saga and wait for King to sue us?

This change is alright with me. Not limiting to the user like previous changes.

Not bad. I like this a lot, dude.

~Skeeter The Lurker

...Wait, what?

No one is bitching yet? No one has a problem yet?

This... This is a record! And maybe a sign? Of the endtimes?

Someone hold me I'm scared now.

~Skeeter The Lurker

I liked the dark colored header better--I thought it provided a nice contrast between the header and the rest of the page.

It's a very minor gripe, though. I'm sure if I was tech-savvy enough, I could find a way to change it on my display. And I'll be honest, this site is so many leagues ahead of Fictionpress in terms of . . . well, everything.

I like it. Though in the future can we pick the color or possibly image for it in the future to personalize it?

Regardless of how fimfiction's current users take to this change, I can guarantee this won't help attract newcomers. One would expect a site dedicated to colorful cartoon equines to have more contrasting colors in its design, and that lack of contrast now will be very off-putting to anyone looking to join.

The big question here is why was this necessary to keep the site running at max efficiency? If you see this, knighty, an explanation would definitely be appreciated.

3104001

Don't forget this site is dropping all MLP branding as much as possible, it is going to be open to all content as a general fiction site at some point in the future.

3104001

more contrasting colors

This. I'm OK with the rest of the design, but it'd be nice to get a little more of this.

So they keep changing things. Some changes are ok others are not.

Functionally, it's fine. No worries. It's just not much to look at, aesthetically.

Ah well. I'll live.

Thanks knighty!

I like the compact style of the icon bar but I find the pink-flesh-tone color a bit weird against the gray. It doesn't really feel right to me (whereas I thought the black looked very stylish).

Well. This feels entirely superfluous.
I mean, the only BAD thing about it is it makes my userscripts bork up, but beyond that, it will be relatively easy to get used to (compared to all the other changes this site has gone through anyway). It just feels... meaningless. A pointless change for change's sake. Nothing WRONG with it, but I don't understand why you would go through the effort of making something so utterly meaningless happen and making us go through the effort of having to deal with it when there is no benefit or actual improvement to the site to speak of.

I'm not a fan of your obsession with making everything gray/beige, though. I seriously don't get that.

3104025

Which is still going to end in pain no matter how it's organized or how many spins you put on it.

{Sees Knightly approaching}
Brace yourselves every Brony... 'Tinter' is coming...

Sorry, sorry... had to do it.

All kidding aside, I'm liking the new look.
Clean, very pro.

knighty
Site Owner

3104070 All the colours are beige. If you're seeing them as grey/pink you have monitor calibration issues ( or colour perception issues I guess )

3104025 No, it is not! Knighty (and others among the staff have already, several times, that FIMFiction will remain the way that it is, and that Knighty is going to have a gateway (I think that that's the term) for general fanfiction that will also be part of the site itself.

That part will be separate from FIMFiction, but still, somehow, part of the site itself.

And if I repeated myself there, I'm sorry. I just wish that people would get it right about this, and quit assuming that FIMFiction as a site is going away completely.

It isn't.

3104073 - hmmm, I think you're right, I just checked it out on my Android phone and the colors look better there. I'm running Linux Mint on my laptop so I probably can't rely too much on my graphics drivers anyway :)

3104025 That's never been how the upcoming non-FIM site had been described. Every time it has been mentioned by Knighty he has stated that Fimfiction would remain a filtered view that only shows pony stories, with a separate site that doesn't have the filter being the new site. There would be no reason related to that particular change for the MLP branding to be dropped from the filtered site.

Any branding removal (like what already happened to the site logo) is far more likely to be for copyright reasons.

3103759 If your screen actually hurts to look at, your brightness is too high and you need to calibrate your display before you cause permanent issues with your eyes (no joke, seriously this can and does end in impaired eyesight if you ignore it long enough). That's not a design issue - the new design is good because it improves visual integration, actually - it's an equipment issue on your end. Your monitor / screen should never be placed at settings that actually hurt you at a normal viewing distance, even on a fully white screen.

...It'll take some getting used to, but it's okay I guess? You should probably get rid of the header colour choice in the Avatar section, since that's been redundant since the last change.
I preferred the customisation that this site had when I joined, since then I could choose colours that matched my theming, but it's better than the stuff my favourite and former favourite websites are doing (I dislike it when websites move their settings to a dropdown menu for no apparent reason ._.)

Seeing the same 3-ish downvotes on all the positive comments... How odd.

Meeester
Moderator

3104110
That's all of the people with Banner userscripts.

This change is bland.

Yea, I understand it makes the site look cleaner, but, why? MLP is a colorful show with colorful characters and colorful personalities, and the site has been reduced to just being beige.

The only colorful thing on user pages now are the avatars (and whatever pictures you add on the page itself) It just feels limited.

I feel like the big thing in today's society is simplicity, many websites just have one color and it keeps it simple and symmetrical, however this site has always allowed customization, and now I feel like it's becoming really generic.

Eldorado
Moderator

3104101 I wish more people would consider this as an option worth investigating rather than immediately blaming site design. I had this exact problem when the custom backgrounds first went away, and I was annoyed at how the site looked. But it was legitimately my monitor being a piece of junk and not calibrated properly.

Monitors shouldn't hurt your eyes, period. If they do, then you've got too much brightness for the ambient light level in the room and need to adjust it.

Eh... I dunno... It feels weird... :applejackunsure:

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