[March 5, 2023]
Finally! Site move all done. I had to switch providers a few times. Had to reupload and change database log in so many times that I got all mixed up about what I already did and didn't do. Ended up separating my domain and hosting, but phew. Glad that's done. Now we're good for another three years until the introductory rate expires and I switch again.
Also, I will be going on vacation at the end of the month so am working hard to build a stash. You'll likely see several more updates in the coming weeks, then a lull. Not sure what my net access will be or how inclined I will be to translate while on vacation.
[February 22, 2023]
New server required stronger passwords on file folders so had to add in some caps. Password updated in Patreon post.
[February 14, 2023]
Changing domain name and servers. Notes: If using cPanel then zip all files first and transfer. Extract. cPanel does not allow folders to be transfered over. NameServers: site address linking to the web from the serving host not domain host unless both are the same. Need it for identification.
Archives 2022
[January 2, 2022]
Baby's got a better routine for napping and feeding so I can feed myself better now. Ha. I don't have to be afraid of going to the bathroom and leaving this kid alone either. Babies... the moment you leave they hit a high note. I find that balloons serve as a wonderful distraction though.
Experimenting with using Word diction more, so editing won't be a top priority for me. Just going to get the chapters out. All those things I had planned on doing this year, what were they again? probably won't be happening. 2022 is going to be on cruise.
Can't believe it's been four years.
Archives 2021
[November 12, 2021]
Confused why the chapters said 250-254 but showed up as 247 and some others? I forgot to sync my folders so the files transfered to the wrong place. It's been corrected.
[October 23, 2021]
Just delivered my first kid, but have to go back to check on stitches. Something slipped so need redoing. There is a lot of pain. The litte guy is early, so needs checking too. Updates will still get posted just not exactly on specific days. Thanks to my two new patreons. Sorry for the bad timing, but my draft updates will be slower than usual.
[September 6, 2021]
Labor Day extras - I don't have any active tier 5 members so I'll post the chapters on here under the tier 5 link.If you have draft access you can of course read them through the draft link.
[July 4, 2021]
Patreon bonus (July 4th) for tier 5 are partially up and available on Patreon and justreads.net.
[May 31, 2021]
Patreon bonus for tier 5 are up on Patreon.
[March 17, 2021]
Added Patreon incentives for OASNG. Please check out the patreon link if you are interested.
[March 3, 2021]
Simplified naming convention: Traditional and simplified.
Currently working on the JavaScript code for it. Will have this for the next stories I work on. Essentially clicking a button will change the names from a traditional one to a more simplified English one. This won’t apply to every name, just the ones that can be a stumbling block.
The script functions, but I can’t make it toggle and it interferes with notes and other hidden texts. A refresh is needed to reset the page and reactivate them, so I’m thinking of an alternate way to do notes that is easy for me to maintain and change. That way it won't be a hassle if I want to do a code overhaul in the future.
I don’t like footnotes or footnote links and I don’t like subscript text either. They move my eyes too much and I feel like I lose my place when I use them. Because of this, I’m leaning towards text blocks similar to the kind found for quotations or highlighted text. They’re easy to read but just as easy to ignore, kind of like advertisements.
On a clear day the sky is blue, the oceans bright, and the breeze gentle. end note
MTL versions for simplified reading.
These are not translations, only a copy and paste done with enough edits to make them readable. There will not be any cross-referencing so they won't be 100% understandable. MTL idiosyncrasies such as false positives and false negatives will abound.
GOOGLE translate: She liked him.
Translation: She did not like him.
And of course lots of unintelligible phrases too.
However the basics like names, pronouns, and tenses will be consistent. So it will be readable MTL, as in your eyes won’t burn from crazy syntax, but just because your eyes won’t burn doesn’t mean your brain won’t fry.
The MTL addition is mainly for me to read ahead in the story so the current chapter I'm working on won't be as frustrating or confusing, but it will also be good for you too!
It'll be good for you if don’t care about the specifics or how things are worded - you just want a vague idea of the plot and how the story ends. The MTL addition will be a very simplified version of the story, so it will use simple words and basic sentence structure.
I’ll start adding MTL this month.
[February 5, 2021]
New schedule all set. Check the side bar for each title.
ATP: Took out comments since it wasn't a story that elicited a lot of discussion. Please use the LCD thread in Novel Updates if you feel like chatting or venting.
OASNG: Going forward, pages will be broken up in chunks of fifty chapters for faster loading.
Made some minor site changes to page content. Closed out old discussion threads and archiving them.
Archives 2020
[December 28, 2020]
I would like to finish Feng Wu's story by 2022 so I am going to shoot for a chapter every other day. It's ambitious. Not sure when my library will reopen to the public (it's where I record my audio) so I'm not sure when I will post another audio of Rebirth. I may just post it as a text when I finish translating. As for Shen Li's story, I'm not sure. It may be 1 or 2 chapters a month. They're long and difficult to translate (takes me 10-12 hours per chapter) so I run out of steam fast.
Will update the site with some cookies so the light/dark mode will be persistent. Just have to clean up my style sheet before I write the code for it. I had been avoiding cookies because I wanted the site to be as minimally intrusive as possible, but I have to add cookies to avoid the flash you get if you use local storage. Otherwise it's still a good private site. No ads, no trackers, nothing. Just reads. Get it? ;) And yes I know the current icon for it is not intuitive, but I like it so I'm using it. Would you believe it took me five hours to make something as simple as that? For something so simple it sure took a long time.
[December 13, 2020]
Um yes more questions about translations. Yes. Yep I have not given up on them yet. On a positive note someone picked up ATP, so if you are jonesing for updates check her site out -toomuchfreetime. I will try to update the translations when I can. Right now I'm still looking for a new place to live. Trying not to give in to any fits of stupidity. And trying really hard to be levelheaded and not be an ass.
May your new year be more fruitful and less vexing than this year. That's a wierd wish. But eh. Hope you all have a good one!
[May 24, 2020]
Hello, yes I'm still translating, just slowly. I got some questions about Shen Li. No I have not dropped the story. I will definitely post it on here if I decide to drop it. Please don't feel like I'm blocking you if you want to translate it. Go for it.
Thank you to everyone for the kind thoughts. I hope you all are doing OK.
[March 26, 2020]
Working from home PROS: munch on snacks whenever, no commute, dress casual. ** Best of all I still have a job. **
Working from home CONS: this weird fear I'm not doing enough work, lots of new programs to learn, frustrating to not have the same access to stuff.
Still trying to set proper boundaries and create a productive workflow without being ridiculous. Still trying to find a good work space. Internet is very slow. . .
So translations sloo too.
Archives 2019
[November 2, 2019]
Qingge Dropped.
[September 29, 2019]
Summer's ending. . . so back to regular updates.
: Working on more Qingge but less ATP.
: Created a separate Youtube channel because I needed more storage space. I was using my personal one before, which really wasn't a great idea. So if you are subscribed to the old one, please switch to this one. I'll republish the videos later.
[July 22, 2019]
Changed the formatting and coloring of the pages. Dark mode is better. The comments are now their own accordions so redirect should auto-open the right section. Increased the font and the spacing between the paragraphs. Had to redo a few of my macros so if there is anything off about the pages please let me know.
[June 30, 2019]
1. ATP // OASNG:
Yes there have been more recently, and consistently too. I’ve been trying very hard so hopefully it’s been a good reading experience. I will try to keep it up for the rest of the summer.
2. Rebirth:
Did my first audio for the story. It was acceptable. I see a lot of places for improvement, which I’ll try to incorporate in the next chapter. Will try for one chapter every other week for the summer. Gonna practice audio production and maybe some art work. I’ve been hankering to do some drawing, so maybe shoot for a video before the end of summer. Please no eyerolls. Please no strange faces. I did say this was experimental. Very experimental. Hahah. What the heck. Whatever. If you want to do a more traditional text translation using the raws please feel free. I realize my style is not for most people. You do yours and I’ll do mine and we can all just get along.
3. Qingge:
. . .
4. Comment:
No longer doing comments at the end of each chapter, instead there's a general one at the bottom of each story. I’m all out of premade files and tables so for now that’s how it is. It’s not hard to create more but it is time consuming, and since comments weren't used much I didn't want to make more. Once I figure out auto notifications it will be back up though. I'm very excited about that. It's on my "to learn" wish list. I’ve also closed out the comments for most of the old chapters. I just did a “find and replace,” so if you spot any strange goobly text, do let me know. I may have just replaced things I didn’t mean to. In general ANY goobly text let me know, 99 out of a 100 it’ll be a “find and replace” gone wrong.
5. Donors:
There’s a shout-out wall on the side panel. Because let's face it, it's a kick seeing your name in places. And since I did that I also did one for comments. LOL. I amuse myself too much with ridiculous things.
6. Close:
It was redundant to have [close] links at the end of each chapter so I won't add them anymore.
[May 12, 2019]
I double posted my comments and my rss feed contents by accident. Then I deleted but deleted a few wrong files. But whatever everything should be back in order.
[May 5, 2019]
Closing OASNG fundraiser commissions early. For more info click here.
[April 29, 2019]
Commenting system fixed.
[April 19, 2019]
I may drop [RJWSHH]. If you are interested in picking it up that would be fantastic. I took off the wall of text so just leave a comment in the last chapter of the story. Thanks.
[April 1, 2019]
[OASNG] fundraiser happening now. Check out the donations and rewards.
[March 17, 2019]
Took comments off for new chapters.
[March 12, 2019]
Hahah! Finally figured out how to format dates in PHP. It's so beautiful. . . so much more readable.
[February 23, 2019]
Yea. . . site is more IE 11 compatible. Got no idea what it looks like on older versions of IE though. Probably rubbish I'm guessing. IE is so complicated to play with. It doesn't like 'sticky' and it doesn't like 'details.
[February 12, 2019]
Notes activate on hover on desktops and on tap on touch devices. Light/Dark mode also works. XML is awesome. Just realized I could write my group updates as an xml file, ignore RSS, and have it pull for me. Completely not clean but works. Hahaha! -giddy laugh of happiness-
[January 30, 2019]
Audio chapters up for OASNG.
I've been wanting to do some narrations, but never got around to it. Finally hunkered down and got a few chapters out. It wasn't as hard as I thought. The most difficult part was learning the software; it was a bit of a learning curve. Hoping things will get easier as I become more familiar with it. I don't really have a style I'm commited to yet so you will see a lot of changes in my vocalizations. I'm also learning to use the audio software so the start is a little rough. And yes I know I'm butchering the names, just go with it OK?
[January 2, 2019]
Each translation now has its own RSS feed. If you subscribe to one please make sure to update using the icon links next to the title.
An Oddette’s Otherworld Odyssey has also been changed to: The Otherworldly Adventures of a Super Naive Girl. Thanks to all those who voted and providing a most amusing Pokemon comparison. NU puts different iterations of names under "Associated Names" so you should be able to search for the story under both names.
edit: Not sure if it’ll stick but I’ll try to add a translator’s synopsis to the description on NU.
[January 1, 2019]
Oddette Title Change
If Oddette was a cultural reference then I would have liked it, but it wasn't. It just feels like an inappropriate play on words. At worst, Feng Wu is a bumpkin from the mountains. Although her lack of social grace makes her disconcerting to deal with, it doesn't make her odd (or afflicted with ODD. I'm not sure how clever it was supposed to be. . . )
"Otherworld" (unless it was a typo and it was supposed to be "other world?") is about the spirit realm, a world beyond death. This world is a magical one, not an otherworld. "Otherworldly" would have been a more apt description. It's an adjective for a magical world, a world of the imagination, which fits when you consider that the girls transmigrated into a novel.
Then there’s "Odyssey". . . Honestly "adventure," though not as fancy, would have sufficed as a more accurate description and translation of Feng Wu's transmigration.
Put together "An Oddette's Otherworld Odyssey" suggests an "odd" girl's adventures through the afterlife. . . which is not what the story is about.
The meaning behind the title should be: (some adjective for not being sharp) girl other world go.
There are a lot of ways to say it in English, but "An Oddette's Otherworld Odyssey," though cute, is a misleading one. thus my constant irritation whenever I'd go to post an uppub. At first it was a tiny nag, but the more I got to understand Feng Wu's character and the story setting, the more the title bothered me, thus the title change. At the same time I didn't want to do it and possibly suffer the wrath of Potatoes alone, so I made it democratic with a vote.
Archives 2018
2018: End of Year Updates
OK. . . OK. I wrote this earlier thinking I was done for the year but I got absorbed in coding and ended up changing a lot of stuff around - a crazy amount of design.
Update is long. I highlighted the important points. Just skim and read the ones that feel relevant to you. Here’s the short of it:
- changes to notes
- amazon wish list
- Rebirth **hiatus**
- Wattpad retirement
- reading recommendations
1. Changes to notes:
- unknown translations – as in those translations I post the original text for because I have no idea how to interpret them.
- personal asides – I’ll put my thoughts in the comments/header/footer if I feel like sharing.
- cultural terms and definitions – technically still around, just in a much more limited way. If I need to look it up to understand something then I’ll add a note.
Instead notes will be used for:
- editorial notations – such as typos with significant impact to the story line.
- gentle reminders – about plots, names, stuff like that.
2. Coding and gifts
If you send something, great. I’ll be super excited. Just PLEASE make sure you check the box that denotes it as a gift, otherwise I won’t get the option to send you a thank you note.
As for coding, I really got into it. . .
- worked on @media break points and GIMP for photo editing
- got a better grasp of how ordering works in CSS
- switched to a darker tone for the background
- menu changes and so much other stuff!!
- FYI: if you use Windows 10, clicking "crtl+windows key+c" will invert your screen color.
3. Hiatus:
Hiatus will start after chapter 13. Will pick it back up when I’m more caught up with my first love ATP, soft guess will be around July 2019.
4. Wattpad:
Those freebies like Grammarly and Google Docs just can’t hold a candle to it. Even the 365 version of Word doesn’t work as well as the desktop version, all that autosaving just makes it sticky, well at least in the institution version.
Combine the desktop and the app together and I'm pretty satisfied. It does everything I want: style, proofing, and cloud storage. I can work on my things whenever, wherever, on whatever device, with or without internet access, AND it eventually all syncs and saves. Thank goodness; it’s a keeper.
5. Recommendations:
I’m up for native english stories too, ones set in the East/Middle East along the lines of Guy Gavriel Kay or Barbara Wood. If you read the same things I do, throw me some recommendations. Goodreads and Amazon just haven’t given me any good ones lately.
Happy New Year!!!! Kukukuku! I’m having a good time. -nods head-. MORE coding! Yeah I know you want the stories, but hey, how the story is presented is also part of the experience. =)
11.5.2018: Site theme change
So now it's a lighter theme. Maybe keep it as a light theme.
10.28.2018: Wattpad
I used to use Google Docs to store and edit the raws but Wattpad is so much easier to use, especially because I don't usually group edit it with anyone. When my guest editor proofreads it for me I just print out a physical copy and share it that way, so I don't really use Google Docs for collaboration purposes at all, which is where it really shines.
The chapter navigation on Wattpad is smoother and I can even use my laptop to edit offline. Google Docs won't let me do anything offline. Sucks. So I've been gradually moving my edits over to Wattpad. The finished chapters have been published there too. I'll leave the Google Docs chapters I did up but I won't be updating those anymore after this month of releases.
edit: well Wattpad would have been perfect if it kept the quotation marks and apostrophes stylized.
9/10/2018: Admin Comments
- Settled on a way to distinguish admin comments from user comments by creating a NULL row in MYSQL. Enter admin comments directly into the SQL database for replies, then create a CSS rule to display it a little differently.
8/5/2018: RSS and content layout
- Added RSS. The validator shows errors but it doesn’t seem to affect the functionality
- Updated the index page layout
7/26/2018: Security updates
- added more sanitization for the user input fields
- updated ATP page
- made some CSS changes
updates 7.21.2018
- switched to bootstrap and adjusted the accordion
- index page tabs: min-width to make them more uniform
- accordion card animation adjusted so not as harsh on scrollTop
- linked [closed panel] at bottom of the each chapter
- only one accordion pane open at a time.
- updated popovers for all story files with the exception of ATP
- made an outline file for loading up new chapters
- updated index tabs to include more info about the titles
- trying to decide if I want the definition list to be a drop down display as a modal
- Bootstrap 4 is pretty new so I don't think an upgrade will happen too soon so I modified the Bootstrap CSS file directly
- I do like the accordion from Bootstrap because it scrolls with the main window instead of using its own frame scroll
7/17/2018: work on notes
After having gone through the documentation for popper.js I really appreciate the amount of work and thought that was put into the jQuery documentation. The user experience between the two were dramatically different. Even as a newbie I can understand jQuery because it’s so clearly written, not to mention the amount of detailing in all their examples.
Although I liked the idea of poppers.js it was just too hard to understand so I had to nix the idea of using it. Instead I’m just going to go all in on Bootstrap. It’s good. I might as well just use it. I’ll parse out the CSS and mod it. The only failure it has is the lack of address for image inclusion in the popovers. Yes I can add it as a script but to do that for every instance of an image would be cumbersome. So as of right now I still don’t know how to handle images other than to just keep using the tooltip I have now. I may just stick to appending them to the end of the paragraph or include a link instead.
That was two days of solid work. Now I have to go back and update all the notes from the text to the popovers. I may hold of on doing so just because I’m not sure how much I will like Bootstrap. It does take longer to load…
7/16/2018: tooltips, dropdowns, and popovers
So tooltips/popovers/drop downs all it what you will but they are a pain to work with. Depending on where they’re positioned, sometimes they get cut off screen. I’ve fiddled with the css and the html and looked through online but … IT JUST DOESN’T WORK! I was finally going to give up and download Bootstrap because their popovers have the “auto” placement which automatically aligns with the window space. It was beautiful, so beautiful. But I didn’t want to download Bootstrap just for that one thing. Plus I liked my own CSS and tag names. If I got Bootstrap then I’d have to reorient myself to a new naming convention. I was going to bite the bullet but decided to do one final Google search “how does bootstrap align their popovers” and that sent me to Bootstrap’s documentation page. Scrolling through it, I saw the different stipulations for making the popover work… such as the need for popper.js. A javascript library just for popovers?! That’s exactly what I need. It’s all I need. Mini javascript libraries that do just one thing are great!
7/10/2018: Got WAMP set up and other stuff
Got WAMP installed so that’s cool. Now page my counts will actually be more reflective of the real traffic on the site.
Prettied up the index page and added some publication info. I want to put in the auto refresh for the comment box but I don’t want to use innerHTML either. I want to try using CSS to create a night mode and a day mode so I’ve been trying to keep my color palette small and consistent.
The code tab looks so shitty…
7/2/2018: icons and HTTPS
I feel good. Got HTTPS and annoying as hell apple icons in. -thumbs up- The HTTPS was not as bad as I thought it would be. I thought I’d have to install it and all this other stuff but Go Daddy took cared of the entire process for me. I just paid for the SSL and they did all the configurations. The only thing that didn’t go correctly was the redirect. I went into the “hwhateveracess” file and inserted the code for redirects. And it worked for the index page but it failed to work for any of the subfolders even though the code I used was supposed to affect the entire domain. I felt a little bad but I asked NU to update all links for my translations. Wasn’t sure they would but they did. Not only that, they were so FAST! I’m always surprised at their speed.
I also temporarily lightened my accordion colors to bring more attention to the notice banner up top. Will probably take it down in a month.
It also feels like my javascriptcomprehension has leveled up a bit. Will try to use it to make real time update for the comments display.
6/27/2018: drop downs and macros
I noticed the drop down menu css is a lot like the tooltip css so I may just merge the two together to cut down on some of the coding there. Also noticed the drop down is a lot like an accordion… just without the click javascripting…for mobile devices it would work fine to replace with it since there’s no mouseover but for the desktop it would be different. Not sure. Thinking about it.
Placed comments under details tag so it’s out of the way of the main text. It doesn’t show up in all browsers but I’ll work on that some more later. Maybe place it in the drop down as well? Man really feels like the drop down is all powerful here.
Found a format workflow that works for me. Realized I could just use macros in Notepad++ to add my p tags. It was hard to use the copy and paste function cause it felt like I was overreaching with my fingers, so my life is also a lot easier now. Not bothering with aggregator sites anymore either.
Redid some of my html coding too. Yeah I’m one of those people that need to clean their room up before they can study.
6/6/2018: backups are looking good.
Updated the 404 error page to include a Google Docs links to all the chapters. That way if I really mess up people can still read the text version of the story. It won’t be pretty or formatted very well but at least it’s available. As a bonus it’s easy for screen readers. So =) Also did a back up of the site so I feel pretty secure about that.
Looking into RSS/Atom because of a reader comment. Let’s see if I can code one. A static one looks pretty easy to do but I’d prefer to make a dynamic one that updates on it’s own. It looks a little complicated though, seems like I’d have to include a database… which may be beyond my abilities right now. I only barely understand enough to make the one for the comments. Anyways wish me luck!
Also while looking into it I discovered why there were rss requests in my logs. Turns out if you use a CMS like Wordpress for example, even if as a content creator you don’t know about it, there is an rss page for your site already installed. So even if there are no links for a feed sign up readers can still sign up. They’d just have to type in the URL with ‘rss’ at the end. It should work. Sounds interesting. I’m a complete RSS newbie, I haven’t even subscribed to any feeds. I will try figuring it out as this month’s goal. But anyways, it explains why there are people who are searching for justreads.net/rss. I’d never made an rss page so didn’t understand why anyone was searching for it.
Also I feel like my world got rocked a little. Previously I’d always use the html entity &rsquo for apostrophes because when I typed it straight in the code editor it would color the text blue, which I took as a bad sign, like does it think it’s code? But apparently if I just copy and paste, like say from my Google Doc, the text is OK. No color changes. Not sure why that is, but it certainly makes typing a lot easier!
5/23/2018: Tabs
Well I figured out why I got those mysli_num_rows. . . . errors. Turns out it didn’t like the fact that I had html commenting in front of it. -shrug-
Stylized the images and updated the translation tab. While I was at it I also took off the “Fanfic” and “Translation” in the menu bar. One was redundant and the other. . . well. . . honestly. . . whenever I get around to it I can always just add it back in there.
Fixed the opacity of my #container to my liking and added a leafy green background for spring. Currently am working on designing an icon so I can get rid of those annoying “apple whatever icon” errors.
5/17/2018: database errors
So I made my database better and that’s good. . . but now I’m not sure what my error is. Previously I had the comment display in a separate file and there were no errors, but when I put the comment display in the same page as the content I get errors. It still displays fine and everything looks the same so not sure why the error is there. Error message looks like this Warning: mysqli_num_rows() expects parameter 1 to be mysqli_result,
Also why isn’t it consistent? The errors don’t show up in all the iterations, just some of them.
5/13/2018: database renames
Redoing my database so taking off the comments links for now.
5/6/2018: HTML 5 entities
There were many successes and failures. I don’t remember them all. It’s just a haze right now, but some goodies I learned were:
<q> for quick quotations
<details> and <summary> for a straight html drop down display without the javascript, though it does not work on old timey Internet Explorer (Edge is OK though). I will probably just stick with the accordion but this is good to know about.
<small> to display smaller text. Can be used instead of creating a whole new div or span for minor content like notes. It’s not stylized, but for speed it works well. The only downside is it can’t be a child element of block tags like <p>.
I had a copy and paste nightmare with some of the files. It was a catastrophe. A mess, a hot hot mess. I had to just walk away. Good for my translations though as I finally picked them up again.
I think instead of a journal I’ll do an “Errors I learned from” page. Perhaps I’ll start it next week.
4/19/2018: comment box
I’m smirking because everything looks good. Will work on getting the “Translation” page itself formatted something this week or next week. I’m leaning towards using tabs to organize the information.
4/18: PHP MySQL and error_log
I celebrated too soon with the comment box, because although I did create a functioning one that showed up appropriately for the user, I didn’t realize there was such a thing as an “error log” in each folder. I was only aware of the errors generated by MySQL itself. That log is the most useful thing ever, annoying, but super useful. Annoying when there are errors in it, but useful because it tells me where the errors are. So for the comment box there were a slew of error messages in the log. I was shocked. From what I’m given to understand the log helps provide details on errors that may or may not be problematic. It looks at the syntax and other mysterious stuff (to me anyways) and basically just says, “Hey you may want to look at this. Yeah your code runs and it works but. . . best practices are not being followed here.” Basically it was telling me to stop fudging things because there may be consequences in the future. What kind of consequences? Security issues and display issues going forward when other things are entered into the mix. So knowing this I decided to try my best to figure it all out.
And I did.
Absolutely no errors in my log. Completely clean. I am so happy. It was a tremendous amount of work and frustration, from cache clear errors, database server weirdness, to my confusion over my folder bread crumbs. I should have done a better job doing my wireframe. Things are finally settled and it took all of a whole week. Honestly I don’t think that’s too bad.