Hey everyone! Happy 810NICLE Day. I’m James, developer of Wall of History. Today, I’d like to go over some of the changes we’ve made to the site for Artakha’s Update, which was released earlier today. To begin, let’s take a look at an example page.

The first thing you’ll notice on visiting the new Wall of History is the updated user interface, which we feel is much cleaner and less intrusive than what we had before. The design of the site has also been streamlined internally, meaning further improvements based on user feedback can now be made faster than they were before.

You’ll also notice a button to the side with a sun or moon icon — this allows you to swap between our default dark mode and our new light mode, a change which the site will remember when moving from page to page. The addition of a light mode was an accessibility feature requested by one of our users, which we hope will improve the reading experience for those of you who’d prefer the site this way.

Beneath the color scheme button are two more new buttons, which allow you to increase or decrease the size of the text on pages. This, like light mode, was an accessibility feature requested by one of our users, and like with light mode and dark mode, the site will automatically remember your preference when moving from page to page.

You may also notice that some pages in the table of contents now have a download button beneath the font size buttons. Most written works on Wall of History now have downloads available, which will typically include .DOCX, .PDF, and .EPUB files.

The settings page has also received some streamlining, with simple drop-down menus that allow you to include or exclude works based on things like author and media type. The settings page also allows you to select a language of preference — once you’ve chosen one, the site will automatically display contents in that language if we happen to have them in that language.

Next, let’s look at content pages. First and foremost, these pages now feature paragraph anchors, which will be reflected in the URL when clicked, allowing you to share a link to any one paragraph directly. Links to our reference modals are also now boldface, making it easier to tell when you can click on these terms to learn more about them.

Content pages also now have settings buttons of their own — these allow you to swap between different versions of a given work, as well as all the different languages we have it in. For example, on the page for BIONICLE #1: The Coming of the Toa, you can swap between the original printing, the 2003 Limited Collector’s Edition, and the version included in BIONICLE #1: Rise of the Toa Nuva. On the page for chapter one of BIONICLE Chronicles #1: Tale of the Toa, you can swap between the English and Spanish versions of the chapter.

In addition to these improved customization options, we’ve also begun improving the contents of Wall of History themselves — several comics, such as BIONICLE Ignition #2: Vengeance of Axonn, have had their scans replaced with much higher-quality versions, and we’ve got even more of these improved scans in various stages of the editing process right now (more information on when those will be released can be found below).

The last major feature to come with Artakha’s Update is the “read as standalone” option on multi-part works like novels and serials. This option allows you to read these works independently of your overall reading order, without any other works woven into them. The save and load buttons will remember which reading order is active at any given time, so you don’t have to worry about overwriting anything — and when you return to the site and click “read” on the homepage, you’ll be prompted to select what you want to continue reading.

While developing Artakha’s Update, initial progress was made on several further additions and improvements, most notably a completely overhauled and expanded reference database. While these weren’t ready for today’s update, most of them are already nearing completion, and will see the light of day soon through one of two upcoming update projects.

The first of these update projects is tentatively titled Artakha’s Big Month. For the entire month of September, we’ll be making one small addition to the site — such as a new comic scan or a book chapter in a new language — every single day. These will be announced each day on our official Twitter account, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with them!

Following Artakha’s Big Month, we’ll be releasing another collection of site design improvements, including the aforementioned reference database update. This follow-up to Artakha’s Update will be released on October 8th.

If you’d like to offer any suggestions for these update projects or provide any feedback on today’s update, you can do so by joining Wall of History’s official Discord server. We hope you enjoy the new Wall of History, and that you have an excellent 810NICLE Day!