Browser Extension: Library

I’ve written a tiny extension that extracts some of your written work from ‘Curiosity’ into a new ‘Library’ category of the inventory. (It’s been whitelisted by Failbetter.)

There was a bit of discussion over on the subreddit, in which a few people expressed some interest in thinning out the Curiosity category, specifically collecting written work into its own place. It seems like a pretty benign idea, and conceptually it’s very similar to Conversion Helper, so I’ve knocked something together.

When you install it, you’ll see a new ‘Library’ category appear in the inventory section of the ‘Myself’ tab. Written works that you’ve created (and a couple of other booky things) will have moved out of ‘Curiosity’ into the new category. (The list of works is incomplete; see the note at the end of this post.) That’s all it does! It’s purely cosmetic and embarrassingly basic.

It’s available on the Chrome Web Store here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fallen-london-library/dodefappijdnbfcgmkbpenopdnnhmnki

It’s available for Firefox here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fallen-london-library/

The source code is on Github here: https://github.com/gallmarch/fl-library

The list of items affected is very, very incomplete. I’d like to move all the short stories, novels, and poems into the Library, but I’ve only been able to address the items that I have in my inventory (and I tend to sell my short stories). If FBG whitelist this, then I’ll edit this post with a request for help in filling out the list.

Let me know if there are any bugs, conflicts, or whatnot.
edited by Gallmarch on 1/12/2018
edited by Gallmarch on 1/25/2018
edited by Gallmarch on 1/26/2018

Thanks for doing this! I just checked it out and it successfully creates the Library category and moved 15 items over there. Looks like this: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

However, the bottom of my Curiosity section has a bunch of spaces and shadowed spots, like this: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Thank you! Works great for me. (I do have the shadowed spot issue, but only two spots and they’re flush with the rest of the Curiosity section, so I didn’t even notice them before reading idyl’s post).

Some more books:
Copy of your Bazaarine Tale - 134899
Copy of your Patriotic Adventure - 630
Copy of your Tale for the People - 134898
Copy of your Tale of Espionage - 134897
Copy of your Tragedy of Romance - 632
Short Story - 18101
On the Maladies of Goats, volume 1 - 398

Adding to the list gathered so far, here are the rest of the book-related items in my Curiosity section:

Book of Hidden Bodies - 746
Classic Short Story - 18381
Compelling Short Story - 18308
Competent Short Story - 18100
Copy of your Nocturnal Rhapsody - 134942
Copy of your Ode to the Elder Continent - 134941
Copy of your Zeefaring Epic - 134940
Exceptional Short Story - 18310
Extraordinary Short Story - 18311
Illicit Volume of Unexpectedly Racy Fungal-Themed Poetry - 116304
Masterful Short Story - 18312
Tear-Drowned Collection of Incomprehensible Love-Poems - 107623
Thrilling Short Story - 18309
Unloved Short Story - 18379

[i]edited by idyl on 1/12/2018[/i]

ETA: idyl got there first

Maybe - Unusual Love Story - 829 (Though it’s currently in Goods)
edited by genesis on 1/12/2018

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I can reproduce the bug that some of you are experiencing. (Just when I think I completely understand the intricacies of Fallen London’s layout, it finds a way to surprise and stymie me. Very appropriate.)

There are two ways I can think of to fix it: one that is quick but extremely inelegant, and one that is reasonably nice but requires a little bit more thought. I’ll have to take a look in the morning (I’m on GMT). I will fix the bug first and then add the extra items. I hope that’s OK with everyone. Thanks for bearing with me!

(For the record, if you aren’t experiencing the spaces-and-spots issue that idyl reported above, it’s because the number of items moved out of your Curiosity category is a multiple of 6. Seven, it appears, is not always the number…)

Not sure weather to mention it, but even though we may never be able to get it again it might be worth adding the A Sealed Copy Of The Crimson Book item for those that already have it.

I’ve just published version 0.0.5 for Chrome and Firefox, which should gradually propagate (or you can update your extensions manually). This update adds the new item IDs (I think — let me know if I missed one) and should fix the layout bug.

I definitely don’t have a copy and it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting one any time soon, but if you (or anyone who owns one) can get me the relevant ID, I’ll add it!

Thanks for doing this! It looks great!

Everything looks to be working correctly. Thanks again!

As for the Crimson Book, I’m not sure how I feel. It’s the top tier item in the Contraband section. As much as it is a book and would be the prize of anyone’s Library, I’m torn if it should stay in its current section. Everything else so far has been from the Curiosity section, correct?

[quote=idyl]Everything looks to be working correctly. Thanks again!

As for the Crimson Book, I’m not sure how I feel. It’s the top tier item in the Contraband section. As much as it is a book and would be the prize of anyone’s Library, I’m torn if it should stay in its current section. Everything else so far has been from the Curiosity section, correct?[/quote]
I’m in favour of only moving things from the Curiosity section to the Library,

After all, we have things like Muscaria Brandy and Amanita Sherry listed as Infernal items, and not under Wines.

For the same reason, Diaries of the Dead and Intriguer’s Compendiums should remain under the Rumour section, and Journals of Infamy and Uncanny Incunabulum (what the plural of that anyway?) should remain under Mysteries. And Volumes of Collated Research should remain under Academic.

(and for the Crimson Book, at least, there’s a good in-game reason: it’s a Sealed Copy of the Crimson Book, and the picture is not of a book but of a box. So it’s not something to browse in one’s library, but something to keep in a vault.)

Incunabula :-)
edited by genesis on 1/13/2018

Really nice extention. I wish it was available for Edge and Opera, too (I play four characters at the same time, so I use a different browser for each).

I found a minor glitch, though: Unusual Love Stories get added to the library, but they are not removed from the Goods section, so they appear duplicated.

Other than that, everything looks perfect. Thanks!

Is there a reason that Unusual Love Stories are in the Goods section anyway? Maybe it’s a good idea to leave that out of the Library section, since it’s not originally from Curiosity, like everything else.

You can play multiple characters using only Chrome - just use different browser profiles for each.

You can play multiple characters using only Chrome - just use different browser profiles for each.[/quote]
Or use Incognito mode (Ctrl+Shift+P); find it more suitable than changing profiles.

You can play multiple characters using only Chrome - just use different browser profiles for each.[/quote]
Or use Incognito mode (Ctrl+Shift+P); find it more suitable than changing profiles.[/quote]
As far as I know, you can only use Incognito mode for one other character at a time.

There’s no need to change profiles. Just create one profile per character and have a browser window opened for each. (Also, for each browser profile window, you can have its own Incognito mode window, so that way you can have just 2 profiles for your 4 characters).

Thanks for the thoughtful discussion on the extension’s scope, everyone. I’ve decided to limit the contents of the Library to items from the Curiosity section — both for the reasons mentioned above and because it follows the time-honoured principle of least astonishment. I’d prefer people not to have to guess whether I’ve seen fit to move items from other categories into the Library. I’ve just published version 0.0.6, which implements this change.

I haven’t heard back from FBG — it’s the weekend, and whitelist requests are pretty low-priority, I imagine (and hope!) — so don’t get too attached to the extension yet. Bug reports and missing Curiosity items are welcome in the meantime, of course.

Just installed this and noticed a few missing ones:

Celebrated Short Story - 18396
Note: A Meeting in the Forgotten Quarter - 399
Trade Secret - 13640

The latter two are more dubious but thought I’d mention.

I just finished collecting all the short stories and this is a godsend to keep the Curiosities section from being so cluttered.
edited by Kaijyuu on 1/21/2018

Incunabula