we need to standardize the series titles. please give input here

[sothis]

i think it's about time we standardize the titles in the database. originally i didn't because it was small, but with its growth (and since i'm restructuring the schema of the anirec atm), i'd like to discuss what a more permanent solution should be.

right now, i simply add the "main" titles. i somewhat arbitrarily choose what the official one will be (i don't always choose japanese vs english, for example)... i choose it based on what seems to be the most popular. i also add alternate titles that are well known. in addition, there's a hidden table you guys don't see, for searchable titles. things like "kiminozo" for kimi ga nozomu eien. usually fansub terms... but these will show you the appropriate entry (the names just don't shwo up in the alphabetical list)

for an example of how other sites do the titles, let's look at anidb. they list pretty much any variation of the title that's used, and list them in the entry itself. the default title that shows up is always japanese (romanji). they also list the kanji equivalent, any english title that seems to show up anywhere (not always the official R1 title, but other ones too), and any fansub/shorthand form that's used anywhere.

this might be practical for anidb, but i don't think it's applicable for anime-planet. first of all, i don't ever want a field that just shows 8 different titles for the same series. i'm open to changing the design/layout of the anirec entries in the future, but really would prefer to not list more than one title in the entry. i think i'd rather let the user choose between romanji and english for the main display, if it comes down to that.

so here are some questions i'm hoping to get your opinions on:

how many/which titles should we display in the alphabetical list?
honestly, i'm considering only listing two at this point: the OFFICIAL japanese version, and the OFFICIAL english version. if it isn't licensed in R1, i don't want to list an english title (or at least mark it somehow that it needs to be checked later if we decide to list the non official version that shows up on ANN).

if we only display the "official" japanese title, what happens if there are multiple variations of it?
for example, Naruto - The Movie versus Naruto: The Movie versus Naruto The Movie. right now, anidb would list all of them. i'd prefer to just list one, but i'm not sure how to decide which format to use. right now i arbitrarily choose one, and put the others in that hidden titles table so if people search for it, it'll show up. i feel like we need to come to some sort of decision about this.

another prime example of this is "this ugly and beautiful world". everyone knows it by that, but i just received the first disc from adv, and it's officially called "this ugly yet beautiful world". in this case, what happens? do i list the official title and not leave "this ugly and beautiful world" up? itll look like crap in the alpha list to leave both right next to each other, and seems silly... do i put the unofficial one in search-only?

what do we do with the shorthand versions of titles?
do i keep them in some sort of hidden table so if you use the search box, the full title shows up? do i list them in the alphabetical search? do i not use them at all? i'm not fond of this last option as people might think the titles aren't in the database at all.

what default title do we show for the entry?
do we select english or japanese by default and then the user can change it? or do i continue making the most well known title as the default, and the only way all english or all japanese shows up is if the user selects it in their control panel? part of the problem now too is that sometimes the full title is too long and wont fit, so i use a shorthand version.

that might be it for now, but i'll add more. please, any opinions would be very useful. i dont like making these decisions by myself.

[SlaserX]

I too noticed this, and was annoyed when four or five entries for the same show pop up. I think you should just put all alternative spellings into your "hidden db" and just have the "official" names show up.

Examples: If I put in "shin seiki ebangerrion" it should show "Neon Genesis Evangelion" in the list.

This way it would keep things streamlined, and all the hard work would not even be seen. People will put in what they will, and what they really wanted will show up.

[sothis]

so you are for the official english/japanese title, and that's it?

my only concern is that in the past, before i would put in a lot of titles, people would email me saying a title didnt show up in the alpha list... like they wouldn't use the search box, they'd look up the letter.

i'd hope that as long as the search box is really visible, they'd think to try that. maybe it's just something we risk for the sake of the list looking better. i could always try to have that kind of thing written up in the new anirec faq, but people might not read that.

what, then, is your opinion on "official" titles that have more than one interpretation? such as whatever - whatever 2 versus whatever: whatever 2

(or even stuff like seriesname!! - whatever versus seriesname! - whatever)

[SlaserX]

I think so long as an official title exists, you should go for it. As for the alpha listings, if they are getting THAT long, then you can just break them up, 10,25,50 a page (maybe an option on the site, stash it in a cookie?) As for different interpretations for one title, I think your best bet is to just strip out all non alphanumeric characters [.:!^] etc. and display the true official title.

As for the search functionality, going back to the previous example, if I just put in "shin", Neon Genesis Evangelion should be in the list (and probably Crayon Shin-Chan and prolly a bunch of other stuff).

That's my take on it anyways.

[sothis]

how about this idea?

in the alpha list, each entry would list all three.

example:

Neon Genesis Evangelion
-新世紀エヴァンゲリオン
-Shinseiki Evangelion

New Kimagure Orange Road
(etc)

admittedly this could get very lengthy, but maybe that would be a neat feature to at least allow people to turn on/off?

it could be styled to look nice and to make it obvious the other titles are alternates

[SlaserX]

I think it would be cool if that was an option to toggle on/off, and have the official english title be default. I'm sure some people would rather see the romaji or kana instead of the english title, but I think it would be rather cluttered if you defaulted to displaying all 3 at once.

[sothis]

yeah thats just for the english entry... under "S" you'd see the romanji title first, then the kanji and english version below. maybe its something no one would use, just a thought :)

[SlaserX]

I'm sure people would use it, I just dont think it should be the default to display all 3. I bet people like runpsi look first by jps names as apposed to english names.

[Cythraul]

I think that the list should have up to three different titles. The official Japanese and American titles, and the one the anime is most commonly known by (this may or may not be a shorthand form). If three is too many, scratch the one that is used the least (judge this on case by case basis).

If two of the titles would be right next to each other on the list, don't list both of them. It just looks stupid, and anyone looking for konomini should be able to figure out that Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai is what they're looking for. (Ditto for and/yet.) I guess the rule of the thumb should be to save the official title, unless there are some very special circumstances.

The search feature should find as many different titles as you can be bothered to add.

For the default title, use the one the anime is most commonly known by (unless you just had to take it off the list because of the rules). If you choose either English or Japanese as default, you'll just get braindead things like Child's Toy for Kodomo no Omocha, or Hagane no Renkinjutsushi for Full Metal Alchemist.

(reads the replies that appeared while I was writing)

I personally don't see much point in putting the titles in kana, but if you are going to do it, the ability not to show them would be nice :) Whatever you do, don't force either all English or all Japanese titles on us. That's the one thing that breaks anidb.

[sothis]

i agree.. i'd much rather list the most commonly known one than showing the japanese just because it's japanese. i never know what the hell titles i'm looking at in the list till i click them.

if i put kana/kanji, i wouldnt list them by themselves in the alpha list. i hate that i click # in anidb and have to rifle through pages of kanji to get to something like .hack sign. im thinking if anything, maybe it would be displayed in the entry itself (or as an OPTIONAL turn on in the alpha list, and i'd probably put them on their own page instead of bunched in with # stuff).

i dont know if i like the idea of putting a common title, cause then its not really standardized. the only reason i can think of this being acceptable is, for example, putting "this ugly and beautiful world" up since i didnt know they'd change it to "yet", but once the r1 name came out id put the "the" title in the alternate table for search, and list in the alpha list, the "yet" title. or are you thinking of a diff kind of example?