February

Introduction of Smart Suggestion system, second large aggregator and a huge overhaul of chapter tracking behind the scenes

Welcome to the 2nd update of the year 2021. This turned out to be a month of big updates, which is why the update has been delayed for a week. Not only a second aggregator, containing over 36 thousand series is being launched, but the Smart Suggestion system, one of the more unique features of Kenmei has been finished. Let's dive right in.

📋Changelog

🔭 Smart Suggestion system

This feature was one of the exciting ideas I wanted to do from day 1. That's the reason it's been mentioned on the landing page for a long time, even while it was yet to be developed.

As Kenmei aggregates more and more data, we start to unlock various data points, which will be shown to users in the form of Smart Suggestions, for each entry you track. Some examples are:

  1. The source you are tracking is down, letting you quickly switch to another one with a click of a button

  2. Series you've been tracking on a particular source has been removed, so Kenmei can suggest switching to one which still has the series

  3. Another source for the series you are tracking has more chapters or a more recently released chapter, so Kenmei can quickly switch to it

I am starting with the last on the list here, specifically making suggestions when another source has a more recently released chapter. Other ones will follow in the near future and others not mentioned here will follow suit.

As with any new feature, it won't work 100% of the time. Please do let me know if you encounter issues (e.g. incorrect suggestions or no suggestions, even when there should be one)

🔖 Improved chapter tracking

One of the most complicated changes that I had to make, to enable Smart Suggestion system, was to update the way chapters are tracked. Since the very start, it has been a very simple system, as I wanted to get Kenmei going as soon as possible.

But the improved system is set up not only to enable Smart Suggestions, but it will allow me to add manual chapter tracking, have access to all chapters per series, set unread status based on chapters numbers and much more.

As a reminder, the manual chapter tracking is being held back by the lack of funds, as it requires a costly upgrade, so it's not going to be added until Kenmei Premium is launched. The good news is that when we get enough funds, I'll be able to very easily switch on this feature.

📚 MangaHub aggregator

To this day, MangaDex has been the only aggregator we had. Unlike Tachiyomi, I don't plan to add every single site that's out there, instead adding only quality sites and individual groups, but still aiming to have access to 99% of the series being translated.

As a result, I've been taking my time on deciding which aggregator would be added next, as I don't plan to have many, as long as in total, I cover as much series as possible. MangaHub, while not ideal, has ticked most of the boxes for me. Not only it was easy to add as well as maintain, but it also has 36000+ series tracked, including many that you can't find on MangaDex. It's UI and reader are also decent, compared to the majority of other aggregators.

With it added, I expect Kenmei to be covering a significant amount of series out there, while previously some people were still unable to add particular series.

Moreover, combined with Smart Suggestions, you can expect to see suggestions for series you track, as MangaHub would have a lot of series that have been removed from MangaDex, or just, in general, have more chapters on the site.

As it's a lot of new and existing series being added, keep an eye on Duplicates and please report them to me. As well as any other issues you encounter. I will be focusing on improving the support for this source, as well as grouping series between all existing sources. I don't plan to add other aggregators in the foreseeable future but plan to shift my focus back on individual groups and more importantly - official sources.

Final note: I'll be adding series myself into the database bit by bit, to make sure everything works correctly. So don't expect all 36k series being added from the get-go.

If you can't find a series through search, just add it using the URL and it will be added to the database.

✨ More UI Improvements

I am continuing to migrate old UI elements to the new ones, which is necessary for many reasons, but most importantly I need to fully migrate them before I can finish the Dark Theme for Kenmei. Status dropdowns have been replaced, as well as improving the sorting dropdown with a consistent indicator of the selected sort. If you didn't know, selecting the same sorting type will swap between ascending and descending modes, which is indicated by the icon

One of the biggest improvements is of course the new Source picker. Not only it's snappier and nicer to look at, but it now provides information on what's the last chapter available for a specific source. Moreover, it will tell you whatever the site is currently online or not

📈 Progress Overview

It has been a productive month. Apart from the features above, a lot of work been done on other parts, that I have mentioned in the previous update. Specifically working on the admin panel, which is going to be crucial, now that we have 2 aggregators. I've also been focusing on Kenmei Premium, which will unlock my ability to tackle more ambitious projects, as I raise more funds.

Here the usual breakdown (take % with a grain of salt):

  1. Admin control panel → 50% Complete

  2. Dark theme → 30% Complete

  3. Official Kenmei Extension → 60% Complete

  4. New aggregator support → 100% Complete

  5. QoL improvements to the new UI post-launch → 20% Complete (on hold)

I don't have a good idea as to what I'll be able to finish this month but expect the usual fixes and improvements to any of the newly released features.

Catch you all in the next one 👋

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