Roadmap | AniBrain

AniBrain 2.2.3 - Just For You Carousel Re-Design

April 17, 2024

Just For You Carousel Re-Design Experiment: Released an "improved" Just For You carousel to better match the new site design guidelines to 50% of users.

AniBrain 2.2.2 - Styling bug fixes

April 15, 2024

Fixed cut-off button on /about/chronicles: Fixed button styling that led to some parts of it being off-screen and therefore "cut".

AniBrain 2.2.1 - Footer Re-design

April 14, 2024

Improved Site Footer: Improved the site footer design to align with AniBrain's 3.0 direction.
Chronicles About Page: Created an about page for the upcoming Chronicles feature.
Chronicles Call-To-Action: Added a Call-To-Action for Chronicle's in the footer.
RSS feed link: Added a RSS directory link in the footer which links to the "Random Of The Day" RSS feeds.
Improved background colors for media: For media with no banner image, improved the "core color" algorithm to determine what color to use in the banner.
Fixed skeleton bug with border being visible in some scenarios: Fixed a bug introduced in earlier performance update where skeleton loading components could have a dark border around the shimmer.
Fixed "Media Overview" CSS: Fixed a CSS bug for media where styles would be broken for the profile view in some scenarios.

AniBrain 2.2.0 - Enabled Ads

April 05, 2024

Enabled Ads: The time has come... AniBrain now is ad-supported. This is to pay the bills as server costs increase. I hope you understand. If the ads bother you, please email me. I'd love to hear how you feel and see if there's anyway to improve your experience.
Improved performance: Improved site speed on media profile pages.

AniBrain 2.1.4 - Chronicle API Setup [Server-Only]

March 10, 2024

Created CRUD Chronicle API: Setup all tables, API routes, and server-side logic necessary for the upcoming Chronicles feature.
Migrated recommendation vote data to make personalization easier: Migrated recommendation vote data to the same store that generates recommendations to imrpove personalization potential.

AniBrain 2.1.3 - Simkl Partnership

March 07, 2024

Partnered with Simkl: Parternering with www.simkl.com to power anime recommendations on their platform. All anime on AniBrain now also have links to Simkl.

AniBrain 2.1.2 - User Profile Improvements

March 03, 2024

Edit username: Allowing authenticated users to change their usernames.
Added profile images: Allowing authenticated users to select an Avatar from preset choices.

AniBrain 2.1.1 - Bug Fixes & Perf Improvements

February 23, 2024

Remove cross-category recommendations for 18+ content without age verification: Removing the cross-cateogry recommendation for adult content until the user verifies their age.
Speed up all pages with "Welcome" toast: Loading the "Welcome" toast for new-visitors during the browser's idle time to improve page load speed.
Reduced Largest Content Paint (LCP) on Random/Cross-category Pages: Reduced LCP on Random/Cross-category pages by improving background image size.
Reduced Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) on Random/Cross-category Pages: Reduced CLS on Random/Cross-categtory pages by removing dynamic styles applied via JavaScript.

AniBrain 2.1.0 - Cross-category Recommendations

February 19, 2024

Cross-category recommendation carousel: Added cross-category recommendation carousels to profile pages. Users can now explore other formats and get recommendations based on what they love.
Cross-category recommendation pages: Created focused pages for cross-category recommendations to allow for searching through all recommendations and filtering results .
Normalized recommendation algorithm: Normalized the recommendation algorithm so that recommendations can be made between Anime and Manga. This also takes the "customize algorithm weights" feature out of beta.
Recommendation cache adjustments to improve overall recommendation speed: Improved recommendation cache to and caching more to reduce time to get recommendations.
Bug fixes: Fixed a lot of bugs/unexpected behavior regarding the full-screen modal when list view recommendation cards were clicked.
Styling updates: Fixed spacing, color, and shadows to be more consistent site-wide.

AniBrain 2.0.11 - Tags Filter

January 22, 2024

Added tag filters: Allow users to filter recommendations based on tags.
Added tag rating setting: Allow users to change the minimum or maximum rating of a tag for filtering.
Added tag conditional logic: Allow users to change how the tag filter works. Users can choose between "AND" which will ensure all recommended media meet all of the tag criteria and "OR" which will ensure all recommended media meet at least 1 of the specified tag criteria.

AniBrain 2.0.10 - Global Search Default

January 6, 2024

Default global search mode based on adult interest: Default the global search mode to "Adult (18+)" search if coming from an adult page.
Failed recommendation query bugfix: Fixed strange case on "recommender" pages where requests for recommendations would fail before immediately retrying and succeeding.

AniBrain 2.0.9 - Global Search

January 5, 2024

Global Search: Created a standalone search page to easily and quickly search anime, manga, light novel and one shots.
New genre filter design: Seperated the "Exclude" / "Include" buttons on genre filters to make functionality easier to understand.
Fix modal/sidebar + toast overlay bug: Fixed bug where a modal/sidebar could be open and so could a toast, causing a strange user experience as the toast could block buttons.

AniBrain 2.0.8 - Random Of The Day Shows Multiple Days

December 27, 2023

Random of the day pages now show media generated on previous days: Random of the day pages originally showed the 3 generated media for the current day. Now these pages allow you to look into the past, seeing the media that were generated within the last 7 days.
Overflow bug fix for random of the day banners: On initial page load of the random pages, the carousel of media would flash vertical additional content vertically until it content was formatted properly. The flasing has been fixed.
Clicks on titles copies the title to your keyboard: Clicks on the title of any media will now copy that title to your keyboard.

AniBrain 2.0.7 - Daily Random RSS Feed

December 24, 2023

Random RSS Feed: Released RSS feeds tracking the randomly generated anime, manga, light novels, and one-shots over the past 7 days.
Title clicks now copies to keyboard: Clicking on a media's title will now copy the displayed title to your keyboard.
Linked Pinterest account: Linked the official pinterest account where we spotlight anime, manga, light novels, and one-shots.
Removed "Let's Collaborate" form link in footer: Removed the form link for collaboration in the footer due to low usage. Don't get the wrong idea though, I'm very happy and open to collaboration :) Please email us at [email protected] if you're interested.
Improved daily random generations: Improved the daily spotlights on random pages to persist across site updates until the 24 hour limit is reached. Before, during site deploys, we would re-generate a new random batch, making it inconsistent. We also now track the previously shown random generations to only generate never-before-seen content.

AniBrain 2.0.6 - Improved Recommendation Cards

December 19, 2023

Change recommendation cards in the list view: Updated recommendation cards in the list view to open a full-screen overlay on click to more easily read information.
Remove dead code: Removed a lot of dead code increase site load speed.
Add tag for Manga, Light Novel, & One Shots: Add a tag to categorize non-anime content as Manga, Light Novel, or One Shot. This appears on the profile page and the single recommendation view.

AniBrain 2.0.5 - Improve AniList & MyAnimeList Integration

December 16, 2023

List integration recommendation model: Improved the model for making recommendations to better factor the strength of core themes found throughout the anime/manga of a user's list.
Re-sync list: Allow users to re-sync their list (once per 24 hours) to get recommendations using their latest list.
Added statistics to AniList/MyAnimeList integration pages: Added the number of anime and manga found for the searched profile. I also added a description of what anime/manga from a user's profile are employed in the recommendation system.
Updated AniList/MyAnimeList processors to be more fault tolerant: Fixed errors that would happen when a user's list exceeded a certain size. Also improved fault tolerance of jobs that do fetch a user's list from AniList/MyAnimeList.

AniBrain 2.0.4 - Migrate new filter/sidebar header to all relevant pages

December 12, 2023

Update all pages to use the new filter/settings headers: Updated all pages showing recommendations to use the new filter/settings header for a unified experience.
Bug fixes: Fixed iOS Safari modal height issue & mobile "View Recommendations" toast not moving the user to the recommendations section.

AniBrain 2.0.3 - New UI for profile pages and filtering

December 10, 2023

Release new setting / filter UI on profile pages: Created individual buttons to access filters and settings, making the possibilities more apparent.
Release new UI for viewed medias on profile pages: Update UI for profile page information.
Bug fixes: Fixed bugs with errored requests and strange scroll locations on pagination clicks.

AniBrain 2.0.2 - Navbar update

November 22, 2023

Sign-up / Login Modal: Made the "Sign-up / Login" button open a modal, rather than go to a new page, so user's can continue on right where they left off after authenticating.
Centered Main Links: Moved the main navigation links (e.g. "Recommender", "Random", "Integration", & "Profile") to be centered in the navbar, rather than on the right side.
Theme Switch -> Theme Button: Changed the toggle use to change themes from light to dark to a simple button, saving space in the Navbar.

AniBrain 2.0.1 - Bug fixes for AniList & MyAnimeList List Integration

November 21, 2023

Improved Error Handling: Changed error messaging to be more descriptive for users.

AniBrain 2.0.0 - AniList & MyAnimeList List Integration For Recommendations

November 20, 2023

MyAnimeList Integration: Created system to fetch MyAnimeList profile data and make recommendations with a user's list.
AniList Integration: Created system to fetch AniList profile data and make recommendations with a user's list.

AniBrain 1.3.2 - Improve Navigation

February 25, 2023

Internal Links Navigation In Same Page: Ensure all internal link navigation does not open in a new tab. This was done before due to infinite scroll and worrying about a user losing their position. By migrating to a paginated design, all internal links do not open in a new tab.
Special Data Cards: Created special cards to help promote different site features (like signing up, giving feedback, etc.).
List View Card Re-design: Changed the score UX design for recommendations to make it easier to understand.
Recommendation Pagination: Implemented pagination to allow users to come back to the last spot they were at in a recommendation list. Removed infinite scrolling.

AniBrain 1.3.1 - Improved Random Recommender Pages & Added Personalization Engine

December 4, 2022

Random Page Re-design: Updated random recommender pages based on user feedback. This include (but not limited to) adding random of the day, have pre-filtered random generators, and making the random page more engaging by usinga a roulette theme.
Personalization Engine: Created a personalization engine to give users personalized recommendations on the landing page based on their actions on the site.
Caching: Improved caching strategy to load recommendations for faster for users regardless of their origin location.
Background Wallpaper Quality: Improved the quality of the background wallpapers on recommender pages by creating a desktop and mobile version.
Update Codebase: Updated the codebase to allow for faster iteration of features in the future. This invloved a lot of breaking down components into smaller, more re-usable units.

AniBrain 1.3 - Manga, Light Novel, One Shot, & Random Recommenders

April 1, 2022

New Recommender Pages: Added manga, light novel, & one shot recommendation engines/pages. Added a random recommendation engine/page.
Adult Media: Users can now get recommendations for adult media. They must be signed in to do so.
(Experimental) User-selected Recommendation Algorithm: Users can now change aspects of the underlying recommendation algorithm to better focus on the features of the requested media they care most about. This feature is currently in beta.
More Filters: Added genre, community rating, and country of origin filters to all recommender pages.
New Pages: Added an "About" and "Roadmap" page (found in the footer). Created manga/light novel/one shot specific pages for a bio of the media and listing out recommendations.
Removed "AI-Ideas" Form: Removed the AI-Ideas form as the same information can be put in the feedback form under "feature request".
Landing Page Redesign: Removed excess text from the landing page and made it more to direct to recommender pages.
Recommender Pages Redesign: Styled search recommendation pages after Google/Bing.

AniBrain 1.2 - Frontend Migration and Improved Styling

December 15, 2021

User Accounts: Allow user's to create an account and save recommendations for later.
Anime Specific Pages: Created anime specific pages for a bio of the anime and listing out recommendations.
Filter Modal to Sidebar: Changed the filter modal to a sidebar.
Improved Recommendation Card Design: Changed card design to be more appealing on mobile (slimmer) and more simplistic overall. Added hover effect to get a lot more information on the recommendations.
Improved Recommendation Algorithm: Changed underlying recommendation algorithm for improved results.
Improved UI: Made all hero backgrounds have the same blue gradient for a simpler site design. Removed wave design from hero image transition to content.
Changed Frontend to Next.js: Migrated the application from pure React to Next.js for performance improvements.

AniBrain 1.1 - Site Theme Change

October 1, 2021

Added Form Pages: Added forms to get feedback, ideas, or collaborate from visitors.
Added Title Preferences: Allow user to select the title (official, english, or native) to show on the recommended cards.
Added Filters: Allow user to filter by anime format (TV, Movie, etc.) and the year they were released.
Vote on Recommendations: Allow users to vote on whether a recommendation is good or not.
Group Recommendations: Grouped recommended anime by their franchise to not get back a bunch of titles in the same series.
Improved UI: Changed UI from a jellyfish theme to an anime theme and improved recommender cards.

AniBrain 1.0 - Initial AniBrain Release

July 26, 2021

Anime Recommender: Added an anime recommender to search for an anime and get recommendations back.