frequently asked questions

= general questions =

• what other translation projects have you worked on? will you help me translate something?
• will you put up any fushigi yuugi content?
• how often do you update ayashi.net and its translations?
• what about your japanese-language version?
• i've linked to your page. will you link to mine?
• will you send me...?
• will you tell me how to get ayashi no ceres?

= compatibility and technical issues =

• what sort of browser compatibility does ayashi.net have? do i need java/javascript?
• what about screen resolution and color?
• mac? windows? linux?
• but shouldn't you make it so everyone can use your page?
• but i like netscape--what's wrong with that?

a few. to name some, i've translated (mostly for or with friends) small parts of the katte ni kaizou, shinesman, and eroica yori ai o komete mangas, as well as random scatterings of various yaoi and shounen ai works. i'm also currently translating the tenshi kinryouku (angel sanctuary) ovas for naresome studio, and i eventually plan to completely translate a two-volume series called mikansei soumeikyoku. that's a partial list and it's probably outdated by the time you read this.
unfortunately, i really don't even have time to finish what i'm currently translating and want to do, so no, i don't take requests for projects or assistance. sorry, i really just don't have time.

no. this site is about ayashi no ceres. a handful of people have somehow been confused by the "sister site" links between ayashi.net and fushigiyuugi.com (although just how they've gotten confused escapes me--they apparently aren't reading the url or the rest of the site). there is not now and will never be any fushigi yuugi content on ayashi.net. that's half the reason why thea and i set up the sister site links; to promote cross-readership between watase yuu's two greatest series.

the translation of the ayashi no ceres manga is not on any particular timeline--i do this for fun. i work a full-time job at microsoft, and the time i have available for working on translating anc and updating ayashi.net is limited. sometimes i'll have a string of updates a few days in a row, sometimes i'll go for a month or more without adding anything. it all depends on when i have time.
the short answer being: when it happens. ^_- check back often.

it's out of date, and my japanese on there leaves much to be desired--i know. the japanese version will always lag behind the main page in updates, and there are some things which i will never translate or mirror--this faq, for instance.

i do not take link requests. period. you would understand if you got as many of them every week as i do.
to put things in perspective, i average out to getting at least one request every day to link to someone's site. if i linked to everyone who asked--even if i restricted it to, say, only the pages with ayashi no ceres content, or only the people who linked to me--my links page would bloat within a matter of weeks. if i decided to pick and choose which pages to link to, i'd be faced with the necessity of explaining to people why i linked one person and not the other.
so to sum it up--don't ask me to link to your page. i won't. i link to other pages when and only when i happen to feel like it, and never by request. please don't take it personally.

whatever it is--be it fansubs, mp3s, translations, or what have you--the answer is no. if it's not available on ayashi.net, i'm not going to send it to anyone. sorry. try a search engine like yahoo, or join the anc mailing list. requests for fansubs, in particular, will be met with a deleted email at best--the series has been picked up by viz commercially, and no reputable fansubber or distributor will carry them.

absolutely--provided that you download them to your web space and link to your own copies. do not, under any circumstances, link directly to the files on my server or publish direct links to them on any mailing list, etc. if you cannot afford the space to store these files on your own server, or want to tell someone where to find them, please link to http://ayashi.net/gallery/anime.shtml.

check out my how to get anc page. if that doesn't answer your questions, try asking on the anc mailing list. please do not email me asking where you can get ayashi no ceres; this depends greatly on your location, and everything i know--for both the web and locally here in seattle--is on that page.

ayashi.net uses very little javascript (which you don't need to navigate the page), and no java, but makes extensive use of style sheets. if you are using a version of internet explorer prior to 4.0, a version of netscape prior to 4.6, or any browser which does not comply with the html 4.0/css level 1 standards, the site will still load and be navigable--but it won't be pretty. for that matter, all versions of netscape up to and including 6.0 have a really inexcusably long list of bugs and omissions in their style sheet support. also, netscape sometimes doesn't render style sheets properly (if at all) until you go into the preferences, disable style sheets, close out, and then re-enable them. sometimes the main page won't properly display in netscape until you refresh it once. i sincerely apologize to the extent that i can--it's not a problem with my coding; it's bugs, omissions, and inconsistencies in netscape's rendering engine. (i'll address that later)

if you use a resolution lower than 800x600, then the layout of the index page and a few others will probably look pretty bad, but you'll still be able to get around the site. some of the other pages won't look that great either--and for that matter, neither will 90% of the worldwide web, so you'd be doing yourself a favor by upgrading your video card and/or monitor as soon as you can. trust me, you'll thank yourself for it. ^v^ likewise, if you're running in 16-bit color, the site will look just fine. if you're running in 24-bit or greater, it'll look great. on the other hand, if you're running in 256-color mode (which almost nothing does anymore) then the site will be perfectly navigable, but some of the images will look kind of nasty. and if you're using webtv... i can only urge you to buy a real computer. webtv is so horribly limited that i have no plans whatsoever to downgrade the site to support it.

i work for microsoft. i use windows. i code in windows. i own a windows machine. the site, therefore, will look optimal when viewed on a windows machine. i've tested it on macs using ie and netscape, and it'll look just fine on that, but it'll look a little bit different than the way i envisioned it. text, especially, tends to render differently on a macintosh than on a windows machine, and the gamma on macs tends to be a bit brighter and richer than on pc video cards. just a few distinctions to keep in mind if something doesn't look quite right.
unlike my opinions on browsers and whatnot, i'm not saying that one is better than other here. i like macs for some things, but my primary machine is windows. i'm simply saying that it is impossible to design a page that looks exactly the same on both platforms.

everyone can use ayashi.net, all the way down to lynx users (it just won't be pretty). however, it's pointless in most cases to do web design for the lowest common denominator, especially if you're not running a commercial web site. if everyone did that, there'd be no point to using modern browsers--we'd all still be using lynx and cursing those heretics who use images for buttons. having worked in tech support before, and working in the tech industry now, i gather a fairly good idea of what the majority of end-users are using, and i code for them.
two and a half years ago, the internet boom was just starting to gain force, netscape 3.0 was the dominant browser, and ie 3.0 was rather universally despised (for good reason--it was awful). i wouldn't have dared to use style sheets for a public web site then, and i would've optimized it for 640x480 and 256 colors. times have changed and so has the technology; approximately 80% of the people who visit ayashi.net are running in 800x600 resolution and more than 70% use some flavor of ie4 or above.
for the same reason, as much as i'd love to, i won't integrate shockwave or flash into the page--the percentage of internet users who actually have those plugins is very small, and the bandwidth they reasonably require is far more than the 28.8k connection most people have. (if you're getting higher than that--especially with the legendary flakiness of 56k technology--consider yourself lucky.)

i'm truly sorry if netscape is your browser of choice and you're having difficulties. it used to be mine too, until netscape's interface bloated and its industry compatibility started flagging. the fact is, its style sheet compatibility alone is atrocious and considering how long css level 1 has been a standard, that's just inexcusable. i design my site for the greatest common denominator, and that's internet explorer. over 50% of the visitors to ayashi.net use ie5, another 25% use ie4, and the remaining 20-25% use netscape, opera, or another browser. these are hard facts supported by my access statistics.
personally, unless you're using something like x-windows and have no real choice, i would strongly suggest ditching netscape in favor of ie5. the whole web will look and work a lot better.