Fanfic At First Site: A Comparative Analysis Of UI And UX On Ao3 And Wattpad

By Nirali Prajapati, SYBA

Have you ever fantasized about entering your favourite book, movie or series, or meeting your celebrity crush and created fake imaginary scenarios to entertain yourself? Then congratulations, you understand exactly what fanfiction is. And since you know this, you also know that it's a canon event! 

Fanfiction is a non-canonical but extremely loved medium of textual media, giving rise to a diverse community of internet users who often have a homogenous identity as fanwork readers or writers on fanfiction writing platforms online. Particularly popular among such readers are Archive Of Our Own (Ao3) and Wattpad – two sites especially prominent for the large scale presence of fan content on them. 

So through comparison, let's decode and understand the user interfaces of these two platforms as they are understood by their readers. 

READER DEMOGRAPHICS

If we intended to look at the use of these platforms through quantitative techniques, we would segregate our fanfiction readers by fandom and the popularity of these fandoms on these platforms which would significantly affect the choice of the readers. But since that is not our intention, our audience of readers remains fairly unified and almost homogenous in the current context . 

Hence, no notable age demographic has been established except that we consider the users within an estimated time frame of past ten years. This is to acknowledge the change in the internet interface overall and the aspect of shared understanding and experience within a limited time period.  

Within this, there is still a certain unavoidable difference in the view of the internet, dividing our readers into roughly two categories – old readers and new readers. 

Old Readers 

Old readers are those who have been using these platforms since the first half of our decade in consideration. 

These readers have seen the old interfaces of Ao3 and Wattpad and the internet itself, and are more aligned with the concept of an internet which moved at a slower pace and had a more textual UI than the current visual heavy one. These have often matured to reading stronger writing, moving from Wattpad to Ao3 – which is observed to be a sort of coming of age ritual among fanfiction readers! 

New Readers 

New readers are those who began their fanfiction reading journey in the second half of our decade in consideration. 

They primarily belong to a younger age group and thus are an audience with an affinity for the newly favoured graphic and audio visual layouts of the internet that exists now. This audience is more familiar with an internet that supports extensive aesthetic UI elements.                                                                                                                                                 

AO3 V/S WATTPAD

Thus establishing our audience, we move on to the visual object of their experience and their relationship with it, i.e. Fanfiction Websites. And in this, particularly, the user interfaces of Wattpad and Ao3 as they were in the past ten years and currently are with all the changes.

What We Will Look At—

1. Origins: Goals & Vision

2. Site Structure: Accessibility 

3. Statistics Display: Algorithm v/s Choice

4. Openness: Community & Engagement 

1. Origins: Goals & Vision

Origins of the fansites, in terms of foundation, purpose, goals and vision. 

Ao3 is an archive for fanworks run by a non profit organization and maintained by volunteers and donations raised by readers, with a lack of policing on any kind of content, opening the platform to diverse perspectives and narratives.

Wattpad, on the other hand, is run by a commercial organisation seeking profit by paywalling the original writing on their platform and offering earning opportunities to writers. Since it is commercialised, narratives are limited to "marketable" writing on Wattpad. And although its roots and subsequent popularity are through fandom based writings, recent times have seen an alienation of fanfiction content on the platform.  

This affects their user interfaces more than one would be able to fathom at first glance. 

2. Site Structure: Accessibility 

Ao3 is a text based website, which tends to make the newer and younger readers wary with the amount of words on the screen in comparison with the rest of the internet which has adopted a visual media heavy policy in recent times. The perception at first glance is of a massive text wall of black on a plain white background, brimming with tags that might be an entirely unfamiliar and incoherent system for new users. 

Wattpad, on the other hand, is an application based, mobile friendly platform that intends to appeal to the aesthetic ideals of the readers with its affinity for stylistic UI elements like graphic art based layout, large attention grabbing typography of banners and covers, design assets and creative iconography. It allows readers more leeway in terms of being able to regulate and modify the visual appearance of the reading or text screens according to their own preferences. The options to adjust and change font, text size, visibility modes, colours, themes, scrolling and navigation options are all available at a click's demand in the function bar at the top. This appeals to the readers’ aesthetic senses and standards, creating an overall more enjoyable experience. 

Ao3 with its bare bones, text based site architecture is unable to match this level of customisation on the reading screen. One can make such adjustments via the site skins options but the lack of direct, on page options and the complications of creating a site skin for non tech favouring users becomes a distinct point of inconvenience.But of course while visual UI is important, there are times when they are not enough, especially in cases of individuals with a sensory impairment or those who are unable to navigate complex text based or design based sites without external help. Both layouts are equally helpful or unhelpful in different situations. 

Ao3 would be rendered completely dysfunctional for someone who relies on large typographic elements and bright splashes of colour to navigate on the internet, causing them to suffer inconveniences due to its majorly black and white and text based site infrastructure. 

Wattpad would be unhelpful to those who trust third party browser extensions to make the text to speech journey for them to be able to consume the textual fic. Due to Ao3's standard HTML text which is placed directly in the browser, TTS extensions are much easier to apply compared to Wattpad's web design loaded interface and app structure.

So, both platforms are either accessible or inaccessible to a certain group of users based on individual requirements and accommodations.

3. Statistics Display: Algorithm v/s Choice

The statistics and information the platforms provide about the works or "fics" at first glance are an integral part of reader engagement. Though fanfiction is a partner in leisure as much as it is a labour of love, fast paced internet movement leaves the users with small amounts of patience and even smaller attention spans. When the reader looks at a fanfiction on the platform externally, without opening it, what the platform shows the user about the work is of utmost importance in terms of gaining engagement. 

Ao3 displays the title, fandoms, tags, warnings, description and length, a clear bias towards descriptive statistics that reveal the skeletal structure of a fic, seeking compatibility between what the reader wants and what the "fic" can offer so that the reader can choose whether they want to delve deeper or not. Its meticulously designed tagging systems allow the reader to pick and choose every aspect of the writing they consume. 

Wattpad on the other hand, has an algorithm, it plays into a recommendational and promotional ideology; displaying alongside the title, things like number of reads, votes, comments and rankings, a clear bias towards popularity based statistical data. Though this may sometimes leave the reader in the dark about the content of the fic, requiring them to relinquish control, it still appeals to a certain social aspect of homogeneity and oneness that fandoms often call for. 

4. Openness: Community & Engagement 

For fandoms, the most important part of any fan activity and movement is community. Since these platforms are mostly powered by writing produced by those who want to consume it, if they wish for fandoms to flourish they must promote community building. Fans write fanfiction for fellow fans, ergo, the platforms should be open and accessible for new fans to join these communities.

In this, most important is the agreeability of these platforms with new readers and users who wish to engage with them before making a commitment. Wattpad requires a compulsory sign up or log in to be able to access works on it while Ao3 though allowing to read without logging in, only allows features like bookmarking to registered users which requires of the readers an invitation from the site itself. While Wattpad's process of account creation is simpler and more accessible, Ao3 allows access to non users without gatekeeping the writing. These features are directly linked to the original purpose and goals of these platforms as a commercial e-writing platform and an internet archive. 

Wattpad also tends to push more towards the social activity of reading in a shared space, even if the space is online. It allows for in-line commenting, unlike Ao3's page bottom commenting, which makes the process of reading much more interactive, social and engaging. A sort of communally shared ritual of enjoying the same work and fandom space. Even the concept of voting on a story is chapter based on Wattpad, which makes the act of appreciation and gratitude towards the work and the writer much more frequent and continuous, unlike Ao3's kudos per work policy which may leave the user feeling discontent.

Thus, one can conclude that both Ao3 and Wattpad have their advantages and shortcomings in terms of user experience with their interface, which one is found to be better is dependent entirely on the reader and what they personally believe is the right way of engaging with their fandom.