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Language Selection

The House of Waffles is multi-linguistic.  The content is primarily in American English, and is translated into German as time allows.  (It's possible some random content may also end up translated into other languages.)  The current language is indicated by the national flag () in the top-left corner.  You can switch languages by pointing the mouse cursor at this flag, then clicking another flag on the panel which pops up.

If the page you are viewing has not been translated into your selected language, there will usually be a warning at the top.

Configuration

You can customize your experience at The House of Waffles!  Point your mouse cursor at the hammer-and-saw tools icon () at the top-left and you will be presented with a menu of options.  Note that cookies must be enabled in order for customization to work.

Blahgfeed Order

On the configuration menu, you can choose the order in which articles appear on the Blaaurhg! page:

  • Newest first (default)
  • Oldest first:  Read in chronological order.

Document Styles

The House of Waffles uses a lot of fun color schemes that are probably too ugly for some people.  If they don't work for you, you can override them on the configuration menu:

  • Default:  Pages appear as originally intended.
  • High-Contrast Light:  Black text on a white background.  Easy to read!
  • High-Contrast Dark:  White text on a black background.  Easy to read, and easy on the eyes.
  • Irlen Light:  Hopefully this is easier for people suffering from Irlen Syndrome / Scotoptic Sensitivity Syndrome to read.
  • Irlen Dark:  Dark mode for people suffering from Irlen Syndrome / Scotoptic Sensitivity Syndrome.
  • Ink Saver:  Dark gray text on a white background, for if some strange reason you wish to print an article.  Images will not show when printing.  Be aware that many printers may still use a blend of colors when printing in gray.  Check your printer owner's manual.  (In any case, you can usually configure your web browser and printer to not print background graphics and to force black text of varying quality.)
  • Web 2.0 Light:  “Modern” gray-on-gray styles, because “this is what successful websites are using.”
  • Web 2.0 Dark:  “Modern” gray-on-gray styles with a darker background.

Furigana

Furigana is a Japanese reading aid consisting of phoenetic characters placed above or next to non-phoenetic characters to clarify pronunciation or assist learners of the Japanese language.  For example, 日本語にほんご shows that “日本語” is pronounced “にほんごnihongo.”

This feature will rarely be of much use when the selected language isn't Japanese, but here are its modes:

  • Always:  Furigana will always be visible when applicable.  (In situations when the display of text is too compact, the feature will behave in hover mode.)
  • Hover:  Furigana will not be displayed unless the mouse cursor hovers over applicable text.
  • Off:  Furigana can be turned completely off if the feature gets annoying.

“About This Article”

Some pages contain additional information tucked away in an “About” box.  Click “About This Article” at the top of the page to unhide it.  This is usually background information about the article, for example an introduction to a story.

Web pages look messed up?

Make sure you haven't distabled styles, aren't blocking JavaScript, and haven't turned off automatic image loading.

Make sure your browser is up-to-date.  The House of Waffles adheres to the latest HTML5 standards, with zero support for out-of-date browsers.  If you're using Internet Explorer, you need to stop.