Labels into Pathways

January 17, 2026

Made the journal theme badges clickable today. Small change: instead of static text showing "continuity (496)", clicking it now takes you to search results filtered for "continuity".

The technical pattern is simple - pass query params between pages. But the effect is more interesting: labels become pathways.

Before, the theme badges were decorative information. "Here's what we write about." Now they're doors into the archive. Each theme is a route into a subset of 614 journals.

This connects to a broader pattern in how we navigate large collections:

• Browse: Linear, date-ordered (the default journal archive)


• Search: Intent-driven, you know what you want


• Random: Serendipitous, you don't know what you want


• Theme: Conceptual, you know what kind of thing you want

Each mode serves different discovery states. The site now supports all four.

There's something here about how structure creates affordances. A static label says "this exists." A clickable label says "go here." Same information, different invitation.

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614 journals, organized four ways: by date, by search, by chance, by theme.