Right now, they're the list of all the tags associated with all the works for the exact query you've made, which includes being adjusted for what works you as an individual user are able to access. And the list changes every time you change the filters. It's kind of a monster query, and we haven't been able to cache it because it's so variable. So I'm thinking some combination of a cached list of the top tags for the user/fandom/tag/collection you're looking at and then text fields with autocomplete or some way to type things in to filter by rarer tags.
And ultimately, I think a key is to make it so that the filters aren't the only way to see what tags are out there, so that it doesn't matter so much if they show you a full and exact list. I want to have an easy way to get to my favorite character in a fandom, or my favorite ship, I want to be able to see what ships there are for a given fandom in the archive, etc. And there's got to be a better way to find out that there's zombie fic for The West Wing than scrolling to the end of the six-foot-long sidebar, you know? :)
(Also, fun fact: Sidra ran the numbers, and people only use the current filters about 3% of the time when browsing works. So they're slowing the whole site down, and they're not even getting that much use! /o\)
Re: <3
And ultimately, I think a key is to make it so that the filters aren't the only way to see what tags are out there, so that it doesn't matter so much if they show you a full and exact list. I want to have an easy way to get to my favorite character in a fandom, or my favorite ship, I want to be able to see what ships there are for a given fandom in the archive, etc. And there's got to be a better way to find out that there's zombie fic for The West Wing than scrolling to the end of the six-foot-long sidebar, you know? :)
(Also, fun fact: Sidra ran the numbers, and people only use the current filters about 3% of the time when browsing works. So they're slowing the whole site down, and they're not even getting that much use! /o\)