For a multi-fandom rec post (or for a fandom with multiple installments, like Star Wars), I'd want it first sorted by fandom/installment. Then, after that, I find length (shortest to longest) most helpful.

I like notes about tropes or themes (like, angsty vs fluffy vs mysteries/casefic vs smut-focused). The point in canon a fic occurs rarely matters to me beyond pre-canon/during canon/post-canon; most fics that care more specifically than that call it out their chronological relationship to canon in the tags/summary, anyway.