Design the ultimate eBook site - Page 5

Direct Ebooks · 03-01-2010, 08:26 AM

Must admit, I have found paypal great as well, both on a personal and ecommerce level. A little bit expensive, but that would be my only gripe.

jabberwock_11 · 03-01-2010, 01:45 PM

The library browsing isn't as easy as it was when the site first went up. It's become difficult to browse through the books because it only allows you to view ten books and does not have a "next" button or even any indication that there are more than ten books in any given category. Maybe a thumbnail view of the library would make it easier to browse through.

cbarnett · 03-01-2010, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondabeach

maybe this time....

Much better!

ondabeach · 03-02-2010, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabberwock_11

The library browsing isn't as easy as it was when the site first went up. It's become difficult to browse through the books because it only allows you to view ten books and does not have a "next" button or even any indication that there are more than ten books in any given category. Maybe a thumbnail view of the library would make it easier to browse through.

Hi Jabberwock,

Sorry about that, I must have broken something while I was in the process of adding a public domain filter to the library page. Everything is working as it should be now including the new fiter option which allows you to "filter' out public domain titles from your search.

Let me know if you still have dramas.

Cheers, and congrats on winning our eBook Reader comp, I hope you enjoy your BeBook Neo when it arrives

Rarzipace · 03-02-2010, 11:24 AM

I'm with pricecw on the Javascript issue. I browse with NoScript and there's little I dislike more in terms of web design than a site that won't load word one without JS enabled. I understand that functionality may be limited with JS turned off, and for the most part I'm fairly free with my "temporarily allow" option, but if you can't be bothered to offer so much as a "Sorry, you need to enable Javascript to view this page" when I come in with JS turned off (and a reduced functionality version of the site is better), then I'm turned right off.

Why should/would I alter my browsing habits to view your site? You can't tell me if all you're showing me is a mostly-blank page with some garbled remnants of content. The anti-JS contingent online is probably pretty small, so it's reasonable to decide you don't care what we think. Just don't expect us to care to view your site--again, if I can't see anything, you can't tell me why your site is worthy of an exemption to my global blacklist.

ondabeach · 03-02-2010, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rarzipace

I'm with pricecw on the Javascript issue. I browse with NoScript and there's little I dislike more in terms of web design than a site that won't load word one without JS enabled. I understand that functionality may be limited with JS turned off, and for the most part I'm fairly free with my "temporarily allow" option, but if you can't be bothered to offer so much as a "Sorry, you need to enable Javascript to view this page" when I come in with JS turned off (and a reduced functionality version of the site is better), then I'm turned right off.

Why should/would I alter my browsing habits to view your site? You can't tell me if all you're showing me is a mostly-blank page with some garbled remnants of content. The anti-JS contingent online is probably pretty small, so it's reasonable to decide you don't care what we think. Just don't expect us to care to view your site--again, if I can't see anything, you can't tell me why your site is worthy of an exemption to my global blacklist.

Hi Rarzipace, it's not that I don't care what you, Pricecw or other anti-scripters think, It's just a matter of priorities and pleasing the majority first.

I will get around to putting a "please turn on scripting to view this site" message up on the home page. I'm just not sure when that will percolate to the top of my list.

ondabeach · 03-03-2010, 01:22 AM

Hey hey all you paranoid androids out there (just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean that someone isn't out to get you).

Just kidding, I knew someone once who was attacked and left for dead by an innocuous looking piece of Javascript!

Now I really am joking, and just to prove that I have nothing against the anti-scripting community, and that I do indeed care what everyone that is good enough to spare the time to visit our site thinks, I have added a plain text message that will appear should you have scripting disabled in your browser that the site has cooties.... I mean that it uses Javascript.

ondabeach · 03-03-2010, 01:36 AM

Hey JSwolf, if you're still tuned in, I have added the Public Domain filter as a checkbox option to the library page so you can exclude Public Domain titles from your search results.

ondabeach · 03-09-2010, 08:56 PM

If you're using a MID to surf the net then check this out!

I just got my hands on a Jointech JE 100 MID/eBook Reader (mobile internet device). Basically a MID is any hand-held device that you can use to surf the net. For example an iPad is a MID and so is an iPhone, as well as hundreds of other devices out there, including a lot of devices being sold as eBook Readers.

If you've ever used a MID, then you'll have discovered that not many sites can adapt themselves to the small screen format, meaning you have to scroll all over the place to see everything which is really annoying.

I am in the process of adapting ZuluExpress to resize itself to suit any screen size, so if you have a MID then check out the site and let me know if it is displaying correctly on your device (and if not, what device you have).

I think this is really important as hand-held devices are so much more convenient than laptops and are taking over as the 'portable device' of choice.

So far I have adapted the home page and the library pages and am working feverishly on the others.

Be aware that the library navigation is working in IE but is a bot dodgy in FireFox and Chrome. I am working on fixing that now I'm happy with the layout.

Cheers,

Steve.

ondabeach · 03-11-2010, 04:20 AM

Hi all those anti IE people out there, you'll be happy to know that the library navigation controls all work fine in FireFox, Chrome, Opera and of course IE.

Let me know if you have any issues

Hamlet53 · 03-11-2010, 03:28 PM

Hi. It is apparent to me that you have designed your site to be scalable for when you have a much larger number of books available, so some of my comments may not apply once your reach that state. But here goes.

Starting with your home page clicking on any of the four current choices for ebook categories (for kids, popular fiction, adult fiction, non-Fiction) presents the same list of books. What is the point of having these buttons since that is the case?

The check box to filter out public domain titles does not work. Checking it than conducting a search still returns mainly public domain titles when searching General Fiction Adventure sorted by price; almost all the titles listed are are public domain.

I don't care for the in page scroll box presentation of longer text, but that's just my preference.

I also noticed that the JavaScript code that drives your site is occasionally buggy and produces unexpected page transfers.

Still it has the potential to be a great resource.

ondabeach · 03-12-2010, 01:32 AM

Hi Hamlet,

Thanks for the comments, very useful, I broke the home page 'Library' links yesterday when I made some other changes, my bad.

All fixed now though

I've tested the pub domain filter and it's working in the browsers I have for testing. Would you mind checking again and seeing if it's ok, and if not, then if you could let me know which browser you are using that would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Steve

lene1949 · 03-12-2010, 01:55 AM

Hi Steve..

Good on you for seeking peoples suggestions to your site...

I agree with the proofreading of the books uploaded.. Some books have quite a few errors...

But, all-in-all Great job!

ondabeach · 03-12-2010, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lene1949

Hi Steve..

Good on you for seeking peoples suggestions to your site...

I agree with the proofreading of the books uploaded.. Some books have quite a few errors...

But, all-in-all Great job!

Thank you so much lene, my partners, Don and Wendy originally did rough clean ups on the public domain stuff we put up there. At the moment they are going back through them all and hand editing them from beginning to end, not a job I'm envious of let me tell you.

The end result will be wonderful though, all the old classics available as beautifully presented eBooks available to everyone for free. I will be adding a button for each book in the library that you can click on to report any errors you come across. As part of that process I will also be adding an edited date/versioning system, nothing comlicated but some means of knowing if the version in the library is more up to date than the one you have.

Thanks again lene, and if you have any suggestions then please let me know.

Cheers,

Steve.

03-01-2010, 08:26 AM	#61
Direct Ebooks Hibernian eBook Warrior Posts: 184 Karma: 1264 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Cork, Ireland Device: Sony Reader	Must admit, I have found paypal great as well, both on a personal and ecommerce level. A little bit expensive, but that would be my only gripe. Last edited by Direct Ebooks; 03-01-2010 at 08:33 AM.

03-12-2010, 01:32 AM	#72
ondabeach Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 192 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Vanuatu Device: HTC touch Diamond, Ipaq 3115	Hi Hamlet, Thanks for the comments, very useful, I broke the home page 'Library' links yesterday when I made some other changes, my bad. All fixed now though I've tested the pub domain filter and it's working in the browsers I have for testing. Would you mind checking again and seeing if it's ok, and if not, then if you could let me know which browser you are using that would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Steve Last edited by ondabeach; 03-12-2010 at 01:40 AM. Reason: typo

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03-01-2010, 01:45 PM	#62
jabberwock_11 Addict Posts: 231 Karma: 1591305 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Savannah, GA USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Aluratek Libre Pro	The library browsing isn't as easy as it was when the site first went up. It's become difficult to browse through the books because it only allows you to view ten books and does not have a "next" button or even any indication that there are more than ten books in any given category. Maybe a thumbnail view of the library would make it easier to browse through.

03-02-2010, 11:24 AM	#65
Rarzipace Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: none	I'm with pricecw on the Javascript issue. I browse with NoScript and there's little I dislike more in terms of web design than a site that won't load word one without JS enabled. I understand that functionality may be limited with JS turned off, and for the most part I'm fairly free with my "temporarily allow" option, but if you can't be bothered to offer so much as a "Sorry, you need to enable Javascript to view this page" when I come in with JS turned off (and a reduced functionality version of the site is better), then I'm turned right off. Why should/would I alter my browsing habits to view your site? You can't tell me if all you're showing me is a mostly-blank page with some garbled remnants of content. The anti-JS contingent online is probably pretty small, so it's reasonable to decide you don't care what we think. Just don't expect us to care to view your site--again, if I can't see anything, you can't tell me why your site is worthy of an exemption to my global blacklist.

03-03-2010, 01:22 AM	#67
ondabeach Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 192 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Vanuatu Device: HTC touch Diamond, Ipaq 3115	Hey hey all you paranoid androids out there (just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean that someone isn't out to get you). Just kidding, I knew someone once who was attacked and left for dead by an innocuous looking piece of Javascript! Now I really am joking, and just to prove that I have nothing against the anti-scripting community, and that I do indeed care what everyone that is good enough to spare the time to visit our site thinks, I have added a plain text message that will appear should you have scripting disabled in your browser that the site has cooties.... I mean that it uses Javascript.

03-03-2010, 01:36 AM	#68
ondabeach Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 192 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Vanuatu Device: HTC touch Diamond, Ipaq 3115	Hey JSwolf, if you're still tuned in, I have added the Public Domain filter as a checkbox option to the library page so you can exclude Public Domain titles from your search results.

03-09-2010, 08:56 PM	#69
ondabeach Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 192 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Vanuatu Device: HTC touch Diamond, Ipaq 3115	If you're using a MID to surf the net then check this out! I just got my hands on a Jointech JE 100 MID/eBook Reader (mobile internet device). Basically a MID is any hand-held device that you can use to surf the net. For example an iPad is a MID and so is an iPhone, as well as hundreds of other devices out there, including a lot of devices being sold as eBook Readers. If you've ever used a MID, then you'll have discovered that not many sites can adapt themselves to the small screen format, meaning you have to scroll all over the place to see everything which is really annoying. I am in the process of adapting ZuluExpress to resize itself to suit any screen size, so if you have a MID then check out the site and let me know if it is displaying correctly on your device (and if not, what device you have). I think this is really important as hand-held devices are so much more convenient than laptops and are taking over as the 'portable device' of choice. So far I have adapted the home page and the library pages and am working feverishly on the others. Be aware that the library navigation is working in IE but is a bot dodgy in FireFox and Chrome. I am working on fixing that now I'm happy with the layout. Cheers, Steve.

03-11-2010, 04:20 AM	#70
ondabeach Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 192 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Vanuatu Device: HTC touch Diamond, Ipaq 3115	Hi all those anti IE people out there, you'll be happy to know that the library navigation controls all work fine in FireFox, Chrome, Opera and of course IE. Let me know if you have any issues

03-11-2010, 03:28 PM	#71
Hamlet53 Nameless Being	Hi. It is apparent to me that you have designed your site to be scalable for when you have a much larger number of books available, so some of my comments may not apply once your reach that state. But here goes. Starting with your home page clicking on any of the four current choices for ebook categories (for kids, popular fiction, adult fiction, non-Fiction) presents the same list of books. What is the point of having these buttons since that is the case? The check box to filter out public domain titles does not work. Checking it than conducting a search still returns mainly public domain titles when searching General Fiction Adventure sorted by price; almost all the titles listed are are public domain. I don't care for the in page scroll box presentation of longer text, but that's just my preference. I also noticed that the JavaScript code that drives your site is occasionally buggy and produces unexpected page transfers. Still it has the potential to be a great resource.

03-12-2010, 01:55 AM	#73
lene1949 Wizard Posts: 1,952 Karma: 213930 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Middelfart, Denmark Device: Kindle paper white	Hi Steve.. Good on you for seeking peoples suggestions to your site... I agree with the proofreading of the books uploaded.. Some books have quite a few errors... But, all-in-all Great job!

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