Quote:
Originally Posted by xendula
Hi Juli,
Thank you so much for doing this!
I'd like to add:
- Get rid of the bent, top righ-hand corners of the book images - they make it impossile to read the book covers. What's the point of them?
- Add a "Classic View" button, so users can continue to see the better view
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I agree that the "bent-corner" graphic often covers over the title and makes it harder to read the title at a glance.
There was a post on the Overdrive blog about how the fact that users were spending "more time" on the website was proof that it was a grand success - and I almost split my soda all over my computer screen!
I certain can't speak for all users, but *this* user spends more time on the site because they've given me less information at a glance than there used to be. I have to click through to learn more, if I'm interested. So having to spend "more time" on these sites is NOT a plus for me!
As an example, before when I searched for books, the results would show a SMALL thumbnail and a brief description/blurb from the publisher. I could scan the thumbnails, and if any interested me (or confused me), scan the blurb. As mentioned in the quoted post, they also had other quick info at a glance (number available and number carried by the library were the two I remember most).
I'd also like to see the publisher name more prominently than it is now. Overdrive has been buying more books from the small independents and...well...there's a lot of poorly edited crap out there. So that's one more click I have to do before I can make a value choice (and I might deem it worthwhile regardless, but I want to be forewarned).
**ADDED LATER: I forgot something - when you have more than 80 items on your Wishlist, initially it only displays those (that might depend on what your "per page" choice is - it could be lower if you choose 20 or 40). When you "click here" to see the rest of the Wish List it then makes the rest available. However, after you've scanned through the first page list and are at the bottom? No "next page" there. You have to scroll back to the top of the list to go the next page. Dumb.**
IMO, the new design is a step back. I remember when we bought our first computers and the screens were dinky small. Web designers were told to design for no more than 600x800 resolution to avoid make the user scroll around on the page.
My laptop now has a 19 inch screen, and I work on 22 inch screens (2 of them) at work.
The popularity of the tablets are pushing us back into those "small screen" days. This site probably would have been ideal for my first little Acer!
Anyway, I digress.
I think there are some things in the new design that - once I figured them out - were useful. The little bookmark to put a book on hold - rather than choosing to put the book on hold, then having a pop-up box open and have to be closed before you could review more books - is an improvement.
Like MANY websites and apps, the assumption is that people will just be able to KNOW how it works - and Overdrive has been guilty of this. Unless the "review the Overdrive Next Gen experience" video has improved since they first rolled this train-wreck out, many of the features weren't explained (e.g., the bookmarks and the little shaded book icon to show whether a title is available).