Introducing PageBlaze

[Bradles]

Hi all,

A new version of the PageBlaze app with pages read / page count has been released.

Remember, as noted above:

To update "Pages Read", click in the field first. Then update by typing a number, with keyboard arrow keys, or mouse-clicks on the "up/down" buttons.

This ensures that the database is updated when the field loses focus (i.e. clicking/tabbing out of the field).

[Bradles]

Are you a late-night reader? Have you ever wondered how PageBlaze handles the transition through midnight? Wonder no more...

If you start reading late at night, and meet your daily target before midnight, PageBlaze will mark your target met for that day (the day you started reading):

If you continue reading in the wee small hours, and meet your daily target for the next day, naturally PageBlaze will mark your target met for that day too. It's almost like meeting two targets for the price of one!:

This also works if you close PageBlaze when you start reading and reopen it when you stop.

And it's another reminder of the importance of setting your time zone accurately in Settings .
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[Bradles]

The PageBlaze app now includes a new feature: Estimate to Complete (ETC). It estimates the time left to finish the "Currently reading" book, based on the time spent so far and the percentage complete:

The total time read is updated when you click "Stop Timer" (available as a tooltip on the ETC field) and ETC is responsive to changes in the percentage complete and pages read fields:

ETC appears in red if the percentage complete is less than 10%, as it would not be a very reliable estimate:

I've also made a couple of other small changes:

• the cover image for the "Currently reading" book is a bit larger;
• times use standard abbreviations and formats ("2m 20s" instead of "2 mins 20 secs").

[Bradles]

The long-awaited "Ratings" feature is here:

Ratings are read-only in the "To Read" list:

Rating can be set in the "Reading Now" screen for the currently reading book:

Ratings can be imported (see notes):

Other notes:

• Supports half-star ratings from ½ to 5 stars
• Ratings are saved immediately
• Import from Google Books (average user rating) or LibraryThing (your ratings) only. Ratings import is optional, default is no.

Enjoy!
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[Bradles]

PageBlaze has new sorting and filtering options in the Books screen:

Sort by:

• Title
• Author
• Rating
• Last Read Date
• Finished Date

Sort ascending or descending using the adjacent ↑/↓ button.

Filter by title or author by typing either in the "Search here" field:

Filter by rating by typing "Rating:" and a star rating, e.g. Rating: 4.5:

Notes:

1. Last Read Date is captured when clicking the "Stop Reading" button in Reading Now.
2. The "Currently Reading" list in "Reading Now" is sorted by Last Read Date descending.
3. Filter by rating is always a "greater than or equal to" search.

Enjoy!
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[Bradles]

Not enjoying your current read? It happens . Now you can mark those impossible-to-finish books as "DNF" (Did Not Finish):

The collection will be set to "DNF" but the reading progress and rating will not be changed.

"DNF" is a collection just like "Reading", "To Read" and "Finished", but it doesn't have its own tab in the "Books" page. You can find DNF books using the special filter "DNF" in the "All" books tab:

You can also DNF any book in the "Reading" collection:

Other notes:

• The DNF collection doesn't have its own tab in the "Books" page. This was done to simplify the interface.
• In the "Books" page you can only DNF a book in the "Reading" tab, as it doesn't make sense in "To Read" or "Finished", and there's already enough buttons in "All" .
• The special "DNF" filter is only useful in the "All" tab.
• You can manually add a DNF book, or edit an existing book to be DNF, but you can't import books to the DNF collection.

[Bradles]

A little enhancement this week to show the "Reading Now" button in green on the Home page if reading is in progress:

This might be useful if you ever start a reading session and forget to stop it (not that I'd ever do that ).

This is the start of the "Home Page Dashboard", which will eventually include a count of books in each collection, and the date of the last refresh from each source.

Speaking of sources, the "add books from source" process is now referred to as "Import":

This is in preparation for an upcoming feature to refresh metadata for books already imported into PageBlaze.

Documentation has also been reviewed and revised to cater for new features and updated page layouts.
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[Bradles]

The Home page has been updated to show the book count in each collection:

Book counts are updated on the server every six hours. At some point, this may become a "live" count, but that requires a few more code changes.

Until the next chapter…
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[Bradles]

Hi all,

A new browser-based version of PageBlaze has been released for testing. All the "front-end" code runs in the browser, eliminating those pesky "reconnecting to server" messages. (The "backend" still uses the same globally distributed managed services.)

The trade-off is a few extra seconds to load, but this only happens when you first load the site or refresh the browser:

This version also includes metadata refresh, so books can be re-imported from source to update book URLs, cover URLs, ratings, etc:

User settings control what you do and don't want to overwrite:

The Home page "dashboard" now also includes a "Last refresh" date:

The test version is available at:

https://pageblaze-test.warrilow-apps.click/

Reminder: The test version uses the same data as the production version, so don't do any "destructive" testing.

Until the next chapter...
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[Bradles]

Hi all,

The test version of PageBlaze now includes "round trip" export/import of books. This allows you to export your books, edit the list with spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice Calc, and reimport the changed data.

Use cases include:

• Update the "Finished Date" for multiple books
• Update page counts
• Update covers and URLs

This functionality is accessed from Settings using the "Export Data" and "Upload Books" buttons:

Here's how it works:

1. Export your data using the "Export Data" button.
2. Download the ZIP file and extract books.csv. (Save this file as it can be used to recreate your books list exactly as it was.)
3. userid and bookid are mandatory columns. Remove any other columns you don't want to update. PageBlaze will preserve existing data.
4. Create new books by leaving bookid blank. (The column is mandatory, but the value can be blank.) author and title are also required for new books.
5. Ensure any dates are formatted as yyyy-mm-dd.
6. Save the file (as CSV) and import using "Upload Books".
7. You will receive an email with a summary of the import.

More details are available in the PageBlaze documentation.

Test version here: https://pageblaze-test.warrilow-apps.click/

The usual reminder: The test version uses the same data as the production version, so be aware of this when testing.

Until the next chapter...
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[Bradles]

Hi all,

The latest test release has a bunch of new features:

• Edit book dialog
• Paginate book lists
• Search on server
• Delete reading events

Edit Book Dialog

Books are now edited in a "popup" dialog within the Books screen. This means you don't have to navigate to the Add/Edit Books screen to edit a book, and lose your sort and filter settings:

Paginate Book Lists

Book lists are paginated, so that only one page of books is retrieved from the server at a time:

This is a win-win for users and developers: users win, because screens load much faster, and are more responsive; developers win, because less data is being retrieved from the server, meaning less load on the server and reduced cost of queries.

(Configure the number of books per page in user settings.)


Search On Server

Searches are now sent to the server for a similar reason - less data sent over the network means faster response and less expense:

There is a caveat with this new feature: Search is based on whole words in the author or title. E.g. search for "art" will find "The Art of the Deal" and "Venetian Blinds" by Art Vandeley, but not "The Martian" or "Artemis Fowl" or anything by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Search is limited to 100 results.


Delete Reading Events

I admit it... I've forgotten to stop the timer on one or two occasions, and gotten an annoying 10-hour reading event that skews the stats. Now these events can be deleted:

Behind the scenes, it will reduce the book's reading time, and assess the day's reading time against the daily target and update target met if necessary.

(Prompting is on by default. Configure this in user settings.)


One final note: Book counts in the Home Page dashboard are temporarily disabled while we make a few updates.

Test version here: https://pageblaze-test.warrilow-apps.click/

The usual reminder: The test version uses the same data as the production version, so be aware of this when testing.

Until the next chapter...
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[JSWolf]

Why are the images so fuzzy? Also, one fo the books you've chosen in one of the images really needs to be replaced with a different book that's got nothing to do with DJT.