Baen's website redesigned - Page 3

RW2112 · 12-16-2010, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nyrath

http://tips.webdesign10.com/flash-cookies-privacy

My thanks! Used that to safeguard my system, much appreciated!!!

Pomtroll · 12-16-2010, 01:52 PM

Works fine on my iMac Snow Leopard.

starrlamia · 12-16-2010, 02:03 PM

front page hurts my eyes, they seriously need a professional to take a look at that.

FatDog · 12-16-2010, 06:22 PM

I like the less Pulp Magazine look of the main page but navigation still needs some work.

I like to 'browse' but everything is organized by some other criteria and it took a minute or two to find "Catalog". Then - it's by author rather than the top 20 recent releases. (I want to know what is new sometimes).

So I went into an author index "H" and saw a link for Joe Haldeman. I clicked on the link and it took me to a page with 1 book. Yet I know Joe has written many books.

How do I find all the titles by Joe Haldeman? I saw the button at the top for "Title List" and thought that might show me all Haldeman titles. NOPE. Took me to some alphabetical listing of all novels beginning with "H".

I sent them an email with my confusion.

elcreative · 12-16-2010, 08:03 PM

Baen website only list the books it publishes or those from publishers it has deals with... funnily enough they don't list books they don't sell and most of Joe Haldeman's come from other publishers... look at FantasticFiction.com for a list of all his material and who publishes it...

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatDog

I like the less Pulp Magazine look of the main page but navigation still needs some work.

I like to 'browse' but everything is organized by some other criteria and it took a minute or two to find "Catalog". Then - it's by author rather than the top 20 recent releases. (I want to know what is new sometimes).

So I went into an author index "H" and saw a link for Joe Haldeman. I clicked on the link and it took me to a page with 1 book. Yet I know Joe has written many books.

How do I find all the titles by Joe Haldeman? I saw the button at the top for "Title List" and thought that might show me all Haldeman titles. NOPE. Took me to some alphabetical listing of all novels beginning with "H".

I sent them an email with my confusion.

Worldwalker · 12-16-2010, 09:36 PM

I am a professional. My comments above were only the tip of the iceberg.

What it comes down to is the purpose of a website should be to sell products -- but all too often, and I think it happened in this case, the website is built to sell websites. The designer's audience is the client, not the client's customers, because after all that's who's cutting his check. And the client, busy going "oooh" and "aaah" over his pretty new website, doesn't even realize that he's made things worse for the people who are cutting his check.

You have to look at it like a user: I just went to this website. What am I most likely to want to do? If you're a publisher, I probably went to your website to buy a book. Don't fill all the space with pretty pictures, don't tell me all about your authors, don't give me your company history -- sell me a book! All the rest of that stuff is secondary, for the people researching authors, considering buying stock, or whatever. The people who are going to give you money are, by and large, looking for a way to buy a book.

Replace "book" with the purpose of any other website, as necessary. People have their own agendas: they want to go to your website, find what they're looking for as quickly as possible, complete their task, and move on. They have plenty of things to do with their time, and trying to figure out your website isn't any part of it. Come. Get. Go. That's what they want, and a website that makes that easy will get a lot more of the "Get", which is the part that involves money.

elcreative · 12-16-2010, 10:06 PM

Well put, a man after my own heart... retail websites are supposed to encourage the purchase of items not be ads for website designers to congratulate themselves on how clever they are and try to win awards...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

I am a professional. My comments above were only the tip of the iceberg.

What it comes down to is the purpose of a website should be to sell products -- but all too often, and I think it happened in this case, the website is built to sell websites. The designer's audience is the client, not the client's customers, because after all that's who's cutting his check. And the client, busy going "oooh" and "aaah" over his pretty new website, doesn't even realize that he's made things worse for the people who are cutting his check.

You have to look at it like a user: I just went to this website. What am I most likely to want to do? If you're a publisher, I probably went to your website to buy a book. Don't fill all the space with pretty pictures, don't tell me all about your authors, don't give me your company history -- sell me a book! All the rest of that stuff is secondary, for the people researching authors, considering buying stock, or whatever. The people who are going to give you money are, by and large, looking for a way to buy a book.

Replace "book" with the purpose of any other website, as necessary. People have their own agendas: they want to go to your website, find what they're looking for as quickly as possible, complete their task, and move on. They have plenty of things to do with their time, and trying to figure out your website isn't any part of it. Come. Get. Go. That's what they want, and a website that makes that easy will get a lot more of the "Get", which is the part that involves money.

RockdaMan · 12-16-2010, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astra

Anybody care to explain what is wrong with having flash???

I use XP on a netbook and my annoying fan comes on everytime I start using it. I suspect this has a negative effect on my battery life.

HarryT · 12-17-2010, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatDog

So I went into an author index "H" and saw a link for Joe Haldeman. I clicked on the link and it took me to a page with 1 book. Yet I know Joe has written many books.

What are you confused about? Mr. Haldeman may indeed have written many books, but only one of them is sold by Baen ("Future Weapons of War", a volume of military SF short stories edited by Mr. Haldeman).

astra · 12-17-2010, 10:19 AM

To be honest, both the old and the new home pages are abominations. Sometimes, I like website, sometimes I don't care, sometimes I dislike but BAEN's homepages made me feel uncomfortable. It is an unpleasant feeling to be on the website. Both are kind of old fashioned films from 1950s? Well, to be more specific the old one looked like a snapshot from 1950 Sci-Fi film. The new one is the same film but digitalised.

igorsk · 12-17-2010, 10:31 AM

BTW, Toni has just said that Baen ebooks will be available from Google.

HarryT · 12-17-2010, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igorsk

BTW, Toni has just said that Baen ebooks will be available from Google.

Only for people in the USA, I assume?

AdamV · 12-17-2010, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Only for people in the USA, I assume?

I do not see a reason they should be regionally limited since original ones are not...

anyway, the purpose of being available via google for Baen is purely marketing in my humble opinion...

elcreative · 12-17-2010, 10:42 AM

Since Baen are normally available to the whole world then should also be available worldwide from Google... once Google opens its operations up fully...

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Only for people in the USA, I assume?

HarryT · 12-17-2010, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamV

I do not see a reason they should be regionally limited since original ones are not...

The reason would be that Google is only selling books to people in the US.

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12-16-2010, 01:52 PM	#32
Pomtroll Guru Posts: 822 Karma: 1341819 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Minnesota USA Device: Sony 350, Sony T1, Kindle Touch, Kindle PW1	Works fine on my iMac Snow Leopard.

12-16-2010, 02:03 PM	#33
starrlamia Zealot Posts: 125 Karma: 1000000 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Ontario Canada Device: Sony PRS-650, PB 16g	front page hurts my eyes, they seriously need a professional to take a look at that.

12-16-2010, 06:22 PM	#34
FatDog Witless protection Agent Posts: 290 Karma: 1002898 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	I like the less Pulp Magazine look of the main page but navigation still needs some work. I like to 'browse' but everything is organized by some other criteria and it took a minute or two to find "Catalog". Then - it's by author rather than the top 20 recent releases. (I want to know what is new sometimes). So I went into an author index "H" and saw a link for Joe Haldeman. I clicked on the link and it took me to a page with 1 book. Yet I know Joe has written many books. How do I find all the titles by Joe Haldeman? I saw the button at the top for "Title List" and thought that might show me all Haldeman titles. NOPE. Took me to some alphabetical listing of all novels beginning with "H". I sent them an email with my confusion.

12-16-2010, 09:36 PM	#36
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	I am a professional. My comments above were only the tip of the iceberg. What it comes down to is the purpose of a website should be to sell products -- but all too often, and I think it happened in this case, the website is built to sell websites. The designer's audience is the client, not the client's customers, because after all that's who's cutting his check. And the client, busy going "oooh" and "aaah" over his pretty new website, doesn't even realize that he's made things worse for the people who are cutting his check. You have to look at it like a user: I just went to this website. What am I most likely to want to do? If you're a publisher, I probably went to your website to buy a book. Don't fill all the space with pretty pictures, don't tell me all about your authors, don't give me your company history -- sell me a book! All the rest of that stuff is secondary, for the people researching authors, considering buying stock, or whatever. The people who are going to give you money are, by and large, looking for a way to buy a book. Replace "book" with the purpose of any other website, as necessary. People have their own agendas: they want to go to your website, find what they're looking for as quickly as possible, complete their task, and move on. They have plenty of things to do with their time, and trying to figure out your website isn't any part of it. Come. Get. Go. That's what they want, and a website that makes that easy will get a lot more of the "Get", which is the part that involves money.

12-17-2010, 10:19 AM	#40
astra The Introvert Posts: 8,307 Karma: 1000077497 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Device: Sony Reader PRS-650 & 505 & 500	To be honest, both the old and the new home pages are abominations. Sometimes, I like website, sometimes I don't care, sometimes I dislike but BAEN's homepages made me feel uncomfortable. It is an unpleasant feeling to be on the website. Both are kind of old fashioned films from 1950s? Well, to be more specific the old one looked like a snapshot from 1950 Sci-Fi film. The new one is the same film but digitalised.

12-17-2010, 10:31 AM	#41
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	BTW, Toni has just said that Baen ebooks will be available from Google.

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