Goodreads has a new look!
Posted by Otis on November 26, 2008
Goodreads 2.0 is here! We're very excited to release a new design to you all tonight. We've been testing the new design for the past week and are really excited about it.
The redesign is focused on improving site usability and navigation. It contains only a few new features, but we have moved a number of things around to make them easier to find and use.
Key aspects of the redesign are:
* The site is wider (960px)!
* New header navigation that uses dropdowns to allow faster access to key areas of the site.
* The row of books in the header moved from hanging upside down to being right side up. Our designer pointed out that before it looked as though they were about to fall out of the sky! :)
* New "explore books" page that is a jumping off point to all explore books pages (listopia, popular books, most read books, etc)
* The grey boxes used all over the site have been replaced with a clean rounded brown header. This allows for less visual clutter and more space for content.
* The elements on the book page have been rearranged a bit to make the content people use the most more prominent.
* The wider site allowed us to move the bookshelves on the 'my books' page to a narrow column on the left, which really cleaned up the look & feel of that page - especially for those of us (like me) who have a lot of shelves.
We also launch one fairly significant new feature - a new comment digest system! This allows members to follow a discussion in a group instantly, daily, or weekly. Previously we just had daily. You can also now follow any discussion anywhere on the site, where previously only groups and review comments had email notifications. We expect this to be a significant improvement in letting members easily follow the discussions they care about!
Please check it out and give us your feedback, and help us nail any remaining bugs!
Goodreads 2.0 is here! We're very excited to release a new design to you all tonight. We've been testing the new design for the past week and are really excited about it.
The redesign is focused on improving site usability and navigation. It contains only a few new features, but we have moved a number of things around to make them easier to find and use.
Key aspects of the redesign are:
* The site is wider (960px)!
* New header navigation that uses dropdowns to allow faster access to key areas of the site.
* The row of books in the header moved from hanging upside down to being right side up. Our designer pointed out that before it looked as though they were about to fall out of the sky! :)
* New "explore books" page that is a jumping off point to all explore books pages (listopia, popular books, most read books, etc)
* The grey boxes used all over the site have been replaced with a clean rounded brown header. This allows for less visual clutter and more space for content.
* The elements on the book page have been rearranged a bit to make the content people use the most more prominent.
* The wider site allowed us to move the bookshelves on the 'my books' page to a narrow column on the left, which really cleaned up the look & feel of that page - especially for those of us (like me) who have a lot of shelves.
We also launch one fairly significant new feature - a new comment digest system! This allows members to follow a discussion in a group instantly, daily, or weekly. Previously we just had daily. You can also now follow any discussion anywhere on the site, where previously only groups and review comments had email notifications. We expect this to be a significant improvement in letting members easily follow the discussions they care about!
Please check it out and give us your feedback, and help us nail any remaining bugs!
Comments (showing 1-50 of 121) (121 new)
WOW, i was surprised when i opened the site today and saw the new look of Goodreads. I love it! It's refreshing and very convenient. Good job guys!
Yea so whenever you make a post in a thread, and come back to the groups page, it shows your post as new. Can we get rid of that? It wasn't like that before!
Otis, it looks great! very pleasing to the eye. I did notice one thing tho, when I reply/add a comment to a thread, it shows that thread as having "1 new" in red, even tho I was the one who posted. Should it be doing that? It never used to do that, and is confusing me :OOne other thing, is it possible to remove the check from the "email me when someone replies", and allow us to check the box if we want that? I am afraid I will always forget to uncheck the box, and will get a million separate emails a day.
I'm still looking things over, but it looks very nice. Thank you for the hard work and dedication to continue striving to improve such a wonderful Site. Hats off to you all!
Looks great... I would love to see maybe a theme change option in the future... maybe customizable...I would love to see the function that when you drag your mouse on top of a book image you get quick information box come up with quick summary.
Dream list continues :)
Great job!
One thing still bothers me. When a comment or post is cut off, and you have to click on "more" to see the rest of it, why not make the cut in between words, instead of cutting off in the middle of a word? One of my truncated posts ends with f..., making it look like I'm going to use the f-word to describe something in the book.
I think it looks much better! It was just fine before IMO but it's definitely better this way. Thanks to everyone who helped!
This is more than great. Anyway, can I use feed to let me know whenever new books are published? Thanks a bunch!!
Sorry I did not like the new look at all. It is most inconvenient. Please revert to the old look which was very user friendly. This is ghastly
I like the new look but I have issues with it showing '1 new message' when I was the one who posted it.
I would agree with Sara Without An "H". The site is well done and I like it. I wouldn't say that I love it.
Actually, I found another little bug.EVERY TIME I POST IN A GROUP, I GO BACK TO THE HOMEPAGE OF GOODREADS!!!!!!!!
Overall, the changes are okay, but I wish there were more spaces in between entries on the front page feed. At first glance, it looks like a huge block of text as opposed to many different updates from different people. A bit more space would make it much easier to read.
I second Lori on the "1 new" issue. It isn't necessary to be notified when you, yourself, made the new comment. Otherwise, fabulous work, team.
I just can't figure out how to get back to my profile after looking at other things (finding a new book, checking "home.", etc...). Other than that, very nice :) Something to be grateful for this season!
I've only been on the site for a few minutes this morning but I like the new look, very "clean" and "uncluttered."
It's much prettier, but I REALLY don't like that it shows my own post to me as *new*. Even after I have read it and refreshed the page.
I like the new look :) I logged on this morning and went WHOA! What happened?! But I definitely like it...only problem is, I keep clicking blank space where the old 'groups' button was! :DAlso, it keeps saying '1 new' when I post in a topic...but that's pretty much it!
I think it would be great for goodreads to have a friends searcher that shows who (everywhere) that you have the most books and ratings in common with. It would be a great way to find new friends!
Thanks for all the feedback and kind words! I'm glad many of you like it. We'll fix the "(1 new)" thing asap.
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