New Navigation Bar on Goodreads

Except that they want people to have their say about the new navigation bar. Constructive criticism concerning the new navigation bar is drowning in feature requests and unrelated bug reports. I guess they could moderate the thread, but I'm sure people would feel censored. Perhaps it's a sign that Goodreads staff should have a more easily accessible feedback form, though.

Tobias wrote: "Except that they want people to have their say about the new navigation bar. Constructive criticism concerning the new navigation bar is drowning in feature requests and unrelated bug reports. I gu..."

I agree, the topic has wandered off into the wilderness but in this format, it's mostly harmless. Let folks speak. I'm sure the web developers are monitoring this thread and who knows maybe they'll see something worth exploring.

I like it! Thanks for continuing to enhance the goodreads experience.

Hi Goodreads Team! I love the new look but I have one problem. When I click (not hover) the notification button or click "view all notifications", all it displays are the latest ones (usually just 3-5 of the latest). I can't view my other previous notifications, and because of this I might be missing on a few things. Thank you!

Dawn: AMEN! Re: "Plus, a quick note--there isn't an overwhelming majority using mobile devices yet. Granted, it seems to be a steadily rising number and one day they might be, but for now please let us computer users be upset because what works on a mobile device doesn't always work very well on an actual computer. "

Jane: AMEN! Re: "I'm perfectly happy with my desktop. "

Sarah: NOONE does beta testing anymore! No "profit" in it, so why bother?

Gill: If you;re waiting for it to stabilize, you'll be waiting until the sun goes nova!

Learnin Curve: LOL! Re: "*internal screaming*

Speaking as a person called in to do tech support for F&F dontdothisdontdothisdontdothis Smacking a PC that randomly shuts down is a Very Bad thing if it's the cable from the power supply which is loose.


Insides of a PC are simpler than meccano and it's all colour coded, the oogidyboogidy omg you will break your PC!!11! fear of opening up the PC and fixing it yourself was created by people who sell and fix computers so they can make hundreds of pounds off you for 10 seconds work a monkey could do. Seriously, easier than Lego or Meccano. Cheeky swines have been ripping off the general public for years with these lies designed to make people feel frightened and it's usually the older people they pray on because they know they can make more money off them.

How to actually fix a PC that randomly shuts down or plays silly beggers when you try to start it. .."

Ron: Because they are MENTALLY incapable of letting sleeping dogs lie, so to speak. In other words, they LOVE to "fix" things that aren't broken.

Learnin Curve (again): That's pretty damned (bleeping) IDIOTIC! Who has the mother(bleeping) PATIENCE to do so on a regular basis?! Re: "When the review box pops up after you mark as read it still shows the original read dates, so if you read it first in 2014 it won't count. You now have to manually change the dates so it's marked as finished today and it will shelve properly."

Meran: AMEN! Re: your remark about our computer screens matching our walls @ home!

Ron (again): Yep. Change for the sake of change really (bleeping) pisses me off!

Learnin Curve (yet again): If you KNEW the true human rights/environmental costs of those tablets you'd probably NEVER use 'em, period!

Suvi: I think you nailed it! Re: "Or that people who are confused or not that good with computers ask for help and get some users all worked up."

Lobstergirl: Re: "And I've reported the same bugs repeatedly since they often don't get noticed the first time, I can't say why," it's because they (meaning the admins/owners) DON'T GIVE A FLYING (BLEEP) AT AN ORBITAL PASTRY!

I can't seem to find Goodreads Voice/ Most Popular anymore!?

Gerhard wrote: "I can't seem to find Goodreads Voice/ Most Popular anymore!?"

Probably got rid of it.

love it, thanks..

The new navigation bar has just been updated on my browser and I have to say, I love it!!!

The HOME button is still available. Just click on the word "goodreads" (top left). :)

I don't like the changes one little bit. Not just because I don't like change- because visually it is very unattractive and looks cheap. It's like you took a step backwards and this is what it would look like before there were improvements.

Crap, I have the "new and unimproved" taskbar.

And the number of times "the goodreads symbol is the home page link" is repeated just reinforces the need for GR to have a "tour of our features" link available.

Karey - they already started the "deleting reviews" routine, in September 2013.

I just got the new update! I really like it!

I don't like it one bit.

Hate the look. Bring back the logo with the books! This new layout is unappealing on the eyes.

Gerhard wrote: "I can't seem to find Goodreads Voice/ Most Popular anymore!?"

It's now called News and Articles, under Browse.

I don't like it. I wish they gave the option to keep the old set up.

I don't mind the new navigation bar and in some ways it is superior/ However, I dislike that certain things now require an additional number of clicks -- in particular, clicking/tapping on my own profile picture no longer brings me directly to my profile.

I ascertain that this was a secondary update, too, because clicking on the picture was still working directly as recently as a few hours ago. The new toolbar has been up for a few days already...

Meghan, any news re when the bug on iPads is going to be fixed please?

Alysa wrote: "certain things now require an additional number of clicks -- in particular, clicking/tapping on my own profile picture no longer brings me directly to my profile."

Hover over profile picture - click View Profile. One click?
Edit: Clicking on your profile picture does bring you to your profile. Lol.

Meghan wrote: "Gill wrote: "Meghan, any news re when the bug on iPads is going to be fixed please?"

Just to clarify, are you talking about the link to your profile not working? That should be fixed now."

Ooh yes, thanks, it does.

I did not want to comment without seeing the changes first so I refrained from saying anything about the navigation issue before hand.

But holy hell. I just refreshed the GR page and behold! It changed. My anxiety came back and I actually panicked a little. Maybe I'll get used to it, but for now, I can't help wincing..

I updated a page and suddenly I saw the new nav bar... I love it!
Nice, neat and intuitive. Good job ✌

this very nice .. the truth .. I liked

I mean...I don't hate it, I don't love it. I just think that there are more important things that you guys should be addressing and working on to improve rather than screwing around with the navigation for no reason. I don't think in my however many # of years being a member here, I have ever seen someone say, "Gee, I wish they'd fix the top navigation!"

I like this new navigation bar, very nice job ^_^

Pretty cool, well done folks! :-)

Just got the new navigation bar and I like it very much.

OK, just got the new navigation bar. Not as obtrusive at the top of the page as I'd feared, plus, it is nice to not have to scroll all the way back up to get to the rest of my notifications. I will say the automatic drop down menus when the mouse accidentally passes over them will be no end of annoying, and I would like to get rid of the recommendation teasers or whatever you're calling them. Just like usual, they don't seem to be relevant to what I actually read and a couple seem to be misclassified...which really isn't a major change. There was a reason I stopped looking at that section in the old format, after all. It didn't bother me then because I didn't have to see it; now I do and I seriously want to turn them off. PLEASE?

Wow, people seem really against this update. I love it. It's clean and simple to use and I really like that it locks on top so that the links are always accessible while scrolling.

And to all who are saying "why fix something that isn't broken?" It's not a fix, it's an update. And we do it as human beings in the name of "progress". Everyone is always up in arms when a website makes changes, but give it some time and you won't want to go back to how it was.

Anyway, I'll go fill out your survey too now :D

Ugh. Got the new version today and I think I need to get some sunglasses.

1. I like that the menu bar stays static across the top.

2. I hate the new layout overall. I never had a problem with it before, but now it's really bothering my eyes. It's too white or something. I've been on the site for about 10 minutes and have a headache. I have to go now.

Liz wrote: "Please figure out a way to mark Re-Reads of books and have them count towards the yearly goal!!!"

AGREED!!!

Don't really like it. I think the buttons are so big and the frame too wide so that steals space for me to read reviews for example. Also when I clicked on my avatar I could see how many friends I have and how many books I have on my shelves just loke that but now I can't. Please if you could fix that

Not impressed.
The glaring, lighter colours are harder to read.
And to be honest, who cares about the tool bar when there are still other bugs to fix that would make it easier to shelf books and add reviews!

I dislike pretty much everything about this upgrade. I don't like the typeface, or the colors, or the layout. It's hard on the eyes, hard to read, disappointing. As a 20-year typographer, I can tell you that the text face you chose is not reader-friendly.

Why on earth are you guys not fixing basic functionality(like seriously that android app is crap) and instead changing stuff that is already fine? Like really it's like the planning guys who decide this stuff lack common sense

NONONONONONONONHELLNOHELLNOHELLNO. WHY THE FREAKING BLOODY FLIP ARE THEY SLOWLY BURNING THEIR SITE IN THE DEPTHS OF AWFULNESS?!?!?!

Thanks for the "up vote" Amber on the colors.

I really don't like to complain. But as eyes get older (even from age 25 plus), color perception changes, paler colors become less different from each other.

It's ~science. As I think geekdom (of which I'm part, as is the hubs) would, should be proud of. Research colors and brain responses to same. Learn more.

Besides, do people really only want Yes Men anymore? Sure, we don't want haters, but as has been noted, good ideas are brought about by discussion (many times, it's called "brain storming" lol)

So, it's good to ask and receive answers. The chaff will fall by the wayside, leaving the good kernels in the winnowing basket. As long as someone is looking in said basket.

Today, I see the new format... And if I dimmed my screen, I'd have a difficult time. That is a VERY pale beige. Even the red is terribly toned down. How many different devices was this tested on, with true honest reviewers?

Oh. Just verified the notification problem. Yes, that's a biggie. I click on one, I can read that one, but all the red "new" goes away. And if I get over 10? Will I see them at all? Because in the past, there was a limit, and the only way I could see them was "see all notifications".... Which is non-existent now. Is that an "undocumented feature"? Or just a PEBCAK problem? Sad.

Oh I just got the update. It's awful. Just like the last one. Now the site is uglier AND less functional/accessible.

Well I finally got the new toolbar and I have to admit I don't hate the functionality of it. I'm not a fan of the huge recommendation in the browse drop down but to be honest I'll hardly ever need to look in that section anyway. The pages I'm most interested in (home page & my books) are still easy to get to & that's where I spend 99% of my goodreads time anyway.

The notifications have always been ridiculously unreliable for anyone who uses the site a lot, it's the reason I have all my notifications by email (at least that way I get most of them - but even that isn't 100% foolproof and I know I miss comments on my reviews fairly regularly).

What I do hate is the fact that Goodreads has become so generic and boring to look at. It's like the website has lost all it's personality & everything that made it a cozy part of the internet for book lovers to congregate. Now it could be pretty much any site, there is nothing that makes it stand out from a million other boring forums or websites and I'm really sad about that.

Amen to that, Sarah.

Ilsa (Gone this Weekend) wrote: "Amen to that, Sarah."

Add mine. Sadly.

Anyone who didn't see, they have a survey for feedback:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/X525QVL

That "search window" is only an inch long on my iPad (original size, not the little one), not even as big as shown in the example! I tested it by putting in a title... It did NOT "expand to fit the space" (or how exactly it was noted above).

So that function is certainly not working as advertised.

I won't know how it works on my laptop until I put up a review, since a keyboard us easier to do such tasks.

But Promise #1 is a no go. Sorry guys.

Meghan wrote: "Hi Lobstergirl, While I hope you're submitting your feedback via the survey provided as that is definitely the best way to get ideas about the new navigation through to the team working directly on it"

I've already taken the survey, and it won't let you take it again apparently. Now when I encounter a new issue the only place I can mention it is here.

Since I can't take the survey twice, here are the main issues I have.

1. Hovering over avatar used to tell you how many friends you had and how many books total you have shelved. Why would you get rid of that?

2. The Browse and Community dropdowns are very obtrusive, and impossible to avoid if you are darting around the page with a mouse. It is extremely annoying no matter what the website is when the dropdowns keep popping up when you don't choose to have them appear.

3. The Browse dropdown in particular is extremely annoying and obtrusive since it features a list of genres, and a book recommendation and takes up 2/3 the width of my entire screen. Please allow people to opt out of getting a book recommendation forced on them. In the previous design I never went to the Recommendations page in order to get recommendations because I have no interest in that. Now you are forcing a recommendation on me that I do not want.

4. The text in the search box went from specific to vague. People who used it all the time will remember that you can search by author, title and ISBN, but people who are unfamiliar with it will have no idea that you can search by, in particular, ISBN.

5. You got rid of the bookshelf image which lent the site some character. Now it just looks bland.

6. The red "new" in the notifications dropdown disappears when you actually click through to the notifications page. Why would you make this so confusing? Now you have to remember how many "new" notifications you had and count down to make sure you aren't missing any.

ok I might be stupid or something but how do we get back to the home screen with the new navigation bar?

Allison wrote: "ok I might be stupid or something but how do we get back to the home screen with the new navigation bar?"

No, you're not stupid. A lot of people are having the same problem because the HOME link disappeared. Click on goodreads which is the new home button.

Sarah wrote: "What I do hate is the fact that Goodreads has become so generic and boring to look at. It's like the website has lost all it's personality & everything that made it a cozy part of the internet for book lovers to congregate. Now it could be pretty much any site, there is nothing that makes it stand out from a million other boring forums or websites and I'm really sad about that. "

AMEN!!!