New Navigation Bar on Goodreads

Lobstergirl wrote: "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."

Exactly!

I really like the new navigation bar and I usually don't like changes in design. But this design makes the buttons at the top bigger (I don't have to squint so much anymore!) and it's just easier on my eyes.

i like it but then again i dont..........

Lobstergirl wrote: "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..."

I pretty much agree with all of this. Although #6 has always been the case for me.

Sarah wrote: "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 ..."

Well said!

I got the new GR update and already I'm frustrated. How do i get back t o my homepage since the homepage icon is gone?

Click on the goodreads logo.

Well, since it seems like things that were adamantly asked for are ignored, and new changes continue to arrive that have no bearing on usability or functionality, I guess I'll have to relegate GR to the list of sites that I "used to know"...

More's the pity, because I genuinely used to love being here... Now, the site looks like some kid's freshman project for graphic design school.

I'm sure this has been mentioned to death by others, and that still others are in love with the new look, but I cannot take a site seriously that doesn't take it's users seriously.

"Parting in such sweet sorrow..."

Erin (Paperbackstash) *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Gerhard wrote: "I can't seem to find Goodreads Voice/ Most Popular anymore!?"

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

Thanks so much!

Sigh. Is there a reason for making things less ergonomic?

I'm unfortunately very much reminded of Amazon's makeovers of IMDB which resulted in the site being unusable in the end.

Must that really also happen to GR? Why do you guys never learn?

Alexandria wrote: "it's like the planning guys who decide this stuff lack common sense."

Common sense... so rare it's like a super power...

@Lobstergirl: I have some of the same issues you have (and different ones) so I added your comments to mine in the survey - just so someone sees them. I don't expect that anyone will do anything about the problems - these designers or whatever they are, don't seem to understand what to do with all the complaints.

Steelwhisper wrote: "Sigh. Is there a reason for making things less ergonomic?

I'm unfortunately very much reminded of Amazon's makeovers of IMDB which resulted in the site being unusable in the end.

Must that really..."

QUIT Complaining!!

Without meaningless makeovers and mindless mods, Thousands of compunerds would be out of a job!

It's just like with Government regulations - The instant they admit something is finished, or doesn't need any more work, or can't be "Improved", or etc. etc. they won't have a reason to exist any more and will end up back in Mommy's basement smoking pot at age 35 - You don't want THAT, do you?? (Don't answer that...)

Lindsay wrote: "Click on the goodreads logo."

Lindsay wrote: "Click on the goodreads logo."

Thank you.

*squinty eyes* I am immediately suspicious of anything that changes my normal experience in order to be more accommodating to mobile devices or tablets. I already miss the little "g" icon, and also the pleasure of deciding when to click its promising notification symbol instead of just mousing over it, but I reluctantly admit that I can't find anything else to hate about it. Though I am considering protesting the floating toolbar obscuring part of my screen at all times, because scrolling back up...is not hard/takes a millisecond to click on the scroll bar and zoom it back to the top? Or you can just open a new tab.

Elentarri wrote: "@Lobstergirl: I have some of the same issues you have (and different ones) so I added your comments to mine in the survey - just so someone sees them.."

Thanks!

To all the technic geeks out there can you program up a fix like you did for the old "new" site? Please please say yes, because this is even worse than I anticipated. Thanx

Obviously, this is slightly off-topic, but I felt that it had to be addressed...

I know I should just leave this alone, but I cannot quite bring myself to do so. I noticed that someone commented above that "It's impossible to try to figure out what books for a new-to-you author are out there when the list is clogged with foreign language editions". Clogged. Really? That's quite interesting, because from my perspective, not only myself but many others with much greater fluency in languages other than English have done an enormous amount of work over these last few years to both add those editions and also make sure that they are combined correctly. This may come as a surprise to some of the more ignorant "ugly American" types who, unfortunately, seem inescapable even here on Goodreads, but there are quite a few people on this site for whom English is a second or even third language. Somewhat serendipitously, I recently saw a short clip of an interview with the late Dr. Erzherzog Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen, in which he spoke about the importance of being fluent in more than one language, and described the great advantage he had while serving in the European Parliament, compared to his colleagues, due to his ability to speak seven languages fluently (as well as having some lesser degree of fluency in several more). It would be far more constructive if, rather than complaining about non-English editions, more people would lend a hand to those of us who are trying to make Goodreads better for everyone, regardless of whether English happens to be his or her first language. If English is your only language, you can still help- there are several good translation tools available as add-ons to various browsers; I have found 'Google Translate' to be quite useful, myself, but there are several others.

When I click on "view all notifications" it only goes back 6 notifications, 3 hours. Is this the new normal or a bug?

Anyway I hate the notifications dropdown. It's totally unstable, it used to be that you could right click on each new notification to open it in a new tab, now you can only do that once before the whole box vanishes. It's just wonky. It's like fog, you can't grab on to it.

I am loving all of these updates!

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

There is a way to mark re-reads in the full review settings but I would love to be able to have it count towards my yearly goal, good suggestion!

I can't find my groups, where do I find them?

Wendy T wrote: "I can't find my groups, where do I find them?"

If you point your mouse at Community, a drop down will appear. Groups is the first in the list.

Dawn wrote: "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..."

+1
...and the dark square fields when hovering over the round ones on the right side are ugly and don't go with the cleaner look of the bar, which could also be smaller.

Huh, it's not bad. Actually I like this new look.


Good job, GR!

There definitely needs to be an option to add re-reads to the yearly goal. I do put off re-reading books because of this, I know I would read A LOT more if I could add them. Putting down that I've read them twice in the review box isn't a good fix and does come across as lazy.

visually boring but functionally solid so far. just learned that I've had friend recommendations I'd never seen, so very nice job on the notification in the user dropdown. would have loved it if 'my books' had a dropdown for one-click access to different shelves, though in fairness it's likely not used enough to bother

seems there's an opportunity to appease those who miss the 'personality' in the header with a subtle (and less 80s) booky image in menu left, but that's down to preference. now that we've entered the modern world in terms of interface, here's to hopin correction of known functionality issues or oft-requested features roll out next. keep up the great work

I am frustrated with the fact that my notifications are now just a source of aggravation - I get them but can't use them as they now send me to a random post in the thread.

I use (and strongly prefer) the date descending view of group discussion threads. It used to be that when I clicked on a notification, I was sent to the thread and it was in the date descending order that I have set it to be, so the newest comments were on top just under the comment box. Now when I click on the notification, I am sent to the thread but it does NOT have the date descending order. If I reset it (which is annoying in and of itself to have to do every single time), the red "new" markers are no longer visible and at times, it can be hard to tell where the new-to-me comments begin in a busy thread. If I don't reset it, then I am forced to use a view format I do not want to use.

PLEASE FIX THIS!!!

Vickie wrote: "There definitely needs to be an option to add re-reads to the yearly goal. I do put off re-reading books because of this, I know I would read A LOT more if I could add them. Putting down that I've ..."

What I do is change date read. Then in my original review I say something like: "My opinion hasn't changed since I read it originally in ______" or "This time around I found nuances I missed when I read it originally in ______", enumerating if I wish.

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

There is a way to mark re-reads in the full review settings but I would love to be abl..."

They will do, change from read to reading, when you mark as read again the ratings and review box will come up **change the dates** it no longer automatically puts today's date, you have to click the option to change it. Not sure if it's a bug or a feature but there you go.

This thread is full of PEBCAK bug reports, I would be saying RTFM but it's a problem with clarity in the OP in all fairness.

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

There is a way to mark re-reads in the full review settings but I would l..."

Huh? For dummies like me, what are the abbreviations.

where do i find updates

Jane wrote: "Huh? For dummies like me, what are the abbreviations. "

I would like to know too.

Jane wrote: "What I do is change date read"

Thats fine for some but I don't want to have a previous challenge look like I failed it because I've then had to remove it to add it to this one. It just doesn't work for me. I need to be able to have the book in my 2012 list and my 2016 list, etc.

Vickie wrote: "Jane wrote: "What I do is change date read"

Thats fine for some but I don't want to have a previous challenge look like I failed it because I've then had to remove it to add it to this one. It jus..."

I just checked it for you. I don't know if you can see my challenges. Only put one down for 2012. Marked it as reading, marked as read, changed both dates as today in review box. Shows up in both challenges and I'm still 100% on 2012.

edit: unmarked as read to want to read and it went from both challenges, remarked it was read in 2012 and it was counted for the 2012 challenge.

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "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" lin..."

But who would have the PATIENCE to actually TAKE the tour, Susanna?


Cayden (aka Cade): TOO MUCH common sense.

Chelsea: Semantics. An "update" to something that DOESN'T NEED an update is STILL "fixing" what ain't broke.

Ilsa: Because they can. And they don't think we care.

Meran: Were you referring to me or to some other Amber who made a remark about the colors?

Steelwhisper: Because our educational system failed to actually TEACH them HOW to learn from their mistakes.

Duane: Maybe that's what THEY actually NEED...to go back to Mommy's basement!

Stephanie: AMEN! Re: "*squinty eyes* I am immediately suspicious of anything that changes my normal experience in order to be more accommodating to mobile devices or tablets."

Liam: See my previous comment about common sense.

At least I know it won't eat my challenge! However won't it still say something silly like congrats you read 140 books out of 150? That would still bother me to no end.

Edit: I know it seems odd being worried about challenges but I worked hard for them and I would prefer to know which books I read that year, rather than half because I've had to move a ton to a new challenge, you know?

I don't see the home button I use it to check my reading challenge also what my friends are reading

Gail wrote: "I don't see the home button I use it to check my reading challenge also what my friends are reading"

Click... On... The... Goodreads... Logo...

It's different depending on what computer im on

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

There is a way to mark re-reads in the full review settings but I would love to be abl..."

I definitely AGREE!!

Vickie wrote: "At least I know it won't eat my challenge! However won't it still say something silly like congrats you read 140 books out of 150? That would still bother me to no end.

Edit: I know it seems odd b..."

Ahh YES!!! I feel the exact same way!

Finally got the new nav bar! It's perfect and such an improvement.

I really like the new layout, especially that the top nav bar is fixed so I don't have to do as much scrolling to navigate now. I have only used it on my PC so far, I am curious as to whether I will feel the same about the mobile experience.

how the heck do you get to the "updates" page where all the feeds are?

Lee wrote: "how the heck do you get to the "updates" page where all the feeds are?"

Click on the goodreads logo.

That's stupid, who would know that?! But thank you Lindsay because yep...lol it worked!

Lee wrote: "That's stupid, who would know that?! But thank you Lindsay because yep...lol it worked!"

It's an unspoken web convention. Just about every major web site works that way including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, io9, tor.com, livejournal etc.

Lindsay wrote: "Lee wrote: "That's stupid, who would know that?! But thank you Lindsay because yep...lol it worked!"

It's an unspoken web convention. Just about every major web site works that way including Googl..."

amazon, newspaper sites, the bbc, sky, M&S, tescos....it's always more annoying to most people when you click on the site logo and it does nothing, as now you have to hunt around for wherever they have decided to put it.

Although I suppose if people didn't know this was a thing you could do on most other sites then they have now learned something that will be useful to them on the rest of the internet.

Honestly it's driving me crazy that people are acting like this is some newfangled thing. I don't even remember there being a home button on the previous layout.

My favourite is Amazon, who shoved a link to sign up for Prime in their logo. Because if you accidentally click on that, sure you're going to sign up to pay that much.