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Help with using BookLikes
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Tips and things about BookLikes
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Susanna - Censored by GoodReads
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Oct 04, 2013 02:57PM
Great, glad that helped.
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Judith wrote: "I'm trying to set up an account at Booklikes, but they refuse everything i enter into the Account fields....they want me to login with my Facebook account, it seems....that pisses me off"I had some difficulties getting my account created too. Turns out that the first time I entered my email/username it created the account but made it secret or something? That's what they told me. The result was that I was unable to log in, and unable to create a new account using my email or that username. They fixed it for me after I emailed them about it, pretty quickly.
I'm sure I'm being stupid again, but - does anyone have advice about the exclusive shelves? I took one that I have exclusive here, tried to change it; couldn't; deleted it; re-added it as exclusive ... and now I can't add books to it. I still have read/planning to read/currently reading only as exclusive shelves, and the shelf now doesn't show up in the list of my other shelves. ??
Oop - Booklikes heard me; I just got a "weekly updates" email, which directed me to http://blog.booklikes.com/post/551754/exclusive-status-for-your-books-on-booklikes
Which answered my question. I think.
OMG, are you saying that BL can read minds, too?! ;-)
I initially had trouble creating my account because I misunderstood their "Username" field, which had a text box with:Username, username.booklikes.com
I thought we were actually supposed to fill in the user name we want, followed by a comma and your username incorporated into a "Booklikes" URL. I kept getting an error message telling me to use (forgetting the exact wording) legal letters/numbers. I finally tried it with just the username and no comma + URL.
[But it could be that I am the only person who had this particular problem!]
Mirkat wrote: "I initially had trouble creating my account because I misunderstood their "Username" field, which had a text box with:Username, username.booklikes.com
I thought we were actually supposed to fill..."
I had the same problem, but don't tell anyone.
Mirkat wrote: "I initially had trouble creating my account because I misunderstood their "Username" field, which had a text box with:Username, username.booklikes.com
I thought we were actually supposed to fill..."
I had to twiddle with that a while too before I figured out what it wanted!
Some things at Booklikes I can't tell if it's me just not catching on quickly where to look for things, or that things are put in a place that most users wouldn't look. Like where to find the Dashboard button to see either All Posts (everyone's blog posts) or Just Reviews (shows solely book reviews). I would not have found that - but I did find the area where my Blog posts saved as Drafts were.
Short version: I can't tell if things are hard to find or if it's just me not looking hard enough. Heh.
So I was wondering if any of you had messed around with this?Bc I can't for the life of me get it to work;
Has anyone found out how to write the code that makes the exclusivity shelves show on the shelf page?
http://zafia.booklikes.com/shelf
^That one I mean.
Bc I tried c/p code number 135 (shelf) and substituting "currentlyreading" with my exclusivity shelf name and the name showed, only not in the font color I'd picked and neither did the amount of books on the shelf in question show, only "()" showed.
Fx
So any suggestions?
Shomeret wrote: "Half stars on Booklikes, and I didn't even have to plead for them for years! Eureka!"I'm glad the place is growing on you!
I'm still confused but I haven't tried very hard or added books yet.
I finally found a solution to all my frustrations last night - I created a Tumblr blog, mindheartbook.tumblr.com. I have it customized, which I couldn't do on BL. So now I have the option of posting content to my BL blog, my Tumblr blog, and / or my Twitter account (@mindheartbook).
When BL gives us better customization options, I'll be more active on BL.
When BL gives us better customization options, I'll be more active on BL.
Does anyone know if there is a direct way to send messages in BookLikes to followers (via e-mail), similar to what is possible in Goodreads? 
KOMET wrote: "Does anyone know if there is a direct way to send messages in BookLikes to followers (via e-mail), similar to what is possible in Goodreads? "that function is in the works, apparently, but not happening just yet.
Here is a huge list of how-to's and tutorials on Booklikes that have been compiled by Themis-Athena, http://themisathena.booklikes.com/bl_...
Those are terrific, she's doing such a good job of pulling stuff together for us migrants.
@ Petra xAye that's a very nice guides list, just wish that the guide I need was there.
Petra, Bunny and Zafia, thank you!Zafia, are you still looking for the popup spoiler thingy? Give me another half day or day to finish tinkering with the appearance of my blog and I'll get to it ... Haven't forgotten about this. (It's one of the featues I'm planning to use myself, so you can be sure I'll be implementing it sooner rather than later. :) )
@ Themis,Aye that would be one of them, the other I've described in post #526.
I can't for the life of me get it to work. So if you know something about css, perhaps you could take a look, bc I doubt I'm the only one wanting my exclusivity shelves to be shown.
Uh and I'll definitely be watching your blog for the spoiler box :)
Zafia wrote: "Well it had to match my grim reaper avatar so;http://zafia.booklikes.com/blog
But now I gotta do something about the color fonts as the black goes invisible hehe"
Hi Zafia - your white font came out nicely.
How did you eventually manage to change it?
Maybe I'm not searching properly but I cant seem to find any tutorial/help on changing font colours in the sidebar and main page. My bg is also dark and I need all my text in white too. Can you advise pls?
Beeg wrote: "Maybe I'm not searching properly but I cant seem to find any tutorial/help on changing font colours in the sidebar and main page. My bg is also dark and I need all my text in white too. Can you advise pls?"Beeg: Have you had a look at this?
http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/36739...-
Zafia: What you're describing in post 526 is something I've yet to figure out myself, too. (I want my "Favorites" shelf to be my default shelf/the shelf you first see when you access the book shelves page.) This isn't a CSS issue, though; at least to me it doesn't seem to be one -- CSS only determines how the various elements of your page display, it doesn't add extra functions. What we're both looking to do is the latter, I think. I don't believe we're the only ones looking for a solution to that, though. So who knows, maybe someone else figures out a way around this situation in the interim ...
Beeg, think that Anne's FYI is what you need: http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/22731...-The above modifies on individual page basis = must repeat changes for all pages.
FWIW, based on my bit of puttering last week, I'm planning to go back to blank slate and use Custom CSS for certain basic/global items so to avoid locating & making same changes over and over.
Good luck!
ETA: Oh, and if anyone wants to get creative re: font colours, see http://www.color-hex.com/color-palettes/ -OR- http://www.computerhope.com/htmcolor.htm
Also, Google for font colours + HTML (or CSS, depending on what you need)
Karma♥Bites~Bookin’ Freely wrote: "FWIW, based on my bit of puttering last week, I'm planning to go back to blank slate and use Custom CSS for certain basic/global items so to avoid locating & making same changes over and over."I played with that idea as well, but the stylesheets I have on my own sites (which I'm essentially using, albeit on an "individual elements" basis) have a few settings that don't work with BookLikes, especially the side bar menu links -- which are essentially h3-level headers -- and a bunch of other elements as well. So I ended up ferretting out the names of the varioius elements that needed to be designed differently for the basic look of my own stylesheets still to work, and then adapt the code for those elements individually -- even if I've added everything into the same central customized stylesheet, which I'm using on all pages.
I believe Krazykiwi said she was thinking about mapping out the code for the site's 5 categories of pages ... I have no idea whether she's actually started working on this yet, though.
I haven't had time to do anything to my site yet and I haven't really been keeping up with this thread, but just in case they haven't been mentioned before, jsfiddle (http://jsfiddle.net/) is a great place to interactively test your javascript, and dabblet (http://dabblet.com/) is pretty good for CSS. Although admittedly, I haven't tried the chrome plugin--that might be a better alternative.
Karma♥Bites~Bookin’ Freely and (Themis-Athena -THANKS!
I actually SAW that tutorial before I asked here but didn't read it in its entirety because I thought it only referred to the comments section of the blog. I re-read it now and it definitely seems to be what I'm looking for.
Thanks again :)
Beeg wrote: "Karma♥Bites~Bookin’ Freely and (Themis-Athena -THANKS!
I actually SAW that tutorial before I asked here but didn't read it in its entirety because I thought it only referred to the comments secti..."
They're actually two different tutorials -- Anna addresses the issue in both, but in different ways. See which method works better for you. There isn't just one correct answer ... e.g., you can also just recode the relevant CSS properties (that's what I did). But one of Anna's tutorials should definitely do it.
Carly wrote: "I haven't had time to do anything to my site yet and I haven't really been keeping up with this thread, but just in case they haven't been mentioned before, jsfiddle (http://jsfiddle.net/) is a gre..."Thanks, Carly, I'll add both links to my collection of links and tutorials (http://themisathena.booklikes.com/bl_... ). Very helpful!
Themis-Yes, I now see they are two different tuts.
If I'm still stuck I'm gonna try the CSS way, though.
Thanks again
No problem -- thank Anna for writing the tutorials in the first place! :)
Themis-Athena (targeted by GR censors) wrote: "Zafia: What you're describing in post 526 is something I've yet to figure out myself, too. (I want my "Favorites" shelf to be my default shelf/the shelf you first see when you access the book shelves page.) This isn't a CSS issue, though; at least to me it doesn't seem to be one -- CSS only determines how the various elements of your page display, it doesn't add extra functions. What we're both looking to do is the latter, I think. I don't believe we're the only ones looking for a solution to that, though. So who knows, maybe someone else figures out a way around this situation in the interim ... "Are you sure? Bc I already got my exclusivity shelves to show - Its just when I click one of them it takes me straight to the default shelf page and not the exclusivity shelf. That just suggest to me that there is a way, I'm just too blind to find it lol.
--
About your issue - Don't you think that there is a way, because one can change the default in the shelf sort order, so it doesn't seem that big of a stretch to think one could also change the default shelf view?
Zafia wrote: "I already got my exclusivity shelves to show - Its just when I click one of them it takes me straight to the default shelf page and not the exclusivity shelf. That just suggest to me that there is a way, I'm just too blind to find it lol."If it's something that's triggered by your clicking on a link, that probably means the links themselves are not working properly. It may also be a bug -- exclusive shelves are a new thing, and virtually no new feature comes completely bug-free right off the bat. Have you written to BL about it?
--
"About your issue - Don't you think that there is a way, because one can change the default in the shelf sort order, so it doesn't seem that big of a stretch to think one could also change the default shelf view?"
Yes, undoubtedly there is a way. I just haven't figured it out yet. :) I can manage reasonably well (for what I need to achieve, which isn't a lot) with CSS, but Js gives me the willies ... and this is probably going to involve tinkering with Js. (Gulp.) ;)
Themis-Athena (targeted by GR censors) wrote: "If it's something that's triggered by your clicking on a link, that probably means the links themselves are not working properly. It may also be a bug -- exclusive shelves are a new thing, and virtually no new feature comes completely bug-free right off the bat. Have you written to BL about it?"Well when I click it the url say the correct address, only the screen reloads to the default shelf view. I'm thinking I'm doing it wrong bc I've no idea what I'm doing really lol.
I haven't written to BL bc I think is my fault rather than a bug.
Zafia wrote: "Themis-Athena (targeted by GR censors) wrote: "If it's something that's triggered by your clicking on a link, that probably means the links themselves are not working properly. It may also be a bug..."Well, the only thing you're supposed to have to do as a user is click the link and be taken to the correct page, not the default view. :) To me it still sounds like something having to do with the way the link is configured (either an HTML or a Js issue), particularly if the URL you're seeing is actually the correct one. I'd bring it to BL's attention. Either they're going to tell you what you need to do that you haven't been doing, or they'll realize it is a bug and they'll be put in the position to fix it ...
Oh good, I thought it was just me. My shelves are driving me crazy on Booklikes. I can't find my books. They are there but I need to wade through them. The shelves don't seem to come out right.
What shelves in particular are you having probs with AH?
Themis-Athena (targeted by GR censors) wrote: "Well, the only thing you're supposed to have to do as a user is click the link and be taken to the correct page, not the default view. :) To me it still sounds like something having to do with the way the link is configured (either an HTML or a Js issue), particularly if the URL you're seeing is actually the correct one. I'd bring it to BL's attention. Either they're going to tell you what you need to do that you haven't been doing, or they'll realize it is a bug and they'll be put in the position to fix it ... "Not sure what a Js issue are? I think I'll just wait and see what else BL has in store.
Javascript?
Thanks Jennifer - Now that you said it its really obvious lol.
LOL - it wasn't to me. I had to look at the post 3 times. But I'm glad I could help :-)
Sorry. :) "Javascript," yes ...
Zafia wrote: "What shelves in particular are you having probs with AH?"When I click on my personal shelves - It's probably me. It was really easy to find a book on GR. On BL, I'm not sure if I'm adding another book to my shelf when I am reviewing it. I'm just bumbling around.
Anyhow, in table view, when I click on view by author, the author column disappears. I click again and they appear but since I have a lot of books, it's a lot to wade through.
Maybe I should change my blog name to Bumbling through Booklikes.
@ AHWell the thing about the shelves on BL is that you can click multiple shelves as;
1 Read
2 Favorite
3 Category
If any of them is highlighted (green I think is the default) then that mean its one you have clicked.
Idk if that's gonna help your problem?
AH wrote: "Zafia wrote: "What shelves in particular are you having probs with AH?"When I click on my personal shelves - It's probably me. It was really easy to find a book on GR. On BL, I'm not sure if I'm ..."
I had the same trouble as you, with authors and fumbling in general. You are not the only one having trouble! Here is what is going on with the authors sorting list. Some books do not have the authors registered, so the first books have no authors, but if you scroll down you will eventually get to the books with authors registered - this could be on the next page. If you click on authors several times you are switching from the beginning to the end to the beginning of the list again, that is why every other time you see the authors. Eventually we will figure this out BUT, you sure to begin to appreciate GR. Let's be honest.
Another thing I have noticed. It is awfully nice with the book description under each book at GR. I personally do not like writing a complete book review, but rather just adding my personal thoughts. With he way BL is done our reviews are not preceded by a book description.
Chrissie wrote: "Another thing I have noticed. It is awfully nice with the book description under each book at GR. I personally do not like writing a complete book review, but rather just adding my personal thoughts. With he way BL is done our reviews are not preceded by a book description. "IIRC Dawid said recently that they're:
(1) working on consolidated book pages which collect everybody's reviews, regardless through which bookseller (Amazon, B&N, Kobo etc.) they have sourced the book in the search bar -- currently on what passes for book pages you actually only see the reviews of those who have used the same source/bookseller as you -- and
(2) they're planning to give users the ability to edit site content, similar to the way it's done here by librarians. I'm just going to keep my fingers tightly crossed that that is going to include writing/editing book descriptions. Anyway, since they're also looking to cooperate with book publishers, they will probably also be able to get book summaries from them somewhere down the line ...
Themis-Athena (targeted by GR censors) wrote: 1) working on consolidated book pages which collect everybody's reviews, regardless through which bookseller (Amazon, B&N, Kobo etc.) they have sourced the book in the search bar -- currently on what passes for book pages you actually only see the reviews of those who have used the same source/bookseller as you -- and ..."I didn't know that. He needs a proper book database not just links to the bookselling sites. He definitely needs librarians. I used to enjoy doing that. When I first decided to do librarian stuff, there were thousands of books from Paragon and couple of similar companies. The author data etc for them is not readily available for many of their books and I, as a bookseller, had access to it all, and I so enjoyed putting it on. For what, I ask myself? But I'd do it again for another site if I felt it could be... home.
Petra X wrote: "But I'd do it again for another site if I felt it could be... home."Same here -- no special access to data only available to those in the book business, but like Goodreads, the site is probably going to need volunteer editors with language skills/some sort of insight into the non-English language market if it wants to successfully position itself internationally (as seems to be the case, based on Dawid's interview in the L.A. Times). And, heck, volunteers to do all sorts of cleanup jobs ... basically all the stuff us librarians are/have been doing here.
But I, too, would like to first build more of a confidence BL really IS going to be my home for all things related to books, reading, and reviewing.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who misinterpreted the "Username, username.booklikes.com" field. :)
I go between London and the Caribbean frequently and I can see myself living the same lifestyle online with GR and BookLikes. Two homes.
Themis-Athena (targeted by GR censors) wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Another thing I have noticed. It is awfully nice with the book description under each book at GR. I personally do not like writing a complete book review, but rather just adding my..."Wow, that would be wonderful! They are extremely responsive at BL.
Chrissie wrote: "They are extremely responsive at BL."Let's just hope they stay that way! :)
Petra X wrote: "I go between London and the Caribbean frequently and I can see myself living the same lifestyle online with GR and BookLikes. Two homes."It's the way I'm doing it at present. Easier than in real life, too, since no air travel is involved! :)
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