Thoughts on the redesigned homepage
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Others have informed me that the number one and two reasons I was going to the home page are best handled elsewhere.
- To find out what new series have been added. Currently impossible at a glance because I want the top of the list and circles have no tops.
- Because I've run out of stuff to read and I want to check the "recent releases" to see if I should reconsider something. This functionality was entirely removed.
As I said, though, other folks have told me I can better answer both of those questions without using the Home page at all. So now I have no reason to ever use the Home page.
It makes me worried about the rest of the site, though. I literally have no clue what device the new home page is targeting. It definitely isn't designed for my full-screen desktop view. But it isn't particularly compelling even when I resize the window. It would be better served by doing what some sites do and just pushing using the phone app heavily instead. It's designed for a phone (clearly) but phones are better served if they're not using a web browser at all.
Then there's that feature you've been pushing recently, "Continue Reading." (1) Phone users are better served by using the phone app. (2) This doesn't work with long-term users, as it shows every series they've ever read, even when they quit series. (3) It is irrelevant for users who prefer to just download ePUB files. (4) It doesn't get a lot of use because it doesn't offer a lot of usefulness, so it does not need to be shoved in to our faces.
Back before the back-end redesign a few years ago, we could see the progress in to book parts from the Calendar page. (The phone still has this functionality, but we used to have a touch of this even if it wasn't the best.) Adding this functionality back would have been a positive change everyone would have been super happy about.
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@Michael-B-0v9bj1z It's kind of a toss-up, but I'd lean more toward Bookwalker.
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@dragon3010 I know that they said on discord to drop them an email, but typically these type of feedback topics get well reviewed by staff when they grow like this. It may be better to drop them a line if you have a huge number of specifics you want to mention though
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@jpwong said in Thoughts on the redesigned homepage:
@Jon-Mitchell I never really understood how that continue reading thing is actually tracking anything, I'm caught up on every series I'm following (except for pre-pubs out this week) but the continue reading links keep taking me back to old volumes, there needs to some sort of "mark part read" or something to clean up thing it thinks I have read. I just use the calendar to keep track of things (which I still have a beef with that clicking view earlier entries takes you back like half a month now when 90% of the time I want to go back 2 days at most).
i'm pretty sure it uses cookies. and judging by the results I see- it'll only track what I read in the website (not the app) and maybe using a certain browser/device - so If I start something in a chrome session on my desktop, it won't know where I left off if I try and pick up on my Iphone/safari
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The new homepage is also quite laggy when scrolling on desktop Safari
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About the only thing I like about the redesign is that displaying the covers in a larger size does make the art pop significantly more- the previous size made it hard to make out a lot of detail especially with more busy covers.
A site that is easy and convenient to navigate both aids retention and reduces friction for your marketing funnel.
I'll echo the sentiments that the continue reading section is of little use to me.
The new layout of the new series section could be more clear about what the newest item is- the srcoll bar at the bottom (which you can't click and drag?) helps a little, but the list really shouldn't scroll infinitely back around to the oldest item.
And as a subjective aesthetic opinion, I hate how covers on the edges of the screen are cut off on desktop.
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+1 this looks awful on desktop
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It is to large and in your face. I honestly thought I had enlarged it somehow when I first opened it and kept trying to reduce the size. The icons for different series are way to large.
I don't like how prepubs daily releases aren't readily displayed anymore. I do like the continue reading part as it makes it easier to keep track of where you are at on a series. It is good as I've been falling behind as it is from being busy with other stuff and not as motivated to read lately.Again though the icons are to large.
It really feels like someone tried pasting a app interface onto a website and it just doesn't work well.
Continue reading also needs a way to remove listing for say series you dropped so they don't keep showing up.
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I normally subscribe whenever the series I like gets pre-release, but it's now so hard to see what's coming out...
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This is very nearly completely unusable on desktop. Why anyone thought it was a good idea for a banner to take quite literally 50% of the screen space is entirely beyond me. Did nobody bother to check this out on a desktop before deciding to go live with it?
Also getting rid of the "upcoming" sidebar was definitely a choice. Now instead of seeing series that I may not have known about and getting interested in them, I get literally nothing at all. After the subscription and scam token price changes combined with this, there's not really a reason to bother with the site anymore. Whoever is making these decisions might want to get input from actual real users in the future. This is absurd.
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Agree with all the previous comments. I hate the redesign. What's wrong with a mobile and separate desktop version. I use the app on my phone so never see the site on mobile - might be good for new users but not the actual members.
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Agreed the redesign is terrible.
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I too would like to see the recent and upcoming part releases on the homepage.
I miss the old old homepage where I could see those indefinitely, and the calendar page that was paginated and easier to navigate.
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@Tacitus the mobile website is awful, actually. The banner takes up the entire page. There's no link to click to get to the readers' library, either.
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@strangeattractor said in Thoughts on the redesigned homepage:
I miss the old old homepage where I could see those indefinitely, and the calendar page that was paginated and easier to navigate.
I don’t miss the paginated calendar, because if I missed a day I always had to page back; I like the fact that the current page has enough backscroll that I usually don’t have to page.
The big problem with the current design is that when you do page, it drops you Very Far Back and you have to do a lot of scrolling to get back close to the present. I’d be curious to see if they have any actual metrics on what people actually access after paging. My use is almost always “I missed just long enough that what I need to catch up on is only a day or so out”, so I’d prefer it to jump to the point where backscroll normally ends and let you keep scrolling back; but I’m not sure how others use it.
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