New Website Feedback
-
Really love the new site. Great job guys.
Some suggestions for enhancements: On the Title page have the following filter and under Publication Status have a filter for just on hiatus.
-
Parroting other feedback, it'd really be nice to have the recent prepub part releases be shown on the main page; that is by far the #1 thing I navigate to JNC to find.
The current main page design seems focused on content tailored for people who visit once a month or less and don't read prepubs; new series, ebook releases, and print releases (current main page content) update much less frequently than prepub parts. I would guess most page hits are for people coming to read the prepubs, even if the number of unique users is somewhere lower.The image size of the "Our Latest Titles" covers is probably larger than it should be; both in the sense it's jarring and the fact it takes up front page real estate. Image sizes there really shouldn't be larger than the other sections.
Extending that, image sizes for all categories could probably be reduced and possibly margins reduced. In the old page, images were much smaller, and on my standard sized laptop screen, with a glance at a single screenshot I could take in at least some of the imagery from each of the categories (new series, recent ebooks, prepub releases, catchup announcement). In the new site, a single one of those categories takes about just about my whole laptop screen, and I'd have to scroll to view each category in isolation.
-
From the calendar there is no way to open the light novel/manga page for a prepub, it always opens the part/chapter itself.
Also, not a fan of the new reader. Guess I'll keep using the old one until it's available... 👀
-
Would it be possible to have an option to sort Calendar entries by release time, and then title name? I liked that in the old Releases page, the 3 PM EST releases would always be listed before the 7 PM EST releases.
-
If the reader is set to display 2 pages, and there's an odd number of pages in the part, then you can't view the last page of the part.
-
Yeah as some have already mentioned, I’d really like a way to change the font size for the reader. As someone who is a bit far sighted it’s much harder for me to read with this new font size. The original font size was great, I didn’t need to use my reading glasses at all, and while I can still read this new font without my readers I’m finding myself squinting much more.
-
I get an error when trying to load the User page on Chrome :
An unexpected error has occurred.It loaded fine at first when I checked out the new website. Then I followed a series, which worked. After that, when I tried to load the User page, I got the error. Before I followed the series, I had no books nor followed any series (or at least that what the Library said, but I think I clicked on Follow for a series earlier in the day or possibly I unfollowed?).
On the Chrome console I get :
main-3c719f1b1782b1b4e6f9.js:1 TypeError: Cannot read property 'length' of undefined at de (e1db8c4bc8438bd33693f8d37b7349827bd4e75e.4dd45e027cb3df9742e7.js:1)And if I click on the link, this is highlighted :
iconRight:"read",color:"digital",children:r.books.length}) -
@smashman42 said in New Website Feedback:
Dunno if this is the right place, I only noticed it setting up series follows so I thought I'd put it here seeing as the new site is what let me notice it was a thing...
Searching under author names we have both an "Ichirou Sakaki" and an "Ichiro Sakaki", with the titles evenly split between the two spellings.
This is a contract issue; this author has published books via different publishers, and our contracts with each of them stipulated different romanizations for his name :(
-
The new reader really needs font + resize options like the old one.
Too hard to read at 1440p
-
Overall... very not impressed so far.
The new home page is very wasteful:
- As others have noted, images for the 'Our latest titles' are huge and drive all other content off the first screen on my laptop.
- 'Our latest digital releases' effectively takes up another full screen; a small bit of content is visible outside of the section, but not enough to be actually useful. Images are somewhat better but still too large; it is nice to get a better view of the cover, but not at the expense of page readability. I'd guess somewhere between half and 2/3 of the current 'latest releases' size would be optimal for all the cover images.
- And to continue the trend, 'Catchup Titles' is also effectively a full-screen section, taking up enough of the screen that there's not enough left for any other useful information. And I also miss the article describing the catch-up titles.
- For that matter, is there ever going to be a 'News' section - for example, the articles announcing new acquisitions before they start prepub on the site?
- The improved Calendar section is no substitute for taking the upcoming titles off the front page.
- Finally, the new page is just ugly from a typographic standpoint. The font is highly generic sans-serif and poorly kerned; the enforced justification on body text also leads to poor word spacing and reduced legibility.
Onward to the Titles page...
- The new search/filtering options are very nice, but the heavy formatting draws attention away from the main content showing the new titles. At the very least I'd remove the boldface formatting from the text and drop the font a point size or two.
- The title headers are way too large, overshadowing the book descriptions. I'd bring it down at least one or two point sizes (it looks like it's about 24 pt, I'd bring it down to about 14 pt).
Individual title's page:
- Overall, better than the other sections of the site so far. Typography on the page header is better, though the menu is still lousy and I'd prefer a body text font that isn't so generic.
- As with the Titles page, the sidebar's heavy formatting is distracting; I'd drop the boldface text on the individual segments and maybe the headers.
Calendar:
- As with the other sections, the sidebar's heavy formatting could be toned down some.
- The strong coloring and large size of the buttons for each line ('Novel', 'Manga', 'Out Now', 'Chapter <x>') are very distracting and draw the eye away from the most important information, the item title. When you load the page, the first thing the eye jumps to is the Novel/Manga labels, because they're large blocks of bright solid colors. The eye should first go to the title, then the secondary information. I'd suggest either making the buttons just text, making them smaller, or desaturating the color.
- The design format is not bad, but it's not as space-efficient as it could be; I'd bump everything down a point size to show more on screen.
- Speaking of showing more on screen, the way it starts with only the current day's titles is very irritating; if I miss one or two titles from the end of the day, I could just scroll back up a bit on the old page, but with the new page I have to hit 'Show older entries' and wait for a reload.
- Clicking on a segment that isn't released should take you to the title's home page, instead of doing nothing.
- Some of the titles seem to be expiring early? For example, since it's at the top of the month's list: She's the Cutest Vol. 1 was released 2/1 and normally prereads would expire a month later, but clicking through shows it already expired.
The reader... oh dear ghu, the reader. The prose formatting is poor and cannot be changed. Layout options are either a too-cluttered multipage view, or a single page view that's far too wide for legibility. https://baymard.com/blog/line-length-readability Setting changes do not consistently apply when clicked, and sometimes require a page reload. The ability to switch parts from within the reader is a nice touch. And I agree with another thread - being able to copy and paste a segment from a part would make it much easier to offer corrections.
User section... overall a big improvement. A couple of suggestions:
- In addition to the 'New Books' section, it would be helpful to be able to sort the entire library in chronological order by individual volume.
- It would also be helpful if clicking on a title would take you to that title's page; if I'm looking in my library and realize I missed picking up a volume, that would make it much easier to grab it.
-
@Travis-Butler
Wow, this is impressive, I had a few things that I was going to comment on, but this post really takes the cake. I do agree that the news feed being gone is unfortunate, but what I will say is that while the catch-ups do take up a lot of space, I am really glad that this was added. It makes it extremely more efficient to find the catch-up titles.“Life would be tragic if it weren't funny.“- Stephen Hawking
-
@mlindner said in New Website Feedback:
And even all the text formatting is broken. For example italic text is no longer italicized.
Yeah, I'm not sure why https://labs.j-novel.club/embed/xbembed-1.0.0-1613335146735.css needs font-weight:normal; font-style:normal under a * rule, but it's definitely breaking the default font-style of em elements in the reader in my browser...
Edit: Incidentally I'll add I like the smaller font size being used in the reader... Still getting used to it flipping two pages instead of just one though.
-
The calendar page needs some way to get you to the series landing page. I've clicked all over the bar but all it loads up is the reader. Like I would expect clicking on the name of the novel would take you to the novel page, and clicking on the green button that says chapter/part would load up the reader. And minor nitpick, but I think the list should be sorted by release time followed by title rather than by release date followed by title.
Also echoing what some other users have mentioned, but the "out today" pre-pub information should be visible as soon as you come onto the site somewhere.
Having the latest published volumes and the catchup information on the front page is nice, but the latest titles (licenses) feels like it shouldn't be there considering the time between some announcements. Rather that section would probably do better as a latest news that can contain new licensing announcements or other important information that needs to be conveyed (like site or forum scheduled downtime) and it should be datestamped so people know if they're looking at something that's months old now.
I can't say I'm entirely fond of the new reader, but that's mostly because I normally read in single page format but it's the width of one page of spread format, not full screen width which I find difficult to read, so it would be nice if there was an option to set single page but with half width (basically style the old reader has). On the same note, changing the settings doesn't actually update anything until you refresh the page which is subtly annoying.
-
Overall I like the new features, as a web-only desktop user.
The streamlined buying process is great, I was able to go through and buy my backlog of ~40 titles with credits in just a few minutes.
I like the follow system, I hope that gets integrated into the site even more (maybe show recent updates for followed series on the home page?)
Super glad to have page titles now, so I can tell my tabs/bookmarks apart :)
Site-wide dark mode setting, YES!Haven't used the new reader much yet. The progress bar and part navigation from the manga reader are nice additions. I'd have to agree that some font settings for it are a must, especially since the browser zoom feature doesn't seem to be compatible with it. I used to read at the maximum size on the old reader, so this new one is quite small for me.
As for the home page, there's not much on it for existing users. It would be nice to see some form of the release list on it. If you're afraid of confusing new visitors, maybe only show it for logged-in users, or maybe limit it to followed series? As it is, I'll probably change my bookmark to the calendar page and never visit the home page again (:
-
Hi everyone!
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your detailed feedback and willingness to engage with us on the new website. While we are happy that there has been a positive reaction to many aspects of the site, we regret that it has also been disappointing to some of you. Please know that we are reading and considering all of your feedback, and we are committed to making improvements in order to bring your experience on our website up to a satisfactory level, if not higher. However, please keep in mind that due to time, personnel, technological, and possibly even legal constraints, some improvements may take longer to implement, and others may not be possible at all. We hope to keep everyone informed as much as possible as changes are being discussed and made.
Second, I also want to apologize for the messy launch. This was largely my fault, as I was in charge of the schedule and did not properly account for delays and ensure there was time for internal testing. I am taking lots of notes so that future development projects are handled better and there is more comprehensive review of beta feedback.
Thank you for taking the time to help us make our site and service better!
Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.
-
I absolutely love the new site. I love that I can now just read purchased e-books off the site instead of having to do the whole process of downloading them. Its a small feature, but one that really helps bring the experience together :)
As for the online reader, while I love the book format and animations... it'd be cool if we also had the option to switch to a Continuous Loading (vertical scrolling) page layout. Just for preferences sake for those who want it.
Also to really make the site perfect; I'd love it if a "Following" page was added in so I could just quickly jump to the series I'm following. That way I don't have to go navigate through everything to get to the new chapters of series I'm reading on the prepubs.
-
Is it just me or are there a lot of dead spaces where there shpuld be links to titles. Especially on the calendar page. Does anyone else feel that it would be beneficial for the link in the calendar section to take you to the actual novel/manga page regardless if wether or not the next part is released yet?
-
@Argonauts <shrug> What can I say? I did some newspaper design study in college and I'm the UI/UX person for the in-house application I develop, so this kind of stuff niggles at me. <sheepish look>
The catch-up titles... they effectively were on the front page most of the time, because they headed the News/Announcements most of the time. I think they should be on the front page, and they should include the brief descriptions they normally had on the old page; they just shouldn't effectively take up an entire screen, the way they do now.
-
I think I like everything other than not having the days releases on the front page and not having a picture of the volume shown with the link at calendar since that's the only page that does show the days releases now. Mostly just not liking the new front page and happy with everything else I think.
-
@KingKillerX
I agree. The text on the reader is also a bit small. The ability to adjust the text size like on the old site would be a very beneficial addition.
