#9 – Designing the Best Book Page On the Web

Adam & Ste chat about childhood hobbies, planning out what’s happening on Hardcover and author research.

Main focus: Figma deep dive into our new book page.

Summary

The conversation covers a range of topics, including a discussion about the book ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow’, personal creative outlets, updates on current projects, motivating people to read more, challenges of discussing books online, a preview of the new book page design, adding components for ratings and reviews, positioning elements on the book page, exploring options for filters and sorting, implementing scroll snap and virtualized tables, adding a share option for reviews, considering the use of titles for reviews and discussions, and the placement of the URL icon. In this conversation, Ste and Adam discuss various design considerations for the book review platform. They explore the idea of using avatars and user metrics to enhance the user experience. They also discuss visual indications of reader rankings and how to display the number of books read in a specific genre. The conversation then moves on to improving book additions and the concept of rating books by edition. They emphasize the importance of qualitative data in reviews and discuss the process of changing book covers. The conversation concludes with excitement for the progress made on the new book pages and personal updates.

Takeaways

Avatars and user metrics can enhance the user experience on a book review platform.
Visual indications of reader rankings, such as the number of books read in a specific genre, can provide valuable information to users.
Emphasizing qualitative data in reviews, such as why someone liked a book, can be more informative than just a numerical rating.
The process of changing book covers should be user-friendly and allow for different options, including uploading new covers and selecting from existing ones.

Chapters

00:00 Discussion about the book ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow’
03:04 Personal creative outlets
06:13 Updates on current projects
09:17 Motivating people to read more
11:09 Challenges of discussing books online
13:14 Different experiences of watching series and movies
17:03 Preview of the new book page design
21:45 Adding components for ratings and reviews
23:28 Discussion on positioning elements on the book page
26:00 Exploring options for filters and sorting
29:19 Implementing scroll snap and virtualized tables
31:37 Adding a share option for reviews
33:55 Considering the use of titles for reviews and discussions
38:24 Discussion on the placement of the URL icon
43:03 Exploring options for the filter interface
44:18 Adding the date of the review
45:38 Designing Avatars and User Metrics
49:02 Visual Indications of Reader Rankings
51:06 Improving Book Additions
52:00 Rating Books by Edition
56:33 Emphasizing Qualitative Data in Reviews
57:24 Changing Book Covers
01:02:17 Excitement for New Book Pages
01:03:26 Wrapping Up and Personal Updates