Big catalog update / welcome Christopher
Please extend a warm welcome to Christopher Holland, LibraryThing's newest employee!
To kick things off Chrisopher has given the catalog major facelift and upgrade.You can now edit book information right on the screen, without using the "pencil" icon. Just double-click the cell and an edit box appears where the content was. The new interface also has a search box visible at all times. (I realized we needed then when, to my surprise, the search function turned out to be one of the top-hit pages.) Oh, and a new, soothing color.
The new control bar:
To kick things off Chrisopher has given the catalog major facelift and upgrade.You can now edit book information right on the screen, without using the "pencil" icon. Just double-click the cell and an edit box appears where the content was. The new interface also has a search box visible at all times. (I realized we needed then when, to my surprise, the search function turned out to be one of the top-hit pages.) Oh, and a new, soothing color.
Double-click to edit
Edit and save
The new control bar:
About Christopher. Christopher (LibraryThing conceptDawg) is a technology consultant by trade but studied fine art, graphic design, and digital media. He is also heavily involved in digital collections research in the area of the humanities, specifically in the field of archaeology. He is currently working on another project that is similar to LibraryThing, only it consists of archaeological data and objects from numerous museums and research projects. Christopher is also an avid painter and photographer and is a regular on the Technique forum at Flickr (username conceptDawg). His family is very book-oriented and his grandparents are collectors (soon to have their collection on LT).
Christopher can be reached at christopher
librarything.com.
Come give us your thoughts, on the comments here or on the Google Group.
To compare and contrast here's a link to the old catalog. You'll need to get back into the new catalog after that.
Note on editing. The in-place editing works for all editable fields. Okay, that's a tautology. Basically you can't change the source library, entry date or LC Subject Headings. Deweys and LC Call Numbers, however, are fully editable, including the "green ones," which represent LibraryThing's "best guess," based on work-level information. By editing green fields you move it from a guess to your own data.
Christopher can be reached at christopher
librarything.com.Come give us your thoughts, on the comments here or on the Google Group.
To compare and contrast here's a link to the old catalog. You'll need to get back into the new catalog after that.
Note on editing. The in-place editing works for all editable fields. Okay, that's a tautology. Basically you can't change the source library, entry date or LC Subject Headings. Deweys and LC Call Numbers, however, are fully editable, including the "green ones," which represent LibraryThing's "best guess," based on work-level information. By editing green fields you move it from a guess to your own data.
posted by Tim at 8:55 AM
43 Comments:
ooo, I like it. Now, I'd love to have the ability to power edit my titles/authors/publishers. :D
Great job!
Looks great. Adding the search box to the catalog makes things much better. It looks very sharp too.
Abby, is that you? :)
While things are getting updated ...
In the "shelf" view, it would be very handy to have "tool tips" that would pop up with the book title (and, perhaps, author name) when one's mouse cursor was hovering over each picture.
As delightful as it is to have cover images, it's still not a given that one can READ the cover info in the 100px-wide format that is displayed, and it would be helpful to be able to get that data by a simple mouse-over rather than clicking through to the info pages!
- BTRIPP
By the way ... what's the "new soothing color"?
The catalog view (except, of course, for the new navigation bar) looks pretty much the same as it did before to me ... am I missing something? I'm running Netscape 8.1 in FireFox mode.
- BTRIPP
Welcome to Christopher, and thanks for making so much of what I want to do simpler, more elegant. The search box on the page, above all, is immensely appreciated.
The new control bar looks quite nice on Firefox but NOT on Explorer: all the items are piled up.
I have noticed that if I click on a tag or subject, there is no link back to 'all books'...I have to use the browser back button. :)
It's very usable and doesn't seem to slow things down. Nice work!
Very nice indeed -- thanks!
Love the new layout, and I can't wait for the other changes you're planning.
Good, for the most part...will we be able to edit the subject headings eventually?
Hey fantastic, I love that new toolbar. Can't wait to see the other new features and designs rolled out. :-)
I like the new look but would point out that the display types are now a b c etc but if you go to change fields they are still 1 2 3 etc
BTRIPP:
1. I agree with you on the "tool tips." We are going to upgrade the way the shelf view works too.
2. Do you want a "large cover" link on the catalog, so you can see the larger-size cover image?
3. Yes, the new nav bar only. Balm for the soul.
Anabethblue:
1. Are you sure about there being no link back to "all books." I think there is, albeit on the right "(all books)." I think we might want to give that more force, but if you're not seeing it at all, that's a technical problem and one we should solve right away.
Anonymous on subject headings:
1. I think we should keep LCSH's uneditable. Their value is their authority. Perhaps we could allow controlled adding of them, with user-contributed LCSH's having a different color, or something. Anyone?
I love the new interface and "edit on click" mode, thank you for making LibraryThing even more user friendly.
BeA
2 quickies:
When in the PowerEdit mode, you can't double-click on an individual tag field to edit it.
It would help if the PowerEdit toolbar stayed at the top of the screen as one scrolls down the page.
You all have put together an amazing tool & resource! (And you keep on making it better!!) Thanks!
Tim asks:
> 1. I agree with you on the "tool
> tips." We are going to upgrade the
> way the shelf view works too.
> 2. Do you want a "large cover" link
> on the catalog, so you can see the
> larger-size cover image?
> 3. Yes, the new nav bar only. Balm
> for the soul.
Good to hear on #1 ... it would just make sense to have mouse-over info pop up over the cover graphics.
As far as #2 goes ... I sort of "don't care" ... as I made an "executive decision" when I started to scan in my own covers to only upload mid-size (450px high - a 50k to 100k file) images, so if there was a link-back to the uploaded image, it would still not be a fully-detailed "lifesize" pic. That said, I guess if the "originals" ARE on the system somewhere, it wouldn't hurt to be able to pull them up if one wanted to take a closer look at the cover!
On #3 ... I'm glad I'm not seeing some freaky CSS anomaly ... with the talk about "pastels" and "blues" and stuff, I was beginning to wonder if I was seeing something other than what was intended.
- BTRIPP
The new looks is nice and all, but I notice that one of the things I liked best about list format number 2 is apparently no longer available. Format 2 would display a comment line right below the tags. I can't seem to find that format anymore.
Doh! That's what I get for having an itchy mouse finger. I just noticed the 'edit' option next to the formats. I clicked that and saw the 'combo' option. Now my format looks correct again. Sorry I doubted you. Great work.
FYI - the "edit on screen" feature is not working for me with Mac OS9.2, Internet Explorer 5.
For some reason, if I click the "Your Catalog" tab I see the old interface, but if I click a particular page number of my catalog then I see the new interface...anyone else having this problem? I'm using Safari on OS X.
Why is the entering of dates so awkward/confusing? Having to switch each time from "U.S." to "Europe" is weird, and I live in Europe but never use dates the way LT displays them...
ISO-dates like 2006-07-06 should be possible, the other common format around here is 06-07-2006 (*with* leading zeros).
"the other common format around here is 06-07-2006"
and this one:
06.07.2006
(Germany)
Chiming in that while I think LCSHs in one sense need to remain uneditable - we also need to be able to add them (even add ones to records with LCSHs) But I do agree that they need to be differentiated some how... Also maybe be able to cite how you arrived at user-supplied LCSH? I mean - some of us probably wouldn't take the time to find LCSH all the time for ourselves, when there are libraries who have catalog said item (just none of the ones we can get records from on here).
I like the idea of user-contributed LCSH headings in a different color (but then I am a cataloger in real life). But there are times the assigned headings are not the best (catalogers are subjective human beings too). And the freedom to add controlled headings to my own records (and usable by others) would be a cool feature.
So far, I like this new design and especially the "click to edit" feature. I used it a lot today whilst entering in new books to my catalog, and also to 'clean up' some previous entries. *Very* helpful.
On another subject, chiming in to a previous post in this thread, I would like to be able to see "larger view" of book covers, if that is a possible feature.
Welcome! Is the similar archaeology project publically accessible?
Re: the archaeology thing
It's called DigMaster and we are currently (well, work is on hold for a month or two) working on a new version. It is not completed yet, but you can get a good view of most of the data already. Some of the features aren't yet implemented, though.It really is like LT for archaeology. We first started the project way back in 1994 as a very simple database for the finds from a single research dig site. Since then it is a hobby project of mine and an archaeologist friend of mine, Dr. Paul Jacobs. When we have time we work on it.
At last count we had over 4,000 objects from 4 museums and dig sites with 40,000 images of artifacts and over 1,000 Quicktime movies that show 360 degree views of artifacts.We have done all of the photography and digitization ourselves (though we would prefer, if we could get this info from museums, to use their data and files. Cash strapped museums don't usually have those kinds of resources before we get there).We digitized another 2000 objects this past summer from the Pierides Museum in Cyprus but only about half of those objects have made it in the database yet.
Here is the working/research site that we use while on dig sites and in museums to enter data. Ugly, but it gets the job done.
DigMaster 2
And here is a good start on the new interface that is not yet finalized (this also doesn't have the most current data since it is running on a development database):
DigMaster 2.1
I hope that this gives you a decent overview of the project. We are hoping to add many more data partners into the mix and have over 20 already signed on for the future.
Is anyone still getting the old version? (Comment above.)
I saw the same behavior jessem described, using Firefox 1.0.7 under Linux. Logging out of LT and clearing the LT cookies fixed it.
Ah, clearing my cookies from librarything solved it for me too--thanks!
Nice update
On the "your catalogue" page...
Would you consider leaving the "search you library" box empty so we don't have to clear the text first each time we start a search?
Why is the sight so slow - I am trying to add all my books and add tags and I feel like I am moving like a turtle.
Why is the sight so slow - I am trying to add all my books and add tags and I feel like I am moving like a turtle.
See this thread on the LibraryThing google group--the server's been overloaded lately thanks to an influx of new users, but new servers will be up soon and the site should be back to its usual speed.
Re: "Would you consider leaving the "search you library" box empty so we don't have to clear the text first each time we start a search?"
It SHOULD vanish when you click on it. Can you give us your browser and OS?
Re: Speed. We're sorry. As said above, we've got a whole RAFT of servers coming here. Things will improve.
Re: search your library box
"just vanish"....Tried again today but, nope, I have to manually delete the text before entering my search.
IE Windows XP
Tim, I noticed the same problem with the Search Box as anonymous using IE Windows XP. The text needs to be manually erased. Firefox and Netscape are fine: The help text disappears the moment one types inside the box.
LR: Thanks. We added it.
Re: "search your library" box.
Working as promised, thanks
Re LCSH: I agree that LCSH in SUBJECT should not be editable, that their value is their authority from a national library.
I'm new here. Wouldn't adding authorized / established LCSH term(s) to the TERM field work for those who prefer? Easily found at:
http://authorities.loc.gov/
In MARC speak TERM seems like a field 653 = uncontrolled index term, meaning not *necessarily* from an established shared vocabulary?
Do NLM (National Library of Medicine) or NLC subject headings load into SUBJECT if those libraries are the source of the record? If not, has accepting/ loading subjects assigned by national libraries besides LC been considered? The SOURCE (of record) field would tell us which subject set was used...
oops. I meant TAG not TERM in my previous post.
Anna,
Actually, all subjects--whether LCSH, NLM or whatever the Fins call it--get in under "subjects." I could distinguish them, but since most LT users don't care about the distinction, I'm not sure if it would help much.
The rest of your post--I'm thinking about it. Thanks.
Tim
Post a Comment
<< Home