Changes to List Management

September 8, 2011


As I've said on a few Facebook posts, we're in the process of building FictionDB mobile apps. For the first time, someone other than myself will be doing the programming and that's an interesting process. FictionDB has been around since 1999 and its little idiosyncrasies have developed along the way. What's interesting about this app process is explaining to non-FictionDB people what the site does. It's made me examine why certain things work the way the do. When my only response for the question why does it work that way is "I don't know. It's always been that way.", something probably needs to change.

So, on that note, a few things changed today. Hopefully, you'll think the changes are for the better.

1) A book can reside on all 3 lists at the same time. This one has been asked for over the years and I honestly don't remember why a book could only be on one list. Did I mention having to answer for strange quirks of the system? Clicking the check mark will remove it from a list and the + sign will add it.

2) When you rate a book, today's date will automatically fill the date read. The old system used to do this and, again, I can't remember why the new system doesn't. Well, it does now.

3) The author list management features have totally changed. Clicking on a + sign or the check mark will add any books that don't currently reside on any list to the list clicked. A new link has been added to the right column "my books by this author" that will filter the books by those on your lists.

4) I've also moved the book detail page around a little to improve readability, but you may not notice too much there.

You can find the new list management functionality on the icons tour page.

If you notice something not working correctly, please let us know.