What changes do you want in the app?

Okay, here's an open topic to discuss what you'd like to change about, add to or remove from the LibraryThing app?

This is NOT a pie-in-the-sky, pony-in-the-barn exercise. We are not going to make an entirely new app. We won't see every page on LT have a button on the app. We are looking to make a few tiny changes, improve a few things, and add 0–2 new features. Apps are weirder than web design—some things you might think are easy, are hard. Others you think are hard, are easy.

I propose the following way of talking about this. You have $100. Divide up that $100 into things you want. I'll give an example below.

Here's a stab at a list for me.

$20 — Add a simple inventory option, like cataloging, but searching your own books
$20 — Use text-reading features in phones that have it to catalog by ISBNs, LCCNs, etc.
$10 — Ability to add new collections
$10 — Add a series option into Your Catalog
$10 — Add ability to edit tags in app
$10 — Better onboarding of new users, including an import button, even if it's just a web page people need to know it's doable within the app.
$5 — Add ability to review a book in app.
$5 — Links for TinyCat, Litsy if your account is connected
$10 — In reserve for ideas that come up meetings, talk post

NB: I have omitted things which seem like they're part of the app, but are actually web pages within the app. For example, we need a better general edit feature, but that can be done on the web side and show up in the app. It's not an app change per se. This distinction is very important, but it's not obvious from the outside.

Put the $100 toward pay for (1) fixing the broken images in the edit screen and (2) creating a help page that includes an explanation of the search (such as how searches must be of more than three letters to return results).

The app overall works very well. Most problems I've dealt with over the years have actually been from the site malfunctioning, affecting the app.

>2 timspalding: Don't text-reading features create a (typically less manageable) security risk on the user's device?

>2 timspalding:

fixing the broken images in the edit screen

Can you explain more about what you mean about the broken images on the edit screen?

such as how searches must be of more than three letters to return results

Search here means "Your Catalog" or "Add to Catalog"?

Don't text-reading features create a security risk on the user's device?

I don't think so. This is @conceptDawg's bailiwick, but I'll ask. Apple now has a built-in text-reading function on its camera UI. I'm not sure what's possible, but if we can grab a blob of text, we can look inside it for ISBNs and LCCNs, making it possible to catalog pre-ISBN books easily.

$60 Integrated add/search - scan a barcode or enter search terms, and if it's already in my library show me the record, otherwise offer to add it. Maybe show the work page when offering to add - so I can scan a book in a bookstore, know if I already have it, and if not then learn about it and be able to add it to my wishlist or library.
$35 Show/enter reading dates
$5 Enter more details when adding a book, e.g. tags, where from, comments, private comments

>5 timspalding: The bug reports...

https://www.librarything.com/topic/340056 ("Some Broken Images in LibraryThing for Android App")

https://www.librarything.com/topic/338393 ("LibraryThing App - Catalog search with 3 letters fails")

>5 timspalding: Thank you for looking into the security risk. I try to avoid Apple devices and would stop using the app for Android no longer looks safe enough for my comfort level.

>6 r.orrison:

Are you thinking there should be a general "scan" button, which scans a title and then tells you if it's in your library, what it costs, etc.? Because the current "Add to Catalog" function is very much optimized for adding a LOT of books in a row. It just adds, adds, adds. You can line up 10 books—as I've done—and scan them in 10 seconds. It alerts you if you have a book, but it's not designed to scan and then STOP to ask you what to do with it?

>6 r.orrison: $35 Show/enter reading dates
$5 Enter more details when adding a book, e.g. tags, where from, comments, private comments

We can already do this. You might want to explain in more detail what you would like data entry to look like.

>10 aspirit:

So, I think the shittiness of the edit button is the issue. It takes you to a web page which is not mobilized.

$1: Fix the issue with tags that have ":" in them -- now they default to the value before the ":" so a tag such as "read: 2021" pulls the list for "read" instead... Should be just an encoding issue somewhere so can we please track it down?

>9 timspalding: Not what it costs, but if it's in my library I want to know that, and if not then I want to be able to add it.

The use case is being in a bookstore or library, seeing an interesting book, and finding out if I already own it - and if not then adding it to my catalog (my library if I decide to buy it, or wishlist if I think I'll want to buy it later).

Being optimised for adding lots of books quickly isn't useful to me, since I already have all my current books cataloged. I'm adding books a few at a time as I acquire them.

>13 r.orrison: Being optimised for adding lots of books quickly isn't useful to me, since I already have all my current books cataloged. I'm adding books a few at a time as I acquire them.

Yes, but we need to design the app for everyone, not just you :)

>14 timspalding: You asked what I wanted, not what I thought everyone would want.

I accept that adding lots of books is a valid use case for other people. The app already does that.

I have v. 1.1.0 (build 79) running on an iPhone 11 running iOS 15.14.1 if it makes a difference.

Of the projects mentioned, these are the most relevant for me.

$20 — Add a simple inventory option, like cataloging, but searching your own books
$20 — Use text-reading features in phones that have it to catalog by ISBNs, LCCNs, etc.

But there are other things that seem curious by their absence.

1. When searching one's catalog, why is it not possible to use a barcode scan as is used for new book entry?

2. Better display/access to series data (and possibly author views) so one can fill gaps "on the road."

3. More consistent handling of quoted strings in search compared with the website. It is annoying to have them not be treated as a sequence of words in the app with or without quoted.

4. Searches in the app should include series information. Otherwise I have to consistently add the series data in my title in parens to ensure they can be found on the desktop and in the app.

One of the best features of the current implementation is the ability to crop and straighten cover images captured with the app. It is odd that I have to hold on one of the crop lines or handles for a second or more before it actually moves and does not drag the image. I would prefer if it was harder to move the image around since the primary purpose of that screen is to fix the crop lines. I am used to it but I feel like I should not have to explain this when describing the app use to others. If people get frustrated, they will leave multiple poorly-cropped images on the site which become image choices for user-uploaded images. A good image is more likely to be selected from the list.

I've been using the app since the early beta and used a member-generated app with the ability to store medium sized collections in the local storage for offline use. You'd be surprised how often a bookstore one visits does not have a cell signal. Even the antique mall in Orange, CA where we sell books has 0% cell signal. My ability to check my collection is also zero in these cases and it becomes frustrating, leading to missed opportunities or duplicate purchases which is the whole reason I started using LT in the first place.

James

>11 timspalding: Agreed, not only because of my experience on it. I think if app users don't even know the edit page exists, then it probably hasn't been seen as worth mentioning to new users.

So, I was going to give every penny of my $100 to removing the swipe-to-delete functionality that has kept me from using the app, but when I went to look I found that at some point the confirm feature changed so it's harder to accidentally click following an accidental swipe, so I'll just give that $50. (I still want it gone. Cataloged books aren't emails, people don't go through and delete tons of them.)

The other $50 I'd put toward a scan-to-search feature. Scan an ISBN, it tells me if the work is in my catalog, and which Collections (since it matters if it's Wishlist or something else).

I'll happily allocate my $60 to scan-to-search as mentioned in >16 Keeline: and >18 lorax: if the "not found" page page included an Add button :-) (If you do scan-to-search without an Add button when it's not found, you get $50 and I'll keep the other $10 for beer.)

$20 Search Your Catalog by Scanning
$20 Add Take Inventory to the App
$10 Add TinyCat button (for TC libs)
$10 Add ER button/make more prominent than just within News
$10 Add and edit Collections, Tags, Reviews, and Reading Dates
$10 Add Talk to LT
$10 Ability to add/edit email address on account within app (great if you're logged in on the app, but locked out on site and need a password-reset sent)
$10 Consider making deleting books harder than swipe left/tap, or show an “undo” button or something.

Edited as I think more about it.

$100 - very simple offline catalog search. Just Title, Author, and collections

$50 Make series a clickable link on a book page, to a full series listing
$45 Make it easy/clean to add/edit reading dates, tags, and reviews
$5 CH can buy himself a cup of coffee as a treat.

>22 ablachly: This is almost exactly what I was going to say, just switch the importance.

$50 - (And this is combining a lot of already listed stuff) ability to scan barcode to search library, mark it for inventory or add it should we not have it in the library already. This would help those who already have all their books in or those who are trying to run a quick inventory.

(And this would be a pony type $10 - if we are adding an inventory option, a button to reset the inventory marker to blank so that the inventory check can be green and clean. Or perhaps adding that to the website)

A thought on scan-to-search: searching for an ISBN should show my book in my catalog if the ISBN matches the work. I.e. if I scan a random current edition of a book in a bookstore, and I have an older printing with a different ISBN, it should display the book that I have. (This may not be the way everyone wants it to work. I'm speaking only for myself. But if I scan a book in a bookstore and it says I don't have it when I really do, then the features is useless to me.)

This may not play well with some of the ratty data that we know is in the system.

>25 r.orrison: In the website Add Book feature it will tell you that "another copy" exists in the catalog. This uses all of the combined editions based on ISBNs. It would not be unreasonable to expect similar behavior for the catalog search.

James

I would like an inventory option, and being able to add tags. And maybe a "Have a cataloged it?" option after reading a bar code.

Like r.orrison says. I know adding the book tells me one already exists, but I don't want to add the new book, just check.

My main issue with the app (other than the way other authors are displayed) is that collections don't stick the way they do on the site. If I am in "Read but unowned" then click on a book (e.g., Fugitive Telemetry), then a tag (e.g., "murderbot diaries") it brings up every book with that tag, even if it's in a different collection (e.g., Network Effect in Your Library). This makes it a bit tricky to use the app to get a quick sense of what books I actually own; I have to click on the specific book to see what collection it is in.

>20 kristilabrie: How would Talk in the app be different than using the Talk page in the phone's browser (once the page has been converted to LT2 that is)

>29 jjwilson61:

It would not be essentially different, but it would be a shortcut and it would clue our app-only members in that there is such a thing.

35$: as >18 lorax: said: $50 I'd put toward a scan-to-search feature. Scan an ISBN, it tells me if the work is in my catalog, and which Collections (since it matters if it's Wishlist or something else).

35$: as >6 r.orrison: said:
... and if it's already in my library show me the record, otherwise offer to add it. Maybe show the work page when offering to add - so I can scan a book in a bookstore, know if I already have it, and if not then learn about it and be able to add it to my wishlist or library.

$25 Show/enter reading dates

$5 Enter more details when adding a book, e.g. tags, where from, comments, private comments

>28 Stevil2001: I'd also like more consistency with collections. I find that the catalogue browsing feature on the app can switch arbitrarily between All Collections and Your Library. Usually, when I try to browse by tag I get only results from Your Library. I'd like either the ability to control which collections are displayed, or for the display to default to All Collections.

$100 - offline, searchable access to your items/inventory. Even if it just very basic bib records.

Mostly I use the app to look up whether or not I own and/or have already read a book before purchase and occasionally take a cover photo. So -

$40 - scan to search library - by cover and barcode if doable
$40 - take inventory - but really it's been so long since you announced it and didn't make it functional with the app I can't really remember why it's cool and why I wanted it. It's a familiar tune though.
$10 - better basic data fields when adding - dates, from where, collection, tags, etc - it goes to the non-mobile optimized website which is a PITA
$10 - consistent visibility into series information on the main page that shows the book information - I've found when it's a new or short series, the fact that it is doesn't show up.

Oh and just for fun - could we have an optimized way to get to lists? Sometimes I use that for things that I don't want to have to catalog a book.

$50 to have search behave the same in LT web and LT app.

I.e. I come across a Dick Francis book in a second hand store, read the backside blurp and see that it mentions main character Perry Stuart. If I search the LT web version for Dick Francis Perry Stuart it tells me I have two books. Storm Wind and Stormvarsel. So I'll buy another book.
If I use the LT app it tells me "No results", so I buy the book and waste my money (which is why I keep the $50 myself.)

(And yes, I know that typing:
All: Dick Francis Perry Stuart
will work, but I forget this since it works fine in the LT web version without the prefix. And if I type All: the app will start searching for ever and ever until I type something more.)

$70 for "Add ability to edit tags in app" -- and that means that I can assign a tag (whether already existing or by creating a new one) to a book in My Library using the app, not just use the "edit" feature to change the name of a tag.

Tim, I've currently got over 4K books boxed and stored all over the house, cellar, garage, yada yada, each such book tagged to the box in which it's located. My house is still a disaster of uncatalogued books! And these uncatalogued books have to go into boxes that are tagged.

To assign tags, I've got to use the website, which means using a laptop which may or may not reach my household wireless router if I'm out in the garage or in the basement. Having a full "tag feature" on the app would let me use my cell phone to assign tags.

$30 in reserve for future ideas coming up during discussions.

$0 for ability to post book reviews using the app. Any decent book review requires too much keyboarding for a phone. A laptop or desktop is needed.

$100 to get the import to bring in ALL fields or at least the ones that we can export through the tsv format.

>37 ulmannc: That has nothing to do with the App

>38 gilroy:

Don't tell him how to spend his $100!

>39 timspalding: I think most of us were trying to follow the scope laid down and restrict the discussion to the LT mobile app. There are certainly other areas of the site which might benefit from this kind of triage for establishing development priorities.

Okay, here's an open topic to discuss what you'd like to change about, add to or remove from the LibraryThing app?

This is NOT a pie-in-the-sky, pony-in-the-barn exercise. We are not going to make an entirely new app. We won't see every page on LT have a button on the app. We are looking to make a few tiny changes, improve a few things, and add 0–2 new features. Apps are weirder than web design—some things you might think are easy, are hard. Others you think are hard, are easy.

James

>39 timspalding: So you're saying that you're allowing imports into LT, through the App?

Thought you said you weren't going to develop an entirely new app?

So you're saying that you're allowing imports into LT, through the App?

So, I think there's basically no way to do it. But we need to investigate. As I wrote:

"$10 — Better onboarding of new users, including an import button, even if it's just a web page people need to know it's doable within the app."

It might just be a notice that says "You can import." I don't think anyone's going to try to export from GR (etc.) on the web. But right now the app doesn't even let you know it's possible. We have a lot of app-only users. And we have a lot of users who import. I suspect if the app people knew you could import, some would do it.

I need to see if the GR app exports. Probably not. They've made export harder and harder.

40: Some kind of offline mode (doesn't have to be full offline functionality, but a 'go into offline mode' that will let you do a basic search of your catalog, even if it's only title/author/isbn.)

20: Series pages easily accessible from search results, complete with checkmarks - I pretty much always go to the website on my phone instead of the app when I'm at a book sale because I know I'll want series eventually.

20: When I have searched for a book in my catalog and found it, a way to get back to the 'search your catalog' screen that doesn't take me five tries to remember every time. (this is Android)

5: scan to search your catalog/scan to inventory

5: a way to set exact proportions when editing cover photos instead of just dragging corners to best guess (ideally, with built-in options for common book formats.)

5: Better collections handling on the app (I'd love a way to get it to default to only 'your library' but also in general.)

5: Update the main catalog view in the website so I can edit easily there even I'm on a device without doubleclick.

>43 melannen: Offline Mode: How can you do that? You need access to your online data to do a catalog search. You don't want to download all that data to your smart phone, do you? Or am I missing something?

>44 CurrerBell: Yes, I do want to download all that data to my smart phone!

A complete offline copy of basic catalog data (not counting covers) shouldn't be more than a few megabytes even for the largest libraries, it's not going to be an issue for any phone that can run the app! (I currently keep a spreadsheet of my library export saved to my phone anyway, but it's annoying to have to have a spreadsheet app just for that.)

Apps like Google Maps or Libby cache offline versions of the files you need so you can keep using them, with limited functionality, without being connected to the internet. LibraryThing should be capable of that if it wants to. It's probably a bigger update than Tim was looking for this post - the current app is so heavily integrated with being online all the time that you probably would have to go into a separate Offline Mode that was very different from the main app - and demand has dropped since we first asked for it years ago, as mobile data gets cheaper and more accessible - but maybe it's the kind of thing that's easier than it sounds?? :D

>44 CurrerBell: If I recall correctly, Seabear's LT app used the csv export uploaded to your phone. Basic searches were easily done, although I did miss things because I couldn't see the collection name (at that point, I maintained a wishlist).

>45 melannen: The use case for an offline catalogue search is that mobile coverage isn't 100%, especially if you're in an underground part of a shop. Heck, I've been in parts of the UK where my network doesn't reach. There's also the issue of roaming charges if you're abroad - these can get eye wateringly high.

$100 to easily add tags when I add book

>46 Maddz:

>44 CurrerBell: CurrerBell: If I recall correctly, Seabear's LT app used the csv export uploaded to your phone. Basic searches were easily done, although I did miss things because I couldn't see the collection name (at that point, I maintained a wishlist).

Yes, I used this unofficial app. It was challenged by large collections like mine that was about 8,000 volumes at that time. There were issues with non-English characters and other details. Still, it was fun to work through the beta of it.

The phones now have much larger storage capacity than they did at that time so it should be more possible.

On my iPhone I use an app called Carbonfin Outliner. I can set up an outline on the computer browser and sync it with the phone. It can use an Internet connection but one is not required to view it. This is useful for want lists or lists of series and authors that I am actively pursuing.

Several of the stores I visit, even in Orange and Los Angeles counties, have no cell signal to provide Internet so I can't check my collection in these stores.

To make using this app easier (no Android version though), it would be nice if I could make an export of series or author lists in OPML, an XML based format that is a standard for outlines. I don't know if there's a way to achieve this with Javascript or PHP. Probably JS is the way to go since the login might be needed to get the check marks to indicate that we have a book.

This is beyond the scope of the LT app though.

James

$60 for scan-to-search capability (bonus points for the option to add to my catalog from there)
$40 for a clean, in-app implementation of "Take Inventory"

. . . which, between them, would give me the two capabilities I most want in a mobile version of LT (virtually anything else, I'm going to wait until I'm at my laptop).

FWIW, I don't think an offline mode is in the cards. It would take an entirely different architecture to do it. But I'll let @conceptDawg weigh in, since this is very much his bailiwick, not mine.

I didn't think it had gotten *more* likely since last time you said no! :P But wanted to throw it out there as something still very wanted. (I too often book shop while traveling and sometimes don't have data I can use. And sometimes go in airplane mode to conserve battery. And have an old iPhone with no plan I use as backup.)

(ETA: something that, if turned on, would automatically update a read-only .csv export on a regular schedule + made it easy to search and sort the export - like the old third-party app - would probably make 90% of the users who want it happy. We just want to easily know if we already own this book when we're in the basement of the church thrift store in Appalachian Alabama. It would be kludgey to stick onto the current app though probably.

An ability to store author and series pages connected to works in your library for offline access and an ability to store a list of ISBNs while offline to import/inventory the next time it syncs would probably satisfy 90% of the rest.)

— Take Inventory

— Series pages, with checkmarks to know which I've read/own

— Search Tags by Collection

— Add/Edit Collections and Tags

(On a side note: When I click on my Wishlist collection it never loads, and when I click on my Tags the search results don't show the corresponding books from Wishlist either. I don't know if there is already a bug report from anyone else experiencing a similar issue.)

Dear Tim

>1 timspalding: ok!

$50 - So I live in Ireland and since the servers were updated it takes up to a whole minute to search for a new book to add to my collection on the App. It drives me crazy as it was SO quick before. Please can you improve the speed to find books?

$50 - I would love to be able to add new collections AND reorder them on the App. (I would also like to be able to reorder collections on the website on my iPad but this currently only works on a PC/laptop.)

I have no idea if either of these are possible but it would make me SO happy if they could be fixed. Thanking you in advance. Lyn

$70 for Take Inventory through the app - I love my cuecat, but it just doesn't make sense (in my brain) to have to bring everything to my laptop when we know the app can scan ISBNs (for add books)

$30 for scan to search catalogue

I would like to move a couple dollars off of one of my earlier requests for the ability to search when adding new sources. That's a *long* list to browse through, y'all.

Hello! I woud like to add a new field to catalogue the book, if possible: the original publication date.
I have both classic and contemporary book, and I would love to put them in order of "creation", not only for the edition in my courrent possess.
Thank you.

>56 PaolaNo: This already exists. The publication date on your actual book goes to the publication field when you edit the book. When you go into the common knowledge section for the work (all the same book lumped together) that is where the original publication date is entered

>53 Boand: Re: your first ask, do you search the same data source/s? If so, which ones are you searching? This will be good to test on our end.

ETA: also, can you give me 1 or 2 recent examples of searches you've run that have taken a long time? This will also matter for testing purposes.

gilroy (#57):

The field exists, but it's not sortable, and one of PaolaNo's requests in #56 is to be able to "put {the books} in order of creation". The lack of sortability of OPD is one of the things that leads many people to use Date for OPD rather than edition date, which is unfortunate.

(And yeah, OPD is multi-valued, but that's not insurmountable. Sort by the earliest value, and put in some simple logic to convert BCE / BC dates to negative for sorting purposes. Not perfect for a free-entry field, but a lot better than it is now.)

>59 lorax: That's fair. I guess I did like Tim does. I only read half the request then commented on that

I'll chime in with the others. I most want to find a book in my catalog by scanning it. Either for the simple reason of checking if I have a book easily, or, what I need more, the fast inventory. I could so use that right now since I'm down a laptop and have only my phone.

Follow that up with easily adding tags, because that also goes hand in hand with the inventory. These 80 books here get tagged box 12.

$70 — Add a simple inventory option, like cataloging, but searching your own books
$30 — Add ability to edit tags in app

$75 to scan to search (quick scan to see if I already own it would be immensely helpful while browsing used books)

$25 to easily apply tags in app when adding (my workaround is scan to add in the app, dumping everything into a collection I called 'inbox,' then processing later on the computer, which works fine, but would be nice to have the option to finalize the new add in the app without getting kicked to the web page editor for tags and collections which is tiny and fiddly on an iPhone)

Thank you for all you do!

And now for something different. I mostly (almost exclusively) use the mobile app to add books to my catalogue (scan barcodes) and take photos of the covers. Sometimes I get a good photo (without reflected patches from my lighting source, for example) but when I crop it and save, I might not crop it perfectly - and then I have to take a new photo and start again.

I would like to be able to edit the photo I've just taken instead (maybe a five minute window or something similar to being able to edit a thread title within a few minutes of first posting?).

I love the feature that squares up the book image so that if I've taken the photo at a slight angle (no matter how I try, it always happens), it still ends up with four right angles. Once I've taken a photo, there's a grid that overlays it so I can get my corners; I'd like to see that grid before I take the photo so I can square up my image first and not lose details/ have to include extraneous details on cropping.

I've never tried (or may have initially and decided it wasn't for me) checking my catalogue on the app while in a bookshop; I tend to use the web for that, and have to wait ages while it loads. If there were a quick way to check my catalogue to see a) whether I already have the book (not under 'wishlist' or 'read but not owned') and b) what books in a series I'm missing, that would be really helpful - especially if it were accessible even when there's no signal.

I'm using an iPhone 6S (yes, my kids tell me I'm a dinosaur. But it's my birthday this week, so ...)

I would weight it more heavily towards the catalogue except that I haven't actually tried using the app for that (but I might, if it worked well), so I'm going to split it evenly at $33 each with a dollar left over for charity. Although I'm planning to photograph some book covers later today so my weighting might lean more that way by the end of the day.

Ooh - or I might go $30 each way and $10 for more library sources on the app because I often can't find a book when I scan the barcode but if I type it in on the website it pops up easily. (I'll do some volunteering for charity during the week.)

I know I am the oddball out here, but I would like the app to have a setting that would allow patrons to see the items in the collection, but not make any changes. We are a library in a Senior Living Community where many of our resident/neighbors have smart phones. They would love to be able to look up books on the go, like you do in the app.
However, I have been reluctant to even suggest the app exists, because I don't want the average user to be able to get into the catalog and make changes. This could require a different level of password protection similar to that in the desktop version of Tiny Cat.

>64 HH_Library: You've been using TinyCat, right?

>63 humouress: This info on the chance you haven't uncovered it already.

If you go to "Account" from the Home tab in the app, you should be able to see what sources are selected. There's an edit button that goes to a screen where you can add sources, which are the same as what's available online, only more clearly organized by type (currently Popular, Amazon, and Countries).

>64 HH_Library: You don't need to have everyone logging into your account on the LibraryThing App to view/search your library on their smartphones. If you're using TinyCat, TinyCat is mobile friendly. You can continue sharing your TinyCat homepage (https://www.librarycat.org/lib/HH_Library), and anyone can access your TinyCat from their mobile browser. It should still function and look nice for them.

Do let me know if you have any other questions about this (or anything else), though!

>65 gilroy: Yes. but I would like to have an Mobile app that imitates Tiny Cat that patrons could use on their phone.

>67 kristilabrie: You realize I am talking about Senior Citizens? Most of our residents don't know how to do that by using the browser. (I do, but that is why I am in charge). I would like it so they could download an app, sign in with a lower level of access (than I do), and look up media.
Thanks.

>69 HH_Library: If they know how to download an app, I am sure they will be able to add a bookmark to their browsers with minor instructions. And that's all they will need - then all they will need to do is to open that from inside of their browser apps.

>69 HH_Library:, I agree with >70 AnnieMod: here. You could also post a QR code in the library that jumps them into your TinyCat homepage - they just need to use their camera to read the barcode and it will direct them automatically to your TinyCat.

Since TinyCat is mobile-friendly, we don't have use for a separate app.

Visiting a web page tends to be easier for many than installing an app. Some people never get much beyond the installed apps without help. It is amazing how many don’t know the password needed to install an app.

James

They don't even have to save a bookmark in the browser. On iOS, and I assume on Android as well, you can save the bookmark as an icon to the desktop, making it in effect work just like an app.

>73 anglemark: save the bookmark as an icon to the desktop

That's the solution I was picturing!

I would put $100 towards better handling of duplicates.

This comment https://www.librarything.com/topic/362318 goes into more detail about what I mean, but I want to be able to scan a stack of books with the Android app and not have it create duplicates by doing so. Maybe I want to just add tags to whatever already existed, etc.