Name/profile link is gone

Okay, okay. I've reverted this part. Your name is back.

You will notice that your name is no longer shown at the top right of the screen, and with it the link to your profile.

I suspect members aren't going to like this. But it's for a good reason. You'll notice we now have a language menu on the page at all times—not just when you are on a non-English version of LibraryThing. This takes up some space. This is part of a much large project to change how LibraryThing works with languages, and improve languages generally.

When I've written the post, you can read it here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/364729

Let me know what you think? If you're unhappy, I get it. If you don't care, I'd love to hear that too, because people tend to only say when they're unhappy.

>1 timspalding: Yeah, I never used that link much, so it makes no difference to me

Damn, I used that link all the time. I only use the site in English so having a language menu is no use to me.

Often being logged into an account not my own (when working on Legacy Libraries) this will almost certainly cause some confusion. Can the username not appear ... somewhere, even if not right there? (Sorry, I do know these things aren't done lightly, but it is awfully useful to see which account one is in).

ETA: Ditto, I also used that link all the time to get to my profile page.

I do care. And I don't like it.

I used that link a lot. Now there's no quick and easy way to get to my profile. It appears that I would have to go to my Home page, something I rarely do, and navigate to my profile from there. It's an extra, unnecessary step.

Could you put the link somewhere else on the page, such as between the "Home" and "Your books" links on top?

Regarding the lack of member name, I’m not really bothered by the lack of it unless is means a lack of access to anything and I can’t think of anything right now.

I do wonder what choosing a language will mean. Right now I can’t see any difference (chose British English as opposed to American English, which I assume was the default previously). It would like to know what changing the language will mean long term and site-wide. Will all the language on the site adjust? Just some of it? Will other things be tied to this?

I know previously my spelling of favourite and colour, etc has been marked as “misspelled” but that doesn’t seem to happen now.

If you hadn't mentioned it, I'm not sure I would have noticed. I never used my name up there as a link - I always use Home on the menu. If anything it was just a clearer way to check that I was signed in. I guess the "Sign out" link will do that in future :)

I do manage another account, so I can see the point of having it SOMEWHERE obvious, but I'm not in that account very often so it's not an urgent need for me.

Meh. Never used it much. Always went back to the home page for profile.

I never noticed it.
The quick way to get to your profile page is that big square at the top left of every page. The one with the capital “L” in it.

Here's the big news: https://www.librarything.com/topic/364729

>9 2wonderY: What big square?

>11 amanda4242:

When your screen is small, or you use your phone, the longer "LibraryThing" logo turns into a square "L." This, however, goes to the home page, not the profile page.

>9 2wonderY:

That goes to the Home page, not the profile page.

>12 timspalding: Okay. Still not a convenient way to get to my profile.

>10 timspalding:

You say in that post It remains easy to get to your profile, which hasn't been your "home page" for years and years now.

Well, it's been my "home page" for years and years, and still is. As I said above, I don't use the Home page, and now you've created a situation where I have to go there and then to my profile. It's annoying to a) have to take that extra step, and b) go to a page I don't use. It's a waste of my time.

I appreciate that you need the room over there on the right, but surely you can find someplace else to put it so that those of us who used it can have it handy.

Well, I used that link quite a bit, and expect to use the language link almost never, so obviously I don’t like it.

It does seem a bit weird to have two links to my home page and none to my profile in the top nav. Changing one of them to one to the profile would go a long way to placating me.

Here's an illustration of the problem—things are just very cramped up there, depending on your screen size:



It's intolerable in French:

It does seem a bit weird to have two links to my home page and none to my profile in the top nav. Changing one of them to one to the profile would go a long way to placating me.

The problem is that:

1. The logo HAS to go to the top level. That's how every site works.
2. Even today, in 2024, a lot of users have no idea that logos take you to the top level, so you need a "Home" link.

I'm wondering why it had to be the profile link to go instead of one of the others. There's a help link at the bottom of every page, so having it in the upper right is redundant; sign out could have been moved, maybe to the profile page itself; or the language menu could have gone someplace else.

Okay. I've added it back. It's camped on many machines, but we can live with it for now.

We have an idea for a menu interface up there, like the notifications. Unfortunately, @conceptdawg is on vacation, so we can't do anything about it until he comes back. Until then, cramped is fine.

>19 amanda4242:

Interesting suggestion: maybe the "Help" could go at the top beside "More" and "Zeitgest" and the profile link could be back.
Or better, without moving the small and unintrusive "Help" link, the profile link could maybe work like the "notifications" link and have a drop down menu with a "sign out" button, so that we have only one link (profile name) that incorporates also the "sign out".

I didn't use the profile link at the top very often, I think I could live with this change, but still if you found a way to bring it back I think it would be better.

edit: I see now that the profile link is back, thank you

It took me a few months to adapt to using the Home page after it rolled out, but since then, I rarely go to my own profile. So this change won't crimp my style much.

>18 timspalding:

I'm not sure what makes Home the "top level". On a lot of sites, the logo takes you to some sort of generic start page, not anything directly to do with my profile.

But thanks for putting the profile link back :)

>13 lilithcat: Ah right. The small profile picture takes you to the profile.

I see the graphic design issue, and the value in welcoming an international community. (And the absolute need to simplify the multiple-subdomains approach to languages.) But as a person who manages both my personal account and a work library account, a visual reminder of which account I was logged into was very valuable.

Possible suggestion - what if the profile name worked as a drop-down menu and some combination of the messages, help, and/or sign out links went under it? I feel like I see that type of navigation on some other sites.

>20 timspalding: - Thank you, you're a scholar and a gentleman and if I still lived around the corner I would bring you many cookies.

>20 timspalding:

Okay. I've added it back.

Thank you. I appreciate so much how you actually care about what your users think, even if you don't always do what we want!

(Honestly, though, it doesn't look particularly cramped to me, even on my iPad.)

>24 2wonderY:

What "small profile pic"?

>20 timspalding: Thank you! I think having a menu up there will probably work well, but it's nice to have the profile link back for now.

Hmm, not sure if this is related, but:
Since the change I am not longer logged in when clicking 'My Books' or 'Profile'.
When I click on one of the books' work page, I can edit and all, but I cannot do anything on 'My Books'
Reclicking 'Sign-in' only leads to the same not logged-in page.
But clicking for example 'Add books' shows that I am logged in though and I can add books too...?!

Edit:
This is fine now. I had to choose a language from the menu and everything functions again...

Glad I missed this, and glad it's back. I manage multiple accounts and forgetting which one I'm in is already a problem.

Thank you for putting it back. Like many others, I strongly prefer my profile page to my Home page, and having two places for Home and none for Profile was annoying.

Thanks for putting it back. I never go to "Home" (everything on there is nonsense) and I always click on my username when I want to go to my profile. Thanks, Tim.

>33 reconditereader: everything on there is nonsense
It's totally customizable so that you can remove "nonsense" or move it to the bottom of the page. If you don't like any of the modules for the home page (many of which duplicate info displayed in the profile), I wonder what value you get from LT in general.

I like the things that are linked from there, but I don't want any of it displayed in reduced form next to each other. I want one type of thing per page.

My profile is where I go for access to the things I need on LT.

>36 MarthaJeanne: ditto. Or, like, the talk page.

Or the catalog.

>38 lorax: Or the catalog.

Ditto. My bookmark points to my catalog -- though I visit talk enough that FireFox gives me an icon for that, so I have my choice. :-)