Rebuilding add books; small requests only, please.

So, I said I would be rebuilding tag watch, but the dynamics of development—who's available, who's not, what needs to happen, when, etc.—had me spend Sunday redoing the Add books page instead. It's been a glorious code purge. I'll be re-releasing it early in the week, if I can get some time from Casey to go over some Overcat stuff I don't understand.

The main changes are on the back-end, cleaning up old code and saving the data in a much more efficient way. It looks forward to a number of important catalog and book-adding changes.

Anyway, if anyone has any *small* changes to propose, I'd love to hear them. Small only, please.

When you use the Add to your Library or Wishlist buttons only the title appears automatically in the Add Books search box. Could the author be included as well, please? This would narrow down the number of results.

Thanks for the note. Let's stay off that topic. That feature has to be redone entirely--without going to the search at all, except in rare cases. We're closer to that now, but it will come after Add books is updated.

Could the manual entry please be above the sources? It would save a lot of scrolling when the sources don't work.

Also the ability to change the order of sources would be really wonderful.

Like MarthaJeanne, having a multilingual library means that the lefthand side of the page is just a mess: you have to scroll right down to get at stuff, it is not organisable - a terrible pain when you have a lot of sources listed. The left side is really key to the page yet in terms of user friendliness it takes a back seat to the right side which has been tweaked nicely over the past year or so.

v

>5 vaneska:

Explain a bit more. Is it just about the sources?

I would like:

- to be able to order sources and also (less important) an easier process for adding them and taking them away
- 'other options' not to be hidden right at the bottom, manual adding option should be more prominent
- when new sources are added for them not to automatically go to the bottom
- ideally the facility for 2 columns for sources so they don't go too far down off the bottom of the screen

v

I agree with source ordering.

Probably the same with collections.

When searching for a new addition, the sources that had been searched used to change from blue to purple to indicate that you had already visited that link. For some reason this doesn't happen anymore. I would like this feature to return.

I'd like the link to manual entry to be much higher up the page.

I completely agree with vaneska.

Another thing: the selected source is always the one you used last. Very often I don't remember what this was and it isn't obvious, especially if it you have to scroll down to see the ticked box. I'd like:

a) to be able to select a default source and then just change it as appropriate
b) for the default source and selected source to stand out more visually, for example to automatically go to the top of the list

v

'Tags to add' and 'Add to collections' settings to be sticky.

'Date acquired' to be part of 'quick edit' area, or even to be similar to the 'Tags to add' and 'Add to collections' settings.

I second the desire to be able to order sources, and to have "date acquired" part of "quick edit". I always include that information, so I have to go to the "edit" page every time I add a book.

- Should always search your default search, not whatever you used last (I've spent ages trying to figure out what the heck it was searching Amazon when my default is OhioLINK...)

- I'd actually like all 3 date fields in quick edit - acquired, started, stopped - although I'd settle for just the first two.

I would like to have a wider window of opportunity for using "tags to add" and "add to collections". Currently these have to be filled in before hitting the search button. It would be better to have them available until you select your edition.

I also agree with the need to order my sources.

>15 Aerrin99:

Second for the 3 date fields in quick edit, general support for requests listed in other posts.

I'm unclear whether this is an Add Books request, or a Search request: support boolean search terms.

When I look for titles that are not particularly distinctive, or prolific authors, I get too many hits for a useful review. Naturally I don't have an example at hand, but it's happened many times esp when I'm looking for a specific edition and its without an ISBN. It would be helpful to look for some combination of title and author to narrow the field.

(Apologies if this request is neither simple nor properly speaking part of Add Books.)

Two things off the top of my head:
1) I'll add my voice to adding the date fields to quick edit, at least as a box that could be expanded. But I've heard a lot of people say that this is purposefully not part of the Add Books. It would make it so much easier for me to use as this site as a reading log.

2) I'm not sure if this is small or not, but it would be nice if you alter the collections selected even after a search and then and click on a search result, it uses the collection you just selected. This may have changed already, but now I've finally trained myself to change the selection before I search. But for new folks coming in I imagine a lot of them stumble across this as well.

Again, I've been told by non-staff members that this is purposefully designed this way, but I just can't figure out why. It just seems more an issue with some javascript or event ordering.

I have several big things too, but I'm trying to keep it small ;).

I agree with:

1. Being able to select a default source and having it stick.
2. Moving the manual add higher up.
3. Being able to order sources.

I have no opinion about the other suggestions, since I always edit my books after I enter them.

Source ordering

I think source-ordering is a clear-cut want. I want it to.

If we have it, automatically adding it to the bottom seems fine to me.

Probably the same with collections.

You can reorder there.

I'd like the link to manual entry to be much higher up the page.

Do you have to scroll to get to it? It strikes me as a quitessential bottom-of-the-page thing. It's not part of the process, it's a way to do something different. Ditto import? Let's try a vote.'Tags to add' and 'Add to collections' settings to be sticky.

They are. What do you mean?

support boolean search terms

Not easy as, except for Overcat, the search mechanisms are outside our control and very wiggly.

It would be helpful to look for some combination of title and author

You already can. Search for: "Huckleberry Finn, Twain," for example. If you're searching Amazon, you don't even need the comma.

Being able to select a default source and having it stick

So, every time you search on something new, it starts you at the default one? Hmmm.

It would be helpful to look for some combination of title and author

You already can. Search for: "Huckleberry Finn, Twain," for example. If you're searching Amazon, you don't even need the comma.

Well, how about that. Thanks!

'Tags to add' and 'Add to collections' settings to be sticky.

I'm not entirely sure if this is what is meant by sticky, but it's a common complaint (and mentioned in the thread, also) that if you search then choose collections/tags, the choices don't apply once you click the right edition to add.

You should be able to choose the collection and tags at any point before adding the edition to your library and have those choices apply.

So, every time you search on something new, it starts you at the default one? Hmmm.

I love this idea. When I'm adding upcoming SF/F books to my wishlist, I'll often have to switch over to Amazon.uk to get the info I want. Then I forget to switch back and suddenly all of my additions are coming from Amazon.uk. It would be sublime if you could pick a default. Maybe just a little checkbox that says "Make default?" that unchecks itself when you switch from your default source?

23> What keristars said. It's a completely unintuitive design and fools a lot of people before they find out how it works. It's compounded by a bug that infrequently causes it not to work even if it's done the "right" way.

23/25> Yes, that drives me crazy as well.

>23 keristars:, 25

Okay, fair enough. So, would it be intuitive if no matter what the boxes read when you searched, it used the settings when you click?

God, I really hate moving the manual add up. Hate. Anyone suggest where it should be moved up?

Hate. Oh, this one's going to hurt me.

Definitely agree about ordering sources and moving the Manual Add higher on the page.
Also add another vote for the date acquired field being in quick edit.

Also, if you could fix the Safari4 problem of the floating scroll bar (which should disappear rather than float) covering up the Manual Add link . . . Though moving the Manual Add link higher on the page would "fix" this because the floating scroll bar would cover something else instead :)

23/25/26> Fully agree

move "other options" (including Manual Add) above "search where" . . .
I consider the "add tags" and "specify collections" to be "options" as well, so the "other options" are more in line with those (for me)
Then "where" becomes the final decision before hitting "go" . . . and if it sticks properly, I wouldn't even need to look at it most of the time (so no harm having it lower on the page).

JMHO . . .

How about this?


(click for full-size)

Basically, move the add manually and import books links from Other options up to the top. Make Other options expand into just showing the options without having another level with "advanced options".

> 21 So, every time you search on something new, it starts you at the default one? Hmmm.

Yes, but /especially/ every time you visit the page anew (I can see an argument for not doing it between searches if you're adding a lot all in a row).

I think this is what most people assume default means to start with.

32> I think this is what most people assume default means to start with.

That's exactly what I was going to post earlier.

27>

I hate moving manual add, too. It should be viewed as a last resort -- encouraging it will only encourage minimal data (title and author at best), and create difficult-to-combine entries.

I always fill out manual entry as completely as possible, of course, but I know very well that not everyone does.

Only 50% of respondents support moving it (with the remaining half divided approximately evenly between "no" and "undecided"); is that really a mandate for such a major change?

34> I love how undecided never counts unless it helps prove one's point. ;)

Another way to slice it is "70% of respondents would be fine with manual add being higher; 48% of respondents would be fine with manual add being where it is now."

I hate moving manual add, too. It should be viewed as a last resort -- encouraging it will only encourage minimal data (title and author at best), and create difficult-to-combine entries.

Yes, that's part of my argument too.

I love how undecided never counts unless it helps prove one's point.

Lies, damn lies and LibraryThing polls.

brightcopy's image

Yes, I see the attraction. It would be nicest if clicking those changed the page, but kept that static element. That, however, shades into the "big" changes I am refusing for now.

BTW: I don't even know what External Search Default means. It's Overcat? Anyone know?

36> Yes, I see the attraction. It would be nicest if clicking those changed the page, but kept that static element. That, however, shades into the "big" changes I am refusing for now.

Wait, what? I don't understand. My suggestion was simply that you move the links. No mucking with static elements necessary. I think you shot down an idea I never proposed. :D

Don't know if this would particularly fall under this exact discussion... or if it would be minor or not based on the coding. But I would love to have the option to upload a custom cover as part of the manual addition form itself. Unless I'm "doing it wrong," it seems I have to add the book manually, then edit the book to add the cover... several extra clicks to do what could be a part of the original form. Normally wouldn't be an issue for many users but a lot of my library is custom publications or nontraditional items that don't have an ISBN to cross-ref to one of the search sites, so it's almost always a custom cover for me.

No, I mean that it would be nicest if you had

Search for books | Add manually | Import

and those were static elements, common to all three pages. That seems the way to do it.

39> Could be. But it's certainly no worse than it is today when you click on those links and go to a different page. If you don't like it, that's a good reason not to do it. But you can always build onto this change later. Don't make a small change into a big one until you're ready.

And keep in mind you're going to somewhat dislike any suggestion that has add manually moved to more prominence. ;)

>38 brkgnews:

I agree. That may not come immediately, but I think Add books needs to handle images better. First, it needs what you suggest. Second, it should list covers for a work you might want to snag.

> Don't make a small change into a big one until you're ready

Yes.

In terms of "Add Manually" - for large LLs where there are a whole range of sources, having it at the bottom can get a little tiresome, so in those cases it would certainly be handy to have it near(er) the top of the page ... on the other hand, for most LLs, the number of sources needed (especially now with OverCat) is greatly diminished, so I'm not sure the need is as pressing as it was.

If I could only ask for one thing, it would be the ability to rearrange sources. I hate hate HATE the fact that there's nothing I can do about it now. Well, removing them and adding one by one again would maybe do the trick but why not simply allow LT'ers to sort them in the "order-of-their-preference"? We can do that with our catalogues -- why not with this? I don't know what I've done wrong but at the moment my nbr 1 source is at the bottom of my longish list of sources (I think it dropped down there when I used "Add to your library" -link in someone else's catalogue), and it is maddening. The more so as I cannot even select it as my "default" source.

Which -- if I had two wishes -- would be my second request: ability to select a default source. And make it stick. Not so that everytime the system logs me out, it reverts to amazon.com (which I never use nowadays). Of course, these requests are all me-me-me but looking at the above messages, I'm not the only one thinking about the same details :)

Rearranging sources will happen. I want it too. Stop suggesting it :)

if I had two wishes

Bzzzt! You lose.

Okay, I'll think about it. I think I can move the source up into the system, so it's not stored in a cookie and won't revert. But I don't know about having a divide between default and the one you're on. That strikes me as potentially confusing. "I set my library, but it keeps reverting to another. Why do I have to set my library two places? Why can't it remember that I was searching on library X?" etc.

I give my votes for these:
rearranging the sources
selecting the favourite source as the default

>27 timspalding:
>Okay, fair enough. So, would it be intuitive if no matter what the boxes read when you
> searched, it used the settings when you click?

To me that's the most intuitive. Those settings control the addition what you choose from the search results, not the searching. They're also things that I tend to set after a search, particularly when using the buttons on a work page. I had to train myself to alter those and then to repeat the exact same search just so that it would apply those settings to the item I finally chose. Eventually I just started always hitting quick edit.

If I was adding a series of items and forgot about it, it would do what I intended for every item except for the very first one, leading to weird results later. (Because after the first one, the second search would "kick in" the tags and collections).

Can I get definition of default, then? Is it just about it "sticking" or do you want to be able to search and have it revert every time, even if you picked other libraries in the course of the search? That strikes me as a recipe for UI confusion.

>48 timspalding:
Well, actually I don't think I need the default source if I can arrange the sources and they stay in that order until I arrange them again. I can always arrange my favourite on top.

32, 33, That's exactly what I mean too. I often have to switch to Amazon to find a new paperback, but I would like to go to a default of either LOC or OverCat every time I visit the Add Books page.

If you don't want to move manual up, how about giving us the ability to have a limited number of prime sources, in the lift hand column, and a much larger number of our choice that show in the right hand column if the first search doesn't work?

Or add the manual link to the right hand column after a failed search.

It's just way too far down if you have several sources selected, and those of us with multiple languages end up with lots of sources.

>27 timspalding:
I add all my books with "manual add" now, so I want it to be at the top!

I use manual add a lot, since many of my books are small press or self-published, and I would love not having to scroll down to get to it.

I would like to have the return-to-Add-Books link removed from the Edit link. Example: http://www.librarything.com/work/edit/62373853?referpage=addbooks.php. This presumes a workflow of editing one book and then returning to add more, which I do not do myself.

Actually, this link could go untouched if I did not need to edit books as part of the initial add, primarily for Date Acquired (so another vote there, either in Quick Edit or prior to searching*) and choosing or adding my preferred cover image.

*The whole thing where info needs to be added before searching whatever source is a real gotcha until you are an LT expert practically. Intuitively, I want to "describe" my book with tags etc. after finding the correct edition to add to my library. Quick edit is kind of cramped for doing this.

I guess the only small thing I would like is to be able to add books to more than one collection and have it stick from session to session.

99% of my books go into Your Library which is the default, and they also go into To Read. Currently I can only have one default.

I do use the Quick Edit a lot for tags and adding a second collection, but sometimes I forget the second collection (then my To Read Collection count doesn't match my TBR tag and its a scavenger hunt).

I would like to have the ability to add books to multiple default collections (stick from session to session), and if I don't want to use the default collections, I can uncheck for that session, but it will return to the 2 (or more) defaults next time I enter books.

Other than adding or changing covers, I don't do much book editing once its added (I use Quick Edit for tags). I will sometimes fix the case of title, author, publisher if all caps, but thats it.

I use the date acquired as whatever date I enter it into the system.

A way to edit the different parts of the book from the Add page so you don't have to hop all over your library would be nice, but probably not small.

I'd like the ability to edit book titles from the Add books page instead of having to go into book edit mode.

56>

That would be nice, and it would be even nicer if instantly-edited titles didn't create zero-copy ghost editions (I know Tim sees zero-copy ghosts as a feature, but one can always hope.)

99% of my books go into Your Library which is the default, and they also go into To Read. Currently I can only have one default.

What he/she said.

>56 stephmo: I'd like that also, stephmo!

Also, the recently added list has a link to the work. It would be nice if the author name was a link to the author page too.

This is probably not in your part of the code, but it would be convenient if Overcat accepted LCCNs. That's the major reason I have to switch sources these days.

16 - I would like to have a wider window of opportunity for using "tags to add" and "add to collections". Currently these have to be filled in before hitting the search button. It would be better to have them available until you select your edition.

Yes.

'Date acquired' to be part of 'quick edit' area, or even to be similar to the 'Tags to add' and 'Add to collections' settings.

The latter, please!

I think it would be cool to have a checkbox that, when checked, makes "date acquired" the current date (same as "date entered")

> 48 Can I get definition of default, then? Is it just about it "sticking" or do you want to be able to search and have it revert every time, even if you picked other libraries in the course of the search?

Default means 'use this unless I actively change it.' My personal preference would mean that yes, every single time I hit 'search' it starts there until and unless I manually move the little radio button to select another source.

I can see an argument for the default activating only upon a new addbooks /session/ - that is, as long as you're searching on that page and not reloading, if you've switched to Amazon, everything searches Amazon until/unless you move the radio button again. This is not my PREFERENCE, but it at least makes some sense to me.

What the real problem is right now is that it appears to remember the last place I searched, so if I had to accept an Amazon entry for a wishlisted item not yet published, and then two days later I go back to add the library book I'm reading, it /still/ uses Amazon. And I have no idea why, because it prompts me to choose a default search every time my cookies clear - what on earth is this choice actually /doing/?

That strikes me as a recipe for UI confusion.

I think we already have UI confusion. See above re: my complete lack of understanding as to what my choice of default search space, prompted whenever my cookies are cleared, actually does. In fact, until this thread I didn't realize that what the Add Books page was doing was remembering my last source, and I used to get really, really frustrated whenever I used the 'add to wishlist' button and it returned results from the source that /wasn't/ my default!

Make the 'duplicate entry in your catalogue' a LINK.

I will add any edition to my wishlist. Once I've own the book, I'll re-add it as the correct edition. Finding the duplicate to delete it is currently many clicks away. I would like the warning message to link to the duplicate for easy deletion/editing/checking.

+1 to the higher manual add; the sticky defaults; being able to order/change/add default collections; not returning to the add books page from edit; easier on page editing; no 'zero works' and most of the other suggestions!

66> Make the 'duplicate entry in your catalogue' a LINK.

But what if there are two (additional) duplicates?

Finding the duplicate to delete it is currently many clicks away.

Eh? It's a whopping two clicks.

#67 two?
How? Maybe it's another bit of LT proces that isn't obvious.

More duplicates? - I'd be quite happy for a link to all of them.

68> If you click on the link for the book that was recently added, it takes you to the book page. On the book page, it has a section at the very top for "(MEMBERNAME)'s other editions" with links for each.

>64 norabelle414:
Norabelle414 suggested:
I think it would be cool to have a checkbox that, when checked, makes "date acquired" the current date (same as "date entered")

Yes, this would be useful.

> 21

Maybe this is not small at all, but if source ordering is implemented, automatic cascading of a failed search to the next and thus lower prioritised source from the list of ordered sources (up to some cut-off?) would be fantastic.

I guess that OverCat is meant to meta-handle that sort of situation, but I often find my self switching from it to amazon.co.uk right now.

It'd make me very happy, but then just allowing ordering of the sources would too. :-)

>56 stephmo: Another vote to edit book titles in Add books. It should complement the case-conversion tool (and help if the tool breaks). I also move to convert "Add books" and "Your books" to title case. :)

36> External search default is what you choose on that "Select a source" page - the one that pops up every once in a while (when cookies get cleared, etc). It's what the pink and green pluses search on. Overcat is not an option there - so mine is set to LoC (and 90% of the time finds nothing, since I mostly use pink and green on new paperbacks...).

ETA - this topic is talking about the external search default http://www.librarything.com/topic/95682

I have Overcat as my default (radio button in the Search Where list). If I notice when I go to Add Books that Overcat isn't selected, I'll change it back; normally, I'll try Overcat first and if that search fails entirely I get the list of Search Other Sources in the booklist box and choose Amazon (because 99% of what fails on Overcat for me is paperbacks published this year or last, and Amazon always has them). Only when Overcat finds _something_ but not what I want do I need to change the radio button.

Which is a very long-winded way of saying, I'd like it to always be Overcat when I go to Add Books, and would prefer it to go back to Overcat after a search elsewhere but could live with having to change it back right then (as in, it only resets on going to Add Books).

Don't know if this is a small request - but could you make Skip confirmation work on plain barcodes again? I understand that it works on un-neutered CueCat scans, but it doesn't work on typed-in ISBNs or neutered Cat scans (which is what I use). It hasn't worked since the last reorganization of the Add Books page. It might not be as important now - Amazon produces one result from an ISBN barcode scan I just tried, Overcat produces two so of course skip confirmation wouldn't work anyway (hardback & paperback with the same ISBN? Two successive years of publication, at least). But I'd still like it.

A comment on the "stickiness" of the tags & collection choices; once I've chosen a record in Add Books, I usually go into the edit view to make any changes I want - add the language, etc. This blows away my tags and collection choices. It would be great if it didn't; it's gotten so I don't use those functions on the Add Books page because it's so tedious to keep re-entering the same data.

74 >

I edit every entry & have never lost tags or collections UNLESS I enter them AFTER I hit search. If I enter them first, then search, they've always "stuck." Sometimes, if I forget, before I click on the search result, I just enter them, then hit search again.

75> I don't think staffordcastle is talking about that. He's talking about the tags and collections in the fields on the Add Books page being lost when he goes to the Edit Book page. So, staffordcastle, is that true even if you use the Back button to get back to the Add Book page?

76 >

He's talking about the tags and collections in the fields on the Add Books page being lost when he goes to the Edit Book page.

That's exactly what I'm talking about, or to be even more precise, the fields on the left side directly under the search box, "Tags to add" and "Add to collections." Those fields need to be filled in before searching. If you fill them in after hitting Search, even if it is before choosing your book from the search results in the right-hand column, the tag and collection choices will not stick. Ever. It's a little counter-intuitive, but there you are.

However, even after choosing from the search results, you can enter tags and collections using Quick Edit. But if you don't hit Save Tags, those won't stick, either.

No, when he says not sticking he doesn't mean not being added to the book data. At least I don't think so. I think he means that the next time he goes back to the Add Book page, those fields are again at their default values and he has to select the Collection and type in the tags again.

>75 PhaedraB: thru 78
jjwilson61 is correct. I do mean the fields on the Add Books page, and that after entering a book, if I edit the record, then my non-default choices have reverted.

On the first record, they are correctly added to the book. The NEXT search won't get the ones I had previously set, but the default. If I was, for instance, entering a group of Wishlist books, which I do not put in My Library collection, I do not want to have them added to that collection, so they have to be moved later - I want them to go to the right place from the beginning.

Using the browser back button makes no difference.

P.S. Just for the record, I am female :-)

79> Sorry. How are you getting back to the Add Books page? Are you using the Back button or Clicking on the Add Books tab again, or something else?

ETA: I just tried it, and while using the tab loses the contents of the tag box, it's preserved when I use the Back key.

>80 jjwilson61: - cross-posting here.

It doesn't matter which way I get back to the Add Books page. The result is the same, because I've *left* the Add Books page.

>81 staffordcastle:

I think what you're asking for is that you would like changes to transfer to the "Edit Book" page, right?

So if you start adding tags to the "quick edit" of Add Books and realize "oh, I want to add a date/private comment/etc" and click on edit the edit page comes up but without those tags you had just entered.

Right now you could hit back and save tags and go forward and probably refresh the page, but it's annoying to have to do that.

Oh, I see how I misunderstood. I thought you meant not sticking to the book. Forgive?

In FF3, if I start typing in the tab field, it will "remember" what was there before. Or alternately, I will copy the tags to the clipboard (or to an open text or Sticky Notes box) and then just paste for every new search. Not perfect, but it works.

I believe (I hate to admit it, but I haven't been entering many books lately) that if you reorder your collections on the Add Books page, it will default to the new order until you tell it otherwise. So if you are entering a lot of books for the same collection, you can make that one the top of the list. If you're adding to multiple collections at once, though, it's still the extra clicks every time.

I never use the Edit Book function on the Add Books page. I just don't like that UI, so I make all my changes from my catalog, or going to the actual book page. I do use Quick Edit for tags.

I have 3 tabs open when I add books. The Add Books tab, the Your Books tab, and the Home Page tab. I go from tab to tab. I will go to the book's page from Your Books tab, but the rest I just leave where they are and change tabs.

>83 PhaedraB:Oh, I see how I misunderstood. I thought you meant not sticking to the book. Forgive?

Forgiven!

In Safari, it also remembers what was in the tag field before, though often it gives me many options with slight variations, such that sometimes it's just easier to type them in again for accuracy. You are correct about reordering the collections, and I've done that, but when I want to add a series of books to two or more collections, this doesn't work - it defaults to whatever is first on the list, okay, but loses any other collections I had chosen.

81> So you've tried using the Back arrow on your browser (or I think the backspace key works as well for most browsers) and you lose the contents of the fields there as well? It works for me on FireFox. What browser are you using?

>86 jjwilson61: See above, Safari on OSX.

When you use the Back arrow, you are returned to the last page you were on, as it was when you were there. If you made additions or corrections, you need to refresh, or go to the page again - not through the Back arrow.

Often going Back makes you think you've lost your changes when, in fact, you haven't.

74> I do the same, but I edit in another tab, and just close the tab when I'm done; the settings on the Add Books page are unaffected...

To change tack completely, another suggestion for the Add Books page: please change all punctuation to commas, as suggested here (and here. And here). It would save the people who understand the problem a step, and save the people who don't a ton of frustration.

> 90

I love this idea. I also love whoever suggested that we add the author's last name, after a comma, to the search.

So, what happened with this?

And did Tim ever even comment about the idea of adding Date Acquired to the quick edit?

I don't know that he will - he commented pretty strongly back when Quick Edit appeared that what was on there was all that was going to be on there.

There are too many possibilities - I don't use Date Acquired at all, but I'd love to be able to edit title, author, and reading dates. For instance.

The problem is that he's generally even more opposed to customization. There's an easy solution to make everyone happy, but it seems unlikely to be implemented. So we're left with the observation that Date Acquired seems to be the most-wanted addition, on the basis of this thread at least.

That is funny to me, because I always do a full edit when I add a book, so date acquired is the one I am least interested in there. But date finished so that I don't have to go into edit book just to go down to the very bottom and add that would be great.

I've often asked for add books to take you directly to the Edit Book page after adding a book, though I know it's not popular. I suspect that many users don't even know you can edit a book record that you've added (perhaps they don't care). But for me, Date Acquired is one of the things that I have to go to the Edit Book page for (I usually don't start or finish books until long after I've acquired and cataloged them).

>95 MarthaJeanne: I always add Date Finished (and pretty much everything else) from the catalogue, since I really dislike the whole Edit page.

I might do it if the catalogue had the same date format, but I really dislike the date format there.

>98 MarthaJeanne: Do you mean the way you enter it or the way it displays? For entering, I usually type "today" or "yesterday".

LTwill convert date formats. I usually enter acquired, started, and finished as yyyy-mm-dd and it gets converted.

And I usually enter m/d and it adds the (current) year. Very quick.

>96 r.orrison: rorrison: Maybe I'm not understanding your request.

When I add a book, and then click on the pencil, I go straight to the Edit page.

I honestly don't know how big of a change this is, but it doesn't seem big to me (being the non-technical dragon that I am)... but what I would dearly love is for the edit collections option to be at the top of that list rather than at the bottom (current position) This would only be of benefit to those like me, who use lots of collections...

I would dearly love a page you could load to Edit Collections, so I would have less scrolling on the Edit box. But I supposed that's outside the scope of this thread.

>104 infiniteletters: I always edit collections from the catalogue too.

105: I meant to edit the collections list itself. Currently, that opens in a lightbox. :/

If you're like me and tend to edit collections from the homepage, because it's right there and faster than digging around, the lightbox doesn't even work properly for rearranging the damn things. And it hasn't since December, if I'm remembering correctly.

102: When you add a book, the process should be search - click link on the right to add the book - be taken to the Edit Book page. I'd like to go there directly after clicking the title of the book, so I don't have to click the pencil. It saves a single click, but also forces everyone to look at the data that they're adding, and introduces them to the Edit Book page which so many seem to ignore.
Ideally, I would like it not to actually add the book until I've hit save on the Edit Book page, that way if it's the wrong edition I could hit the back button and select a different one, and bad data wouldn't get added before I had a chance to edit it, which would eliminate the bogus zero-copy works that get created when a work added and then edited.

I know many people would hate this.

introduces them to the Edit Book page which so many seem to ignore

I ignore this page deliberately; it's hideous.

I love it. It's the heart of cataloging for me. It's the only place I can see and edit all of the data relating to my book. I never edit from the catalog or quick edit on the add books page, they're so limited. I'd be happy if it wasn't possible to edit from the catalog at all.

:-)

I would like a "duplicate-like" function from the manual add page. Something that would copy much, but not all, of the data to a new add page so that when you are adding a whole series of books manually, you don't have to type in or cut and paste every single line.

Would strongly hate being taken to the edit book page automatically. I try never to use the edit there.

I use quick edit and the rest from my catalog.