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Comment by radicaldreamer | Hacker News Reader

My biggest complaint about Good Reads is it's confusing user interface. I would really use it a lot more if it was a little less clunky to use.

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The mobile app is much simpler to use than the website.

Have you found a good alternative? I'm interested in a service like this, but I haven't been able to find anything better.

No, it really is the best service out there currently, mostly because it has the most number of people on it. I think it would be amazing if Amazon can integrate the Kindle with it and improve on some of the annoyances.

> I think it would be amazing if Amazon can integrate the Kindle with it and improve on some of the annoyances.

Amazon have a terrible reputation when it comes to user interfaces.

There are some amazing things about Amazon. I use Amazon often. But the website sucks; search is pretty much broken (it's like web search used to be); Kindle ebooks sometimes have laughably terrible typography.

The new redesign of Amazon's Audible site was pretty good. Their cancellation process made me want to murder them, so I guess it was a mixed bag.

Disagree! While eBook typography is a gimme — can’t disagree there — Amazon.com is one of the most usable sites out there. Sure, Krug’s book Don’t Make Me Think is a bit old, but there’s a reason he kept using Amazon as an example of whom to copy. They have good UI design because they had to in order to win online commerce. Flows like reporting problems with orders are very well thought out and guide you to the proper next action, whether you are starting from the the page of the product you ordered or your account history, for example.

Similarly, I don’t know anyone who is very confused by Amazon property IMDB.

Amazon.com search may not be as good as Google’s, but it isn’t the worst thing ever. I will agree they still need to work on relatively basic things like spelling correction. But remember A9? Amazon have certainly invested in search. And certainly their book search is worlds better than GoodReads’ is! Basic things like "hitch-hiker's" vs "hitchhickers", IIRC, have tripped up GoodReads search, but don’t make as much a difference on Amazon.

What are some of the problems you have with the interface? I've certainly got some issues with it, but they're mostly at at the small niggle level, rather than completely off-putting level.

I have significant issues with the UI (just like the grandparent post). I have frequently (well, as frequently as I use the app, which is slightly less than monthly) found myself wondering: “Wait, how do I mark this book as read? How do I add this book to my reading or to-read lists?” Such fundamental actions should not be so non-obvious.

I'm obviously just too used to the interface! I do have an issue with the fact that adding a book to your "to-read" list is the default, and gets a huge button of its own on every page, but, yes, I guess if you're not used to the concept that the whole thing revolves around putting books on virtual shelves, then it's not necessarily obvious that you click the little "books on a shelf" icon to put it on your "Read" shelf, or the "Currently Reading" shelf, etc.

Right! The whole “shelf” analogy is silly and unnecessary. It doesn’t make the interface familiar and obvious. Real people don’t actually have a shelf for books they want to read, are reading, and have read. We do get those concepts by themselves, so those states should simply be exposed directly, as what they are, no analogy needed. It’s an extra layer and extra mental work, for no benefit.

(Should also mention that the interface I am discussing is the one with which I’m familiar: their current iPhone app as-of 2012–2013.)

Besides the difficulty of marking the status of a particular book, it is incredibly difficult to actually discuss particular books.

There is also no capability to discuss only up to a particular portion of a book or any easy way to read books together etc.

The product has a lot of potential, but there are some fundamental usability issues holding it back imo.

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