News And Tips

News & Tips for Members

by Steve C

Because this page is apt to become lengthy at times, the following is an index to the sections. Click on which one you want to read.

Notes from your administrator .. general progress notes, ramblings

Member list .. (for logged-in Members only)

Site Usability Tips .. how to best use this site, problems, etc

Site Modification Log .. just that, to keep you aware of functional changes

As always, if there is another section you'd like to see here, drop me a line.

Notes from your administrator

(12/29/00) All new site changes will now be posted to the "Site Activity" selection on the members' introductory page ("Other New Items"), and not here.
(11/20/00) Site pages have been modified to allow entry of the single quote (apostrophe) character. Up to now that character has been stripped of titles and names because of difficulties with the database.
(11/18/00) A notice has gone out to all members who have not logged-in to the site in the past 6 months. These members will be deleted from the membership in 30 days if they do not log-in between now and then. This is being done in the interests of keeping the site membership current with only those who are interested in participating. Of course, those members may re-join at any time, and they are welcome to do so.
(6/24/00) Member profile capability has been added, as well as a new option to sort book listing by member. A member's profile can be displayed from the book review page. All current members are encouraged to go to Edit Registration and add profile information, as it will be of interest to other members as they consider your ratings and reviews.
(6/10/00) Another new facility has been added to ReadersOpinions: a Discussion Board. This facility should be useful for members to ask questions about use of the ReadersOpinions site, as well as to offer comments and solicit feedback on books, authors, etc. An "Emailing" will go out to all members (a first!) soon, announcing this new feature and encouraging support of it. In addition, the book lists have been revamped, offering a new sort by Category, and allowing the user to enter the number of titles per page to be displayed when opting for a paged output listing.
(5/12/00) Two significant new capabilities have been added to ReadersOpinions:
        1) A private comments section is now available when you enter or edit a book entry; this field will display on the Reviews page if and only if you are the requesting member (it is keyed to your Email address, which is stored in your computer during your session .. a cookie, specifically); no one else will ever see these comments. This was a member request, and we are glad to accommodate where feasible.
        2) On this page, a members list is now available. You must be a member and logged-in to display the list, and the list contains only the first name, first initial of last name, and registration date of each member. Thought you might like to check and see if that friend of yours joined up! (you are recommending the site to friends, right?)   :-)
    The next significant project is to add a discussion board to the site. This feature should allow some interesting dialogue about the various books and authors, and who knows what else .... it should help build our developing community of readers.
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(4/27/00) In this section we will put general comments about progress in membership & database growth, etc. At this time, membership is growing nicely, but entries into the database are lagging. Let's put those titles in there, folks! If we don't, interest will flag and the site will languish. You should know that the vast majority of the entries to-date have been put in by yours truly (and I have lots more ... I have kept a list for some 5 years now!).
    You are also encouraged to Email me at admin at ReadersOpinions d o t c o m with any ideas for enhanced function or usability which will increase your interest in the site and attract others. I plan to put a survey up soon for all visitors to fill in, looking to find out what most people would like to see.
    Now let's talk about book reviews. I realize that few of us have much experience at writing a book review, but to get the most out of this website we really must enter our opinion in some form over and above the numeric rating. Consider these points when composing a review: What type of plot or subject matter is covered? How does the book differ from other titles from same author? What other authors write this kind of book? What did you like about the book? What did you hate? Do you recommend that someone spend their hard earned money on this book? Treat the review as your turn to show off some writing skills!! Nobody will laugh at you (well, at least you won't hear them). :-) Incidentally, you don't have to "sign" the review, as the Reviews page inserts your (first and initial of last) name as the author of the review. Note that your Email address is never disclosed on these pages, so you don't have to worry about some "flamer" sending you a critical or offensive note.

Member List

(Click on name to display member profile, if available)

You are not a logged-in member.

Site Usability Tips

(6/12/00) New personal book list printer-friendly option: this will produce a table on a white background with no borders. It will appear in a pop-up new window, and you can then print using the browser print function.
    From time to time we will address problems with the site and possible work-arounds, if any. Most time has been spent in the last few weeks accommodating the idiosyncrasies of the Netscape browser, which I know quite a few of you use (probably with AOL). Because different browsers show web pages in different ways, and I only test on the latest production versions of Microsoft IE and Netscape Navigator, it is important that you let me know if any functions are not working or if any pages look weird. Drop me a line.
    One concern I have is the type face used in these pages. Is it readable enough? Too small, too light? Seems a little light to me, but I haven't figured out how to make it darker yet.
    With respect to reviews, be aware that you are not limited on space as the physical size of the text box would indicate ... as you continue to type in the box, the words will be accepted and a vertical scroll bar will appear. The amount of space available to you is virtually unlimited, but be reasonable. Also, you may choose to originate your review within your word processor, and then copy-and-paste the content into the input form on this site.

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Site Modification Log

(12/00) All new site changes will now be posted to the "Site Activity" selection on the members' introductory page ("Other New Items"), and not here.
(10/00) Added Frequently Asked Questions section, ability to list ALL entries in the Plan-To-Read database table, and a facility allowing a member to Email a review to a friend.
(9/00) Added Plan_To-Read facility
7/22/00) Added automatic log-in and new opening page for members. Changed booklist display to allow sorting by different fields from report itself, by clicking on column heading.
(6/24/00) Added member profile capability, and option to sort book listing by member initials.
(6/12/00) Added printer-friendly version of personal book listings
(6/10/00) Discussion Board added. Book Listing reports revamped to load faster (I hope!), to offer Category as a sort option, and to allow specification of number of titles per page in the paged view.
(6/05/00) Minor changes in report formatting, members' initials changed to ensure individuality, etc.
5/12 Added 2 new features: private comments field for each book, and a list of members (see "Notes" above).
4/22 Added link to Amazon.com at Reviews display; this is not intended to be a major commercial move; I often look up reviews on Amazon and thought you might like to, too.
4/21 Fixed several problems with Netscape browser; made reviews available to the public when clicked on from the public title lists.
4/10/00 Added "Sort by Latest Entry Date" for title list
This option enables you to view the latest entries without searching through other lists.

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