Comments on: Google’s Book Search Widget

By: RfP

RfP — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:04:37 +0000

I like my widgets, but they are GUI widgets. From the comments here, you are talking about web widgets, a different thing altogether.

Me too. I assumed the Google widget was for my desktop, not for my website.

By: SonomaLass

SonomaLass — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:23:39 +0000

I like my widgets, but they are GUI widgets. From the comments here, you are talking about web widgets, a different thing altogether. I probably would have answered your poll differently if I had realized this.

By: Angela James

Angela James — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:15:47 +0000

I bought some books from Samhain today and was very pleasantly surprised by their overhauled shopping cart. Very clean, very easy to navigate, all the information in the most intuitive spots. I was very, VERY impressed.

Yay! It’s nice to have feedback, especially when we had such a huge change. Sometimes people have trouble with something new, so it’s great to know we changed for the better! Thanks.

By: MoJo

MoJo — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:24:32 +0000

Even when it comes to the epubs, I only buy from one and it's because its site is the easiest to read.

Roslyn, I think your site’s beautiful. I go to your site to look at all the pretty. :D

I bought some books from Samhain today and was very pleasantly surprised by their overhauled shopping cart. Very clean, very easy to navigate, all the information in the most intuitive spots. I was very, VERY impressed.

By: roslynholcomb

roslynholcomb — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:21:02 +0000

I hate a cluttered site as well. Even when it comes to the epubs, I only buy from one and it’s because its site is the easiest to read. It’s like people don’t understand that white space is there for a reason.

As for widgets and whatnot? Maybe it’s because my computer is old as well, but I loathe them. I have very limited time to read a blog and if it takes forever to load I’ll probably click off and never go back. Too annoying.

By: theo

theo — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:56:15 +0000

MoJo…that’s what I read in all the design articles. I’d like to know one, just one, of those ‘lot of people’ though. Haven’t met one yet! :)

I agree. The ‘recent posts’ widget is probably the number one thing I look for on any blog/website.

And I don’t deal with all that clutter either. The more clutter, the less likely I am to spend any time on the site.

*sigh*

By: MoJo

MoJo — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:49:01 +0000

A lot of people really like the front end show.

They do?! ;) (I hate it, too.) Oh, another thing. The single most useful widget to me, on any blog, is the "recent posts" widget. If I could only have one widget, that's the one I'd have. My bookstore site has a plugin for e-commerce that has a shopping cart sidebar widget. Clean and simple, the way I like it. I can't deal with cluttered sites very well.

By: MaryK

MaryK — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:48:10 +0000

Don’t know much about widgets, but using the Google Books previews has helped me decide whether or not to buy a book.

By: theo

theo — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:40:33 +0000

I use two, I think two, and they’re very small so they don’t take long to load at all. I use typepad and have them coded in my sidebar as well.

What I can’t stand are the sites that have a java or flash front end that takes 30 seconds to load, and then I can’t find the ‘skip intro’ button. I want the information. If they want to give me a show, give me something to click on.

But that’s me. A lot of people really like the front end show. :)

By: MoJo

MoJo — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:27:17 +0000

I use widgets on my site (I’m using WordPress) for most of what I have in my sidebars, but they’re the simple ones. However, I do code my blogroll directly into the sidebar php.

By: Val Kovalin

Val Kovalin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:52:38 +0000

Karen, another option for bookcovers can be found at

http://www.librarything.com/

It’s free to join, and you can often choose from a variety of covers uploaded by others.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:44:38 +0000

Another annoying issue is that they don’t work on some older computers (like mine!). When a web site installs a widget, they often make a previous action incompatible. For example, Amazon’s Search Inside. You used to be able to click on a book cover and see a larger image of the book – something I used a lot for the cover contest. Now, if I click on a cover, I get a message: “The Amazon Online Reader does not work with your web browser.” But I don’t want to use the online reader. I want to see a larger image of the cover! The image still exists, but I can’t access it because I can’t use the online reader.

I end up going to the B&N web site instead, since they don’t use those fancy widgets, and they’re still compatible with my clunky old computer.