I can't help it, I love beautiful, modern, minimal designs. Most user interfaces just don't appeal to me. Book apps, in particular, often feel old-fashioned. There's nothing wrong with old things though; retro tech from the 80s and 90s has its own charm, and people really knew how to make beautiful things back then.

But bad UI is a different story, it's clumsy, built with off-the-shelf frameworks without much thought, and often lacks proper design guidelines, plan or structure. That's why I can't use Bookwyrm, for example.

I read a lot and have mostly been using https://getbookshelf.com on iOS along with a CSV file since leaving Goodreads. Right now, I'm checking out alternatives. Even StoryGraph doesn't quite do it for me. https://margins.app looks promising, and Bookcover is okay but missing some features.

So, if in another world I decided to make my own fork and app, contribute to Bookwyrm, and completely refresh its UI like I did for Mastodon with the Mastodon Bird UI - what would you think of that?

#Books #BookApps #Margins #BookWyrm #UI #UIDesign #FrontEnd #BookTrackers #OwnYourData #SelfHost

We aren't the only game in town! There are many other great book websites out there.

Check out this great list created by Natty May over at ISBNdb.com covering some of the Best Book Tracking Apps and Websites:

https://isbndb.com/blog/book-tracking-apps-and-websites/

#goodreads #booktracking #bookapps

Fish: a tap essay, by Robin Sloan @robin @robinsloan (screenshots circa 2012)

Websites:
https://www.robinsloan.com/fish/

https://robinsloan.itch.io/fish

Archived App Store: https://web.archive.org/web/20120324143035/https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fish-a-tap-essay/id510560804

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fish-a-tap-essay/id510560804?platform=iphone

Reviews:
https://www.theverge.com/2012/4/9/2936291/fish-robin-sloan-app-explores-the-difference-between-loving-liking

https://kottke.org/12/03/look-at-your-fish?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me

https://readwrite.com/robin_sloans_fish_a_tap_essay_about_liking_loving/

https://lumenlog.com/post/fish-a-tap-essay/

#ui #uiinspiration #oldschoolui #UIDesign #robinsloan #experimentalapps #bookapps

Fun reading challenge on StoryGraph (independent book-logging app).

#ReadingChallenge2023 #ReadingChallenges #books #BookApps #bookstodon

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/58815d22-9502-4645-a44b-847a26aa1c54