Agree with a number of these points. First off, isn't the main goal creating flip books and reading flip books? I poked around with reading a few books, and the experience was flawed.
1. You're using the old gimmicky page turn animations. I've never been a fan of these, and I don't think I'm alone. It would be much better to simply flip to the next page if I click the right side, or flip to the previous page if I click the left side. Optionally, you could add arrows, or setup the clicks for bottom right and bottom left corners.
2. I can click the edge of the page to go ahead one. I can't go to the previous page, unless I drag the page across.
3. Page turn animations got stuck once in a while, and the animation would be following my mouse, when it wasn't clicked. Then if I did click, I'd have two page turn animations moving at once.
4. It looks like a traditional book, forced into my widescreen monitor. If it's zoomed in, the bottom half of the book is cut off, so I need to scroll up and down constantly. If it's zoomed out, the book is a little box in the center of my screen.
5. I have no idea how many pages are in a book, or the percentage I'm done reading. Is this 10 pages, or 500 pages? That's kind of an important question.
6. The cover images on the homepage are pretty catchy, and I clicked on a few books because the art style or title caught my eye. A suggestion would be something like, http://i.imgur.com/YxdZgW3.jpg, where you have categories in a left column, search on top, and book covers on the right.
7. Center the page you're reading. For example, take a look at http://www.20thingsilearned.com/en-US. It suffers from the same page turning issues, but the book is centered when reading, and the left side simply fades off the screen. It also gives you a few thumbnails at the bottom and a table of contents, which is a nice extra.
8. Why not display multiple pages at once? Why leave the back of every page blank? Currently when I open your first featured book, I see http://i.imgur.com/BeaNf3B.jpg. Why don't I see something like, http://i.imgur.com/0YolAY3.jpg, where I get two pages at once to take better advantage of my widescreen? Or, you could even go three pages wide, http://i.imgur.com/lUs2aYl.jpg. I also added a simple arrow to click on the right.
In short, although I like the concept of creating and reading books online, the user experience is a little poor. I would never use the site to read a book in its current state. Nonetheless, I think there is some potential, but you really need to focus on the user experience for reading books.
Another thing to do with the blank left page might be to use it for the thumbs/page counts/other possibly desired info. Maybe a notes section for that page?
Yes desktops aren't very suitable for book reading -- can't lie down and read, mouse feels clunky and a portrait book is pushed into a landscape screen. Yet a lot of people do read on their desktops. I have noted all the inputs from you to optimize it better for the desktop.
Bubblin currently is iPad first.
We are not only responsive but also maintain the presentation/story telling aspect of the book page-by-page no matter which device you're on (Supported on 42 Android/mobile devices). Sorry about the stuck-mouse-click bug though :(
1. You're using the old gimmicky page turn animations. I've never been a fan of these, and I don't think I'm alone. It would be much better to simply flip to the next page if I click the right side, or flip to the previous page if I click the left side. Optionally, you could add arrows, or setup the clicks for bottom right and bottom left corners.
2. I can click the edge of the page to go ahead one. I can't go to the previous page, unless I drag the page across.
3. Page turn animations got stuck once in a while, and the animation would be following my mouse, when it wasn't clicked. Then if I did click, I'd have two page turn animations moving at once.
4. It looks like a traditional book, forced into my widescreen monitor. If it's zoomed in, the bottom half of the book is cut off, so I need to scroll up and down constantly. If it's zoomed out, the book is a little box in the center of my screen.
5. I have no idea how many pages are in a book, or the percentage I'm done reading. Is this 10 pages, or 500 pages? That's kind of an important question.
6. The cover images on the homepage are pretty catchy, and I clicked on a few books because the art style or title caught my eye. A suggestion would be something like, http://i.imgur.com/YxdZgW3.jpg, where you have categories in a left column, search on top, and book covers on the right.
7. Center the page you're reading. For example, take a look at http://www.20thingsilearned.com/en-US. It suffers from the same page turning issues, but the book is centered when reading, and the left side simply fades off the screen. It also gives you a few thumbnails at the bottom and a table of contents, which is a nice extra.
8. Why not display multiple pages at once? Why leave the back of every page blank? Currently when I open your first featured book, I see http://i.imgur.com/BeaNf3B.jpg. Why don't I see something like, http://i.imgur.com/0YolAY3.jpg, where I get two pages at once to take better advantage of my widescreen? Or, you could even go three pages wide, http://i.imgur.com/lUs2aYl.jpg. I also added a simple arrow to click on the right.
In short, although I like the concept of creating and reading books online, the user experience is a little poor. I would never use the site to read a book in its current state. Nonetheless, I think there is some potential, but you really need to focus on the user experience for reading books.