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Archive for the ‘New Features & Improvements’ Category

What’s New? Newsletter – June 2007

Friday, June 8th, 2007

This month, it’s more like what’s NOT new. What’s NOT new is that membership and the library of available books continue to grow, and posting and sending books (and as always, reading, reading, reading!) continue apace at PBS. New features on the site introduced last month include:

FABIL (Find a Book I’ll Like), which offers book recommendations based on books you have rated as having enjoyed, books you have indicated interest in by putting them on your Wish List, and books your Buddies have liked. Book Recommendations was one of the most-requested new features on the PBS Survey in March; we are really happy with the way FABIL turned out! You can get to this feature under My Lists, in My Account. Be sure to rate the books you have read (using the 5-star rating scale), to help FABIL make recommendations to you!

Rating Member Reviews. Now there is a thumbs up/thumbs down choice on every Member Review (on the Book Details page, or in the list of Recent Member Reviews accessed under Search in the toolbar at the top of any page on the site). You can also see what other members have thought of YOUR reviews (how many have clicked thumbs-up after reading a review you wrote) by looking at your reviews linked from your PBS Profile. If anyone has rated your review, it will show in a legend on the review itself: “6 of 7 members found this review helpful” means that 6 people clicked thumbs-up, and one clicked thumbs-down on that review. You can review books from your Bookshelf (click Write Review to the right of any book), or by clicking the down-arrow button on the right of any Book Details page, and choosing “Write Review” from the options. As always, Reviews must NOT include any information about a particular copy of a book. We hear over and over again from members that reviews are often the deciding factor when they are considering requesting a book. Let your “voice” be heard!

Browser Tools: Newsletter – June 2007

Thursday, June 7th, 2007

Browser Search Plugins for Firefox and IE: These allow you to search PaperBackSwap from anywhere on the Internet! That means if you are on another site and see a book you are interested in, you can just type the information into your PBS search field (which should be to the right of your web address field at the top of your browser: choose PBS from the options in the dropdown menu there), and search PBS right there. Please see the link at the bottom of any page on the site or go to the page Browser Search Plug-Ins and click the button there to install this feature.

Book List Import Bookmark: This allows you to import ISBNs from any page on any site where you see ISBNs, into any list on your account. Click the link at the bottom of any page on the site or go to the page Book List Import Bookmark, for instructions on how to use this feature with Firefox or IE. When you use this feature, you just have to be on a page with ISBNs you want to import, click the Book List Import bookmark you have put into your bookmarks (or “favorites”) folder, and you will see a screen giving you a list of importable IBSNs. Click to place checkmarks in the ISBNs you want to import. The next screen will ask to which list you would like to import them (Bookshelf, Wish List, Reminder List, Books I’ve Read List or TBR Pile), and it will be done!

My Account / Discussion Forums: Newsletter – June 2007

Wednesday, June 6th, 2007

My Account To Do List: If there is a checkmark on the right side of the toolbar at the top of the page when you login, that means you have things on your To Do list. Place your cursor over the checkmark to see a menu of alerts drop down: pending requests, pending Wish List offers, transactions that need to be marked mailed, unread Personal Messages, new Box-O-Books offers, books to mark received when they arrive. You can access this menu from anywhere on the site and click any item in the list to be taken to the corresponding area of the site. The checkmark will NOT appear if you have nothing on your To Do list (no active transactions, unread PMs or new Box-O-Books offers).

Genre Discussion Forum Lineup: After much feedback, many suggestions and much monitoring of how the different Discussion Forums were being used, the lineup was changed on 5/31. Some unused forums were cut, some were renamed, and some were added. Those that were renamed may be in a different place alphabetically than before, but all the previous topics were preserved. Check out the lineup on the Main Discussion Forum page.

The Transaction Archive: Newsletter – June 2007

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007

Now you can see all of your past swaps in one place! You can sort by incoming/outgoing, type of swap (completed successfully, lost, canceled, Problem), title, author, date requested and date received. You can mark Lost or Canceled books received there, and in doing so give credit to the senders of those books (doing this is mandatory for a Lost book that arrives; it is optional for a Canceled book that arrives). Remember, the Transaction Archive contains only PAST swaps. Your ACTIVE transactions are in My Account–click My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site, and scroll down if necessary to see the different tabs: Books I’ve Requested, Requested From Me, Books to Mail, En Route to Me, Books I’ve Mailed. Clicking the tabs in My Account will reveal the books in each category of your active swaps. You can read more about how to use the Transaction Archive in the Help Center. You can also read more about how to find things in the new site layout in the Help Center, under the heading “PBS 2.0–What’s New”.

Spring Forward… Newsletter – April 2007

Friday, April 6th, 2007

the new PBS interface will be a real forward step for the club! PBS started small, and as we grew and added features, the interface became somewhat cluttered. It is a huge task to reprogram the entire site, but Robert has plunged in. We are soliciting comments! Go to http://www.paperbackswap.com/design_layout/ to see a list of sample pages of the new interface available for viewing and comment; you can submit your comments in the text box at the bottom of each sample page. Please remember that these are illustrations only, and that not all of the buttons and links will work. The pages shown give an idea of the new design. Thanks to those who have commented already! For those who haven’t, we hope to hear from you too!

Spring Cleaning… time to clear the cobwebs out of your Wish List! Please go over the items there and remove any you no longer want. This speeds up the swapping process, and ensures that Wish Listed books get to those members who still want them as quickly as possible. You can access your Wish List by clicking “Book Lists” on the right side of your account page, and choosing “Wish/Reminder List” from the menu that drops down. You can read about how the Wish List works from the “Need Help?” tab at the top right of your account page, by clicking the tab and choosing “Questions about the Wish List?” from the list that drops down there. Specific Help items concerning the Wish List are in the list that drops down from the Need Help? tab on the upper right of your Wish List page itself—you can read the information without even leaving the page!

Coming Soon: Newsletter – April 2007

Sunday, April 1st, 2007

Book Recommendations… This was one of the most-requested features on the PBS Survey! We have already made a form of Book Recommendations available to you. When you request a book, you now will be shown (on the last page, after submitting the request) other books requested by members who also requested that book from PBS. You can order the books right from that page if you like. We are working on more extensive Book Recommendations, to help our members discover new authors and titles from each other!

And so much more…

You asked for it…you got it! Newsletter – January 2007

Friday, January 5th, 2007

You may have noticed in the last week that we have changed the programming so that when a Wish List offer or request is pending in your account, there is a button on the screen that will take you to your account for five minutes, so that you can accomplish other tasks there before responding to the offer or request.

The Electic Pen is hopping! Check out our members’ creative efforts. There are poems and stories there to touch your heart and your funny bone—something for every mood! You can get to the Pen from the left menu of any page on the site.