Mortaine’s Blog

Even though I love the concept, here’s why I don’t use it:

The site is a BITCH. It looks nice and seems like it should be usable, but it takes 6 pages just to register a book for release, plus you have to tell it where you’re releasing it.

EVERY geographical selection takes a minute to complete, because each time you drill down, the page has to load more data.

There’s no proximity to zip code or location search capability. If I release in Ben Lomond, I want to be able to search nearby release sites.

The site doesn’t remember my time zone? How hard is that?!?

There’s no really quick and easy, minimize-page-load option. For instance, if I want to post to LJ without opening a web browser, I can do so using one of the dozens of LJ clients. Where is the Firefox plugin for BookCrossing? It seems like a natural fit– enter the BCID, ISBN, and zip code, then maybe a book crossing site later on.

I just registered a book for release. It took 5ore than 5 minutes to complete (every step requires another page load, complete with ads and layout). I have a dozen books to release. I’m not spending an hour registering on a site all the books that I don’t want anymore. What’s the point?

Note to Bookcrossing: Hire a usability expert. Learn from a site like Netflix. Your site’s experience should be invisible.

I cleared out some of my bookshelves and put away nearly all of my loose books. Yay!

I only have 21 books on the “to read” shelf. Go me!

I have a box of books to give away. I’m going to sort through and see if there are any good for my sis, then drop the rest at some likely BookCrossing site.

In about an hour, I need to head out to the SCA Poacher’s Feast. Whee!

Back still hurts, though. I tried to be careful when putting books away, to not lift with my back, and not spend more than a few seconds bending over. It mostly worked.