Improvements to LibriVox homepage

WhataMack · Post by **WhataMack** » January 14th, 2015, 2:31 pm

Hi, I was looking at the LV homepage today, and never realized that there was information about new releases there. The three block areas at the top ("Free public domain audiobooks", "Read" and "Listen") take up a lot of space, and everything else gets pushed down "below the fold," i.e., you need to scroll down to find it.

I think the homepage would be much more useful and user-friendly if those blocks were changed/re-sized, and the Latest Releases and Latest News columns were brought up into a more prominent position...possibly as two columns alongside the three block areas, which would stay as a centered column.

I don't know what software is used to manage and layout the site, but I have quite a bit of web design and development experience so I'll be happy to take a look at how the site is physically laid out, software-wise, and see if the layout can be changed without much difficulty (for free, of course).

Cheers,

Dave

Post by **annise** » January 14th, 2015, 3:28 pm

Thanks for the offer. There are a number of problems , appearance ones (like this is) and more major ones (such as the API ) but at present we can do nothing about them . it's not really a case of there being no volunteers . It is frustrating but that is the way it is.

Anne

ekzemplaro · Post by **ekzemplaro** » January 15th, 2015, 4:07 am

Hello Dave san,

Here's the code.
https://github.com/librivox/

To make the program run, you need apache2, PHP, MySQL (or MariaDB).
The OS is ubuntu.

Nobody reported that he or she succeded to make it work.
I'm one of the failures.
Even though I'm a filure, I can answer to several questions.
If you have questions, please feel free to ask.

Cheers,
Masa

Post by **TriciaG** » January 15th, 2015, 6:30 am

I'm pretty sure the github code is for the back end software, not for the home page.

I agree that the home page is very confusing. I think this is on the list for improving when we do our next revamp.

ekzemplaro · Post by **ekzemplaro** » January 16th, 2015, 5:13 am

Hello,

This is a kind of guess game.

https://github.com/LibriVox/librivox-public/tree/master/public_html
https://github.com/LibriVox/librivox-public/tree/master/public_html/index.php
https://github.com/LibriVox/librivox-public/tree/master/public_html/favicon.ico
https://github.com/LibriVox/librivox-public/tree/master/public_html/robots.txt

I guess this is a home page. The contents are dynamically generated.
So it's a bit difficult to make it run.

Cheers,
Masa

MelaNice · Post by **MelaNice** » January 25th, 2015, 5:25 am

Hello everyone!

My suggestion for the improvement of the home page is make it easier for people to donate. Next to the Listen and volunteer buttons should be a donate button. People want to say thank you, you only need to make it easier for them to do it. Not having to search for how to give would be great!!!

Thanks
Melanie

Post by **Availle** » January 25th, 2015, 5:42 am

Thanks for your suggestion Melanie!

In fact, this has come up before (it's such an obvious thing), but as Anne has said above, at the moment we do not have the possibility to change anything about the homepage or the programs that run in the background of Librivox. We do take note of all suggestions (there is a looong list already) and hopefully, we will soon be able to implement them.

Post by **dlolso21** » January 25th, 2015, 7:50 am

Melanie,

There isn't a Donate or Thank a Reader link on the main home page. They do appear once you start browsing the catalog and on every catalog page in the upper left corner right above the statement about the titles being public domain in the US, but not necessarily worldwide.

David O

MelaNice · Post by **MelaNice** » January 25th, 2015, 10:13 am

Sorry David I realize now that my first post was only half understandable. I was trying to say that people want to donate to say thank you for the books that they have been able to listen to, but it is kinda difficult to find and the process is not very easy either. Making is very visible and an easy a process as possible would be a good move.

Since there are 2 ways to participate by either volunteering or donating both should be equally visible.

But now that you mention it maybe there should be a thanks the reader button as well.

Melanie