Something’s coming….
As AAR has aged, the way our readers interact with us has changed. Over the past five years, those who read AAR on their mobile devices have now surpassed those who do so on a computer. When we rebooted the site ten years ago, we didn’t focus on making it phone friendly. That’s about to change.
For the past several months, I’ve been working with a team to overhaul the AAR interface, especially on devices. Yesterday they showed me the first screenshots and I am EXCITED. Not only will AAR be easier and more intuitive to use, we’re adding several features we don’t currently have.
Here are just a few of the features you have to look forward to!
A personalized bookshelf where you can keep track of books you’ve read or would like to read.
A dedicated blog archive with a powersearch feature.
An easier to navigate and search Vintage AAR section.
I’ll keep you posted as we continue to develop the site.
What do you think?
I mostly use my phone to check in with AAR everyday. I love all these changes – especially the bookshelf!
Right now I only look at AAR on my laptop, mainly because it’s more comfortable and I’m within reach of my computer when home, which I am a lot these days. When I’m away from home I’m generally not in a situation where I’m browsing on my phone. When I go away for a weekend, say, I take my laptop with me. However, it sound like the changes will be fun and interesting, so I’m going to set it up on my phone, too, now.
The changes will also be on the laptop version!
Win-win!
Tablet user here. I also may look at AAR on my phone or my laptop. But yes, in the world today many people only connect to the internet on their phones. I used to do design work, mainly forms and publications. One of the things we tried to do was design things so that they worked no matter what media or device someone was using, which is not always easy to do. We also had to ensure our products were Section 508 compliant, meaning that they were accessible to people with disabilities who used screen readers. I left the industry 8 years ago, but I imagine that the requirements have only gotten more complicated. Good luck with the rollout. I’m looking forward to the new search capabilities.
Like Trish, I do most of my AAR reading and writing on my computer but this will make quick searches on my phone much easier. I really like the more powerful search features being built into the site. Thank you!!
Ignore my previous comment. I found Reviews in the Go To drop down under the main AAR logo. Nice!!!
Visually it’s lovely – just pulled this up on my phone…….but am writing on my laptop where I do almost all my AAR reading. I’m looking for a quick, down and dirty link to your reviews which I depend on when I’m out in bookstores and can’t remember if a book is worth reading. I can’t find it. Do you think you’ll add one to the Home screen? Or did I miss it? Thanks.
Looking good! I tend to read more on my phone these days and only on my desktop when I want to write a longish comment as I am a proper typist and it’s much quicker to write on a “real” keyboard. It all looks very professional, well-organised and user friendly. Great work!