- Edited
This is just my review and experience of using the beta testing. I did tried to find some bugs but I didn't encounter any o3o. (Besides the need of tapping certain links twice for it to work...)
[Layout in Main Page]
So the new version’s main page design was almost totally revamped into a new design. Split into three sections with “Recommended”, “Novel” and “Comics”.
I will just talk about my views in order from “Recommended -> Novel -> Comics”. Previously, the top most part of the app includes a search bar, a banner slider for all sorts of information. Along with four tiny icons representing: Genre, Ranks, What’s Next and Comics.
[First Row in Recommendations tab, Editor’s Choice & Writing Prompt]
On the first row, let’s talk about the links to “Editor’s Choice” and “Writing Prompts”. I’ve noticed this problem quite frequently and that is, whenever we click the link to the novel through “Editor’s Choice” or “What to Read”, it actually links us to another page (still within the app) only, you aren’t login in it. Which spells kind of an inconvenient thing for us users as we would then have to go to the search bar, search it up and add the book in from there. (This isn’t really a big deal but if it can be solved, it’s good too. If not, it’s fine either way.)
Whereas the link for the “Writing Prompts” directly links you to the forum discussion page instead of linking you to another page where you aren’t login. :D
[Second Row in Recommendations tab, Highly Recommended]
Like the Section Title, it’s a place where books are highly recommended for users to read. You can either directly just scroll left to view or click on the mini book icons on top and should you ever want to view more information about the book, it will just enlarge into a bigger tab (? How do you explain this xD). You can just directly scroll left and view the other books’ information too. How convenient.
Alright, I’m not sure is this a bug or not. But when I click and view “National School Prince Is A Girl”, the overlay tab appears. Yet when I exit the overlay tab, instead of staying at the same book, it directly jumps to “His Genius Wife is a Superstar”.
Also, clicking on the mini book icons sometimes doesn’t work and only tends to work when I click it for the second or third time.
[Third Row and Fourth Row in Recommendations tab, For Newcomers & Completed]
Actually, I was wondering. Why not combine the two rows into one? Recommending popular & completed books to newcomers! :D
Though even if both are separated, there’s more of a freedom in choosing I guess…oO. Don’t really have much thoughts to say for these two sections.
[Fifth Row in Recommendations tab, Council of Bookworms]
Actually, I do not see a point in wasting a row just to insert the “Council of Bookworms” here. I mean, usually people wouldn’t scroll all the way down just to find it. (Especially for old-timers who are already using the app - at least for me). Wouldn’t it be better to just include it right at the top where the “Editor Choice” & “Writing Prompts” is located at? Since the first row can be counted as more of a ‘Latest News’ row.
You can save more space and include more recommendations for the books in Newcomers & Completed too!
[Sixth Row in Recommendations tab, Selected Comics]
Do not have much thoughts about this section either.
[Seventh Row in Recommendations tab, Limited Free]
To be honest…I love this section the most. Why? The title says it all! :D [I’m too broke to read! Q_Q]
While there is a time limit, at least we get to read it for free right? No complains here! Though am just wondering that the novels that had already appeared once, will it appear again? Or is it a one-time thing for all novels that appeared once?
Also, I’m sure majority (or probably) of us are very, very interested in this section in the latest update/testing the most. So, just a tiny suggestion. Why not switch this and place it on the second row and replace the “Highly Recommended” row? And push the other sections down. So it will be: Latest News/Events -> Limited Free -> Highly Recommended -> For Newcomers -> Completed -> Selected Comics -> Power Ranking -> New -> Popular
[Eighth, Ninth, Tenth Row in Recommendations tab, Power Ranking, New, Popular]
I think both the section “Power Ranking” and “Popular” should just be together. As in place in such a row: New -> Power Ranking -> Popular
Just a preference :P
[Overall]
Overall, I find the recommendations tab to be quite…interesting? Though there are some spaces where you can save it or switch some sections about and place it in different row. Since people would probably be more interested in viewing the Latest Events/News. So placing “Limited Free” right at the top would be easier and nicer too.
[Second Tab, Novel]
This be the next review about the Novel tab. By the way, I’m sure everyone noticed the filter option beside the search icon, right? It’s to filter Female and Male lead novels. Makes things more convenient for readers who wants to focus on which gender lead easier. :D
[First Row in Novel, New Ongoing Release]
This tab works exactly the same way as to how the “Highly Recommended” tab works. Only, it showcases all the Female Lead novels that are newly released from the “What’s Next” section. This way, there isn’t a need to specifically go to the “What’s Next” section and check the information out every time a new novel is released from the voting pool.
Though, in the recommendation’s tab in the first row, it was meant to dedicate to “Latest News/Event” so, it might be nicer to include the “What to Read” section at the top to maintain a consistency(?) or include “Genres” right at the top.
[Second Row in Novel, Curated Originals]
Aww sweet. A row dedicated to Originals. But what is it base on? Random, Ranking, Popularity? Oo
[Third Row in Novel, What to Read]
Will there ever be more recommendations here? Like grouping a group of novels under the same category.
[Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Row in Novel, Contemporary, Fantasy & Historical Romance]
Thanks for splitting the different types and not mashing them under one section haha :D
[Seventh Row in Novel, All Genres]
As much as I miss the mini icon, this is alright too. Though I still prefer it to be on top hehe…
Why change the pictures representing the genres though…it doesn’t feel as if it matches the genre at all. Feels bland and boring.
Also, I had to click “SEE ALL” two times before it would lead be to all the genres page.
[Eight, Ninth, Tenth & Last row in Novel, What’s Next, Daily Updates, From Your Reading Preference]
No comment, no comment. For our reading preference, I honestly thought it was chosen from the genres we set on our Profile. But it wasn’t, what’s the point then (for setting up our genre preferences in profile page)? Oo for discussion among readers? But it doesn’t appear either when you ‘stalk’ other people’s profiles lol.
[Overall]
The filter to view Female or Male lead are both the same layout and functions so there’s nothing to talk about it. Overall, the design is alright. Though as an old user, I would only touch these sections: New Ongoing Release, What to Read & Genres. As usually I (or some people) would seek out new novels through this way first before using other types of channel to search.
[Third Tab, Comics]
I like the comics tab the most. Feels so simple. Top Comics and Highly recommended are placed right at the top for all to see.
Don’t really have much comment about the placings anymore lol. >w<
[Third Row in Comics, Release Calendar]
A calendar! For everyone to see when the release days for the novels is, wooo :D Now I don’t have to wonder when does the comics usually update on lol. But now, I will just keep on wishing for a specific day to come. >.>
[Overall]
I’m just gonna zip my mouth about the placings of the section for the comics. Though I do like how you are able to navigate around the comics section more easily compared to before.
[New Functions/Bugs]
- We now have a choice in our reading format. We can either swipe to read the next page or continuously scrolling down to read. The swiping transition to the next page is quite smooth for me though sometimes there might be slight delay in it.
- I didn’t encounter any bugs at all…so… 
[Suggestions]
- Certain sections in the Novel or Recommendation tabs can be changed for viewing priority I suppose.
- Please enforce a stricter restriction regarding the reviews. There are many unwanted reviews there that can’t even be counted as a normal review. People seem to just type in for the sake of daily missions or any other event that requires writing reviews. (With the exception of Council of Bookworms) In any way that can restrict at all…but doesn’t seem to be possible currently oO
- Please add an Edit button for the comment sections too!
- PS. After using the old version for so long, there will be bound to have some old habits formed. Since the What's Next button was always on the top, so whenever I open the app to access the page through the Exploration Tab, I would always subconsciously try to tab where the What's Next button was originally located at.
[Details]
Phone Model: Oppo R9s
Version of Phone: 6.0.1
Internet Connection: Wifi
From: Singapore
