"One of the big complaints towards Webnovel as a platform is that many major changes go unannounced"
That's not the problem. Problem is crappy changes. I personally changed UI for one site multiple times in a couple of years in the past, and no one complained. Don't base your decision on that some people don't like when it is sudden. That's how human brain works, it doesn't like changes at first, but becomes accustomed really fast (if it is good shit). Every update you made to PC website was for the worse. Nothing was done correctly. I have an impression that webnovel's stuff doesn't even use PC website at all, so they always miss the point. PC version becomes more and more like mobile version, plus riddled with annoying bugs on top of that.
1. Popup menu of user opens on click as opposed to hovering. For PC it makes sense to hover.
2. You changed four buttons (inbox, forum, library, etc...) at the top and moved Inbox into popup. That's really some mobile user decision.
3. "Sign out" item isn't really required to be in popup menu, it's just a standard practice. But do people even use it that often? Can be moved out somewhere else.
4. Annoying everyday bugs
• I am logged from google, and everyday it asks me to re-login. Sometimes it even requries me to select google account. Very annoying and random. Sometimes it happens twice per day. From last update I get redirected to mobile version after this re-login BS.
• "Download Webnovel APP" everyday popup, really? How good are you at annoying people? If anyone from webnovel stuff used PC version, such ridiculous annoyance would never happen.
• I'm asked to select my "Preference" every day on home page.
5. Why put "Continue reading" bar? People visit home page to look for some new/trending novels, not to be reminded to read something. Same with "Last read" section, why have this information on front page when we already know what we last read? Why have information of your library on front page?
6. From my perspective, big problem with current home page is that images have too many different sizes. It's pains to look at such a mess.
7. "Completed" section scrolling decision is kinda strange. I don't think it is very gut to have scrollable block without scrollbars. It's unintitive at least. If you want to show summary of the novel, why don't you remind yourself that you are developing design for PC website? We are using mouse, not fingers. You can easily make hoverable popups for novels. As an example, look at shikimori.one
8. Dark mode. Oh fuck, how long did it take you to implement that? "some people just love dark mode a lot", no, dark mode is objectively superior. It gives MUCH less straing on the eyes. Not much difference between white and sepia. But between dark and everything else, difference is gargantuan.
9. I'm annoyed at your announcement pages ("Determine trending novels", "Trial read"). They are made for mobile. Even ignoring how awfull it looks on PC, if I want to read novel summary, I have to really click on it, can't even open in new page. And when I got to previous page, previous scroll position is reset. And what's the strange decision to randomize "Trial read" novels positions every time you reload announcement? Make separate version for PC.
10. Still no reading lists for PC. I would be more than content with having just "Completed" reading list. Manually sorting your novels would be a big plus.
11. In your proposed search page, in "Users" tab there is still novels filter form.
12. When viewing image fullscreen, if I press escape, sidebar comments section is closed as well.
13. Maybe you should re-think the ways you award exp? These review spammers are skewing ratings. Btw, explain to me this incomprehensible decision: why do you force people to explicitly click to earn rewards in "Earn rewards by completing missions" popup? I can understand that it would require less sql requests for each comment (to check), but this can be commited regulary, at the end of the day. Btw, your programmers are really incompetent: requiesting several requests to dynamic content on every page. Not even trying to optimize for one request. You are a cash cow, what gives? You (and users) will only benefit from less requests.

    Cpecific I'm a bit confused at which comments are directed towards my prototype and which are directed towards WN, tbh. (I'm not WN staff, just a fellow user.) But I'll try to respond to the things you said about my design.

    "One of the big complaints towards Webnovel as a platform is that many major changes go unannounced"
    That's not the problem. Problem is crappy changes.

    I'm sorry you feel that way, but my comment was based on numerous conversations I've had with other people, along with observing things that have been said on the forum. It can't hurt to have a little heads up. Platforms like Discord do that, which is nice. My opinion that making announcements on changes is simply that it would be a nice thing to have. You don't have to agree with this opinion.

    I'm asked to select my "Preference" every day on home page.

    I'm not experiencing the same bugs. Have you checked if you've accepted cookie settings? If that's not the problem, then I'm really sorry; it must be a bug from WN's side.

    Same with "Last read" section, why have this information on front page when we already know what we last read? Why have information of your library on front page?

    As an author that likes to check my novel regularly for comments, having a last read section for novels in your library really helps. It's just less of a hassle to get to my novel page. I'm sure many other people have reasons for liking a library on the front page as well. I've seen it mentioned here or there when people were commenting on the latest desktop changes.

    "Completed" section scrolling decision is kinda strange. I don't think it is very gut to have scrollable block without scrollbars. It's unintitive at least. If you want to show summary of the novel, why don't you remind yourself that you are developing design for PC website? We are using mouse, not fingers. You can easily make hoverable popups for novels. As an example, look at shikimori.one

    This is just a prototype and not the actual site. The program that I was using to prototype didn't have scrollbars programmed into it, so I didn't add them. Pop up does sounds nice! I didn't think of that as again, when designing, pop ups weren't built in (would have to install from a public package). But I'll keep that in mind next time when designing for site. This is pretty much the first time that I've designed a site from scratch, so there are bound to be some places where it's lacking here or there. I really appreciate the feedback!

    "some people just love dark mode a lot", no, dark mode is objectively superior. It gives MUCH less straing on the eyes.

    I dunno... i thought it was a relatively innocent & true statement. It's true that some people love dark mode a lot, no? Dark mode is pretty important to implement for a reading platform like WN, but I think that a light mode as default is also pretty important. There are objective studies over this; iirc read an article about this a few months ago when I was curious about Discord light and dark mode benefits lol.
    So yeah, I understand the love for dark mode. But everyone has their personal taste, so it's really subjective on if there is a superior mode.

    In your proposed search page, in "Users" tab there is still novels filter form.

    The filter thing is supposed to be a "series finder" function, and not exactly a filter for the novels that were searched by the side. Basically, kinda like Novel Updates, which I drew inspiration from. After clicking the "search" button there, it should take you to a new page with novels that fit those standards. I didn't design that cause... laziness haha, so I'm really sorry for not making that clear in the first place. :pray:

    Thanks for giving your thoughts!

        yaoyueyi I really appreciate the design. I use WN both on mobile app and desktop, if Webnovel accepts your design, it will be a great benefit to the users.

        I would just like to ask and the Can you do anything about the publishing process, writing process and spell check facilities on INKSTONE ?

        Some authors, directly write on Webnovel INKSTONE
        without a backup and they have faced problems like:
        1. Drafts got deleted.
        2. Chapters couldn't be published and they missed MGS.
        3. As INKSTONE doesn't have a spell check system like Google docs, so the authors who don't have their first language as English, their chapters were full of grammatical mistakes.

        I know that Content Editors always advise us to use Google docs as a backup and spell checker before publishing to INKSTONE, but why not make INKSTONE a little bit trustworthy ?

            yaoyueyi This is not just amazing, it's phenomenal and mind-blowing. I can't imagine Webnovel not taking it up ... unless there's all the red tape and what not about the current design.

                imagineTishaD Sorry, as someone that's not staff, I have no influence over Inkstone... or really the entire platform. I think it would be better that you make a new thread about it and tag it with "Suggestions". That way, your suggestion can possibly make it over to WN!

                    personally, all I care about is someone adding the ability to fucking use bold and italics. It's extremely stupid that something so basic is not implemented in a writing site.

                    Awesome. It's just mind-blowing. The DM also seems nice, but it can bring many problems too. If it's like an author-reader dm, then it should be okay (with a block option, as the chances of trolls will just increase with that).

                    And as for reader-reader dm? Not sure tbh. But I would like to see new changes (you suggested) on the PC site, and I personally don't like the current one.

                    Hope this gets accepted. All hail Yue-sama

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