Hello, @WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL !
From a user's point of view, the new desktop site design is not exactly as good as it used to be.

And so, Webnovel, I've designed a new site for you, with a few new features that the community has been begging for you to add.

@dapenggaofei Sorry for the tag, but I would really like for you to see this too. 🥺🙏

Here's a video with a screen recording of the site prototype.

In depth explanations will be included below for everything I've done for my design.

1

So, starting off, this is how I envision the home page.
The current desktop formatting is quite strangely proportioned, and so, I wanted to design a home page that will give the eye a place to go immediately: which is at the big banner at the center.
One of the perks of using the desktop site, in the past, was that you could go to the homepage and immediately see your library. I wanted to reincorporate that, with the "Last Read" section on the left, intended for the last read books in your library.
On the right is a "Newsfeed" section. This is quite similar to what is currently on the site, with the "Recent Activities", but this newsfeed is slightly different, as it can also include a place to make announcements. One of the big complaints towards Webnovel as a platform is that many major changes go unannounced. You just wake up one day and notice that everything has changed. The users would appreciate having a notice in advance, or even a summary of the changes afterwards, if possible. Having a newsfeed allows that.

2

The second part is the "Weekly Featured" area. This section is similar to the old design. Having one big image on the left, similar to a mini-banner, is much better than the carousel-styled arrangement that the current featured section has. It gives the eyes, yet again, a place to go. It draws attention.

3

The next section is a combination of "Popular Tags" and "What's Next?". Currently, and in the past, the tags section looks a bit awkward because of a straight line of tags, then 3 lonely tags hanging by another line. By condensing it, it looks much more appealing to the eyes.

4

This section is essentially the same as what the current site looks like.

5

In this section, the main difference is that the "Completed" section is scrollable. By making the covers bigger, it provides a nice balance with the section on the left, and it also gives space to add a brief synopsis. The chances of a reader clicking on one of these completed novels will be greater, as a result.

6

I propose a "Featured Author" section.
This is a section that could give great exposure to the author and the novels. It would also be a great prize to give to winners of contests, such as Spirity or the TikTok contest from a while back.
Webnovel could also use this section for prominent top authors on the platform, as both a way to connect to old and new readers.

7

This section is pretty similar to the current site as well.

8

I propose making the "When There's Nothing to Read" a featured section on the site. It contributes to exposure of the novels featured there. "Limited Free" goes right next to it.

9

This is the "You May Also Like" section. It's very similar to what the current site is like, but I think that by removing those scattered blue tags at the top, it looks more clean and put-together.

10

Lastly, right before the bottom of the site credits, is a nice advertisement for the mobile app! What better way to advertise downloading the app other than making an aesthetically pleasing banner towards the bottom of the site, am I right?

Other than the main site design, here are the new addition proposals:

11

Dark mode for the site. It looks really cool, is nice on the eyes, and some people just love dark mode a lot. This feature can be activated by the toggle. People have been begging for a dark mode for a long time now.

12

Advanced search system.
People have been asking for this too. By adding a search system similar to filtering, users of the site will be able to find more books that they like faster. This increases the amount of books read on the site, and more read books = more profit.

Furthermore, an option to search for users would also be great:
13

You can only search for pretty much authors right now, and even then, it's a bit difficult to find people. Including a userbase search function can allow the community to connect more with each other.

Which brings me to the next point...

14

Private/Direct messaging function.
By implementing this feature, WN will allow authors and authors, authors and readers, and readers and readers to connect more with each other. Readers could make friends with each other over discussing their favorite novels. Authors could communicate with editors, cover makers, etc. from their readerbase. Readers can talk to their favorite authors more. This will overall increase the time every user spends on this platform.
For security/privacy/spam concerns, there should be an option for people to also turn off direct messaging, so people such as content editor staff won't be swamped by messages in this platform.

This is pretty much everything that I have designed so far! 😁
Webnovel, please consider implementing some of the things proposed in this design. I made this design free for you to take, so why not use it?
(If I were to ask for payment, the only thing that I want is to become a site moderator 🤞 I mean... Webnovel.. I'm offering y'all free labor. Why not take up my offer? Hehe)

As for fellow forum users, what do you all think? Do you like this design? Is there any feature not included in here that you would want WN to include?

I'm thinking of redesigning the mobile app too next. Any thoughts on that?

    "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!

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