Analysis Of A Book Reading Application
I have always been an avid reader. Sticking to hardcovers/paperbacks till well into my O-Levels, I didn't discover Ebooks until I joined a website called Goodreads. I had the tendency to stay up way past my bedtime (at-least until I had one) reading books. This usually got me into trouble when I wouldn't be able to get up for school the next morning. As a result, my parents would repeatedly check up on me during the night to make sure I wasn't up, reading.
My fascination with Ebooks stemmed from the hope that now I could read books on my phone, without the risk of getting caught. My backlit phone screen rendering my reading light obsolete. User Experience (UX), as the name suggests, is all about the user’s experience while interacting with a product/design. It’s about enhancing the usability and function of the product, keeping the end-user in mind. The application I will be analyzing is iBooks. iBooks is an Apple Inc. app for Ebook reading. It can run both EPUBs and PDFs and operate on both iOS and macOS operating systems. iBooks can also play audiobooks, although, for this analysis, I will focus mainly on EPUBs. IBooks connects to the iBook Store, which allows you to purchase and start reading your books instantaneously. Apart from the store, I can import books to iBooks from my mail as well as any file I may have downloaded from Safari. The UI was fairly simple to understand for a not very tech-savvy 15 year old.
The application has a bookshelf view and a list view for displaying your e-library. While I prefer the list view now, 15 year old me was fascinated with the bookshelf view because of its imitation of a wooden bookcase. I tend to download multiple books at a time, which sometimes leads to me forgetting about some of them. Which leads me to a feature I really appreciate in iBooks; the blue banner. The blue banner shows up on the top right corner of books you haven't opened, allowing you to keep track. The application allows you choices to personalize your text, albeit limited. There are 12 font sizes you can choose from and various fonts. The app also allows you to highlight and bookmark text. As an active member of Goodreads, I find this feature really helpful for when I want to discuss books. Allowing me to keep track of certain quotes or lines that I would want to talk about. I always felt terrible about highlighting paperbacks because I was essentially ruining the book, so I chose not to, which would later hinder my ability to take part in online feuds effectively.
