Building Shepherd - Preview the new rec system and bookshelf UX!
Shepherd is reimagining book discovery online. So less like buying toothpaste and more a magical fun experience that readers deserve.
Summary: May 16th to May 27th 2022
What have I been working on the last 2 weeks?
I took Thursday/Friday/Monday to do a biking trip and it was a great break. I am going to take a few more of those in June.
What have I been working on?
The designer and I finalized the design of the new recommendation system that is coming to the book list pages. You can see the mockup here (coming in July/August).
The designer and I finalized the bookshelf UX improvements. You can see the mockup here (coming Q3).
A lot of time planning out what is coming toward the end of this year and in 2023. There are a lot of moving pieces, especially since I want to be financially sustainable by the end of 2023.
Some link-building work to spread the word about Shepherd.
Finish vetting our move to Google Analytics and ensure everything is working properly. I love Plausible.io, but it was lacking in a few areas. I hope I can move back to them in a few years. I do like their simplicity.
What's next?
The designer and I are working to finish the last 20% of the book celebration pages and books "like pages".
I am working to finish the specs for the developer on the new recommendation section of the book list page and the updates to the bookshelf UX.
Preview of the new recommendation system!
Here is what the new recommendation system will look like on the book list pages (at the very bottom). Plus we updated the UX in a few spots.
Preview the new bookshelf UX
Here is what the new bookshelf UX will look like once we update it in Q3.
What is going on outside of Shepherd?
I took part of last week off to do a 3-day bike trip along the Parenzana trail over Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy. It was a great trip and my wife and son met me every afternoon and had a lot of fun as well.
