The period after the launch of any website is always a busy one. We’ve been getting lots of feedback and making lots of changes to site. I hope you like where we are going. Please keep all the great feedback coming - we really do listen to it.
Over the last few weeks we’ve posted about verious mentions we’ve had in the media, press and blogs. But this one that arrived today made us all smile that little bit more. http://julietdoyle.blogspot.com/2008/05/bookrabbit-again.html Thanks Juliet.
We’ve been focusing on lots of little usability changes to make the site just that little bit easier to use. So now you dont get taken off to a login page when you want to login - you just get a nice little login popup. The same applies when you add titles to your books or your wishlist. You’ll also start to see better help appearing accross the site.
At heart we are an oline bookshop. Bookshops have real people working in them. So we’ve put a new about us page us in. Contrary to some feedback, I can confirm we’re humans, not robots.
Keep enjoying the site.
Springwise the new business ideas monitor picked up on an interesting site from the US this week called WEbook - the write up is here. They already mention a million Penguins, so I won’t.
I was part of the ‘We are smarter than me‘ project in 2007, my name is in very tiny writing in the middle of the back cover, the resultant book is pretty tough going. I’d personally recommend something written by one author.
This concept is a stronger one, more like a collective publishing company, than one that attempts to be creative together - although there are elements. I’d be interested in people’s thoughts. Also interesting is the fact that they use BookSurge to actually print the titles, which you might want to read about and seems to clash with the ethos a little!
Having got so many praises for our checkout process being short and most of all, allowing users to buy without registration, we have a new edition to the process.
Have you ever seen the credit card details of a payment page look like a credit card? Until our designer created it I don’t think any of us here had either. When I first saw the designs I was excited. Not only from the visual impact this creates but also from the challenge of trying to make it work with CSS.
It took a while to build but the end result is a standards compliant form that works across 7 checked browsers so far, including the ever painstaking IE6 and even Safari on both MAC and PC(vista).
For a single block of code to work in so many browsers and to look almost identical (bearing in mind each of the browsers little nuances which add a pixel here and there) this has got to be the most satisfying and exciting piece of CSS I have done in a long time.
I hope that visual users can appreciate the aesthetics of the design whilst at the same time alternative users and browsers can use the form as they would expect to.
Currently the credit card is only on the checkout when you are not logged in or a first time user but we are implementing it across the whole checkout so everyone will be able to appreciate it.
Enjoy ordering.
Something to keep an eye out for.. we have three badges in circulation, a gold (not real obviously) enamel BookRabbit inverted ‘R’ founders badge - given out to the first few orders, at press events and various other special contacts.
A plastic pin badge - randomly given out with proofs for discussions, and some orders.
Finally we have a silver (also not real) enamel badge, which we’re giving out to extra special contributions, ideas welcome as to how people could earn one.
Let me know any unusual ways you picked one up!
Well we launched last Monday … and have picked up a few little bits of coverage 
I’ll summarise them below, starting with the national press!
The Telegraph (17th May - Saturday - joint pre-launch double exclusive), with the Financial Times on the same day. Good coverage in both, and I thought the Telegraph gave a good overall context.
Guardian Unlimited - BookRabbit elevator pitch - so online only and [warning] big picture of me, but quite a fun piece to do, love to get in the print edition…
Shiny Shiny - wonderful web coverage from Shiny Shiny, they even uploaded a bookcase and tried it. Stuff TV, good bit of pre-launch coverage based on the event invite and a word with us.
On the more techie side we have:
TechRadar - the journalist from there was just great
Computer Active
What PC?
PC Magazine
Personal Computer World
PC Advisor
Our friends at The Bookseller, BookTrade.info
Really, really detailed write up from the guys at e-consultancy who then set a good trend for comparing us with Last.fm the GoodWebGuide love that one too TechCrunch coverage (which now means we’re a real dotcom).
Finally, but by no means least of course, a selection of blogs:
Random Distractions
The Bookling
& Satellites
Phew.
I also very much liked the editorial sign off in The Bookseller this week which discussed Amazon and then said:
“Monopolies don’t last forever. [something about Play & Tesco]… and fresh-thinking rivals such as BookRabbit.com- which combines social networking tools with low prices- are springing up. They may not make an immediate dent in Amazon, but watch this space.”
