LibraryThing!
This evening I was in the rather odd (for me) position of being physically wide awake but mentally drained enough that I didn't actually want to think. Since I've heard about LibraryThing from a couple of places now, I thought I'd sign up and add the few books I have with me in Cape Town. My catalogue is still a little empty (only 20 books in it at the time of writing) but that's all the ones easily reachable. There are another three or four under precarious piles that I didn't want to disturb lest they collapse.
Two comments. Firstly, they have an interesting login/signup system. A single block with place for username and password. If your username exists and the password is correct, you're logged in. If the username doesn't exist, a new account is created. Not as robust to typos as the traditional method, but cleaner and somewhat nifty.
Secondly, their search system. You can only search against external libraries, not within LibraryThing's own database. This means that if I have an ISBN that Amazon or the Library of Congress doesn't know about (quite a few of the books I added, actually) there's no easy way to find someone else with the same edition of the same book and point at that. It's possible with a bit of cunning and patience, but I found I spent too much time fiddling for my liking.
And that's all I have the creative energy for tonight.
Two comments. Firstly, they have an interesting login/signup system. A single block with place for username and password. If your username exists and the password is correct, you're logged in. If the username doesn't exist, a new account is created. Not as robust to typos as the traditional method, but cleaner and somewhat nifty.
Secondly, their search system. You can only search against external libraries, not within LibraryThing's own database. This means that if I have an ISBN that Amazon or the Library of Congress doesn't know about (quite a few of the books I added, actually) there's no easy way to find someone else with the same edition of the same book and point at that. It's possible with a bit of cunning and patience, but I found I spent too much time fiddling for my liking.
And that's all I have the creative energy for tonight.