“To do a dull thing with style - now THAT'S what I call art.”
~Charles Bukowski
Time for another installment of Tuesday Thingers hosted by Wendi’s Book Corner! This week’s question has to do with visual styles and your library.
Have you explored the different styles? Have you customized any of the styles? If so, what are your favorite customized items (isbn, Dewey Decimal, Reviews, Book-Swap, etc)?
This was one of the first things I fooled around with on LibraryThing. For me everything I use whether it be a web-based application of desktop software must have lots of flexibility in terms of visual style. One of my major defects is that things which aren’t appealing format wise drive me nearly insane. I don’t want to see features I won’t be using and I also want the ability to style toolbars and such in my own way. LibraryThing has the perfect customization features for me and after fiddling with the columns I’ve come to find a great style that allows me to see all the information I want in the exact way I prefer.
The snapshot above is my preferred LibraryThing style. Cover, Author, Title – just the basics and sortable. I like the column for Awards & Honors which is helpful for quick reference. Next I have my personal Tags – I use like to keep track of all reads, along with year read, and whether they are owned or library books. The Subject column is really handy, often I will read a book on a certain topic and then I want to read another – Dystopian or apocalyptic is a great example. Then I have a column for Private Comments, I don’t use it all that often but it’s great for jotting down a note if I lend a book out to a friend or if I am looking for the same book but in a different format (for example, I prefer Trade PBs over Hardcovers.)
My one and only complaint is about the last column – Shared – I hate it! I wish there were some way to get rid of it, but if there is I haven’t found it yet. If anyone knows if it’s possible please, please, please let me know :)
So what about you? Have you found your personal style LibraryThing? Head over to Wendi’s Book Corner and share your thoughts :)
© 2008-2010 Joanne Mosher of The Book Zombie. All rights reserved.
9 comments:
I like awards & honours but I suspect that if I used it too many of my book would just have white space there. I think you're stuck with shared. I have to say I like it - because it gives me quick links to whatever I don't have room to display.
I didn't even know I could change this! I'll be fooling around with it soon.
I get your point about the Shared column, but like Fleurfisher, I actually don't mind it - I use the shortcut from there to do most of my edits.
I did some style-tweaking for this week's Thinger too, and discovered some options I didn't realize I had. It was fun!
I played around with it when i first joined, but I stick with style B now.
Like the others who have commented here, I also use the shared section as a shortcut, so I don't mind it. I just discovered the different style options today, so I've been having some fun with it. I like the awards and languages options the best.
You're making me want to join LibraryThing! :D
I am going to go and have a play, I didn't know you could do all that! Great Post! I have something for you on my blog!
http://inmyhead-scattie.blogspot.com/
I didn't know about the Awards & Honors thing. I may have to see about messing with my old LT account after all.
I absolutely love that you included a picture of your style!! I also like what you said about how you use the personal comments section - I've always kind of looked at that area and not used it.
Thanks for stopping by and participating in Thingers last week! I've got the post up for this week, have you seen the LT Helper Badges? ~ Wendi
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