John Miedema

Upcoming OpenBook Features

21 February 2009 7 Comments

This entry is part 1 of 16 in the series Building OpenBook 2.0

I have been distracted from OpenBook by my work on FuzzyCat, but I am shifting gears now. It has always been the plan to have OpenBook host FuzzyCat so it makes sense to get OpenBook into its final shape.

New features:

WordPress administrative panels for setting all options
Styling moved to a separate stylesheet so people with CSS skills can modify the look
Select and order the display elements
Use in widgets
An indicator if the book is available to read on-line at Open Library
Additional COinS data
Configure proxy settings for users behind firewalls

Technical enhancements:

More efficient display when posting several instances of OpenBook, perhaps through a single batch call or a callback method
XHTML compliance. Escape of HTML chars
Better detection of requirements during plugin activation, including cURL
Separate WordPress and PHP code to allow for easier reuse in other platforms
Include the GNU GPL license in the distribution

Features under consideration:

Three display “modes”: standard, small, and in-line
Select books by other numbers, e.g., LC
WordPress toolbar button for easy insert of OpenBook shortcode
Separate author from other contributors. Ability to provide links for each.
Link to LibraryThing for social data

No timetable is available as I do this just for fun in my spare time, but I expect version 1.8 with some of these features to be out before the end of February. Any suggestions are welcome.

Series NavigationSneak Peak at OpenBook Options Panel»

7 Comments »

Carl Sutherland said:

I use your OpenBook and really appreciate the work you’ve done to create it. I do have css skills, and keeping that in its own file would be great!

One thing to think about maybe, as a feature for a rewrite: W3 standards compliance. The markup generated by OpenBook (at least beta 1.7.1) isn’t XHTML compliant as is.

# 19 March 2009 at 8:14 pm

John (author) said:

Hi Carl. Thanks. XHTML compliance is on the list for version 2.

# 19 March 2009 at 8:51 pm

zb1000 said:

Hello, i discovered OpenBook Plugin and i think i will use it in my coming soon website.
But i did not found how to include the description field next to the cover.
It would be great to have the ability to do that.

bye

# 20 March 2009 at 4:35 pm

John (author) said:

Hi zb1000 – you will be able to include the description (and other Open Library fields) next to the cover (or just about anywhere else) in the version 2 of OpenBook. Working on it …

# 20 March 2009 at 11:34 pm

zb1000 said:

that’s great

# 21 March 2009 at 5:21 am

DWW said:

I see you’re still working on this. That is great ’cause I really like this plugin. I do have issue with the speed, but I’m not sure with it is my ISP, server, or the plugin. Or even the way I’ve got the plugin configured.

Sadly I’ve been so busy I’ve not even had time to read any books in months. Hope Spring/Summer provides the relaxing time I need to get some pleasure reading in.

# 25 March 2010 at 8:25 am

John (author) said:

Hi DWW, OpenBook 3 work is commencing soon. A primary enhancement will be the ability to store covers and data locally. This will completely solve the lag time for calls to Open Library. Stay tuned here: http://code.google.com/p/openbook4wordpress/ and here: http://groups.google.com/group/openbook4wordpress?pli=1

# 25 March 2010 at 10:26 am