Here’s A Larger Image of the New Chat

Every time we get a chance we make the chat a little better. Now there’s a roster to see who’s in the book with you. It’s represented by that little guy in the upper right corner of the TALK panel, along with the number of people in the book with you. Clicking on that will give you a list – a roster – which shows you who else is in your book.

In the roster you’ll also be able to see who can hear you (dark text) and those can’t (grey text), — people who limit their scope to chapters that you’re not in will see grey. You’ll also notice a presence icon at the top of the screen, which quickly lets you know if you’re connected or not.

You’ll also find the chat less buggy overall, due to plenty of upgrades behind-the-scenes. Find someone to read a book with and try it out!

Heads up – now you can easily see how people are connected on the site!

See who’s been added as a friend, as well as who’s following whom, on each Profile page. Naturally you can click on any of these Glutton Profile Images and hook up with new readers. Try it and see.

We’re happy to announce the first tool in our own API series, the BookGlutton Epub Converter. It’s a simple way to create the IDPF‘s open ebook format, ePub, from basic HTML files. The REST-like interface allows developers to do conversions from anywhere on the Web, be it a backend script or a frontend form for their users. The curious can play with the tool on our site, where we’ve put up some documentation and a test form.

Now, I know I’ve voiced concerns about the ePub format before, so at first glance it wouldn’t make sense for me to build a tool which creates more of it. The short explanation is that if we make this format accessible to independent, open-source Web developers and tech-savvy Web readers and writers, a collective outcry may have more sway in future renditions of it. So please, create some ePubs with this. If you’re curious about the internal XML workings of the format, rename your epub with a .zip extension, unzip it, and open the files up in your favorite text editor. Then ask yourself how the format could be improved for you, and tell the IDPF what you think.

We’re committed to being open and we hope that developers in the online book community will not only want to use the tools we develop, but will also feel encouraged to develop their own. As always, we welcome suggestions. Developers out there: what services or data would you like to see us make accessible to your own sites? Users: what tools might make reading online easier and more fun? Let us know!

Here’s a screenshot of BookGlutton’s new “Featured Author” section, which can be found right on the homepage. We’ve introduced this area to highlight contemporary authors that have uploaded original work or excerpts of published pieces to the site. It’s a great way to discover something new to read!

Keep an eye out for this – we’ll be cycling it frequently.

Last week BG staked-out a spot on Facebook. If you’re a Facebook aficionado, hook up with us there.

You’ll get feeds from this blog, notifications about who’s-reading-what, and some Facebook-only information. There’s also a photo section full of screenshots of some of the odd and interesting Catalog entries, designed to whet your digital literary appetite.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BookGlutton/15299777141?ref=mf

And a note to the non-Facebook crowd – you can probably still see the page. It’s still worth checking out, even if you can’t friend us. 🙂

BookGlutton Groups on Twitter

One of the best things about following BookGlutton’s Twitter Stream: you can see when a group is reading.

If someone decides to read with a group, the group name shows up on BG’s Twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/bookglutton. Then you can jump in and chat with them about the book in a group-only setting. You can also keep an eye out for the groups that meet frequently and request an invite…it’s another great way to keep track of BG activity.

Find out what people are doing on BookGlutton! If you’re not familiar with Twitter, it’s a free service that sends short, immediate messages to a webpage, so you can stay in touch. Think of it as a mini-blog. Every time someone opens a book on BookGlutton.com, our robots automatically update BookGlutton’s Twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/bookglutton.

If you’re not logged in to BookGlutton when you read, or if you’ve chosen to read in private (under Manage Your Account > Personal Information), the Twitter stream will just say “Someone” is reading. Otherwise, keep an eye out for your friends nickames. Those will appear here, and you can jump back onto BookGlutton and join them. It’s pretty addictive!