28th
ThingISBN and multiple editions
I’ve implemented ISBN grouping in the /books section of the site, using LibraryThing’s ThingISBN API class.
In simple terms, this means that in /books/ you’ll see everyone who’s reading/read/bookmarked that book, even if it’s a different edition (i.e. a different ISBN).
This throws up a couple of issues. For one, the URL, which contains the ISBN, actually refers to a range of ISBNs. Hmm.
Also, and of rather more concern to the average users, it means that the bookmarks may not refer to a particular page. I’m getting around this by including the particular edition’s ISBN in the bookmark’s metadata (example).
I think this is a workable solution, as users can still see the bookmarks that are relevant to them on their own pages.
Of more concern is the slowdown of the /books section of the site due to the additional API call to LT, but I’m going to go with it for now, pending complaints.
(It’s worth noting that thingISBN isn’t perfect either; I’ve already found missing ISBNs. However, this is a user-centric, not book-centric site, so again, I’m going with it, as user’s still get all their data correctly.)
