02 About the app - Build a book tracker app (Spring Boot + Cassandra)

TL;DR

This project aims to create an app called Better Reads that allows users to track and rate the books they are reading, similar to Goodreads, using data from Open Library.

Transcript

so the purpose of this project is to build an app that allows you to track the books that you're reading at any point of time and it allows you to rate it in a way it's very similar to uh the website called goodreads if you're familiar with that goodreads allows you to browse books and mark books or something that you're reading or something that y... Read More

Key Insights

• 📚 The purpose of the app is to track books, allow users to rate and review them, and browse through a catalog of books.
• 📖 The app is inspired by Goodreads, but it will not include the social aspect of the platform.
• 🌐 Open Library is the data source for the app, providing metadata about all the books in the world.
• 🔍 The app will have a book page for each book, displaying the cover, title, author, and description.
• 💻 An author page will be created, showcasing all the books written by a specific author.
• 🔎 A search page will allow users to search for books by their titles.
• 🔐 A login system will be implemented to allow users to mark books as read or in progress.
• 🏠 The home page for logged-in users will display the last few books they have read, in reverse chronological order and with currently reading books at the top.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does Better Reads differ from Goodreads?

Better Reads is a book tracking app that allows users to browse books, mark them as read, and rate them, while omitting the social aspect and focusing on an efficient user experience.

Q: How will Better Reads access book information from Open Library?

Better Reads will use the data dumps provided by Open Library to download and host the book information, creating a system that efficiently serves the data without getting bogged down.

Q: What information will be included on the book page in Better Reads?

The book page in Better Reads will display the cover image, title, description, author, and allow logged-in users to mark the book as read and rate it.

Q: How will the author pages work in Better Reads?

Author pages in Better Reads will show an image of the author (if available) and list all the books that the author has written, displayed in reverse chronological order.

Q: What will the search page in Better Reads allow users to do?

The search page in Better Reads will allow users to search for books by title and retrieve all books that match the search criteria.

Q: How does the login system in Better Reads work?

Better Reads will include a login page that uses an OAuth login (e.g., GitHub or Facebook) to authenticate users, allowing them to log in and track their reading habits.

Q: What will the home page for logged-in users, called "My Books," display in Better Reads?

The "My Books" page in Better Reads will show the last 50 books that the user has read, in reverse chronological order, with currently reading books displayed first.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The project is to build an app called Better Reads that allows users to browse books, mark them as read or want to read, and rate them on a scale of one to five.

• The app will use data from Open Library, which provides information about all the books in the world, and create individual pages for each book, including metadata, cover art, and descriptions.

• The user experience will include book pages, author pages, a search page, and a login system, with the goal of efficiently serving the large amount of book data.