MyLivebrary, a community reading platform. 2022 to 2023
A reading community where members share books and add their own chapters
MyLivebrary’s brief asked for a social reading site: members upload books, read them on the site, ask about them and talk them over, and an admin checks each book first. I built it myself as a Laravel 8 MVP, from sign-up to the admin panel.
- Members add their own version of a chapter
- Add a chapter
- Only approved books show in Browse and search
- Approved first
- For new questions, versions and comments
- One bell
What MyLivebrary offers
Who it is for
A social reading site, from a feature list
MyLivebrary wanted a place where members share books and read them on the site, ask about them and talk them over, with an admin checking each book before it goes into the library. I built it myself in Laravel 8.
Members join with an email address, or with Facebook, Google or Amazon. A new email account goes straight on to pick its reading interests, and members can change them later from their account.
Sharing a book
Upload a book, and an admin approves it
A member uploads a book with its title, author, description, categories, a cover image and the PDF. The cover is turned into a thumbnail on upload, and the owner can edit the book later and replace either file.
New books start as pending, and My Books shows each one as pending, approved or rejected. Only approved books appear in Browse and search, and an admin can feature a book in the Featured Readings row on the homepage.
Reading
Read in the browser, then add your own version
Members search by title or browse the library, open a book’s details in a side panel, and read the PDF right on the page. Beside it, a Versions panel lists the chapter versions members have uploaded, each with its own reader.
Any member can add a version: a chapter title and a PDF. The book’s owner gets a notification, unless the version is their own.
Questions and discussions
Ask about a book, or start a discussion
Members can ask questions about any book they did not upload. Each book lists its questions, and each question has its own page.
For wider talk, members start a discussion and comment on it. They can edit or delete their own comments in a side editor, and an edited comment shows when it was updated.
Notifications
One bell for questions, versions and comments
A new question or a new version goes to the book’s owner, and a new comment goes to whoever started the discussion. Each notification links straight to the questions, the version or the discussion.
The bell in the menu checks for unread notifications every five seconds, and opening the list marks them all as read.
What it offers
Members
Joining
- Join with email, Facebook, Google or Amazon
- Pick reading interests, and change them later
- Change their name and password, and reset a forgotten password by email
Reading
- Search books by title, or browse the library
- Open a book’s details in a side panel and read it in the browser
- Upload their own version of a chapter, and read other members’ versions
Talking
- Ask questions about other members’ books
- Start discussions, comment, and edit or delete their own comments
- See an unread count on the bell, with each notification linking to its question, version or discussion
Book owners
- Upload a book with its cover, PDF, author and categories
- Get a cover thumbnail made on upload
- Follow each book’s status on My Books
- Edit a book and replace its cover or PDF, or delete it
- Hear about new questions and new versions
Admins
- Approve or reject new books
- Feature books on the homepage
- Manage users, admins, books and categories in searchable tables
- Add new admins, and change their own password in settings
The work
Laravel
PHP
MySQL
Bootstrap
jQuery- Laravel Socialite
- Login with Amazon
- Spatie Permission
- Yajra DataTables
- Intervention Image
