Two-sided marketplace for preloved books
Completed as a major assessment in Coder Academy’s Fast Track Bootcamp.
View live: https://thebookplace.herokuapp.com/
Table of Contents
There is a need for a better online store dedicated to the buying and selling of preloved books within Australia.
This statement is justified by answering the following questions:
As outlined below, the buying and selling of preloved books meet needs categorised within Maslow’s Hierarchy as safety, esteem, and self-actualisation
Fact 1: Many people have books lying around at home that they want to get rid of.
Fact 2: Many people want a cheap way to get books to read.
The buying and selling of preloved books allows owners of books to declutter their home of books while getting some amount of money from these books, while simultaneously offering a way for people who want to acquire books to do so at a lower cost than buying them new.
Saving money on books and/or receiving money for selling preloved books results in:
Additionally, the reading of books (which as stated above is made more possible through the buying and selling of preloved books) can be a means for meeting needs in the categories of esteem and self-actualisation.
Shopping online provides convenience, meaning that access to preloved books is not restricted by location (a particular advantage for those living in rural areas), time (e.g. can shop outside business hours), or ability to physically access a store.
It further allows for a reduction in the cost associated with running a store as no physical storefront is needed, allowing greater profits for sellers and less expenses for buyers.
Many Australians prefer to buy from within Australia for a number of reasons, not least of which is the speed of delivery within Australia compared to from overseas.
Having already justified a need for an Australian-based two-sided marketplace for preloved books, below is a detailed overview of existing sites selling preloved books within Australia, and why a better solution is needed.
While there are a number of preloved bookshops in existance within Australia,
Places do exist for selling preloved books person-to-person online (e.g. Ebay, Gumtree, Fishpond, Amazon), but they’re not made specifically for books. The exception to this is several sites made specifically for the buying and selling of textbooks (Student VIP; Dusa Bookshop; MQ Bookshop; Zookal).
One website can be found that has the same premise as this one - an Australian two-sided marketplace for preloved books (BookEMart), however it could be improved in a number of areas:
Create a better online store dedicated to the buying and selling of preloved books within Australia.
Preliminary user stories were collected in Trello, with more detailed user stories subsequently created.
User should be able to edit their own profile
Feature: Edit Profile
Scenario: User edits profile
User should not be able to edit a profile that is not theirs
Feature: Unable to edit other user’s profile
Scenario: User attempts to edit another user’s profile
User should be able to edit a book listing that is theirs
Feature: Edit Book Listing
Scenario: User edits book listing
User should not be able to edit a book listing that is not theirs
Feature: Unable to edit other user’s book listing
Scenario: User attempts to edit another user’s book listing
User should be able to delete a book listing that is theirs
Feature: Delete Book Listing
Scenario: User deletes book listing
User should not be able to open a message conversation with themselves
Feature: Unable to message self
Scenario: User visits messages page
User should not see a ‘message reader’ button on their own profile
Feature: No ‘message reader’ button on own profile
Scenario: User visits their profile page
User should be able to view book listings on homepage without logging in
Feature: Homepage viewable without login
Scenario: User visits homepage
User should be able to view detailed book listing without logging in
Feature: Detailed book view viewable without login
Scenario: User visits detailed book view page
User should not be able to view Messages page without logging in
Feature: User must be logged in to view messages page
Scenario: User visits messages page
User should not be able to view New Book form page without logging in
Feature: User must be logged in to see the add new book form
Scenario: User visits add new book page
When logged in, user should not be able to view any page other than ‘create profile’ until they have created a profile
Feature: User must create a profile upon signup in order to interact on the site
Scenario: User without a profile attempts to visit any page
The original workflow was conceptualised in the diagram below. Some minor alterations were made during development as needed. These will be reflected in a future version of this diagram.
Colours and fonts were chosen as below.
Gentium Book Basic is set at a slightly heavier weight than Gentium basic, and is used for publishing books at small point sizes.
Open Sans was designed with an upright stress, open forms and a neutral, yet friendly appearance. It was optimised for print, web, and mobile interfaces, and has excellent legibility characteristics in its letterforms.
Content-first mockups were created using Figma and can be viewed here.
The original conception was as follows:
After revisions necessary for creation of a MVP, the current ERD is as below.
Trello was used from the beginning of this project to track ideas and tasks, as well as completion dates.
See this project’s Trello board for details.
A snapshot at one moment in time is provided below.
