Goodreads Tutorial, Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Good afternoon Techstravaganza friends,

listen to this afternoon’s fantastic tutorial of the GoodReads app at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7s0JGePBk4dxEnPDwU2i1v

Show Notes

Techstravaganza Tutorial: Goodreads App Overview

Siena delivered a full tutorial on the Goodreads app using VoiceOver on iPhone 15, walking participants through all major sections of the app.

• Details
  • Siena: Described Goodreads as a social media platform for book lovers, allowing users to track books read, books to read, share reviews, and see what friends are reading.
  • Siena: Demonstrated the tab bar structure: Home, My Books, Discover, Search, and More.
  • Siena: Showed the Home tab feed, including friend activity (e.g., Makara Slobodian, Ashlyn, Tiana Dunkley), Goodreads recommendations, and giveaways.
  • Siena: Demonstrated the Actions menu (swipe down with one finger) for each feed item, allowing users to go to a profile, go to a book, go to an author, add to Want to Read, change shelves, rate a book, like, and comment.
  • Palmer: Asked for clarification on how the Home tab works and how friend activity appears.
  • Siena: Explained that users add friends by email; once connected, their reading activity appears in the Home feed.
  • Liz: Asked whether reviews are visible only from added friends or from all Goodreads users.
  • Siena: Clarified that the Home feed primarily shows activity from added friends, while broader recommendations appear in the Discover tab.
  • Liz: Asked how to add a friend and whether an account is required.
  • Siena: Explained that friends are invited by email; if they do not have an account, they can create one upon receiving the invite.
• Conclusion
  • Participants gained a clear understanding of the Home tab and its social features.
  • The Actions menu was highlighted as a key accessibility feature for VoiceOver users.

Goodreads: My Books Tab

Siena demonstrated the My Books tab, including shelves, tags, and progress tracking.

• Details
  • Siena: Showed the default shelves: Reading (Currently Reading), Want to Read, Read, and Did Not Finish.
  • Siena: Demonstrated how to update reading progress and change a book’s shelf status.
  • Siena: Moved “Stop Saying You’re Fine” by Mel Robbins to the Did Not Finish shelf.
  • Siena: Showed books currently on her Reading shelf, including “Unseen” by Molly Burke and “Music is History” by Amir Thompson.
  • Ali: Clarified that users can create tags (not additional shelves) to further categorize books within their existing shelves.
  • Siena: Confirmed this distinction.
  • Siena: Demonstrated searching for books by author (Adriana Trigiani) and shelving results, including “The Shoemaker’s Wife” (marked as Read) and “Lucia, Lucia” (marked as Want to Read).
  • Ali: Mentioned that “Losing the Signal” (the BlackBerry book) is one he would reread and suggested it as a potential Books Panel selection.
  • Siena: Agreed and noted it would be captured in the meeting notes.
• Conclusion
  • The My Books tab allows users to manage and track their reading across multiple shelves.
  • Tags can be used to further organize books within shelves.
  • “Losing the Signal” was proposed as a future Books Panel book.

Goodreads: Discover Tab

Siena walked through the Discover tab, highlighting trending books and Goodreads recommendations.

• Details
  • Siena: Showed categories including “Dark and Twisty,” “Trending with Goodreads Members,” and “Most Read This Week.”
  • Siena: Read book descriptions for several titles, including “The Calamity Club” by Katherine Stockett, “Theo of Golden” by Alan Levi, “My Husband’s Wife” by Alice Feeney, and “The Nightingale” by Kristen Hanna.
  • Siena: Shelved multiple books as Want to Read during the demonstration.
  • Liz: Confirmed she had read “The Nightingale” and praised “Theo of Golden” as one of her top books of the year.
  • Ashlyn: Confirmed she had read “The Nightingale.”
  • Ali: Confirmed “Theo of Golden” is available on CELA and posted the link in the chat.
  • Siena: Noted that the Discover tab can be navigated efficiently using the Headings rotor option in VoiceOver.
  • Liz: Asked about reading author names character by character using VoiceOver.
  • Siena: Demonstrated reading “Freida McFadden” character by character using the VoiceOver rotor set to Characters, spelling out the name.
  • Ali: Noted this technique could be the basis of a future tutorial.
• Conclusion
  • The Discover tab provides broad book recommendations and trending titles.
  • VoiceOver’s character-by-character reading is useful for confirming author name spellings within any app.
  • “Theo of Golden” is available on CELA; link was shared in the chat.

Goodreads: Notifications Tab

Siena briefly demonstrated the Notifications section of the app.

• Details
  • Siena: Showed three sub-sections: Notifications (activity feed), Messages (direct messages to friends), and Requests (friend requests).
  • Siena: Noted sample notifications including reading challenge reminders, Choice Awards announcements, and friend activity alerts.
• Conclusion
  • The Notifications tab consolidates activity alerts, messages, and friend requests in one place.

Goodreads: Account Creation and Sign-In

Siena demonstrated how to create a new Goodreads account and sign in, including logging out to show the process from the beginning.

• Details
  • Siena: Showed sign-up options: Sign Up with Email, Continue with Amazon, and Continue with Apple.
  • Siena: Explained she originally signed up via Amazon due to her existing Audible account.
  • Siena: Demonstrated the email sign-up form, including name, email, and password fields (minimum 6 characters), and the Show Password toggle.
  • Siena: Noted that signing in with Amazon is automatic if already signed into Amazon or Audible on the device.
  • Liz: Confirmed she does not have an Amazon account and will create a new Goodreads account via email.
  • Ali: Noted that having an Amazon account may automatically create a Goodreads profile.
• Conclusion
  • New users can sign up via email, Amazon, or Apple ID.
  • Liz will create her account via the email invite link sent by Siena.

Goodreads: Adding Friends

Siena demonstrated how to invite and add friends on Goodreads.

• Details
  • Siena: Navigated to More > Friends > Add Friends and showed options to search by name/email, invite via contacts, or invite via email/message.
  • Siena: Sent a friend invite to Liz directly from within the app using her contact information.
  • Ali: Noted that Ashlyn and he are already in Siena’s friends list.
  • Liz: Confirmed receipt of the invite and expressed appreciation.
• Conclusion
  • Liz received a Goodreads friend invite from Siena during the session.
  • Once Liz creates her account, she can accept the friend request.

Platform Decision: Continuing with Zoom

Siena announced the team’s decision to continue using Zoom as the platform for all Textravaganza sessions.

• Details
  • Siena: Explained that after team discussions, Zoom was chosen over Google Meet due to participant familiarity and ease of use.
  • Ali: Confirmed Zoom will remain the platform, including for office hours.
  • Ashlyn: Suggested informing Tiana, who had expressed a preference for Zoom.
  • Siena: Confirmed Tiana would be re-added to the mailing list and notified.
  • Ali: Noted Zoom may also become the platform of choice for other events beyond Textravaganza.
• Conclusion
  • Zoom is confirmed as the ongoing platform for all Textravaganza sessions and office hours.
  • Tiana will be re-added to the list and informed of the decision.

Techstravaganza Rebranding Announcement

Siena announced the new naming structure for Techstravaganza sessions.

• Details
  • Siena: Announced that Wednesday workshops will be called “Techstravaganza Afternoons.”
  • Siena: Announced that the second Thursday of each month will be called “Techstravaganza Evenings.”
  • Siena: Announced that the first Friday of each month will be called “Techstravaganza Extra,” covering topics not addressed in previous tutorials.
  • Jackie: Noted the naming structure makes logical sense.
  • Ashlyn: Expressed amusement and approval of the rebranded names.
• Conclusion
  • The three-tier Techstravaganza branding structure is now in effect: Afternoons (Wednesdays), Evenings (second Thursday), and Extra (first Friday).

Upcoming Event: Techstravaganza Evenings – Zedge App

Siena announced the next Techstravaganza Evenings session scheduled for Thursday, July 9, 2026.

• Details
  • Siena: Announced the session will run from 7–9 PM and will cover the Zedge app (zedge.net), which allows users to download ringtones.
  • Siena: Noted that iOS 26 now allows ringtones to be added directly from the share sheet, provided they are under 29 seconds.
  • Siena: Clarified that the Zedge iPhone app only supports wallpaper downloads, so the tutorial will focus on the website and demonstrate how to save files as ringtones and text tones.
• Conclusion
  • Textravaganza Evenings on July 9 will cover the Zedge website and iOS 26 ringtone functionality.

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