The new Hello Web Books website has launched!

March 26, 2019 Announcements · Development

Over the last few months, I've been slowly increasing the capabilities of this website with the ultimate goal of replacing several external services I was depending on. I'm excited to say that work has finally finished!

HelloWebBooks.com now has a full educational site back-end. You can order my book packages, which will prompt signing up for an account, and on this account you can access your downloadable files, and (new) the full book content online, split up by chapter. This will include embedded videos, if your package includes them.

The new book/course dashboard.

Previously, if you bought a video package for Hello Web Design, you would be prompted to create an account on Gumroad to access your files, which included a janky hack — a text file with the URL of a 100% coupon for Podia, where you would sign up for an account again, to access the video files hosted there. I liked the Podia experience, but Podia had no way of embedding a signup button or form on an external site, so this was my workaround. Blech.

Embedded videos with the content.
Books can be read online (and updated easily!)

Since I was in a mood to replace services, I also replaced Gumroad with a custom Stripe/Stripe Checkout experience. If you don't mind me geeking out over details, this was a huge hullabaloo I didn't (but should have) expected. I started out thinking, "Oh, I'll just embed the Stripe Checkout form and I'll be done!" But of course, there were so many other details to consider. What about coupons? What about gifting? What about applying coupons automatically if someone is logged in? Gah! This was harder to figure out, with so many edge cases, but in the end it was a fun experience.

Stripe checkout for payments.

What's next?

  • Tracking down bugs! I'm sure there are more.
  • Everyone who owns a book/course already and is still on my newsletter list will be automatically imported into the system today. If you are a previous customer and unsubscribed (which is totally fine) or bought on Kindle, please forward me your receipt and I'll be happy to give you access. (I have purchases from almost all of my sale sites saved on customer data in the newsletter, which is why I am doing it this way.)
  • I will be updating the book landing pages / this website in general to promote this new feature.

I'm also looking into using print-on-demand for books moving forward (at least after an initial Kickstarter run.) Once this is completed, I will be considering a price-hike across all packages to reflect the additional functionality I added with this site. So if you're considering buying, do it now before the hike increase!

All packages include access to the educational site.

Thanks friends, excited that this is officially out!