[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":160},["ShallowReactive",2],{"brief-\u002Fen\u002Fprojects\u002Fxyz-textbooks":3,"brief-order-en":148},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":107,"cover":108,"coverAlt":109,"description":110,"draft":111,"extension":112,"externalUrl":113,"featured":111,"highlights":114,"links":127,"meta":131,"navigation":132,"order":133,"org":134,"path":135,"period":136,"role":137,"seo":138,"stack":139,"stem":146,"__hash__":147},"projects\u002Fen\u002Fprojects\u002Fxyz-textbooks.md","XYZ online textbook platform",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":100},"minimark",[9,14,23,31,38,41,47,53,63,67],[10,11,13],"h2",{"id":12},"what","What",[15,16,17,18,22],"p",{},"Anyone who has been stuck on a math problem at midnight knows the answer key doesn't help. Seeing the answer isn't the same as seeing ",[19,20,21],"em",{},"how",". What you actually want is someone sitting next to you, working the problem through, at your pace, as many times as it takes.",[15,24,25,26,30],{},"That is what XYZ Textbooks built. It's an interactive textbook where ",[27,28,29],"strong",{},"every math problem comes with three or four video tutorials of a real instructor teaching you how to solve it",". You pick the instructor whose explanation clicks for you, and you watch as much as you need: one step, the whole solution, or the same problem again from a different teacher.",[15,32,33,34,37],{},"It sounds simple for a student. It isn't simple to run. Hundreds of problems per book, times three or four videos each, across a catalog of more than 25 titles, adds up to ",[27,35,36],{},"terabytes of video"," that have to be stored, maintained and streamed on demand, the moment a student taps a problem.",[10,39,40],{"id":21},"How",[15,42,43,46],{},[27,44,45],{},"Architecting for the video, together."," I worked alongside our lead engineer to architect the system that makes this possible: how tens of thousands of videos are organized, tied to the exact problem they teach, kept current as titles are revised, and delivered fast enough that a student never waits to get unstuck.",[15,48,49,52],{},[27,50,51],{},"Leading the UI."," When it came to building the experience students actually touch, that was mine to lead. The reader had to feel like a book, not a video portal: real chapters and page navigation, math that renders cleanly and stays legible at any zoom, and video sitting right at the problem where it helps rather than hidden in a separate \"resources\" tab. The hard part was choice without clutter. Three or four instructors per problem, across hundreds of problems, is a lot of video to put one tap away without burying the math itself.",[15,54,55,58,59,62],{},[27,56,57],{},"Designing the payment portal."," On top of the reader, I designed the entire payment portal: the purchase flow, the cart, and the account that connects a purchase to a student's bookshelf. Owning checkout meant XYZ set its own prices instead of accepting a courseware vendor's terms, and that still shows today: the Applied Calculus eBook sells for ",[27,60,61],{},"$45",", in a market where a textbook plus a mandatory access code routinely clears $200.",[10,64,66],{"id":65},"outcomes","Outcomes",[68,69,70,82,88,94],"ul",{},[71,72,73,76,77,81],"li",{},[27,74,75],{},"13 years later, it's the same."," The UI I led is still the one students use on ",[78,79,80],"code",{},"xyztextbooks.com"," today. For a web application built in 2013, that's the outcome that matters: it outlasted every framework trend that came after it.",[71,83,84,87],{},[27,85,86],{},"A teacher for every problem."," Students get a choice of real instructors on every problem in the book, not a single answer key, and they can watch as much as they need.",[71,89,90,93],{},[27,91,92],{},"Built to carry the weight."," A catalog of 25+ titles, with terabytes of video behind it, still served on demand from the architecture we designed.",[71,95,96,99],{},[27,97,98],{},"One product, end to end."," The reader, the video tutorials and the payment portal ship as one experience, with one account and one login.",{"title":101,"searchDepth":102,"depth":102,"links":103},"",2,[104,105,106],{"id":12,"depth":102,"text":13},{"id":21,"depth":102,"text":40},{"id":65,"depth":102,"text":66},"application","\u002Fimages\u002Fprojects\u002Fapplication-xyztextbooks.png","The XYZ Textbooks online reader showing a calculus chapter","An interactive math textbook where every problem comes with a real instructor teaching you how to solve it — terabytes of video, served on demand, through a UI that has lasted 13 years.",false,"md",null,[115,118,121,124],{"value":116,"label":117},"3–4","video tutorials for every problem in the book",{"value":119,"label":120},"25+","titles in the catalog",{"value":122,"label":123},"Terabytes","of instructional video, served on demand",{"value":125,"label":126},"13 years","and the UI is still the one we shipped",[128],{"label":129,"url":130},"Applied Calculus on the platform","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.xyztextbooks.com\u002Febook\u002Ftitle\u002Fapplied_calculus",{},true,3,"XYZ Textbooks","\u002Fen\u002Fprojects\u002Fxyz-textbooks","2013 — 2015","Frontend engineering lead",{"title":5,"description":110},[140,141,142,143,144,145],"JavaScript","PHP","MySQL","Sass","MathJax","Payment gateway","en\u002Fprojects\u002Fxyz-textbooks","RaDTR47M7qhzjdk8uoS2vMZLjQ3mB57gSK9HjObXpvM",[149,152,155,156],{"path":150,"title":151,"externalUrl":113},"\u002Fen\u002Fprojects\u002Fci-translation-components","CI Translation Components",{"path":153,"title":154,"externalUrl":113},"\u002Fen\u002Fprojects\u002Fjapanese-documentation","Japanese product documentation",{"path":135,"title":5,"externalUrl":113},{"path":157,"title":158,"externalUrl":159},"\u002Fen\u002Fprojects\u002Fceo-shadow-takeaways","CEO Shadow takeaways","https:\u002F\u002Fabout.gitlab.com\u002Fblog\u002Fceo-shadow-takeaways-from-barker\u002F",1791503630109]