Two updates to the site to report today due to my upgrade to a (finally) working 3-column ComicPress theme…
1) TAG CLOUD
Just below the Comic Title/Blog section is a new Flash-based Tag Cloud. You simply hold the mouse cursor above, below or to the sides of the box to rotate to the tag (or, “category”) you want to read. For example, click on “The Crow’s Nest (COMIC)” and you’ll be taken to the archives of The Crow’s Nest.
The reason for this isn’t just to be fancy. I generally don’t believe in being fancy at the sacrifice of function. The practical reason is simply that the default Tag Cloud in the old sidebar setup would trail off the edges of the background which, to me, looked sloppy. Then in this new setup, it would knock the right sidebar to the bottom; negating the purpose of even having a second sidebar. I couldn’t find a way to constrain the text version (if anyone knows of a way, let me know!), but ran across Tag Cumulus in my search for a solution.
The downside is I have to be really careful what tags I use, otherwise the rotating cloud gets cluttered. Fortunately, WordPress 2.5 is supposed to have tag management, so if use too many different tags, I should be able to easily condense them.
2) RSS Changes
For anyone subscribed to theblogComics.com RSS feed, you may have noticed that the comic itself no longer shows up in your reader and are met by this picture:
There is a threefold reason for this:
I - Technical: The new 3-column theme I’m using has the RSS comic blocking built-in. I’m not sure how to turn it off, but I was considering doing it anyway so I’m not going to worry about it for now.
II - Financial: I run this site and make these comics for free (less than free if you consider hosting costs). I will never forcibly charge you, the reader, for reading the comics themselves on this site (note: outside this site would be another matter). I hope to offer books and other interesting, viable merchandise in the future when I’m more established. In the meantime, to offset the costs I will need to implement some advertising options on this site. Many web advertising companies base how much your site it “worth” on your site visitor hit count. And if everyone is reading my comics via a reader, they are not visiting the site, which means a lower hit count.
Personally, I don’t like it, even I prefer reading webcomics directly in an RSS reader, but it’s the system that exists.
III - Artistic: I think the philosophy of “infinite canvas” is flawed. There, I said it, Scott McCloud… “Infinite Canvas” = “Infinite Scrolling” = “Infinitely Obnoxious”. Yes, you can make comics as big as you want on the web. The question is, should you? The answer is, no. If your story requires more panels than can comfortably fit on the screen at once (there’ll always be some overlap due to browser size, toolbars, etc.) then that’s what a NEXT button is for.
I don’t agree with their heavy handed contracts, but that’s one thing DC Comics’ Zuda Comics got right…
No matter how big someone’s monitor is, they still have a 4:3 or 16:9 box constraining their view. You go beyond those boundaries by too much, and your comic is not as enjoyable as it could be. Granted, comic nerds like me will read it if it’s good no matter the dimensions. But if a casual reader has to work too hard just to read it, they’ll probably tune out after the first strip.
That being said, there’s also no excuse for having tiny comics when you don’t have the dimensions of a newspaper page limiting you. I used to post my comics at 700dpi wide in order to cater to the the lowest common denominator of 800×600 monitors. I have upped my newest cartoons to 900dpi wide to make their new viewable standard minimum 1024×768 monitors; viewable on the site that is. Many RSS readers have sidebars and junk in the way, making the comic hard to read without scrolling sideways.
That, and you can’t see my spiffy new sky fade background in the reader! So, technical and financial reasons aside, the site itself is simply the best place to view the comics. And like a so-called “Fullscreen” (a.k.a. “Chop ‘ n Crop”) DVD, not giving you the best viewing option is more a disservice than anything.
