Whereas in the last thing I wrote about I was looking at just some of the many (and there's tons out there)Â unique ideas that webcomics do, such as theme tunes, animated ideas and the like, however one thing that bugs me (and a few other people - just in case you start having a go at me) is the same.
I visit a webcomic for two reasons. (1) I love the art and (2) because its usually different. Often I usually don't notice if they're different, however when you visit two sites one after another (usually by links) and then a third and realise they're the same, it kinda annoys the pants off you.
One such example of this similiarity is WordPress. Now I think it's amazing that people are giving out software for free for people who have no HTML skill to actually set up their webcomic. WordPress is one of many things that are out there, but WordPress is a horror I've found at bringing the same sorta layout throughout.
Okay, people can't be that good at HTML, but I'm sure they can change a colour, alter a thing here and that, make a different, make a uniqueness.
Look at CannedHam and Two Steps Back, two great webcomics in their own right, however similar because of the way they look. Okay the background may be different and they may have a unique top, but the way the blog at the bottom of the webcomic looks just doesn't have that uniqueness that maybe webcomic artists need to look at and change. Even if it's altering it for one centimeter (or pixel in this world), might make all the difference.
Wally and Osborne (originally On The Rocks) uses the same WordPress, probably started off with the same template but if you look, it doesn't look like anything else, it looks unique. He's changed the design to suit him, maybe altering certain numbers, certain text and made it into something else.
So please use WordPress, webcomic artists who have no HTML but fantastic artwork (or an idea) use a program that helps you, but if you are, be unique, be different and be special!
Comments
it takes more than 'okay
it takes more than 'okay html' to create a good webcomic system. having an automated archive updater, rss feed, blog entries to correspond with the posts and complex navigation are all things that have become a veritable necessity in webcomics and require not only proficiency in HTML/CSS but also PHP and MySql. Â Faggot House was hardcoded for ease of updates, but adding all of the other features would require skill I don't have and probably be a waste of time considering its readership and state. I used WordPress for Witch Doctor specifically because I wanted something that would generate an RSS feed and an easy to use and modify archive for me. For the layout, I tried to make something that would be quick loading, cross-browser (though IE screws it up on occasion), show the entire comic on the screen for those who had large monitors, still look allright on smaller monitors and not have a lot of dead space. The design isn't all that different from what I would have come up with hardcoding, and I don't think it looks very much like any other comic out there. I don't find the similarity of the two comics you linked to be confusing or boring, although they are quite bland. Honestly, I prefer them vastly to Ctrl Alt Del's, which I feel commits pretty much every sin of usability, and the multitude of barely-customized, forgettable ComicGenesis and Drunk Duck webcomics that look not only homogenous but homogenously ugly.
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Hey Oolong a lot of
Hey Oolong a lot of webcomics on drunkduck , comicgenesis, smackjeeves have custumized their sites to be great looking just look at Ransom http://ransom.smackjeeves.com/ , and I can name a dozen more that have better looking sites that most of your regular webcomic with their web because as those sites gave them easy templates to wreck we work on them to add a little pesonality to the site
, and besides some people rather expand their art than the medium.
http://pilli.smackjeeves.com/comics/
http://pilli.smackjeeves.com/comics/
Not that WordPress is bad
Virtues of databases
I've been a strong believer of the need for serially updated sites (I.e. webcomics, news sites, blog sites, whatever) to be based on a database design for years now. The webcomic I webmaster (www.onezumi.com) originally started as an HTML site, but we quickly discovered that it's a nightmare to keep all of the links between things clear, and also certain functions like 'search' are obviously right out.
I'm actually working on an easy to setup and maintain webcomic website system using WordPress and a few other addons, So I agree about it's usage as being a good choice. The project is still being coded, and is about 25% done, but you can always go to our main page to see how far along it is (we have a graph on the upper right of the page)
dinosaur comics
I run my site with HTML, and HTML that pretty much dates back to 1997, because that's what I know. If something went wrong I'd want to know I'd done it and I could fix it. Yet something about this discussion of Wordpress (among all the discussions of it I've seen) intrigues me. It's free, you say? Hm.The linked example sites sure suggest that I could keep my present look. Hm.
Paul Gadzikowski, paul@arthurkingoftimeandspace.com
Arthur, King of Time and Space New cartoons daily
Paul Gadzikowski, paul@arthurkingoftimeandspace.com
Arthur, King of Time and Space New cartoons daily
algeya: i understand. if it
algeya: i understand. if it sounded like i was bashing those sites i apologize. i just meant that a lot of other people DON'T customize their sites, and it looks heinous.
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