Whoa! Site upgrade!

[techmaster-glitch]

Snazzy new layout, Jigs. Congrats

[Paladin Sheppard]

Indeed tis Awesome Jigsaw!

[Stupid N00bie]

Yes, I do enjoy the layout. (Here comes the dreaded but)

But I'm not so sure about the comments on every page thing.  Considering almost all of the posts in the forum are comments about that weeks page, doesn't that have the potential to kill the forum off?

Also, where is the OhNoRobot search?  That would be a nice little addition.

[Jigsaw Forte]

Yes, I do enjoy the layout. (Here comes the dreaded but)

But I'm not so sure about the comments on every page thing.  Considering almost all of the posts in the forum are comments about that weeks page, doesn't that have the potential to kill the forum off?

Also, where is the OhNoRobot search?  That would be a nice little addition.

I need to look back at OhNoRobot and see where that would fit -- probably another little sidebar piece. It should be doable, I just sorta forgot about it since it wasn't clear that anyone was actually using it. >_>

As for the comments on all the pages... so far only one person's been going through and leaving any comments (hint hint), so I don't see the forums in any danger. And besides, it's more of a "catch the lazy ones" system for having comments on the pages -- presumably they're for folks who wouldn't feel like making the effort to go to the forums and register an account and all this other stuff. Nothing wrong with making it easier for people to have an opinion, right?

Also, newer readers might want to leave comments about older pages, but the forums tend to fixate on the newer pages, so this provides them a place to comment as well without having to be completely up to speed.

[Pagan]

It's an interesting layout, certainly, and I like the chibi-links.
However, I'm not overly excited having so much stuff on each and every page. I kinda like the way DMFA and CVRPG handle their archives: just the comic, site links, and possibly a commentary from the author. But then there are webcomics like Alien Dice that have adds galore and tons of comments for each individual comic page, which makes each page slow to load up. That's kinda the reason I never finished Alien Dice's archive...

So while there's a lot of nice and pretty stuff, I'm just worried that it's too much nice stuff. But that's just my opinion, and who am I to judge.

[Jigsaw Forte]

It's an interesting layout, certainly, and I like the chibi-links.
However, I'm not overly excited having so much stuff on each and every page. I kinda like the way DMFA and CVRPG handle their archives: just the comic, site links, and possibly a commentary from the author. But then there are webcomics like Alien Dice that have adds galore and tons of comments for each individual comic page, which makes each page slow to load up. That's kinda the reason I never finished Alien Dice's archive...

So while there's a lot of nice and pretty stuff, I'm just worried that it's too much nice stuff. But that's just my opinion, and who am I to judge.

I confess: it's a drawback to accepting Wordpress / ComicPress as a backend. I can remove things like the ability to post comments, but by and large a post is a post, whether it's a comic or a blog post, and so the appearance of the main page will be about the same as the appearance of the archive pages.

However, there are several advantages to Wordpress such as being able to, oh, automate comic updates -- which is a function that is worth its weight in gold given the lengths I've gone on some weekends to make sure the comic is posted on time. (In fact, it's probably one of the main reasons I wanted to switch to Wordpress.)

Also, worth noting: Not everyone visits a page through the front end. If someone comes through a link that takes them to a comic in the archives, ideally I want to make sure that if they want to go see more of the comic, they know where they are and can see which way is pointing in the direction they want to take next. Having all of the stuff on all the pages increases the odds they'll find what they want. Admittedly, since my CS focus is in Usability, I'm willing to err on the side of "it works and people know how it works" when it comes to designing a website, and at least some of that came into play here.

[Darkmoon]

I was going to stay out of this thread. Despite comments that I felt were a little rude on your website towards the one llearch and I made for you a while back (one that was free), I felt that your site is your site and it's yours to do with as you please. However, I want to comment on somethings you said here...

I confess: it's a drawback to accepting Wordpress / ComicPress as a backend. I can remove things like the ability to post comments, but by and large a post is a post, whether it's a comic or a blog post, and so the appearance of the main page will be about the same as the appearance of the archive pages.

This is the drawback of any pregen website (not to hump it, but not a drawback of the site llearch and I made -- anytime a new section was needed, it could have easily been added in). From a sitemaster perpsective, more options is always better than less.

However, there are several advantages to Wordpress such as being able to, oh, automate comic updates -- which is a function that is worth its weight in gold given the lengths I've gone on some weekends to make sure the comic is posted on time. (In fact, it's probably one of the main reasons I wanted to switch to Wordpress.)

Had you asked, llearch could have helped set something like this up for you. CVRPG does auto updates whenever I go on vacation.

Also, worth noting: Not everyone visits a page through the front end. If someone comes through a link that takes them to a comic in the archives, ideally I want to make sure that if they want to go see more of the comic, they know where they are and can see which way is pointing in the direction they want to take next. Having all of the stuff on all the pages increases the odds they'll find what they want. Admittedly, since my CS focus is in Usability, I'm willing to err on the side of "it works and people know how it works" when it comes to designing a website, and at least some of that came into play here.

Ah, but having too much stuff on a page goes directly against the rules of good design (and since a key tenant of a good site design is usability, I'd say it's wrong on both counts). For one, you risk confusing people with too many options, and as any designer will tell you, people are easy to confuse. You want a strong, focused design that leads people, with their eyes, from one element to the next, simply and concisely.

In erring on the side of "more is more", you've made the site tragic to look at, with too many options on screen at any one time. That's bad design.

Oh, and your site doesn't fit anything smaller than 1152 x 864. That's bad usability, as web-standard is still 800 x 600. What are all those people buying netbooks going to do? Horizontal scroll is the single biggest no-no in webdesign.

[Jigsaw Forte]

I didn't mean to insult either you or Llearch in regards to issues with the design -- my apologies if they were taken that way when I was analyzing the site for improvements. I in fact had asked llearch several times for help with automatic updates for the better part of the year, as well as contacting him for help with the site when I needed it/ wanted to do various other things with the site.

One of the reasons I wanted to switch to Wordpress is that I felt increasingly uncomfortable being unable to alter the site's design easily/ by myself, since very few of the graphics involved were mine (and so emulating them to prevent the new ones from sticking out would be difficult), which made even simple tasks like changing out a color very cumbersome. At the very least, I can always "fix" the design in Wordpress later as I optimize the site. It's not a slight to either of you or your skills, but more a nagging concern of my own.

As for the 800x600 standard: Based on the statistics reported by Google Analytics, the smallest screen used by a significant number of my visitors was 1024x768, and the body of the site (which, admittedly, is not including the background) still fits within those borders. The next smallest (800x600) is used by less than 1% of the visitors that came to the site within the past month; yes, those with much smaller screens do visit the site, but over 95% of those who come to the site use screens at 1024x768 or larger (the remaining 5% all use either very large or very small screens -- I'd say 1% 800x600, with 3.5% using larger screens than that (sometimes very large) and 0.5% with much smaller ones).

Of course, the same statistics also tell me that 63% of my readers use Firefox, so I realize my numbers are hardly representative of the internet at large.  In the absence of better statistics, however, 1024x768 is not a bad minimum to shoot for.

While I certainly admit that the site is no longer as accessible as it was via mobile phone before... this was a concern with the original design as well. This said, I would very much like to figure out a small-screen solution (perhaps one explicitly designed for mobile sites) and I gladly invite your assistance with that, even if I do think I'm part of a tiny minority that appreciates being able to read a webcomic on my phone.

[Darkmoon]

Had you but asked, I could have provided you with the PSD file I used to create all the graphics for the site. It's standard procedure to do so for clients, when asked. Admittedly, llearch never mentioned talking to you about any issues you were having, but I also never heard directly from you on anything.

I accept your apology, however.

[GabrielsThoughts]

the  page background kind of looks like film, like movie projector film or photo negative film from earth...I would assume the aliens use some form of digital... then again my aliens use magnetic tape computers.


edit: The color also draws attention away from the comic, I have a hard time focusing on the page because of the shiny things all around it... the buttons and not the comic are the focus of the page. However, not being a web designer I couldn't tell you how to fix it. 

[GabrielsThoughts]

But I'm not so sure about the comments on every page thing.  Considering almost all of the posts in the forum are comments about that weeks page, doesn't that have the potential to kill the forum off?

I have the "comment on page" feature on my webcomic, and no one uses it... during the  total run of my comic online I've had five or six total, I don't see that affecting The Last Dance. 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Had you but asked, I could have provided you with the PSD file I used to create all the graphics for the site. It's standard procedure to do so for clients, when asked. Admittedly, llearch never mentioned talking to you about any issues you were having, but I also never heard directly from you on anything.

You never asked. ;-]

Also, I was only involved in bits like automating updates (something that's still very much not written yet - I know what I'd like to do, and how, I just haven't had the time to sit down and code it) and three or four minor html tweaks.

Er. Minor as far as _I_ look at things. Not everyone would agree with me on that. ;-]

[Darkmoon]

True. But, as I said, I never heard from anyone on it. Honestly, until now the site fell off my radar. Other projects to work on.