mlai
What got bigger? The news! Yes, I check out the front page of DD Webcomics Community to read text! Oh no I don't care about trying to find new/hidden comics or looking at attractive banners!

I'd like them at a bigger size too, but the news is a feature that people have consistently demanded return to the front page.
(perhaps a good way to go would be to have the full size image come up formatted inside the text box description that comes up when you hover over the comic icon?)

Using the front page to find new comics has only ever been a niche use that a few people have developed over time.

With news we are able to more easily communicate with the community-
-informing people of problems.
-Making people's news posts more visible.
-making the current feature more visible when we repost it as news.
-Encouraging community participation in community activities like interview projects etc.

Maybe its me, maybe I'm being blind, but I have looked and looked and looked and can't see where I can now upload new strips to my existing comics. I go into My Account and it allows me to change my password, e-mail and avitar, but not to add new strips to my comics. I have clicked on all the buttons and navigation and cannot find out where this is now. Surely the regular updating of strips is paramount and thus should be obvious? Can someone please point me in the right direction. I have followed advise on other threads but none of it works. Ta.

It seems all my text on my Demon Eater site is extremely small in my author notes and comments. Also the comments are spaced far apart.

My The Planet Closest to Heaven site has super small text as well.

How do I fix this or do I wait for something to happen on your side?

Think I havew found a clue. On my profile page it, correctly, states member since 31 December 2008 while on the account page it says member sinc 3 November 2010. Thus on the account page there can be no current comics for me to update. Can you look into this please. Ta.

20. In author comments, apparently ' and " are converted into wonky characters (anyone have an example for me?)

Yes, on page 23 of my comic, it's riddled with this. http://www.drunkduck.com/Unlimited_Evil/?p=743466

stubblemonkey
Think I havew found a clue. On my profile page it, correctly, states member since 31 December 2008 while on the account page it says member sinc 3 November 2010. Thus on the account page there can be no current comics for me to update. Can you look into this please. Ta.

Actually you just haven't looked in the right place. ;) In the user sidebar (on the right), you need to expand the 'My Comics' section. You'll be able to edit your comics from there. In the old style sidebar (which you see in the forums) you can click on the + i buttons to get to the comic control panel (a function which has always been there, probably just not used much). In the new-style sidebar, expand 'my Comics' and there's an 'edit' link. :]

I think we need to push to get the normal control panel area back because a lot of people are getting confused about how to update their comics.

JillyFoo
It seems all my text on my Demon Eater site is extremely small in my author notes and comments. Also the comments are spaced far apart.

My The Planet Closest to Heaven site has super small text as well.

How do I fix this or do I wait for something to happen on your side?

My best guess is that your custom coding is tapping into the default DD css, which may have changed during the update to be a smaller size. Your comments are spaced out in firefox but not IE. You've posted before in the html help forum about problems with your code displaying strangely for people, I think this is probably a case of your code needing fixing up in general because it is non-standard or has errors, sorry. :I

I'd like them at a bigger size too, but the news is a feature that people have consistently demanded return to the front page. Perhaps a good way to go would be to have the full size image come up formatted inside the text box description that comes up when you hover over the comic icon?

Doesn't seem optimal. The point of having big buttons on the front page is so ppl can see it at a glance and be attracted. Not have to work at seeing the blow-up by mousing over it and waiting up to 10 seconds (we know the text box pop-up has always been a little screwy).

I think pictures with details you can actually see is more important for a webcomic site's front-page appeal than text news. Sure that's important, but it doesn't hurt to make a longer vertical page and putting it down more. I never have problems with vertical scrolling. The problem with the old format has always been the closed News tab that takes time to open and takes you to a new page; that's what was inaccessible.

Take a look at other webcomics sites (now-defunct Zuda for example) and see how prominent their "pictures" are.

Using the front page to find new comics has only ever been a niche use that a few people have developed over time.

Oh? Then how the heck do ppl surf DD comics? I know they definitely use Top 10 and Featured. Even those pics are shrunk into buttons.

I think the front page should just sacrifice (remove) Quail's Random in order to make room for the Featured/ Top 10/ Updated pics to become normal-size again, if screen space is the issue. At current button-size, I doubt anyone will take advantage of Quail's Random anyways.

Edit: I question the use of horizontal-rectangular ads which take up 35% of the screen's width, if the format is changed to rows of pics (rather than columns). I understand the need for obnoxious amounts of ads; it bothers many critics of DD, but doesn't bother me. Until it impacts on the art, which is now. Get more skyscraper ads, less rectangle ads.

I understand the argument you're making, but I suspect it is probably too late to have any influence. They posted screengrabs of the new front page design over a month ago, I think suggestions about design would have been more timely then.

Still, it doesn't hurt to say stuff to have it 'on record.'

Yeah man, it's a bit late now. The stuff was all signposted weeks in advance.

mlai
Oh? Then how the heck do ppl surf DD comics? I know they definitely use Top 10 and Featured. Even those pics are shrunk into buttons.

I thought you meant just the quail's random.

Besides, all links on the front page to comics used to be only in text format and the now standard DD front page is so horribly ugly and revolting like a pizza of vomit that I for one would rather not hang around there long enough to take the time to find anything interesting .

...but I do take you point. :)

I prefer the new look though, it's sleeker... Can't wait till it's back and fixed. As long as the comic controls and faves aren't so hidden away. >:[

skoolmunkee

lefarce
Frankly, if you really want to fix DD, just delete the whole damn thing and start over. Ever since the Platinum verison, the code has been so fucked up that I'm convinced the current issues are less Wowio's fault and more Volte's.

Actually Volte's original coding is one of the main issues they have had to work around. Volte taught himself php by doing DD, which means the site has a ton of non-standard stuff going on. Part of what they are doing is fixing up some of this backend, which I suspect is difficult to do when there's so much data and stuff on the site.

Volte has never been a particularly apt programmer and could have greatly benefited from some classes. Almost all the issues with this site since its inception has been the result of shoddy and disorganized programing, with the only plus side being that DD does offer a more user-friendly service than other webcomic hosts. Without that, DD would probably fall apart fairly quickly.

I'll admit I like Wowio's new template, in fact I like Wowio in general. Despite some dumb choices like not updating the forum's template to match the site's, and having some god awful lime green integrated into the template, it still looks and operates much more fluidly than the current version of DD. That is, when it wants to work.

Kinh has posted a newspost with some explanations, basically the old codebase made the relaunch impossible. The plan now is to design the new site from scratch, run it parallel to the old site during the beta phase, and not make the change official until things are running smoothly. Personally I think that is a good decision, it gives everyone time and makes some things a lot easier. More information will be forthcoming about that soon. So- I think that means that old DD will be left alone for a while. :]


I'm going to lock this thread I think because, since the beta stuff we've had the past few days isn't going to come back, most of these reports aren't relevant any more. We have noted down all the significant ones though.