I imagine that there are other aspiring web-comic artists out there who are concerned about how to host their comic on the web; please skip this if this is a non-issue for you.
I have recently started setting up a site, abalondecalifornia.com, with Weebly as the host; after having a dysfunctional go with Comicpress/Wordpress. Weebly is like an Apple computer, simple and intuitive with limited options for a webcomic. There aren’t many (three that I know of) web comics among the quarter million sites hosted by Weebly, but I seriously considered it after viewing Kevin Terry’s (and Kevin Lintz!) excellent start-up comic: O-Boy.
Weebly lets you set up a five page web site for f-r-e-e, and it’s a comparatively quick and easy experience for a nonprogrammer to set up a functioning site. Sweet! I used the slide-show function to allow viewers to flick from panel to panel in my comic and once I got the hang of the drag-n-drop features, I liked the look.
However I found the small amount of space allotted for the actual comic to be irritating and started looking for how to expand it. The online tutorials could only take me so far, and the choice of “themes” (templates for setting up the look of the page) didn’t give much freedom to play with the main display area. I started sending emails to the Weebly help staff and found them to be fast, personable…and not very knowledgeable about any technique not already in the help-section of their website.
Eventually they were able to tell me that the max display area was a height of 800 pixels. A height in Pixels? What happened to inches? One tech patiently explained to me that pixels were like balloons and Weebly was limiting the balloons I could use per picture. But since the viewer could change the size of those balloons with a Zoom function or by enlarging their display size, inches were irrelevant. Oh. I experimented around and found that 125 dpi (dot per inch) for my final JPEG would give displayed images would still be a decent size. I had gotten used to scanning in my ink work at 300dpi and I was really apprehensive what the final product would look like. So far it looks…ok, but I’m eager to get some viewer feedback.
Less dpi means less sharpness in the image, which would be less of an issue if I made everything bigger, but this means fewer panels per page. This was really difficult for me; I had developed my sense of ‘the right look’ and the’ right story pacing’ from comic books: six to eight frames per page, 24 – 28 pages per chapter. And I had been taught to set the entire page up as a visual unit, so when I wrote out my script I made a tiny conclusion or gag roughly every sixth frame in my story. I had to skim a lot of successful web comics to convince myself that I could still tell an effective story with four frames to a page, and that it would be worthwhile to stick with Weebly rather than buy a programmer and build a site using Comic Press.
One thing I had to sell myself on was that a four-panel per page comic could successfully and cheaply transition from the web to the printed page. One plus that may be even more important in my marketing future is that 2-4 panel per page comic makes a much better transition to a smart phone screen.
I’d love to hear anyone else’s view on this issue.
Replies
Well, Weebly may not provide rss but most sites hosting blogs or webcomics do (so you may want to ask them about it). Some say RSS stands for 'really simple syndication', and it produces a type of feed that gives notices when new content is posted. A link to this feed is usually put on the main page of a site. The link is either a button with the letters RSS or an orange button with a wave signal image on it. Actually, there is a green version of that button at the bottom of this discussion page in the left corner. That little square green button is a link to this discussion's feed. Once you learn how to use it, it can come in handy, (but you have to have a reader). I use Yahoo Reader (which is free), and the procedure is to first click on the rss button. It will take me to the rss feed where I copy the address in the address bar. Then I go to Yahoo Reader and add it to my content. Then when I check my reader, I'll see any new posts made. Simply put, it's a way for folks to subscribe to sites without having to open accounts at each one. With all the comics I watch, it makes keeping up with them so much easier.
Brien Sparling said:
Mechanically I'll have little problem using the cut and paste you mentioned. The greater issue is that the pace of story telling is different, because now I'm bringing the thought or action to completion every four panels instead of every six or seven. And an occasional nine panel page that I used to indulge in just isn't going to happen.
I know nothing about rss links; what does that mean and how does it work?
RG2Cents said:
Now, about the panel per page topic. In my more recent pages, I learned that I could use the same panels and paste them on two different formats. One is a two panel page for the internet, and the other is a six panel page for graphic novels. It's as simple as copying and pasting the same panel. This is pretty easy since I work on each panel individually instead of an entire page. That's what works for me anyway.
Hope that helps! :)
Actually, I found your site on weebly, and it looks great! I noticed that your navigation is much better than I experienced at O-Boy. I did have a little trouble with the 'latest page' link, but the archives links made it easy enough to see past pages. I bookmarked it so I could follow regularly, but I would sure like an rss link so that I could get notices in my reader whenever you post a new page. :D
Yeah, I checked out Weebly and figured it had a lot of potential. Still, Wordpress (Comicpress/Easel) is doing pretty good for me so I don't see myself changing anytime soon. I taught myself web design and have been doing it on my own projects since 2005 so that may be why I'm working well with Comic Easel. I think Weebly does have a lot of potential, but they need to address some of the weaknesses they have with webcomics. When I visited O-Boy comics, the navigation seemed... well... frustrating. I couldn't figure out how to get to previous pages or even the archive. I'm guessing that's because Weebly isn't familiar with webcomic hosting. Still, you can't beat the price of free hosting, (I'm having to pay for my domain at 1&1) and hopefully Weebly can turn into a site that new webcomicers can cut their teeth on.
Now, about the panel per page topic. In my more recent pages, I learned that I could use the same panels and paste them on two different formats. One is a two panel page for the internet, and the other is a six panel page for graphic novels. It's as simple as copying and pasting the same panel. This is pretty easy since I work on each panel individually instead of an entire page. That's what works for me anyway.
Hope that helps! :)