Index/template and the newest comic

Akewataru · Post by **Akewataru** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 6:47 pm

Okay- I'm still debating on whether or not to place the newest comic on the index page or whether to just have the menu there and let them sift through the archive for the newest comics.

For example this site: http://mercuryhat.keenspace.com/ which has the 'today's comic' on the index.

As opposed to this site: http://anchuinsesidhe.keenspace.com/ which does not have the 'today's comic' on the index.

If I took the 'today's comic' off the index, I'd be able to embed the updatge journal and tag-board and not have to worry about long loading times. But I'm still worried that the newest update wouldn't show up.

Question 1: If I do take off the 'today's comic' from the index, How would the latest comic show up, considering when you click on the 'newest comic' button, it leads you to the index (which would not have the 'today's comic')?

Gads- that's really hard to word. @_@ I'd appreciate help very much.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 7:09 pm

Well, if the newest update doesn't show up, just make sure you're one comic ahead all the time!

However, I don't know if you know this, but even the most recent comic will appear on the daily template. Take today's It's Walky...

http://www.itswalky.com/
http://www.itswalky.com/d/20040421.html

Same comic. Different templates.

There is also some Javascript at the Gear that will help. Here.

However...

From a design perspective, there are definite advantages to having your comic on your index page. It's immediatly clear what your website is and what it contains, and the product is right there in all it's glory to spark the curiosity of the casual passer by. Newspapers certainly know the value of a large colourful example of their content, usually putting a massive picture on the front page with huge bold text above it.

(If you do have a title-page, you should definitly consider having some large, impressive artwork there.)

It's also slightly more irritating - particularly on dial-up - to have to find and click an additional link to get to the comic. For a daily comic, it can get quite annoying to have to do it all the time. A title page is more suited to comics which are updated in issues (in which case you don't really have a latest page but rather you want the readers to go to the first page of the latest issue).

If you have a reason for wanting a title page, the by all means consider it. If you don't have a real reason and just want to do something differently, well, I'd recommend against it. It's an added irritation for the reader and removes the best advertising you have. You'd be interfering with the purpose of the webpage - which is to present your comic - for style points.

- Joel Fagin

Post by **Mercury Hat** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 7:10 pm

I assume that if you take the ***todays_comics*** tag off the indextemplate, then, let's say you uploaded a comic for Thursday. You wouldn't see it until the comic for Friday had been uploaded and processed through autokeen. The HTML page would be generated and everything I suppose.

I'm not sure about the embedded journal, but sometimes the tagboard takes a bit to load. Would you be using iframes? If you do, keep in mind that the load time depends on the journal's page, not the keen page. Same with the tagboard.

Akewataru · Post by **Akewataru** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 7:32 pm

Thanks guys! You were a HUGE help! ^_^