So, who's against the superheroes anyway?

[srca1941]

I go to the main page and what do I see as the thumbnail for Ace? Baffling Mysteries! Nedor!? Giggle Comics!! MLJ?!? Susie!!! Fawcett!?!? Joe Yank!!!!

When I think of these (and some of the other) companies, I think of their superhero books, or something like Jungle, Jumbo, or Wings Comics for Fiction House (not Ghost). The thumbnails are what I use to find these companies quickly since the type for the company names is so small and plain. I think it's great to spotlight some of these lesser known titles, but at the same time, it makes it a little difficult to do a quick visual search. That being said, I have two suggestions for the home page:

1) Make the company names larger and bold to stand out.
2) Have a thumbnail that better identifies the company. So for Fawcett, it would be Captain Marvel Adventures, Whiz Comics, or something like that. Nedor: Black Terror, America's Best, etc.

With the second suggestion, I know that would prevent some of the lesser known titles from getting exposure, so my suggestion is create a default thumbnail image with a title readily identifiable with a company, and then create a disjointed rollover. So if you were looking at Fox, the default might be an issue of Blue Beetle, but if you rolled over the link to Murder Incorporated, then a thumbnail of Murder Incorporated would take Blue Beetle’s place.

-Eric

[JVJ (RIP)]

I think  there are a lot higher priorities on the site than saving folks the trouble of actually having to read.

My 2˘

(|:{>

[srca1941]

I agree, and I hope my post doesn't come across as nitpicky, but I'm thinking about the site's usability. I've been reading a number of posts here today, and I seem to recall someone mentioning wanting to work on the home page's appearance at some point. These are just my suggestions for when that time comes.

-Eric

[Yoc]

Hi Eric,
The site's appearance is done using PHP through the RW Download software.  We can set the thumbnail image to what we want but the option of a rollover isn't offered.

Bumping the type larger is an option I'd like to see but haven't gotten to yet.
For now you can hold Crtl and hitting "+" or "-" will enlarge or shrink the type on your screen.

The choices in thumbnails is a fluid thing that can be changed when we feel the urge.
While I wasn't the one doing the picks I don't think there was an anti-superhero bias.  Just looking for something eye catching and different than the old site.

-Yoc

[JVJ (RIP)]

I kinda LIKE the notion that it's not all superheroes. The Golden Age was about a lot of things OTHER than superheroes, so it's nice that the concept is getting acknowledged here. Besides, we all might get exposed to something other than what we already know. No harm in that, is there?

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[bchat]

I think it's nice to see a variety of titles featured as thumbnails for each of the different companies.  "Suzie" for MLJ got me curious enough about that title to download an issue to see what it was like.  I look at the cover of "Fairy Tales" for Ziff-Davis and I'm interested in checking that out one of these days, as well.

Is it possible to have two images for each publisher (left & right sides), one featuring what the company is best known for and another highlighting an often over-looked title?

[srca1941]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the genre books at all ("So, who's against the superheroes anyway?" was just to give this thread an eye-catching title), and I'm all for promoting the obscure (just look at some of the things I've featured on my Golden Years site). What I'm advocating is just some way to quickly tell what company I'm looking at if I am quickly scrolling through the page. Perhaps another way to accomplish this would to be remove the text headers of the companies and replace them with graphics. Nothing too large, just something that could eye-catchingly tell you that you are looking at Columbia or Harvey, be distinct from the other categories, and then the cover thumbnail wouldn't really be an issue.

If it wasn't so late I'd create a mock-up to show you what I mean.

-Eric

[JVJ (RIP)]

I get your point and I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, Eric, but aren't the companies posted pretty much alphabetically? And, quite honestly, while I understand your suggestion, how hard is it (really) to find a publisher?

One man's Fiction House = Wings is likely to be someone else's Fiction House = Rangers or Planet or Jet Aces or Jumbo or, well, you get the idea.

What would be GREAT, if it could be automated, would be a rotating thumbnail through all the titles for which we have scans. Like the publisher links I'd like to see, I think we're talking snowballs and Hades, again.

(|:{>

[Yoc]

I believe JVJ hit the nail on the head for choosing more obscure titles for some publishers.  The idea of perhaps generating some interest in the second and third string books might get them noticed and perhaps even scans of them made.

Captain DJ is the tech master behind all our new improvements.
He's got some big ideas on the back burner already.  I'd hate to bog him down on what is a cosmetic issue with the covers.
Adding a thumbnail that changes depending on which title your mouse hovers over sounds like fun but that's still a LOT of thumbnails to collect never mind the extra code that Capt would have to create.  If it happens and we say we need covers collected I hope one of you members will step up and provide a folder of them on the FTP for us to use.

I'm not saying something wont ever happen but let's not get bogged down on the issue either.

It's CaptDJ's call in the end.  He's managed to fix and add some features in record time already, maybe a rollover isn't as big a job as I would think.  But it's his call.

-Yoc

[aussie500]

Rotating thumbnails would be nice, it would also prevent people getting used to seeing the same thumbnail all the time.   

Unfortunately such modifications require someone to make them, and someone to have the time to collect the covers and do the thumbnails. Neither is likely to be high on the list of things to do just yet, but could be done later.

[fett]

I scan my Charlton covers as soon as I add them to my collection, so I already have a ton of covers available, just let me know what size you need them to be and where to upload them, if you get it running of course. Sounds like a nice polish to the site. 

[srca1941]

Here's something like what I was thinking of for a company graphic. Just something that would provide a consistant and unique visual for a company, and then the cover thumbnail could be whatever you like.

http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/Better.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/Charlton.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/Columbia.png

http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/Fawcett.png

-Eric

[JVJ (RIP)]

Very cool, Eric,
I like 'em. Hope we're not talking snowballs/hell again.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[Captain DJ]

Thats cool idea Eric.

Only problem being would need lot of them done first before could update front page with them.

[JVJ (RIP)]

Thats cool idea Eric.

Only problem being would need lot of them done first before could update front page with them.

Hoping not to appear naive here, Captain DJ, but do they all have to be replaced at once? Why not just roll them out as they get created? I think the appearance of some would instigate the creation of others.

my 2˘

(|:{>