Digital Comic Museum

Help and Support => Feedback and Suggestions => Topic started by: srca1941 on April 04, 2010, 08:57:24 PM

Title: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: srca1941 on April 04, 2010, 08:57:24 PM
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
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: JVJ (RIP) on April 04, 2010, 09:11:57 PM
I think  there are a lot higher priorities on the site than saving folks the trouble of actually having to read.

My 2¢

(|:{>
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: srca1941 on April 04, 2010, 09:19:17 PM
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
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: Yoc on April 04, 2010, 09:25:36 PM
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
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: JVJ (RIP) on April 04, 2010, 09:29:55 PM
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 (|:{>
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: bchat on April 04, 2010, 09:41:17 PM
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?
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: srca1941 on April 04, 2010, 09:54:20 PM
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
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: JVJ (RIP) on April 04, 2010, 10:09:53 PM
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.

(|:{>
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: Yoc on April 04, 2010, 10:39:52 PM
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
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: aussie500 on April 05, 2010, 05:10:53 AM
Rotating thumbnails would be nice, it would also prevent people getting used to seeing the same thumbnail all the time.  >:D 

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.
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: fett on April 05, 2010, 09:38:06 AM
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.  :)
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: srca1941 on April 05, 2010, 12:10:56 PM
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
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: JVJ (RIP) on April 05, 2010, 12:32:50 PM
Very cool, Eric,
I like 'em. Hope we're not talking snowballs/hell again.

Peace, Jim (|:{>
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: Captain DJ on April 05, 2010, 12:40:31 PM
Thats cool idea Eric.

Only problem being would need lot of them done first before could update front page with them.
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: JVJ (RIP) on April 05, 2010, 02:13:53 PM
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¢

(|:{>
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: Captain DJ on April 05, 2010, 02:24:06 PM
I agree JVJ but maybe just few more than 4. Only problem is that the category display is done in the php and built as they pulled from database so some php editing would need to be done first so they display image if there is one or display old style if is no image available.

So if was to do this method would either be implemented by:
1. Having all images made first
2. Edit code to support images and no images.

If option 2 would need to be more than 4 images before I would work on code taking me away from other features/fixes.

If Eric was kinda enough also a template image / photoshop file so people can quickly open up a file and get creating without need to get shapes right etc.

I really think this would be a great addition thou to site and make it more unique.

Keep up the thinking guys to make DCM even more pretty. More suggestions the better.
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: John C on April 05, 2010, 03:33:24 PM
Comment-dumping...

I'm increasingly enjoying the non-superhero material, but I'm in this weird state where I mostly envision the stories AS superhero stories.

Depending on how the images are specified in the database, rollover might be "spoofable," but might also break the page, so let's not try it until the development system is running.

I like the banners, but unless there's a convenient way of telling the server that "if there's one missing, use an empty instead," it's going to be annoying and creaky.  On the other hand, what about a blank image to use as filler until they're replaced?  DJ?

Yoc, if you seriously want the site to render at the browser's default font size, the stylesheet (style.css) specifies the font at sizes 10, 11, and 12px.  If you change them to em-sizes (say, 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0em, though Eric might have a better rule or sense for how to specify them), then it'll make the sizes relative and based entirely on the default size.  Since nothing on the page "needs" to be specified by size, it also won't break anything.
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: srca1941 on April 05, 2010, 05:28:19 PM
I only created four to show a sample. They're really easy for me to make, so I'll get the rest done asap. I have a massive project due at school next Monday, so I'll just crank them out as time allows. I’ll also post one of the Photoshop files and instructions when I’m done that can then be used as a template for any new categories we need in the future.

These are the ones still needed (this list is mostly for my reference):

Ace Comics
Ajax-Farrell
American Comics Group/ACG
Avon Comics
Centaur Publishing
Comic Media
Comics House Publications/Lev Gleason Comics (I’ll probably just name it “Lev Gleason Comics” for space reasons.)
Croydon Publishing Co. (I’ll rename it “Croydon/Enwil/Rural Home” since the latter two are more common names.)
Couples and Leon Co.
Dell Comics
D.S. Publishing
Eastern Color Printing Co.
Fiction House
Fox Feature Syndicate
Government Pamphlets
Harry “A” Chesler Comics
Harvey Comics
Hillman Periodicals
Holyoke Publishing
I.W. Publishing/Super Comics
Key Publications
Magazine Enterprises
MLJ/Archie Comics
Novelty Press
Parents Magazine Institute
Prize Comics Group
Quality Comics
Spark Publications
Star Publications (Isn’t this just an imprint or offshoot of Novelty Press?)
Sterling
St. John’s Publications
Story Comics
Toby/Minoan
Trojan Magazines
Youthful Magazines
Ziff-Davis Publications
Small Publishers
Unsorted Files
Classic Comic Strips
UK Comics
Canadian Comics

-Eric
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: Captain DJ on April 05, 2010, 05:47:31 PM
Thanks Eric
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: srca1941 on April 05, 2010, 08:13:05 PM
Here's the second batch:

(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/Ace.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/ACG.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/Ajax.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/Avon.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/Centaur.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/LevGleason.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/ComicMedia.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/CouplesAndLeon.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/RuralHome.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/Dell.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/DSPublishing.png)(http://home.insightbb.com/~srca1941/EasternColor.png)-Eric
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: Yoc on April 06, 2010, 01:23:44 PM
I appreciate the excellent job Eric.
Personally I like the cute little thumbnail covers and the rollover idea more.
Just my opinion.

-Yoc
Title: Re: So, who's against the superheroes anyway?
Post by: jfglade on April 10, 2010, 08:50:15 AM
I rather like the Publishers images Eric/Steve has created. If this group (or perhaps I should say, since this group...) seeks to create its own separate identity from GAC.uk, little design touches like those Eric proposes would certainly help. Why have just different thumbnails, when you don't have to feature thumbnails at all? From a utilitarian viewpoint, such things don't matter, and new design features are something that will likely be added a bit at a time, but would be worth the effort.

My two cents,
Jon