Takozushi Watch Aug 24th!

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

I have been testing out the HTML editors suggested by forum members.

In the process, I have stumbled across a curious one on my own, http://www.wysiwygwebbuilder.com/download.html Wysiwyg Web Builder. It's in the running too. Pros - incredibly easy, everything is a graphic (even text) so making a website is like drawing a picture! Cons- the result using absolute positioning... a website is like a big painting, and does not reformat to fit a smaller screen (such as, say, if someone is browsing with a PSP or a cell phone or whatever).

I have been working on setting up the work process for Takozushi, developing the blanks from which pages will be built, re-learning the 'watercolor ink brush' technique to be used, studying Ukyo-e painting styles, and researching actual art from that era. Working out basic look and feel of art and website.

Side note: To Save Her book is now ready to be sent to Lulu for first test run, possibility of separate, less expensive coloring book being made available being researched. Wrote article to explain Tryslmaistan cosmos to new readers.

[Coda]

The good news is that mobile browsers know how to deal with that, generally, either by offering zoom functions or by reorganizing the content to be more accessible at the cost of visual appeal.

You know, if you'd like, I've been known to take mockups of websites and make them real -- I'd be happy to help out, if you'd be interested in that.

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

Http://Takozushi.com is now live, and being developed.

There is news there, which I will update as I go, showing my progress toward the start of The Legend Of Ika Takozushi.

I went with the WYSIWYG editor mentioned above; it is hella powerful and easy. Just incredible. You'll -eventually- see in the results!

Yay!

[Relee]

Are you going to put a link to these forums on the Takozuchi site like you had on the PDH site?

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

Are you going to put a link to these forums on the Takozuchi site like you had on the PDH site?

Oh, Absolutely!

[Anna]

Ooops!
The Comic "Reihenfolge" is changed!
It's getting serious!

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

http://takozushi.com/

You can watch and follow my progress in constructing the website, if you want!

(^0^)=

[Mitsukara]

Way cool! The work-in-progress notes are interesting, informative yet much less glossy than the news post format for PDH/TSH (although I'm guessing it's just a temporary medium for site building notes). Succinct.

I like the back of the bike setup, it's a neat artistic touch.

If the TSH coloring book isn't a possibility, will those pages be incorporated in the main book?

[Relee]

There we go. With the forum link in place, I've put the PDH link into my old comics folder, and the Ika link at the bottom of the list. All good now. ^.^

[Anna]

Hi
Maybe you could do with the pic a bit, you see, I've got DSL, it's wonderfull, but sometimes, the german DSL isn't fast enough, especially at the evening. (And at my corner there is a "Flaschenhals"/"bottleneck" which doesn't allow me to get internet TV. no VDSL)
So, I've got at first a white page with text, then after seconds the picture will be there, very suddenly.
Maybe you could use some kind of steps, you see, some jpg's, (and I think png's also), has the possibility to run 3 or 5 times through until the full picture arrives.
Just for the readers which are very slow in the world wide web.

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

If the TSH coloring book isn't a possibility, will those pages be incorporated in the main book?

They are to be considered an epilogue, and will absolutely be part of the TSH book; the separate coloring book concept is being looked at for the simple joy of it existing... to color in. I wouldn't want to mess up the TSH book proper, but if there were a cheap, separate coloring book to play with as well....

It may not happen. But the book, proper, will have the coloring book as part of it.

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

Hi
Maybe you could do with the pic a bit, you see, I've got DSL, it's wonderfull, but sometimes, the german DSL isn't fast enough, especially at the evening. .... some jpg's, (and I think png's also), has the possibility to run 3 or 5 times through until the full picture arrives.
Just for the readers which are very slow in the world wide web.

I am using JPG for the background for that very reason; and only using .png for details or small items. Stephen suggested I have a note somewhere that visitors should make sure their cache is retained, so each subsequent visit would not need to download the same files. Most browsers have cache saving as a default, but some folks turn off that feature.

I am doing my background at 40% reduction to make it even smaller. I also considered reducing the background to black-and-white for optimum loading, but that just looked sad.

It's always the trade-off; I can make a website that is very plain or very crude and it will load very fast, or a gorgeous website that takes forever to load. I am trying to make a website that is somewhere in the low middle; looks good but loads moderately fast.

That is my goal, anyway.

[Alfador]

Given your aforementioned issues with absolute positioning, this may be problematic... but you might want to make some kind of repeating background at the far right, so those of us with monitors that are What-a-HUGE won't have whitespace at the far side--or maybe just set the page background color to something neutral that'll blend in to the right edge. (As it is, the forum topbar shows 3/4ths of Chou and Uni at the far right on my gargantuan widescreen.)

After all, if you're putting the extra effort in to make sure the page will load satisfactorily for people at the low end of resolution (PDAs, cell phones, the Nintendo DS Browser, etc.), why not the high end as well?

[Skatche]

Well... the interface looks very nice and has a lot of character, but the thought of actually using it to navigate around brings me no joy. The inconsistency is one problem (clicking the news link brings me to an entirely different and unfamiliar interface). Another is that all the labels are together below all the buttons (rather than one label underneath each button), which is bad UI design. Potential easy fix for the latter: just make it so the labels are also links; a little redundancy never hurts. As for consistency, what would make the most sense to me would be if the different items (news etc.) loaded in the same Kamishibai panel where the comics will be displayed.

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

Well... the interface looks very nice and has a lot of character, but the thought of actually using it to navigate around brings me no joy. The inconsistency is one problem (clicking the news link brings me to an entirely different and unfamiliar interface). Another is that all the labels are together below all the buttons (rather than one label underneath each button), which is bad UI design. Potential easy fix for the latter: just make it so the labels are also links; a little redundancy never hurts. As for consistency, what would make the most sense to me would be if the different items (news etc.) loaded in the same Kamishibai panel where the comics will be displayed.

Hmmm... I am conflicted here.

I am aiming to achieve the emotional effect of a child trying to choose a candy they want in an original 1930 Kamishibai show (This? This? How about that???) as a feeling applied to navigating the interface. My hope was that initial confusion would give way to confident choice, but that the initial confusion would exist, if even for a moment.

I comprehend that this is bad interface design from a purely utilitarian view; the real question is whether my violation of utility is so terrible that it makes the site painful, rather than thematic and emotive. I am fearful that attaching links to the menu names will be so obvious and convenient that no one would think to click on the candies, and miss out on the very effect I am trying to achieve - which is read the candy menu, then actually select the treat.

I also wanted to have each location (rather like an adventure game, in my thoughts) have a slightly unique way of interaction - though following a general rule that the odd item out is the way back - in the news area it is the fan on the wall, in the omake area, it is the hanafuda card next to the go-board; each the odd item out.

I wanted to give a bit of the feeling of navigating locations: the Kamishibai bike in the park, the alcove in the wall of the home of the kamishibai-ya, the floor of the Kamishibai-ya's house, and so on.

I don't want to annoy, but I do want to achieve something more daring than easy utility.

Thoughts?

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

As it is, the forum topbar shows 3/4ths of Chou and Uni at the far right on my gargantuan widescreen.

Zombie Jesus.

I made that Chou and Uni bar to be beyond anything I can actually see at one time. The Takozushi site is likewise beyond my screen capability at 1440 across. I can't even set my screen that high; I did it for Stephen who has a fancier monitor than me.

If I make things any bigger, they will rapidly exceed 200K in size, which is the largest object I have allowed myself, due to trying to make it possible for folks with slower connections to be able to see the site at all. As it is, Takozushi presents problems for Anna in Germany, and I am trying to shrink things to make it easier for her and others.

It is problematic.

[Mitsukara]

I think the artistic quality you're going for is a good idea that makes the site more interesting, and an evocative experience- but, while hunting around to find all the features can be interesting, it's important to have the main stuff very visible and identifiable.

I don't have a lot of specific ideas- maybe label the candies themselves rather than this labels-on-the-drawer-to-candies-in-the-drawer system, or something. But basically I think a compromise is good- keep your artistic idea about how the site should be, but make it easy to figure out by conventional standards at the same time if possible.

If all else fails you could make two versions of the main page, one which has the full art design, and one which is more basic and utilitarian with text links for convenience, and then people can use whichever they prefer. Fans are sure to at least check out and play with the artful version, but people who dislike using it can then use the simpler version on a more regular basis.

As for ginormo-resolution accommodation... is there any way to make the image center itself, or only appear once on the left side, for high-end viewers? Or maybe a simplistic- yet slightly artful- tiled backdrop, like fancy paper print or something, could cover far to the right where the main image doesn't, so there'll be something to look at there rather than a solid tone?

[sampaguita]

Oh my, did I just register solely to comment on the webdesign? Yes, yes I did. I just wanted to say how it's one of the most breathtakingly lovely non-Flashenanigans sites I've ever seen - although given the textured, decidedly more-than-utilitarian look of the forums I guess I oughtn't be surprised. Just stunning!

Suggestion for the candy menu: I second the idea of both the candies and labels being linked - think of it like an ice cream truck or certain cafeteria-style restaurants - just point at what you want and someone will get it for you, no need to reach in and grab it yourself. A shy enough kid might do so anyway, even if they've got the option to reach on in there. Ah, or maybe the labels could be written on bits of paper upon which the candies are displayed, like a price tag on a bit of waxed paper sort of thing - not sure I'm describing it properly, but hopefully it's clear enough. Kinda like cakes on nice stands often have doilies under 'em? Makes cleanup easier, too.

...oh, pffffft, like the News candies have a bit of paper under them! Fold it into an origami snake and it'd have bit me

Also, should both the little e-mail symbols in the corner of the main page both be linking to the same address? If so, it just seems odd to have two there - even if they are both adorable. The swirly is more of an eyecatcher, though, and easier to make out on higher resolutions.

Anyway, I think the use of images in this site isn't as bad as some might think - a big, nice background, sure, but image files are deceptively small nowadays, and a background and a few buttons on each page aren't so bad compared to the clutter of, say, the Ctrl Alt Del site, where that nice simple-looking swoopy topbar/sidebar is made up of something like two dozen smaller images, or even, sorry to say, To Save Her, which despite the ostensibly simpler webdesign, tends to end up with a mulitude of dividers and other little images all crammed in at the bottom, particularly if delving into the archives is needed. And really, one does expect a certain amount of images when reading a webcomic! I'll take a pretty site over just another plain ol' bgcolor=blahblah layout, even those schmancy web 2.0 one's they're starting to get now that highlight the author's bloggery over the comics people came for in the first place!

Finally, I'd like to say that while cell phones and the Wii browser are highly adaptable and will probably display the Takozushi site just fine, don't even bother trying to design with the PSP in mind. I love my PSP to bits, but I've long since given up on using its web browser as anything more than a glorified Kindle, reading fanfic - not even forums, it's so apt to break layouts. And if you try to browse without images disabled, well, you'll probably run out of memory after a dozen or so pages, if that. Might be ways to improve the PSP browsing experience I'm unaware of, but feh, I've got a computer, a Wii, and a cell phone anyway.

Sorry for my long sentences, but I guess being a long-time lurker etc. has left me with a bit of backup.

[Plasman]

I had a look at the new comic interface today, and it is the SEX . It is really (literally) tasty; I like especially how you've tried to evoke the feeling of the original street theatre. Will you include a link to the OtakuWorld site that has the Kamishibai player, by way of backstory?

Some comments on other suggestions here (mind you, suggestions ONLY ):

- various comments about the candy links -

Having the candies as anonymous links does work like the way you've described (ie. like a point and click adventure) but it could be confusing for the casual viewer. Maybe you could sculpt the candy into actual words (eg. turn the watermelon rock into the word OMAKE, for instance)? Or failing that, just artfully write the title of the link around the candy item. You could replace the menu description with a newsfeed or Twitter widget or something similar.

The inconsistency is one problem (clicking the news link brings me to an entirely different and unfamiliar interface). ...As for consistency, what would make the most sense to me would be if the different items (news etc.) loaded in the same Kamishibai panel where the comics will be displayed.

Meh... I don't mind the differences so much. I notice that the Omake page will have a different style again (of a Go board ). What's really important isn't so much the actual layout of the page but how clearly everything is labelled, and how accessible it is. The news page looks fine as is, but the Omake page might be confusing; it took me a few moments to realise that the Hanafuda card on the floor was actually the Back button.
But, in practice this might not matter so much once people get used to the layout of the site; what's most important is how well everything is labelled.

Maybe you could do with the pic a bit, you see, I've got DSL, it's wonderfull, but sometimes, the german DSL isn't fast enough, especially at the evening. ....
Just for the readers which are very slow in the world wide web.

Isn't there a workaround with "alt=" images in HTML? That is, offering a low-quality version of the image while the high-quality one is loading... A Lo-Fi alternative for the page is also a good workaround, but how much Lo-Fi-er can you get with HTML code?
I'm viewing the site via broadband in Australia, which is sluggish compared to the rest of the world, but it seems to upload fine. That either means we have no problems here, or you've already reduced the image size. (Are you using image maps for this, btw?)

you might want to make some kind of repeating background at the far right, so those of us with monitors that are What-a-HUGE won't have whitespace at the far side

I've probably said this before, but gah-WUH?!? How big IS your screen?...
Can you... can... can you see us?! (waves experimentally toward screen)

[Coda]

1920x1200 isn't hard to find anymore. ^^() My wife's Cintiq 20WSX can see Uni and Chou at the right side too.