Creating "chapter folders" for those who update page per page?

[Marvin]

Hi !

I'm completely new here so if my question is entirely irrelevant or already has an answer somewhere, please tell me.
I noticed that there's a bit of a dilemma for the authors between posting page per page or chapter by chapter. As a reader, I'd rather read a whole chapter with a proper closure rather than stop in the middle of nowhere but of course, updates are slower, the comic might be forgotten, you can't comment on each page etc. I totally get that.
But then, the navigation sucks. Having "Chap 1. p1 - Chap1. p2 etc." sucks.

SO ! Here's what I would love to have (note that I don't know a thing about programmation or web-algorithm-thingies) :

• A chapter would be like a folder. The author could upload as many pages he wants in it (be it one or the whole thing in one go) and each upload would count as un update so everyone would know and the comic would stay "recent".
• On the navigation bar on the side, the reader would be able to clic on "Chapter 1" THEN see "p01 - p02 etc."
• The reader could choose to be informed for each update or only when the chapter is complete.

Also, something else I don't really like is automatically falling on the last page when you click on a new comic. It's like "Hey, instant spoiler !". It's good when it's a comic you're following and you get to read where you stopped the last time but when it's your first reading, I think it's a pity... (the only good thing I see about that is if the artist's art has improved a lot so that the reader knows it's worth putting up with the "crappy" beginning)

Well, those are only my though, I'd love to hear your ideas about it !

[SpavVy]

I'm one of those people that often update page by page, I plan to move the separated pages up after I do some touch ups and then make a new episode for the newer pages that will eventually be moved up there as well, that way I won't have all these sudden stops and still make it to the fresh section.

[Marvin]

Yeah, that's what I thought was the most logical but then you lose whatever comments the individual pages got don't you ?

[SpavVy]

Yeah I'll lose the comments but I'll remember them well most of them anyway I haven't done it yet but I will put a warning up.

[Jrej]

Great thoughts in this topic!

I long hesitated in between chapters and pages.
I first posted chapters only but was updating every two months, clearing any chance of hitting the fresh page frequently.

I post now the comic page by page in a second series. Hopefully people choose the way they want to read it.
Chapters first, then pages to get the latest update per week.

If anything better comes up. I'm definitely interested!

[SpavVy]

Exactly, now that we have the fresh section it's a great advantage for creators like you and I. The fresh section exposes comics and updating page by page exposes your series more. With the past three updates I made it to the trending section three times in a row which still tends to shock me every time xD
@Jrej

[Jrej]

That's Awesome! Gives me a little hope...
Glad I made this decision!

[puppetbomb]

I update twice a week on other platforms, but to keep my comic looking at least a little bit more cleaner, I update two pages once a week on Tapastic :<

I really like the idea of folders, though.

Easier for people to bookmark and a cleaner (and less intimidating for longer comics) interface.

[DeadAccount]

Or some way to group them, say, by chapter or by month for dailies. I upload a page per episode as it works best for my comic/update schedule, but the list of episodes is bound to get pretty long eventually. If I could at least collapse/expand them, that would probably make it easier to browse.
Anyway, just an idea : D I know Tapastic's designed for vertical comics, but there's quite a few traditional page-based comics on here, so I thought people might find it helpful.

[mariusthered]

I present my comic in seasons and put chapters in the seasons to break things up a bit.

[DeadAccount]

It's not about how you choose to group them, but having some Tapastic features to help you with the grouping - like collapsing/expanding stacks etc.

[zetina]

From what I've seen, some people update the episodes by adding pages afterwards and ticking the checkbox to notify subs. The other method is to later delete the separate pages and putting them all in one episode (which i think is kind of a shame since that gets rid of comments?).

The episode list can be annoying to navigate with older, longer comics. If you're looking for smth specific, an archive feature might be more useful. I haven't had a need to do that though.

[igneriss]

I absolutely LOVE the idea of folders! It would be really helpful!
I also update 'one episode=one page'. It's a very long serie, and will probably take around 1000 pages to complete (oh my!). I'm in 1/5 and it's already quite annoying to jump between chapters when I need to check something. Being able to group episodes into chapters folders would be great~

[DeadAccount]

Yeah, I wouldn't want to delete all the feedback I got.
Also, the reason I don't do multiple pages per episode is that I definitely noticed a decrease in feedback when I did that for my hiatus extras. I work hard on my pages and they're pretty dense-packed with panels and dialogue and I'd hate to lose out on the comments just because it's an "add-on" update 8/

[AnnaLandin]

Seconding this! I don't know if it's possible, but it would be a neat feature, and would make browsing the archives easier on new readers (and on me, when I have to go back and check something)

[kylemiller1985]

I think that putting them in seasons is not helpful for daily strip style type creators because when a season ends your subscribers will all have to re-follow you. This could cost you readers.

[Marvin]

I've been pushing this idea since coming here and there's a post in the feedback section about this but basically, the staff's answer was :

"It's unlikely we will add additional hierarchy or levels or organization/indentation for pages within chapters or chapters within books, however. That level of flexibility would be nice for a few creators and series, but would significantly complicate things for most."

[DeadAccount]

Man, that's a shame. Maybe if more creators support the feature it'd help :/

[insomniascrawl]

That would make navigation so much easier tbh, would be a great feature.

[mariusthered]

no my seasons are on going i don's start a new comic or anything. i just put up an intermission page between seasons explaining something about the city.