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Sep 2020

True. But it is a worthy alternative if one doesn't want to go through the mess of "making" one. You've got enough to deal with in creating/editing comics, who wants the added stress of a website that could get wonky, or hacked, or not backed up, etc. etc. :smiley: It's limited, sure, but for someone just starting out or not programming-oriented, it's a super choice.

Then we could probably include wordpress to give all available options

As long as Wordpress doesn't make the last mistake with that 5.5 update a few days ago. They almost immediately needed to make 5.5.1 because of the millions of sites affected. :stuck_out_tongue:

Advantage: Tumblr! lol

lol xD Hey I don't like either :stuck_out_tongue: Just giving out options! If someone just wants something easy then they should just use a hosting site like Tapas, Webtoons, Smackjeeves, Comicfury, Keenspace, mangatoon, the duck, etc etc etc

1 month later

I just made a Wordpress site with ComicPress and "webcomic" theme.

If you want to host multiple comics or customize the look of everything, it's a bit of a headache. Plus, you have to backup the site, make sure it doesn't get hacked, etc.

However, I decided to finally make my own site8, so I can have one place for all my art. Plus, different comic sites/social media sites come and go; now I have a site that will be here for years to come.

We do too. Don't you love it? :heart:

Yeah, it has some really amazing features that Tapas and Webtoons don't. What's your site called?

The Depths comic. :smiley: (nsfw) Google it for safety.

A lot of cool webcomics still use it. GrrlPower for instance does, and it's mega huge. A lot of others; I speak regularly to the guy that created "comic Easel" which is an offshoot of webcomic, but a bit easier to follow.

We're all just waiting in terror when a new Wordpress version is released and blows all the sites up. :stuck_out_tongue:

Not hard at all. Give ComicFury a go. It's a free comic hosting with a bunch on premade website templates.

I use Wordpress with the ascend theme, because the site covers content other than just my comics.
For the comics part, I use a webcomic plugin that is integrated with the theme. It doesn’t work smoothly with all theme, so I had to do some fixes for an older theme, but now with ascend it’s working like a charm. I also made some flip books for my previous work. It’s a really neat option for graphic novel, and look good on tablet, but it’s gadgety.
Actually, I was considering getting rid of webcomics plugin, and just use elaborate galleries to display my comics, but I haven’t found time to really investigate this option.
We also have an online shop using woocommerce and newsletters, but not really for my comics.
I generally back up once a week, and always wait some time before updating system and various plugin, so I never had major issues so far.
SEO, spam and back links are a pain and time consuming, and I’m very bad in design, so now I keep things simple, and the theme does it’s magic to create responsive results for various devices (but still need to double check the result before posting). I also had trouble with https at the beginning, but now everything is sorted and secure.
Cost side, only domain name and hosting through host gator. Service so so, not very fast, but it’s cheap...
In conclusion, if it was only for comics, I’d probably not bother and just use Tapas or comics fury, it’s good enough to have a good base...

9 months later

Nowadays, everything is easier to do than it used to be. So, now building a site is not so difficult, especially that there are many tutorials on YouTube and many tips on how to create a user-friendly site. However, it is very important to not forget for who you create the site, you need to know your target. You can read more about user experience here, especially about ux writing https://sitebuilder.reviews/web-design/your-comprehensive-guide-to-ux-writing/1. I know that you are not planning to build a site but is good to know more about it.

With Skillshare it's easy to learn how to make new websites by choosing from a variety of online classes #notsponsoredXD.
I used to have a website. but it never got any traffic worth keeping it. I personally feel like personal sites died for bringing people in with the 90's. Then again I haven't tried it recently, so who knows lol.

it depends on you; for me that i've been studying illustration (that includes a bit of graphic design) it's easy with some webs that give you easy options, but if you want your own domain it can be a bit expensive. With wordpress I pay 48€ per year, for example, but it's worth it cause it has a lot of options.
if you want, you can take a look at my web and ask whatever you want: http://blackwingscomic.com4
hope i'm helpful!

If you use. "child Theme", that won't happen LOL

There's a lot of good advice in this thread! I used mailchimp because
1. its free
2. you can integrate your mailing list. so get people to sign up and then email them when you release new stuff. great for authors who post on multiple sites.

there arent a lot of customizing options but as long as youre not doing something complicated its fine.

I guess I could be spending all this "rehab" time building a website...I used to be like "I dont have the funds for hosting", etc...but now I do, so money isnt the issue.

Right now my biggest obstacle is time- and energy. The day gig has been DRAINING the f**k out of me; when I get home at nights and over the weekend all I want to do is rest...but then here I am, kicking myself that I could've been trying to work on a site with spare time.

I do as well lol but I have no idea how to send out emails with it. I did get one signup so YAY!

use sites such as wix, i believe most of them are free but have premium options? Website building from scratch
can be pretty hard