Let's talk about the "format" of updates, shall we?

[SleepingPoppy]

I don't think there is a "right" thing to do. It's always going to be dependent on the creator. While I am interested in vertical scroll format for my next project possibly, I don't think or want it to completely take over. Variety is the spice of life, right?

Both have their positive qualities. While being mobile friendly is an important consideration, I'm pretty sure readership is close to 50/50 between desktop and ap, too? So yeah, as long as you're ledgible I don't think anyone should feel like the page is outdated or going away.

Also, happy mediums probably exist? VBG's previous comic, God in the Field reads similar to a scrolling format but fits into print. Not saying everyone should do that (it's gorgeous but definitely a feat to creat) but my point is more we can still expirament with format and see what works for our intended purposes!

[TomDellaringa]

It would be great if Tapas exposed analytics on our readers. Knowing some of that would be valuable.

[woah-man]

My current comic is the 'old' school format, but honestly that's only because I intend to print it when I finish it. Very few of my readers actually read online comics, I'm mostly just 'trialing' it online. But still, I try really hard to make it readable on both desktop and mobile! It's not impossible to do, obviously a lot of it has to do with font size and type.

Rudy Jenkins and the Ghost who Stole His Hat. | Tapas

I have no idea how I'd go about turning a vertical comic for print format, but I'm sure a lot of people on Tapas aren't thinking about that and are more focused on mobile formatting.

I think it just is up to the artists personal preference, too. Personally I find vertical layouts to be a lot easier to assemble, but with the 'old school' format, I feel like I can be a lot more creative with my layout. Plus, I just prefer reading printed comics so when I find one online that's in a traditional format, it's a little more fun for me to read.

[TomDellaringa]

Just to be clear, I am not saying there is one right way to do it.

Both of my comics are made as pages. I reformat them to post here. Marooned has already been through multiple printings. GG is new, but will also be printed when done. I feel like it's the best route if you want a printed book.

It would be tricky to create a vertical only comic and try to print it later. I've done a lot of print work, and you really need to prepare for it ahead of time.

[joannekwan]

I use the page format because 1. if I ever want to print my story I'm good to go. 2. personally I can't read those single panel per screen webtoons formatted ones for very long. I have to scroll a lot, my eyes get fucked up, I feel sick. 3. I don't want a tall-ass file where I can't see anything upon a quick pass when looking at the thumbnail.

[neichasart]

I tend to do both. Page formats for arcs that span over several pages and vertical format for stuff that's more just like a short strip.
I just feel like pages are more interesting to build than vertical formats.
Might be because I went to art school for comics and we did do mostly everything in page format.
I guess more than sticking to one format I lean more towards whatever feels better to me composition wise to tell the story I want to tell.

I guess a good rule of thumb is just to check the pages are readable on the mobile app. But I don't think there's any real reason to favor one over the other.

[fischhead]

So building that "vertical" flow of your comic that is essentially one panel or scene per "screen" works well for this. And I've seen people get really creative with it.

Got any examples? Everything I've seen so far just reinforces my opinion that the vertical scroll is much more restrictive. That being said, I think format is definitely important because you risk alienating a large number of potential readers by posting full pages that won't show up well on a smaller screen. However, I think that quality of content and length of updates matter a bit more.

@kura Thanks for the info on full page vs vertical. I'm planning to post my work in both formats after New Year's, so that data is very interesting.

[joannekwan]

I think

Dreamwalker Felix | Tapas

does vertical scroll spectacularly!
I can even put aside my motion-sickness for it.

[racarter]

I like the old school single page format, personally.

Vertical is good and I enjoy plenty of vertical comics, but I grew up on old school comics that me and my dad read together, plus manga. I always loved interesting paneling so naturally by the time I get pretty decent at it, vertical formats become more of the standard for mobile reasons.

I personally prefer reading pages but like having the ability to scroll down to the next page as opposed to clicking over to the next page.

Maybe I’ll occasionally do vertical pages, if it suits the scene I’m trying to do, but I just like pages instead. Also it’s easiet for me because I can’t produce enough content quickly enough to justify vertical pages, IMO.

[TomDellaringa]

Can't think of anything specific right now, but generally comics that really embrace it and create specifically for that (and not just stacked vertical frames). But I do think that makes printing a book much harder. So you have to think about what you really want. If you just browse around some of the really popular stuff you'll see some interesting examples.

[amortelito]

To be honest It frustrates me a little when the a comic updates are a bunch of white pages with just a few panels in which nothing happens. (like the dude is putting his shoes on for 8 pages) The format is the least important thing when the comic is not interesting. I agree with you all saying that the quality is much more important.

I confess that vertical format frustrates me as a creator because every single page of my comic had a consistent scene and a cliffhanger to encourage users to keep reading. Now I can only fit 2 or 3 panels per page and not enough is being said, I think I need 3 pages to accomplish what one single page used to. But I'm adapting.

[TheFalseVyper]

I post single page updates! The biggest reason I chose this option over the more popular vertical scroll is because I want to print my comic eventually. Single pages makes this possible

[Klaustasya]

I'm one of those folks.
My comic was not thought to be an online webcomic because it was a traditional comic project for uni, so i had to make it the old school way. I had LOT of trouble making it sort of readable for my readership but now nobody is pointing the text/baloons issue anymore ^^ guess i fixed it.
Surely, next time i'll make a comic, is gonna be in strip format, this time i was just poorly organized, we could say....
Still i get many views thanks to the daily updates (that are not going to be daily anymore, but maybe with 3/4 pages rather than 2) and now i'm totally struggling trying to understand how to draw a comic in the vertical format, because i never did it (the struggle is more about, how many panels can the readable on a 800x1300 px page, or how can i a draw a continuos strip) guess i'll make a specific topic about it one day for now, i do prefer reading vertical comics rather than old style ones, though to be honest i don't have any true problem with the latter.

[kamilMurzyn]

Same here, but my original pages were A4 format, and reading it on mobile is very uncomfortable. It's fine to scroll down full pages on desktop or larger tablets, but with smaller screens dialouges are getting too small. For each scene I have to reformat them to vertical scroll - it reads nice, but sometimes sacrifices has to be made because I liked wide panoramic panels and it ends up with nasty crops or smaller sizes.

But creating book format and reformatting to scroll is still a much better way than opposite.

This is my original page (polish version):
First page

And this is vertical scroll format:

Circles of Magic :: Shadows on the sky, ep.1 | Tapas

[TomDellaringa]

To me that is poor storytelling, and I don't like it either.

[TomDellaringa]

I agree that is fairly well done and looks like it can be adapted to a book.

[TomDellaringa]

Agreed - and this is some REALLY beautiful work, man! I'm definitely going to check this story out.

[ble]

For my very first comic, i did the old school/traditional comic format, but when uploading to webtoons, i did crop/cut panels and put it into the vertical format. It was a lot of effort for something that gave me zero results in the end.

Now for my ongoing comic, i do it right from the start in the vertical format. I just reduce the image size when uploading.

Baphomet's Sheep (GL)

I have seen some webcomics using the traditional format on webtoons, and not only seems harder to read, but feels like too much is happening at the same time without breathing espace. That's why i preffer the vertical, one panel at a time format.

[PaulieBlade]

Even when reading on mobile I prefer the traditional, print-friendly format (most of the comics I read are on comiXology) and I think the biggest reason is the more creative page deisgn. I get oddly triggered when I see a vertical format consisting of the following scheme:
- some blank space scrolling
- a dialogue box
- some blank space scrolling
- a panel
- some blank space scrolling
- a dialogue box
- some blank space scrolling
- a panel
- some blank space scrolling
- a dialogue box
- dangerously long blank space scrolling
- a dialogue box

[paperwren]

I literally designed my comic in vertical format because I wanted to do something without bounded panels, that kind of "sat" in the web page, and now my entire life is squinting at my thumbnails, haphazardly navigating with a microscopic scroll bar and crying all the time. You are wise.