Page-By-Page or Scroll-Fitted?

[therippleeffectcomic]

I definitely prefer page-by-page. All of my past-reading of webcomics (ctrl+alt+del, lfg-comic etc) has been in this format so it's the one I'm most comfortable and familiar with. Same reason from a creator's perspective, plus I get a buzz from completing a page.

[ble]

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[Draconic]

Whats your preferences as a reader?
What about as an artist?

• The kind that doesn't have the long scroll panels and scrolling effects, still have speech bubbles and good mobile readability.
• Same as above.

For me, the long scroll panel format is just a lazy way to make an illustion of a long episode.
20 page-by-pages (80 frames) is not a long read, but 10 scroll-fittted pages (40 frames) is a hell of a long scroll!

But somehow, most people prefer that method, so I don't know.

[silverraven0]

I adore pages per pages format. I tried making scroll comics before, but it is really hard to do so with my phone, so I'm not really thrilled to do them. :v

But as a creator, however, I like to challenge myself to try on different format, since some type of comic, like the reverse read type, most of the time only fit as a scroll format, and I do plan on making one in the future, tough in all honestly I'm pretty satisfied with page per page and will love to do them for the long years to come.

[keii4ii]

For me, the long scroll panel format is just a lazy way to make an illustion of a long episode.20 page-by-pages (80 frames) is not a long read, but 10 scroll-fittted pages (40 frames) is a hell of a long scroll!

Creators don't choose the scroll format to make it seem longer. That's not the point of the format. Length just happens to be something a lot of scroll readers want/expect because they're used to professionally paid output from webcomics.

I would hate to read 10 traditional pages just stacked on top of each other, because those pages were not designed to flow that way.

[alliascompany]

As I reader, I like both. But how much I like a comic (aside from story and artwork) usually boils to a few things:

1) Readability!
2) Art Flow

I HATE it when I have to squint to read tiny text or if I don't know which order to read panels. Just makes me frustrated when reading. As long as you have those two things and a good story, I could care less about the format. However, using the chosen format's full potential is always a bonus.

Now as a creator, again I have to say both. Starting out, I was really against the vertical comics. Especially since I was used to learning about and using page-by-page. But after reading a couple comics where it's used creatively, I've warmed up to it and now most of my webcomics are made in the vertical. I don't know, I kind of like the idea of having a little more control what panel the reader will read next.

Course if you plan on printing your comics one day, you could make the comic page-by-page and then format it for vertical when posting it online. Jason Brubaker has a video that explains how he does it.

All in all though, I think it's important to experiment to see what works for you.

[Rhonder]

Hmm, as a reader I don't have a strong preference. I will say I'm more accustomed to page-by-page though, just due to years of reading that style comic. I also read on desktop mostly so the mobile formatting issues aren't usually a problem for me. That said either is totally cool by me so long as the episode doesn't drag on too long. Those 30+ panel scrolling episodes are like the absolute max for me. Much longer than that and I start wishing I had a physical book to bookmark. The same goes if an update has more than like 10 pages.

As a creator, I can't comment yet. I've only worked with page-by-page so I dunno which I prefer atm. I'm planning on following my current one-shot with another shorter one to test the format out, actually. So I guess I'll report back after that xD

I will say a happy medium for me might end up being like the video that @alliascompany linked, though. I love the idea of printing my comics, so it might be worth the extra effort to make them readable in both print and mobile ^^

[Draconic]

@keii4ii I'm not complain though.
If reader love that, then us artist should love that as well.

[BlueDragon]

I am just echoing most of the other comments here, but I prefer page to page as an artist, but I can read scroll or page to page.

Here on Tapas, my page to page feels kind of odd if I post two pages at a time. This usually happens when I have a page that "bleeds" over the gutters, and is set next to another page with bleeds.

I don't mind scrolling, but I find my middle finger starts to hurt when scrolling too much. I don't read on my phone: personally, I feel a phone's screen is so small, that no matter scrolling or page to page, it can be hard to read. I prefer either reading on a desktop/laptop, or most preferably, having the book. I think this influences my opinion.

That said, anyone saying scrolling comics are less creative is just taking a bias and making a stupid comment o_O It's like saying paintings are a better art form than sculpting. They're both art...they are just different mediums/styles.