Trouble Reading New Font/Constructive Crit of New Site

[AnnaLandin]

I personally have no issue with the font-choice, but I can def. see how it would be troublesome for people with visual impairment or dyslexia.

My main issue is with the layout of the front-page. I've already emailed Tapastic about it personally, because I couldn't find the link to the forums (why the HECK is it not at the top of the page?), but gosh, it is a visual mess. It is cluttered and busy and confusing, and shoving the popular/trending/new categories down to the bottom is a bad idea. It leaves the top of the front page - which is the bit 90% of visitors will bother with - locked to the spotlight and two top 10 categories, the content of which is a lot more static than popular/trending.

Also, the trending category includes both comics and books now, apparently? And some thumbnails are rectangular instead of square? And sort of strewn randomly around the front page?

It's... not great.

[tastaturkatze]

Okay, a lot has already been said. so I will only focus on so far undiscussed issues with the font:
<3 and :3 don't look so good anymore. The cat smiley :3 is something I personally like to use often, but the <3 is something I see very often here on tapastic (because this is such a lovely community <3 ) and with the new font, it simply doesn't really convey the same feeling anymore. I know it's sounds silly, but isn't this friendly feeling what makes a lot of us make tapastic feel like home?

But I do want to add that I agree with a lot of things that already has been brought up, especially what GoldenPlume said.

[GoldenPlume]

It feels like much of Tapastic's success was built upon readerships brought in by independent, unpaid creators, and now that the site is doing well, they're getting crapped on.

Emphasis by us.

Tonight we're trying to get an update done for Wednesday but its really hard to concentrate on creating free content for Tapas after what they decided to do today, without soliciting any feedback first. Staff's sudden unilateral "monetization first" emphasis makes us feel so unappreciated and literally crapped on. We're not sure what other creators do for Tapas, but we've specifically gone out of our way to do as much as we can to help the company, at our time and expense. Staff knows what we've done for them so we're not going to list it, but it's a significant amount, and we've never asked for anything in return but goodwill and a fair shake.

This update feels like the exact opposite of goodwill towards independent creators.

Since the day we downloaded the app, it has always been monetization first and foremost. And if its not a premium series, then its a favored series that is already well known. At one time we counted something like 7/30 spots of the app spots dedicated to GamerCat. We kept asking ourselves, does GamerCat really need that many positions? What about featuring someone else?

We never quite liked how the app was designed to favor a select few, but we didn't feel it was a big issue because we still had Tapastic.com where any series had the potential to succeed. Now with "Trending" at the bottom of the barrel, without a staff feature or a daily snack, a new series has gone to having no chance to succeed.

Also for those who wanted to hide from the heavy monetization of the app, they had the option to read on Tapastic.com and not be constantly bombarded by premium series. Now those premium series are literally chasing us down, taking over Tapastic, demanding every ounce of attention. It's down right obnoxious. We know they are there and we will buy them if we want to. Please don't beat us over the head with them.

There needs to be healthy balance between free and monetization. The Tapas app has always felt like its "paid" and Tapastic.com was "free". It was an acceptable dichotomy. Now everything is all "paid".

As a new reader we would be totally turned off if everything we saw was paid only. We would assume since the first 5 racks of stuff is paid, Tapas is all paid content, and given that its the same stuff repeated over and over, that is all the website has to offer. Who wants to walk into a bookstore and be bombarded with padlocked books and comics and blatant ads for those padlocked books and comics. What kind of reader experience is that?

We seriously hope that Tapas staff reconsider this iteration of the website, because in its current form, we don't know how loyal we can remain to a company that shows so little concern towards us in return.

[Potoh]

Alright so... they pushed the popular and trending section down, like... ouch, that hurts enough. I mean, from a business standpoint, I understand that they have to advertise their premiums in order to earn money, of course.
But now they splashed the premium comics all over the front page, and to actually unlock and read them properly you have to go to the app? Whut? Or did I miss something? It doesn't make sense to me to mirror the layout of the app if you can't experience app and desktop version the same way.

[monotone_ink]

As soon as I was getting started back up, the host website itself just has to make it harder on all of us.

Like many have said in this thread, I'm frustrated that the sections for independent creators have been pushed all the way to the bottom. I understand the inclusion of paid content, as tapas is in the end a business, but it feels like my heart's been kicked in the dick when said paid content fills up more than half of the website. Along with random advertisements for the various comics, it feels really messy to browse through. If they had just made a half half portion between paid and unpaid comics, where clicking on the 'view more' button on the paid content would show all of the 'professional' work, I feel that would have been fair, as it both promotes paid work and still gives us a chance. The current front page though, I'm not liking it at all.

Fuck this shit, maybe I'll just move to LINE.

[mintycanoodles]

the whole site gets an overhaul but I still can't see my notifications on the mobile site without switching to the full site... which now opens a new tab totally 😒

[Hel]

I don't get why they would take the app and make that the whole site? You don't design an app the same way you do a website.

I thought the old site looked better. Something about the new homepage feels off.

[noxfox]

Right now I feel "so done" like, "what am I even still doing here?"

On one hand, they leave confusing rules that require that users be 18+ (for the app) but on the other hand they put that rounded font that makes everything look both childish AND painful to the eyes for many of us with lesser or bigger sight-impairment and/or dyslexia. Not to mention that :3 and <3 indeed no longer look the same, yes (and it does matter).
I really do not understand this choice, considering adults still have this ongoing idea that "comics are for kids". And then we have ads for games that are mostly targeting youth? (though, there is that one ad for a business trading software, and those casino ads that are probably illegal here due to how strictly luck-based games are regulated).
It'd make more sense if those ads were more about art-related things, be they softwares, pet games or anything such that appeal to people who read comics or books.

As for the front page layout, I agree with everything that's been said above. It's cluttered, repetitive, gated, static, and seriously, "Tipping has arrived" is getting old. It's been several months now.
I really hate that books and comics are mixed together confusingly. Everything confuses me: some sections have a title, others don't. Everything looks random as heck, and why did they hide the Forums button?
I also agree with @kurapikasuki, the notifications icons are now very confusing, and way too dark against a pale background. The contrast is unpleasant to the eye and makes me want to just ignore it all.

I'm so upset that I've reached that stage where I'm not peeved but just numbed. It's getting to be hard to care, because, like @GoldenPlume I've put a lot of effort and energy in Tapastic, and the more it goes, the less I get back. It used to be a place I loved but my love is crumbling apart like the letters of the brand name.
We heard "something big" was coming but we were not told what as usual and were not asked our opinion in any way. Now I don't even know why I'm even giving mine right now. I feel like there is a growing disconnection between the @STAFF and the creator community. Even readers are now getting to be alienated by the amount of premium content pressed at their face.

My feeling is that by pressing monetized content so much, pressing popular comics and practically hiding away the indies, Tapas is just going to scare away new creators and new readers and end up suffocating itself in a downward spiral.

The only thing that could make it up to me is if @STAFF tells us that this update also will allow for features that were not possible on tapastic.com, such as changing the order of episodes of a series, or making series co-owned by several creators.

[PotooGryphon]

Hm, I'm still letting it settle. I know that the order of the front page isn't set and will be going through changes and Michael is already working on changing the font.

So I'm a bit more hopeful with this site update than the last several that were also dramatic garbage fires. The idea of the brands unifying has great possibilities and could be the first steps in bring favorable app features to the site.

Seems like there are common threads to everyone's criticisms here, so question to the community- If the front page gets a better rearrange (Popular/Trending/New back up to the top) and the font gets changed, how would you feel about the update then?

[shanikabormann1431]

Seems like there are common threads to everyone's criticisms here, so question to the community- If the front page gets a better rearrange and the font gets changed, how would you feel about the update then?

Most of the responses here are about exposure and font problems, so I think if the front page could facilitate exposure to free and growing comic like the old front page layout did, I think most of the complaints would settle imo.

Ah, and easier access of the forums, of course.

[PotooGryphon]

Right, that's what I meant by the better rearrange that if they bring Popular/Trending/New back up to the top.

Seems like if they did something as simple as that than there wouldn't be as much doom and gloom?

[shanikabormann1431]

Right, that's what I meant by the better rearrange that if they bring Popular/Trending/New back up to the top.

Seems like if they did something as simple as that than there wouldn't be as much doom and gloom?

Yes, I presume that would be satisfactory for most people, is what I have gathered by reading the responses so far.

[Aspie_Gamer]

Oh yes, and tell @STAFF to get a move on with fixing the image uploading problem here in the forums. They've taken long enough as it is even though its a "low priority fix" which by itself shouldn't be that hard to fix.

[PotooGryphon]

Actually, they tweeted me yesterday that that is in the works! It's on their radar and it's getting addressed. It wasn't mentioned when but it's a start lol

[azureXtwilight]

I believe this is the case, yes! Thank you for responding!

[AnnaLandin]

If the front page gets a better rearrange (Popular/Trending/New back up to the top) and the font gets changed, how would you feel about the update then?

A lot better, tbh. Just pushing the popular/trending/new back up top, and for the love of god, adding the link to the forum to the header bar, would do a lot.

There are a few smaller things - like the colours of different notifications, etc. - but re-arraging some elements on the front page would go a long way towards solving my biggest issues. I'm definitely not against the idea of changing things, but this current layout has some serious problems.

[elixiadragmire]

thanks @PotooGryphon for the info!
I could see this a year ago with the app update. Personally I dont like the app, the microtransactions, the choice of books etc etc

[Devika]

Right, that's what I meant by the better rearrange that if they bring Popular/Trending/New back up to the top.

Seems like if they did something as simple as that than there wouldn't be as much doom and gloom?

I would like that, definitely. My gripe was that only premium stuff is shown, free comics pushed away, and a simple rearrangement would fix that.

That being said, I get the feeling that this update kind of "confirmed suspicions" a lot of creators have had about tapas ditching free comics in favor of premium stuff, so there is some deeper hurt here that might warrant some attention in the form of... Dunno, some statement about where the company intends to steer tapastic, or some actions to boost the forum and creative community.

[Hel]

If the site only pushes the premium content it will entirely change what the Tapastic website is and they'll lose a lot of their current readers/writers/users and gain different ones in a smaller number. Way less people are willing to spend money or jump through the hoops required to get keys than would just like to read regular, indie content. From the way the front page is now, it's not even clear that there is free, indie content available on the website.

I also agree with @elixiadragmire that the choice of books they push doesn't appeal to me. I've always been under the impression that only premium books even exist on the website. If they allowed indie books as well I think that would be fun and would appeal to more people.

[mintycanoodles]

is there any reason why activity notifications haven't made it to the mobile site? reading list is there.