Updated Site + Terms and Services

gateofselidor 2017-04-18 20:01:28 UTC #49

The front page layout is really inefficient now. Narrow, vertical layouts are fine for mobile, but on desktop it's just wasting space, especially now that there are so many different things on the front page. Who even uses a monitor that narrow any more? I don't expect pages to fill the full width of my screen, but I'd like something better than this:

Also agreeing with the disappointment that all of the user-generated content has been shoved to the bottom, beneath premium comics that you can't even actually read on the desktop site at the moment. It seems very premature to launch this new front page before enabling premium purchases on the desktop site. On top of that, I don't really like any of the premium content, and there seem to be almost no LGBT stories in there, compared the the popular and trending user-submitted comics which are full of them (even excluding the stuff labelled BL).

LordVincent 2017-04-18 20:08:19 UTC #50

If it makes you feel better, it does seem like tapas staff intends to raise the Popular and Trending section. If they weren't intending to before, they probably are now considering the feedback. Michaelson himself stated that they would surface the non premium comics, and that the current look is still a work in progress (:

Maybe not premature, but I do agree that enabling purchases will be an urgent matter that needs to be handled soon if this is the way we're going.

I actually have a girlslove comic (with some transgender issues involved along the line too) that I'm planning and have started working on but not yet published. I've been curious about the keys-to-unlock-episodes system for a while, but haven't dared to approach staff about it. Does anyone know if it's open to medium size creators?

AlkseeyaKC 2017-04-18 20:29:23 UTC #51

The bottom yellow bar hurts my eyes. That's all I got. =3

Cronaj 2017-04-18 20:37:13 UTC #52

Oh my gosh... so much to read... O.O

Honestly, almost everyone here comes off as really upset about the promotion of premium content on the desktop site. I won't say it makes me super happy (being an indie creator myself), but I understand the reasoning for promoting them, and truthfully, I love a lot of the premium comics and books. I do agree that the site looks cluttered as it is now, and the font is a little hard to get used to right now, but I think unifying the app and desktop site is a great idea, (because I'm sooooo sick of having to refer to the site and the app by separate names every time I tell people about my comic).

I do wish that the Fresh Comics was one of the promoted categories on the front page. That's probably what has been keeping a lot of new creators (like me, haha) from being discovered. Also, the categories "Top 10 Comics" and "Top 10 Books" kind of seems... dishonest? Mainly because they are only premium series, and some of the most popular comics on the site are free comics (just saying, lol). And there really are way too many categories promoting premium content. Like, almost all of the categories on the front page are premium. It's fine to put premium content first on the front page, but please minimize the number of categories showcasing them.

As whole, I enjoy the cohesiveness of the site in conjunction with the app, but yes, please keep our concerns in mind (as I'm sure you and the rest of the staff are).

heterodont 2017-04-18 20:38:38 UTC #53

AFAIK, im pretty sure the keys-to-unlock system is only for the creators they approach/made deals with. Its possible that it's the same with books that you can pitch your idea to them, but I'm pretty sure it's restricted to content creators they've made deals with atm.

I'm sure in due time they'll open it up to more people however.

LordVincent 2017-04-18 20:41:45 UTC #54

Ah okay, I was just a little curious on it. I'm always on a hunt for new things to try haha xD Oh well.

PotooGryphon 2017-04-18 20:49:11 UTC #55

Actually I think it's open for anyone to apply to, you'd have to contact Michael Son about it.

A downside that I saw was that it has to be a completely new series and can't be a series already published on the site. However if you're wanting to do something new anyways you might be able to figure something out with them. Doesn't hurt to ask

LordVincent 2017-04-18 20:57:32 UTC #56

It does hurt to ask if you're a shy boi (｡・//ε//・｡)
Maybe I'll try haha.

"T-tapastic senpai.... (* /∇＼ *)"

LordVincent 2017-04-18 21:24:16 UTC #57

Does anyone else see that site change? I see that site change.

It certainly looks cleaner! And it's a step in the right direction. But I still want the popular section to be higher up. It's the section that is most likely to successfully pull in new visitors to the site (as it has the combination of being well liked, and free), and it's also the goal that many creators work towards on this site. Trending is a good section because if you utilize it well, you might be able to get more regular traffic which brings you up to popular, which then continues to bring you a continued audience increase (:

With the way you reorganized the display of the premium comics, though, I'm fine seeing them up top.

Shanny8 2017-04-18 21:37:46 UTC #58

I just looked at it...better. The font style/selection doesnt bother me; they're trying to keep the interface/format synonymous with the app- I get that.

But I do feel everyone had a point about the former setup benefiting the premium comics more so than the free independent material. They moved the trending to the top & put in a new & noteworthy under that, so I'm appeased.

The only other grievances I have are fixing the uploading pics option here in the forums, and find a possible sustainable/long term advertising for the tipping program; the issue with the lack of ads is causing a massive decrease in tipping.

ahhvecadoes 2017-04-18 21:41:30 UTC #59

It already looks better on the front page. I said it on Twitter before, but thank you @STAFF and @michaelson for actually listening to the concerns people have and trying to find a good middle ground for everyone.

LordVincent 2017-04-18 21:45:48 UTC #60

Agreed big time! I have been on many sites that basically either abused their power or didn't care about the site users and tapastic is like a fresh breeze straight from the ocean compared to all of that (●♡∀♡))ヾ☆*。

I don't sound like an obsessed fanboy that has a crush on this whole community at all nope nono *ﾟｰﾟ

miesmud 2017-04-18 21:47:47 UTC #61

It looks good now! I'm so happy : D

michaelson 2017-04-18 21:49:40 UTC #62

The negative space you're experiencing is largely due to the size of your monitor/display. Sorry about that.

We have more LGBT offerings on the book side of premium currently - we are trying to add more LGBT titles to the premium section.

We look at every submission sent to:

submissions@tapasmedia.co

As for font blurriness/rendering issues. We've found that the font does not render properly on Internet Explorer.

We're working to resolve this issue shortly. We are also going to up the contrast between the font color and the background.

We're still tinkering with the front page and we appreciate everyone's patience and feedback.

The Popular/Trending sections are static sections that aren't as modular as small/large tiles, collections, etc so we'll have to hardcode those into their positions. We'll be playing around with the placement of those periodically.

LordVincent 2017-04-18 21:51:38 UTC #63

Ohhhhh you'll CHANGE the placements once in a while?! I like this!! That's exciting, that way the attention would fluctuate fairly between creator types and everyone gets a piece of the cookie! (ouo)

Devika 2017-04-18 22:12:38 UTC #64

Hey, mad props for the fast changes made! It looks a lot less cluttered, the first "splash" breaks it down nicely (comics and books + feature), and a slight scroll gives me the trending bar. (It still feels really huge on my 1080 screen though xD)

azureXtwilight 2017-04-18 22:54:52 UTC #65

The new site is tons better, thank you for listening! Let' s just hope the forum button is easier to find!

Ringarune 2017-04-18 22:58:12 UTC #66

Agreed! New change looks good :> thank you to the tapas team taking the time to change it <3

michaelson 2017-04-18 23:15:12 UTC #67

We'll be adding it to the profile drop down menu in the future. Now to figure out what a forum icon should look like.

gateofselidor 2017-04-18 23:50:31 UTC #68

I definitely don't expect it to fill my whole monitor, which I know is a lot wider than average, but it would be nice if the layout were a little more dynamic to account for different screen sizes. The updated layout with less clutter is a huge improvement, though! The negative space is less noticeable when you don't have to scroll for miles.