So dramatic! well, I'm glad that my life doesn't depend on the Tapas website. Let's maybe not let them run our government
Same, that would be fun - although thinking about this, if they are willing to invest money and/or their livelihood into building a company for webcomics, which is everything but an easy industry to be in, nor one that makes you particularly rich, that means even the higher ups are likely just as nerdy as we are. So I guess I'll not give hell to anyone today.
All changes are with trouble. And yes we should give the dev a break. Because they are not in charge of what had hit us all.
But the issue is more ”why” and that question we can’t get a full answer at. And that strange ”why” had caused a downgrade in Tapas functions and navigations.
Why did we downgrade? With no to little warning and without no beta test. Tapas was good at communicating about Covers but missed out THIS?
WHY THE RUSH?
I'm sure many persons could explain it better than I do, but basically, SJ got purchased by a bigger company, announced it well in advance, but also announced the site would remain faithfull to its principles and features; then proceeded to implement drastic changes that removed all the special features and the site identity. Also made the navigation terrible and removed most ways of communication between artists and between artists and readers. There was a massive exode of creators.
Here is more details: https://forums.tapas.io/t/what-are-your-opinions-on-the-smackjeeves-changes/389295
So I have taken time to breathe a little bit and really think about the changes. It helps that there were updates today that made the reading experience a bit better.
So looking at the site on desktop with fresh eyes, I want to suggest a few things:
Bring back the infinite scrolling through pages. I liked that. It felt naturally reading through the series without needed to click anywhere. A lot of sites that host Web Novels (which my stories happen to be) have the infinite down scrolling too, with a slight pose once at the end of the chapter to look through comments, see ads, etc. I think it would be awesome if that came back. Please.
Banner customization.
Not much more to add, other then again "Yes, please". A banner that is above the top navigation at least, would be very cool. I would have to remake my banner, but customization is fun! it gives creator their own space and let's readers see a bit of the 'personality' of the story.
The Pop-up Nav: I don't think that the pop-up nav is a bad idea. I just think the automation of is not user friendly. If there was an arrow or button on the nav bars to slide them in and out at will? That would be better. Also, along with this more obedient pop-up nav, I suggest a permanent little slide squatty (and yellow with black text) bar that would stay on the screen and show not only a button to bring back the footer and header...but also a 'Subscribe' or 'Bookmark' icon. That way it's always on screen.
And if the current reader is also the Creator of the novel, then including a 'Edit' option on the sidebar or on the pop-up nav would be just...kisses fingers wonderful.
...just some thoughts.
...So I'm a Code Monkey who does software that is not necessarily facing the external client, but has a user base of professionals who do consistent operations on the software. Essentially, I make stuff for the 'creators' equivalent of my workplace.
Since my industry is not gaming, or webhosting, or retail, etc, I may completely be off base here, but generally before deployment but after development, there is a UAT or User Acceptance Testing period. This allows for the user of the particular software to make sure they can do their job with minimal interruption.
If we were to change this towards the gaming side of programming, there were several ways to go about applying the same UAT to the masses without impacting them heavily. A lot of software and gaming folks have different mirror servers running their 'new version' and send notification to users to go check it out.
If they want a more discerning eye and the mirror server is significantly smaller than the main production server (typically the case), they can send out a form for their users to apply to be beta testers.
If they don't have a lot of servers but the change is mostly layout changes (like html, css, etc), then they could have a switch coded that would flip the layout but still retain communication to the same database/services cloud/backend.
At the very least, if there is a crunch, then an explicit notification to readers and creators detailing a good deal of the major changes coming to the site from both a reader and creator perspective should be sent.
Again, I don't work at Tapas, I don't work in this industry. I just think that a whole lot of heartache, a whole lot of stress, and a lot of the negativity could have been mitigated. I brought this up before, but DeviantArt did a recent update and allowed for the option for the users to test the new 'Eclipse' but go back to the old layout.
They had multiple announcements.
They had forms ready for feedback once the new site went live (again, with an option to use the old layout).
They had multiple journals publishing things, including what they were working before they went live.
I know tapas is a smaller team. I get that. However, at least a thread for the changes? A screenshot? Something?!
That would've been okay.
And if they have to tell the other devs to roll back changes...oh well that sucks, but that also is not new. If they can bring back the old site, then have a mirror url for the new one so we can see how things progress, with minimal impact to our current workflow, a trust would be built between us, the users, and the dev team.
In the end, it doesn't matter how much work has already been put in. If the users, the clients are not happy, it's not successful and something has to change.
...Sorry, I made a long rant, I apologize. I don't know the lifecycle of development of tapas. I'm overall happy that they are gathering feedback, but there were a lot of ways to handle this update and the way that it happened was going to blow up.
I will add this to say that...I don't blame the Devs.
They are the ones who will have to put in the time, the hours into fixing this. They are not responsible for what happened to Tapas, nor for the blatant missteps in the deployment process.
I firmly lay this on the feet of the powers that be ABOVE the developers.
Mismanagement, as usual, is to blame.
sigh...I just hope that things will stabilize soon and our voices, and the voices of the devs, I'm sure, can be heard.
Yeah after my rant, I started to feel bad cause...man I can empathize. I really can.
But damn, this was just...not a good look and while I can empathize, Dev to Dev, a lot of readers and creators can't.
Nor should they.
There is a service to provide and that service has been changed so drastically. I won't say that it has been brought down. However, there was disruption that was not disclosed and will not be disclosed at this time. I don't blame the forums at all for being angry. I am disappointed too.