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Mar 2020

Will you be allowing people to use the old website format? Or maybe just switch back to it entirely?

Okay, yesterday a comic caught my eye and I tried to read it.
Holy balls, that was so clunky!
The whole idea of having a menu pop when you don't need it but disappear when you want it is so infuriating!
The navigation needs a major overhaul.

Also, why are the stats and useful creator features absent from the mobile version?
I know it was the same before, but what's the point of it?

There are definitely some things I have noticed as both a creator and a reader that I feel are issues.

As a reader, the dark header and footer/navigation bars on the comic pages are very distracting. They also take away from the comic pages by making them harder to read. The way they disappear and reappear is very distracting. Also, having the hidden episode list feels inconvenient when compared to the old always visible list. These things I'm sure have been mentioned already, but I just wanted to reiterate. As a creator, I really miss the comic banner, it gives the reader a visual point of interest an introduction so to speak.

Aesthetics aside, the content of front page is what's REALLY bothering me, as a creator. I have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find anything that isn't either premium, a staff pick, or a translated manhwa that tapas picked up the rights to. Nothing is inherently wrong with these things, but it leaves almost zero visibility for smaller creators who work in other styles or genres.
The 'popular' and 'trending' bars were where I found my favorite comics, and where mine appeared at least once, because it relied on ACTUAL USER ENGAGEMENT. Now instead of showing things based on user interest, it's just showing me what the staff thinks I want to see- and I assure you, it isn't a single one of the flowery looking things being advertised in the top 3/4ths of the page. Right now it seems like the staff is prioritizing aesthetics over what people actually want to read, and screwing over smaller creators.

My recommendations to bring back the trust and appreciation of the creators hurt by this update:
- Bring back 'Popular' and 'Trending' bars in the top visible half of the page, or at least prioritize showing work based on user interest.
- Add 'Random comics/novels' bars to help bring in essential numbers to smaller, previously unnoticed works.
- Also... I miss the tapas yellow.

EDIT:
ALSO, I just looked at my own comic, and, wow! WOW! What the HELL! It is INCREASINGLY obvious that you are trying to discourage people from posting comics in any format besides the long skinny infinite scroll style. My comic is in a classic page format with panels. Trying to shove it into the skinny format by zooming it in like 100x literally destroys the readability of many of the pages. That, plus the obvious bias in what gets displayed in the top 3/4th of the front page, just shows continued prioritization of One Style of comic. This whole snub is fucking infuriating. Sorry if my languages offends you, Michael and staff, but being constantly shown that my work and other work like mine is literally worthless to the people running this site is even more offensive.

I don't think so. I asked Michael what is preventing a rollback, and he simply said "I can't comment on that currently."

So here's a few theories why that is:
1. Someone dropped the ball and deleted the backups of files required to do so.
2. They've been bought out, and the new company wants it to be a Webtoon clone, which is what happened to and destroyed Smackjeeves.
3. Basically #2, but not a buyout, just investor pressure.
4. They're just very dead set on forcing this redesign (that no one asked for) on us.

So it just seems as if the question will left ignored for quite some time (if not forever) like a phone number you don't know.

Well, Michael responded stating there was no buyout (I think it was him anyway).

I'm leaning on number 3.

Major changes like this tend to be driven by the pursuit of money, specially when the old system appeared to be functional.
Well, I don't know how things were in the background, so I can't comment whether the previous interface had a major flaw.

What convinces me is the "can't comment" comment.
Usually it indicates external pressure.
Don't take me too seriously though, It's all speculation.

this new site is a horrible layout and eye-murder.

revert the way the comics are displayed on desktop the the way it was last month at least.

and darkmode is a 100% requirement.

Has the reason for the 'Series Banner' negation been answered by anyone from the dev team?

Is it just because the banner isn't needed on the app, or something more?

Ah, well seeing his comment on the buyout, I'm with you now on thinking it's #3.

Just the "can't comment" comment is just so...evasive in nature, I guess. I feel like I'm (and the Tapas community as a whole) not getting the full story, but at the same time, there's simply not enough information to come up with a probable cause for these changes.

I don't think so. I asked Michael what is preventing a rollback, and he simply said "I can't comment on that currently."

It's just because he is not a decision maker for the product and at that time we were discussion "rollback" option. :sweat_smile:
Also of course we don't want to be a Webtoon clone. I don't think it's necessary but I feel like that our product team should've visited the Webtoon website before updating website hahaha...

Anyway.. our team is working hard to fix things that we got feedback as much as we can.. Just it takes some time...

(Also we didn't delete all the series banner files that creators uploaded, and you will access the file soon through the Dashboard.)

Thank you,

"I can't comment" tells us two things: First, they are hiding something from us (obviously), and, second, that it was the result of "executive meddling." In principle, it could mean any number of other things; in practice, it virtually never does. . . .

Some of you guys are getting all worked up over that "can't comment"... As amusing as it might be to read all that speculation, you gotta admit it does not help in any way: you won't get more answers, and yall are only spreading rumors and/or projecting ill intents onto the Tapas team - all without evidence.

From what we know, this "I can't comment" could refer to about anything. Talking and jumping to conclusions without proof is only creating further chaos when there is no reason to.

From the looks of it, despite their [insert ghost sound effect here] hidden reasons, the Tapas team seems to be working hard on solving the issues their update caused, gathering feedback from us, etc. So, sure, we can't move backwards, but it doesn't mean the team isn't working on making our experience better.

Since we don't know their reasons, we can only wait and see, and judge the product/website's quality itself. This is the only evidence we have, and the only evidence we need to decide whether we want to stay here or move someplace else.

tl;dr: There is no need to raise rumors on each word the Tapas team says, yo :stuck_out_tongue:

That sounds good.

And also will the font/typeface for the novels' text revert to the Eye-pleasing Serif Font we had, or is this bland sans-serif Arial type to stay.

Thank you for all the hard work. It's great that you listen to the community feedback

It always feels a bit sketch when things like this happen and I prefer the people I work with to be as clear as possible but I agree the fear mongering is troubling.

lmao okay but you don't just aCciDenTaLLy make a website look and function JUST LIKE another website, like even the suggested comics are in the exact same positioning and format when you're browsing, just like webtoons lol

like if you're worried about your product team not 'checking things' first, i hate to break it to ya, but it's the other way around. Clearly some of your staff are spending a liiiiittle too much time on your competitor's website /whistle whistle

i wanna give y'all the benefit of the doubt but you're not making it easy because that's straight hokey and you know it lol maybe i look like a dick for that assumption but is it really a wrong assumption to make? the chances of me being wrong to assume that are far greater than the astronomically slim chances of 'accidentally' copying another website, like you'd copy someone's homework lol ('just make it look a liiittle different'). The only real difference is that Webtoons looks far cleaner because they actually spent time on it and have been refining it since they released their current layout design.

As a tattoo artist, this just makes me think of the artists out there who steal other people's designs and then can't even do the original the justice of looking half as good. Because they're inexperienced and they don't have the tools or skills to perfectly replicate the original's style and craftsmanship. In 100% of these cases, it's better to just focus on your own skills and designs and not blatantly copy.

i rambled for a hot minute there but rly, honestly speaking, we appreciate you guys fixing the bugs but you don't gotta pretend ¯\(ツ)

“I can’t comment” often means: it is against business practices to do so. I doubt ANYONE wants to publicly reveal information that could be used by a rival company or a hostile force in the markets to damage Tapas. I’m sure everyone here means well, but there is a level of common sense about how much of the inner workings can be revealed. Tapas is already EXTREMELY transparent about a lot of things compared to other tech firms so I wouldn’t say that there’s some mysterious forces at work. Just common sense and following the rules.