Website updates and collecting feedback

[TAMAnnoying]

Well I honestly can’t say anything about novles as that’s not my tea, but It’s always been known that tapas isn’t great with its novles so I can’t do much but agree with you there. It’s very possible that since tapas now looks so much like a Webtoon clone people aren’t expecting to find actual novles here anymore? I honestly couldn’t say.

My consern is more for all the comic people freaking out when there’s no real way to check stats For some time as the only other site we have is Webtoon which has more younger audience and isn’t gonna help mature comics try to compare and contrast so early in the change and so late into this pendemic

[KRWright]

It’s very possible that since tapas now looks so much like a Webtoon clone people aren’t expecting to find actual novles here anymore?

It's not that. It's the way novels are displayed (very very few at the top of the page - almost half the screen is a menu on the novels side) and then the algorithm essentially pushing things... interestingly.

[TAMAnnoying]

almost half the screen is a menu on the novels side

Has that been reported yet? Sounds like a glitch

[KRWright]

No this is a clear design choice. Literally one novel and three featured novels appear when you click on the novels page - you have to scroll down to see more. It means that essentially the top spot gets a load of real estate, but if you're anywhere below the top 5 or so, you may as well be on infinite scroll.

[PixelEnchanter]

To be fair, it is the same menu as on the comics side. And also part of it is probably based on scaling of your screen. Here's what each look like for me.

[TAMAnnoying]

Ohhhhh yeah that. I noticed that but honestly I feel like I’m not the person to give input on it. I rarely read novles, however if I’m to be compleatky honest with you I actually much prefer it because the summery is front and center for me to see (unlike I’m comics where it’s hidden) so I can actually read summaries and decided on if I’d be interested in the story before I even click on it and have to read through sevral pages ( or guess if I’ll like it based on the pretty cover)

But I can understand why it upsets you

[KRWright]

That's still a pretty awful design choice as it basically limits advertising to VERY few spots - and also makes people scroll a lot to see anything. This hasn't been a popular decision on other novel reading websites either who moved towards this kind of system and algorithm and failed quite spectacularly with it.

I can actually read summaries and decided on if I’d be interested in the story before I even click on it and have to read through sevral pages

It would be better if people had a space to put a log-line in and included less white space. The title being clickable isn't needed (it should be on the cover), so essentially genre and log-line is all that's needed. Also number of likes is misleading - number of subs is a far better counter of quality as it shows how many individuals have subscribed rather than how long something is, but I digress.

[TAMAnnoying]

As a reader of novles I will agree to disagree with you cause I actually prefer this ^^” but again I’m not knowlaged on novel stats so shrug

[KRWright]

I rarely read novles,

As a reader of novles

Which one?

One thing that I know is that people DO judge books by their covers. Tapas readers are very driven by two things: Genre and Trope. So as long as your cover and log line is communicating those clearly, you're going to get the right audience for your books. Clicking through or hovering over to show the full blurb then would be a good addition - but most readers are not reading in-depth before clicking through and while this might change that behaviour, I wouldn't say it's indicative.

[TAMAnnoying]

Rarely a reader dose not mean “never a reader” love, but again, agree to disagree x3 I have few novles in my list but the new set up could very well encourage me to read more since the summaries are front and center.

[KRWright]

I dunno. I tend to market towards people who are regularly consumers of certain types of content as it’s quite rare to actually convert people to an entirely new medium when they have resisted it for a good few years when it’s only been a click away on the site. I don’t think it was the lack of blurb on the display page bothering most people (especially considering that it was available after one click - just as it is now to read the full blurb).

[TAMAnnoying]

Diffrent strokes diffrent folks

[Croik]

Am I crazy or is it a completely different menu actually? Comics is full width while novels has half taken up by Featured, because comics has Featured on the front page and novels does not.

[PixelEnchanter]

The original comment was about menus, which is the part along the top and that's identical between comic and novels. Although I do agree that there are likely much better ways of handling both menus and displaying series in general

[villainesayre]

There's so many replies and I couldn't read them all so forgive me if someone already said something similar.

The new website design is to put it simply... plain. Everything is white and light gray and in my opinion it all melts together in big white page with nothing to set eyes on. Front page looks like chaos now (because of big icons and lots of them) and there's so many things going on that I can't focus properly on one thing and it makes me just NOT wanting to read anything because I can't settle on one thing.

Background mixes too much with toolbar which is almost invisible and if it wasn't in the same place I would miss it.

I actually miss the black/yellow/white design as yellow was a colour of tapastic and it let the website stand out amongst others. Simplyfing everything when it comes to design most of the times is not a good thing and so many trademarks/companies/etc lose their identities. Minimize - ok, but not to the point when you can just smash a different logo on the front page and it will look nice as would've any other logo.

And one thing that piss me more than what I've said before - reading new episodes/chapters of the favourite series is such a pain in the ass that as I've checked the site everyday now I do it once or twice a week because you've taken the most essential tool front the site which is endless scrolling. It was the most comfortable thing you could get and you just got rid of that.

[eleoza]

Personally I left Tapas until things are fixed/better...
I tried, but I can't get used to this and my stats are dropping.

It makes me sad, really. I've been here since 2016, but Tapas is just not the awesome place for comics it used to be. This whole redesign was the final drop.
I do hope to come back eventually once things are better...

I doubt I can add something which hasn't been said already.
To better times <3

[dedadaniels]

Creator here,
Left feedback on the forms.
Thanks for restoring the Previews.
They do a lot when you share the page outside of the platform.

[IndigoShirtProd]

So, @michaelson is the full sized covers thing still happening this month, 'cause it's not really mid-March anymore. There's a lot of things happening not only with the Tapas team fixing bugs and deciding which features to change, but also with this worldwide pandemic. It's fine if that's being pushed back, there are more pressing issues, I just though I'd ask. And if there's any news, if a email is going to be sent out.

[michaelson]

I am a little confused, it sounds like an algorithm that favors new creators would be more suitable for its own section

The idea would be that the algorithm would help curate newer titles to compliment the existing popular titles that are already being featured. The goal is to help integrate more new titles with popular titles. By bifurcating newer titles away from popular titles we are already lowering the probability of the new titles having a competitive click through rate.

"donut hole". That is, when a series gets stuck because they are too old/have too many subs for Trending, but are not big enough to slide in on Popular.

Totally agree with the sentiment. It's difficult to address all of the concerns within a single algorithm and as you mentioned as the site grows, there's going to be more and more difficulties trying to accommodate as many creators as possible. As for the creators that fall within the "donut hole" it's tough - we would need to define parameters in which we identify what segment of the creators that fall into this category we should be prioritizing and how exactly to feature them in a manner where they'll actually benefit.

Appreciate the feedback and call to attention to this group.

One area your team may want to put their attention towards if you're actively trying to fix the site constantly promoting the same comics over and over again is the 'more like this' section that shows up under comics.

Yes, the selections are currently static but we hope to expand this as time goes on.

I feel like this isn’t what “popular” should be though. Popular should be about the raw numbers, where something like “Rising” or “Hot” are better elsewhere.

The idea is roll in more new creators and series within the already existing popular section, or if we have to redefine the section with a different terminology then we can rethink the strategy around that. The goal is to help diversify the offerings of such a prominent section on Tapas. While I completely understand your frustration and understand that it will directly impact creators like yourself, we do need to make ample efforts to try and make sure that readers are finding enough utility within that section. I apologize for the direct negative impact that it has had on you.

is the full sized covers thing still happening this month

We are still working on re-implementing this.

[LordVincent]

I think the problem here is the expectation upon which these compared click-through rates rest. Yes, users that are already around and willing to get used to the new setup may be more likely to click new titles. But to obtain that you sacrifice:

• The marketability of the site. This would hurt the small creators by extension.
• The reliability of the section (people expect a certain thing when they click popular. If they don't find the sorting useful, they will cease to use it rendering the section useless).
• Some of your biggest earners. Some may leave the site, others may have to centralize their focus on other sites. This would hurt the small creators you are trying to help by extension.
• Some of your contracted earners. Like I said I am probably one of those that escape this with the least harm, but if I may speak for some of the lower income premium creators for a moment you would be gambling with the earnings of people who invested their time and brand in you.

I hope I don't come across as too harsh because I am not only writing this through the haze of the financial loss that corona has caused, but I literally most likely have had corona myself this week so I am not in my best state... but some of your most essential marketing tools and contracted creators are practically begging you not to do this. Not just for us, but for the sake of the entire site. The popular section has an essential marketing role and you can't force people to read more new content through it without sacrificing more than it's worth long term.

If you want to bring people to see more niche content, content that is less seen currently, etc, then I think the collected wish (from conversations I've had with other people who are concerned about this potential update) is a functioning search system. Allow people to not only filter by genre, but add search words to further specify what they are looking for. We already have series tags (or at least had last time i checked..?) so why not let people search for them??

A functioning search system will mean that users, once they understand the site (until which time a reliable popular section is essential), will find their own way to less seen content that suits them. Audiences and creators naturally find each other. Without making sacrifices!