Website updates and collecting feedback

[carloswebcomic]

We continually promote series within the staff picks to help bring more awareness to a diverse range of stories - we've featured over 100 series with less than 100 subs in this section this year alone. We also have the New & Noteworthy section which updates at a more rapid rate. Please relax with this narrative - we are and have always been supporters of up and coming creators.

Yes, but correct me if I'm wrong, that's mostly good for new comics and those that catch the eye of staff.
what about other comics which have been around for a while and got overlooked?
How are they getting visibility?

[eleoza]

I'd like to add that the 24/h rule has been removed from free comics too. This makes it hard for new/small comics to even have a chance at ever reaching the popular page I imagine?

[blackdevil72]

Hm, the difficulty is that the web version was growing more and more behind the more we updated the apps. There are certain features that are app only that would be incredibly helpful but difficult to translate to the web version with the previous user interface. Comparatively, there aren't that many platforms that have a bifurcated web and mobile experience - they tend to aim for as much parity as possible.

Actually there is a lot of platform that have a bifurcated experience. They just aim for parity in core functionality not in design or device specific functionality.

You don't treat desktop and mobile the same way. I can understand that the website backend was getting hard for you to update, but for us user the frontend was doing great.

Maybe on your end you gain a lot in term of ease of dev, maintenance etc, but on our end we have lot a whole lot. and unfortunately right now you are giving us a school case of "devs have strictly no idea what user need and implement things they think user need".

From where I am it looks like you've put all your egg in the same basket (mobile) and try to adapt your website around that.

If I'm not on webtoon and have actively tried to discourage creator to leave tapas for webtoon there was a good reason. And now I'm not anymore on tapas I'm on webtoon bis.

I've been here since you guys were named Tapastic before you even launched the Tapas mobile app. I've not always agreed with you guys but overall the experience was always good and I could acomodate to the change. But this time I'm sorry I'm seriously considering leaving tapas because this time most of the functionalities I stayed for are gone.

[OBC]

What is preventing a rollback to the old design? That's not done often with websites, but with how unpopular and problematic this update is, fixing all its issues just seems like upgrading a Ford Pinto to being fully electric: At the end of the day, you're still left with a lemon.

[eleoza]

^this.

At least roll back until you fixed the current problems? I think we've given plenty feedback for you guys to work on ^^;

[michaelson]

Yes, but correct me if I'm wrong, that's mostly good for new comics and those that catch the eye of staff.what about other comics which have been around for a while and got overlooked?How are they getting visibility?

With over 70,000 stories on platform, the amount of visual space on the homepage simply cannot accommodate everyone. So, we need to figure out more intuitive ways for readers to proactively discover series that relate to their interests, or level the playing field with better algorithms.

We introduced a filtering system on the apps that allows for readers to sort by series type (comics/novels), genre based, and then a third level of granularity (popular, binge worthy, fresh, etc). We've found that series type -> genre type -> fresh has led to a wider diversity of reader subscription, and on average more readers are subscribing to more series.

The Staff Picks section in particular also samples from a wider range of stories which are supplied both through human curation and automated curation which doesn't place any bias on the recency of the series only the recency of their updates.

Creators are also encouraged to engage with their existing readership in order to qualify for the trending and popular sections. We're still fine-tuning these algorithms to better include a wider variety of stories (i.e. new series, long time publishing series, popular series, trending series, and series that have proportional engagement).

**Edit: I readily acknowledge that there can definitely be more that can be done for more creators.

Maybe on your end you gain a lot in term of ease of dev, maintenance etc, but on our end we have lot a whole lot. and unfortunately right now you are giving us a school case of "devs have strictly no idea what user need and implement things they think user need".

I do think that simplifying programing and featuring are definitely beneficial for us, but that wasn't the primary driver of these decisions. Again, we were seeing a great deal of success with the mobile app features that we launched and saw a lot of creators benefitting from these reader experience updates. So, in order to try and translate those over to the web, we tried changing some of the user interface and user experience elements. We acknowledge that we missed the mark on some things and are aiming to improve them and make them more intuitive for the web experience.

What is preventing a rollback to the old design?

I can't comment on that currently.

[joannekwan]

To add on the mobile vs. desktop discussion. YES, I totally agree with this.

Actually there is a lot of platform that have a bifurcated experience. They just aim for parity in core functionality not in design or device specific functionality.

You don't treat desktop and mobile the same way. I can understand that the website backend was getting hard for you to update, but for us user the frontend was doing great.

I'm using desktop for a reason. I want all the features available to me at a click! It's like comparing using Photoshop on desktop to Procreate on an ipad. Sure they ultimately can accomplish the same thing, but I need a full on program to do what I want to do with keyboard shortcuts and text tool and windows in an interface that presents them right there, instead having to click through a bunch of tabs and lists to find what I want.

Mobile is fine for what it is, great for on-the-go! But when I'm sitting at home at my desk, I expect to be able to accomplish a lot more and quicker.

[michaelson]

Mobile is fine for what it is, great for on-the-go! But when I'm sitting at home at my desk, I expect to be able to accomplish a lot more and quicker.

Yes, totally agree. We are hoping to address these with further iterations of the changes we've implemented.

[HRAM]

Mobile is fine for what it is, great for on-the-go! But when I'm sitting at home at my desk, I expect to be able to accomplish a lot more and quicker.

I agree with this and I don't use a mobile.

[KRWright]

We introduced a filtering system on the apps that allows for readers to sort by series type (comics/novels), genre based, and then a third level of granularity (popular, binge worthy, fresh, etc). We've found that series type -> genre type -> fresh has led to a wider diversity of reader subscription, and on average more readers are subscribing to more series.

This is reassuring, because it gives us a reason the changes were made. I think people can accept things when they’re explained to them. Not necessarily like what they’re told, but definitely accept and understand the changes.

Creators are also encouraged to engage with their existing readership in order to qualify for the trending and popular sections. We're still fine-tuning these algorithms to better include a wider variety of stories (i.e. new series, long time publishing series, popular series, trending series, and series that have proportional engagement).

What about completed series? How do these factor in or how will they in future?

[carloswebcomic]

With over 70,000 stories on platform, the amount of visual space on the homepage simply cannot accommodate everyone. So, we need to figure out more intuitive ways for readers to proactively discover series that relate to their interests, or level the playing field with better algorithms.

We introduced a filtering system on the apps that allows for readers to sort by series type (comics/novels), genre based, and then a third level of granularity (popular, binge worthy, fresh, etc). We've found that series type -> genre type -> fresh has led to a wider diversity of reader subscription, and on average more readers are subscribing to more series.

The Staff Picks section in particular also samples from a wider range of stories which are supplied both through human curation and automated curation which doesn't place any bias on the recency of the series only the recency of their updates.

Creators are also encouraged to engage with their existing readership in order to qualify for the trending and popular sections. We're still fine-tuning these algorithms to better include a wider variety of stories (i.e. new series, long time publishing series, popular series, trending series, and series that have proportional engagement).

**Edit: I readily acknowledge that there can definitely be more that can be done for more creators.

Thank you for your response and I apologise for venting my frustration.
It seem like all the platforms are pushing a small handful of comics while hiding the smaller, less popular ones.
I do hope that you guys work something out to provide a more even playing field.

[valiisi]

To chime in, the website IMO lost a lot of personality with this update, any issues in-text formatting is not enjoyable. We need more customization options and not less, so creators can focus on their audience and first impressions. This is important for writers, who need a hook to catch eyes, and for artists working on anything long-form.

Let's pretend we all own little stores, and we want people to browse our wares. What draws people into my store in this example, would be my store-front. Smaller businesses fuel the economy when the wealth trickles down, it creates a rich town people want to live in- it creates a site people want to stay on. I would from a personal stance, reinstate and potentially even add more user customization- that way people stay because all the stores look much, much cooler.

The UI is much sleeker, but in the same light, it looks boring and unfinished. I've coded websites before and acted as an admin on others, as responsive and functional as it has been for the few times I've clicked around, I can definitely say this pushes Tapas further away from being a recognizable brand, and enjoyable site - (On desktop specifically, I haven't used the mobile app.)

TL;DR: Let people customize, it draws in more viewers and makes the entire site's economy much more lively, and minimalism is not a good approach for a site that is anything but minimalist- tapas is sensationalist, it's loud - it has a voice, and a community. Bank on that comfort.

(In terms of copyright, it's always going to be an issue, and the more material you let people source, the more those issues will arrive, but do not fret - for that is unavoidable on any user-driven platform, and reading over your terms of service, I'm fairly confident y'all have that under control.)

[brusskel]

Dude I don't even know if I want to post on this platform anymore...

I'm a new creator and the old format looks as if I was guaranteed at least SOME form of an audience. It was welcoming and it made it feel like everyone could make their mark on the site because it was small and everyone and staff was trying to help you out. Now it just looks like webtoon and I am BEYOND overwhelmed. I feel like my comic will get nowhere and I'll just be hidden under popular creators and stories everyone has read already...

[AdamOnAcid]

One of the things I dislike the most, at least from what I can properly describe, is the fact that there's no longer any indication of what you have read vs what is new? When I went to check which comics updated today I had to look at the dates, which will be frustrating in the future if I'm not checking in "regularly." I'm not sure if this is just because I'm using the site in a weird way (mobile browser,) but still, the old site worked just fine.

[Iris-Grimoire]

Unless you can build a website and market the hell out of it, keep going still if it's fun to make. Michaelson already showed a lot more effort in at least seeing immediate problems compared to say Smackjeeves, and a plataform naturally has a bit of categorization to be found by readers. Always always have a main website to prevent sudden shutdowns or weird format changes, but also keep mirror sites to make sure someone who's comfy with one website still sees your comic.

[pkholcombe]

There's no nice way to say this, but the new update is horrendous. All the empty space hurts my eyes. Its now harder to get to my complete Library. At my library, I used to be able to just click and go right to where I left off on each comic. The extra steps make the site feel like Smackjeeves after its update, which chased tons of people who had been using it off the site. In fact, the website changes feel exactly like the changes that happened there, down to the font, placement of links, setup, and appearances. This site has lost all personality on desktop in addtion just being more obnoxious to use and look at. I might just handle everything with the app for now, but if things don't change I expect another comic exodus like Smackjeeves, probably to Webtoon.

[Iris-Grimoire]

This is pretty big and I forgot to add it on the form, yeah. It seems the pages just improperly go to previous pages even though you're on the newest one, too, because the reading reset and it thinks you're just starting. Maybe bringing back "read from the beginning" from the update should be a tad high on the list as well, just so that is its only purpose and next gives you, well, the next page. (and if there's no next one to simply show none, like when you've just read them all)

[cleo_san]

Whew... okay, I don't like the new design at all, sorry dear @michaelson x___x I am sure you all meant well, but... just nope.

I am totally with @blackdevil72 in some aspects. And @Alrathi has a pretty neat list of suggestions, too.

What I enjoyed when going to a new series was that I was RIGHT in it, I saw the latest comic page, I saw the artwork (not just some thumbs) and I knew right away if I liked the style of the comic pages.

Speaking of thumbnails: I am really, REALLY disappointed that the scroll down bar on the left side is gone, me, as well as many other artists, used the top to bottom list of episodes to make an artwork of continuing thumbs. 2 years of thumbnail uploads for the trashcan, it just looks like garbage now instead of a pleasant artwork in thumbs. Why did you change that? I mean, it was a feature I haven't seen on any other webcomic platform yet, it added so much personality and us creators were able to play around and make it more interesting for our readers!

Where's the continuous scrolling of pages? Why can't I just keep scrolling down instead of clicking a button with the mouse OR tap on the arrow keys on the desktop mode?

Where is the webcomic header? It might seem minor, but it is another important eyecatcher for the webcomic.

Why can't I support my fave creators from each page as easy as before? I know that the ink support button is SOMEWHERE to be found. But I really enjoyed the one-click support I had before.

Same goes with the external link, wasn't there some way to promote a link, e.g. to one's patreon? Still haven't found that...

The new design is - pardon - a cheap webtoons ripoff. Where's the tapas charm? Why should anyone feel welcome on a bleak, generic design like that?

Uuuugh, srsly, as much as I love tapas, the new design just won't work... T___T Please, please, PLEASE listen to your creators and go back to the old design... treating a desktop like a mobile just won't work and you made it unnecessarily user-unfriendly...

[Iris-Grimoire]

The 200x300 ish icon for any link of your choosing still appears for me, but only that. Regular banner and the Support banner that's even incentivized every Inksgiving are gone.

[cleo_san]

The 200x300 ish icon for any link of your choosing still appears for me, but only that. Regular banner and the Support banner that's even incentivized every Inksgiving are gone.

Unfortunately I can see neither of those, not even the 200x300 icon and I checked 3 comics I know for sure they had one... >.<"
Thanks for letting me know though =)