Comments and shoutboxes

[InvaderScurk]

What experience do people have with getting comments on a comic? I've seen several styles, from a small shout box to one side of the page, to comments that are centered and go down for awhile. This comic and this one are examples of the latter. I was wondering, is that a particularly well known or commonly used site or program for setting up comments? It's one of my big goals with my webcomic, and I've been browsing for possibilities.

[Lianweijun086]

Hey, the two comics you used as examples publish their comics using Comicpress, a program developed by wordpress to upload comics onto the web. If you're using ComicGenesis, you can't use Comicpress because it requires the use of PHP and access to the SQL database, which CG does not allow. What I've done is set up a feed to a blogger, and inserted a cbox. The cbox acts more like a guestbook than anything else, while the blog acts as news, where readers can comment if they want. The difference is, unlike Comicpress, the blog articles aren't locked to the comic, which would be very convenient...

Sorry for the jarbled word vomit of a response. I hope it makes sense! If not, I'll be back to explain, or maybe someone else will do it better ^^

::edit:: Huh, how did those tags get there? Are they automated?

[InvaderScurk]

Well, I understood from context that the examples I gave aren't good examples if I want to use Comic Gen. What I've gathered from the rest is that I need to set up a blog. But I don't know what a cbox is for where I'd place it in the code. Also, what's the significance of having blog articles locked to a comic?

[Greenlightgo]

you can get a cbox here: http://www.cbox.ws/

and you can see an example of a customized cbox on my website: http://glg.comicgenesis.com

It's on the right hand side of the screen. I really love mine!

hope this helps

[Lianweijun086]

Well, I understood from context that the examples I gave aren't good examples if I want to use Comic Gen. What I've gathered from the rest is that I need to set up a blog. But I don't know what a cbox is for where I'd place it in the code. Also, what's the significance of having blog articles locked to a comic?

Well, having the blog locked to each comic is nice. It allows you to comment on the comic THROUGH the blog. For instance, you could put it in the blog that your kangaroo broke his leg while you were climbing the Mid-Atlantic ridge, so you couldn't get the page colored in time. Then, 5 months, or 5 years down the road, when someone sees the uncolored page, the blog will still be attached, documenting the reason. I mean, that's just one example really. It also allows people to comment on the page through your blog.

Basically, it'd be like a commentary of your comic. You can express how you felt as you came up with and drew each episode, and readers can comment. It'll all be locked to the comic. With a separate blog, you don't have that luxury. There are ways around this, though. Like having a forum, where readers can discuss each installment of the comic, or what I've done is written the commentaries into my wiki. I just have to update the wiki all the time, which can be a bit of a pain.

Hope that helps!