Do you want a non-index default page?

Dr Neo Lao · Post by **Dr Neo Lao** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:00 pm

I want to know how many people are interested in having the option of there being a page other than index.html as the default page on their comic.

This could apply to comics that have adult content and want a warning page, story driven comics that want a gateway page or other non-standard comics that want something other than the latest comic to be what the reader first sees.

Please note: this is not intended as a discussion about whether it's a good idea or not, or if people like it. I'm just interested in finding the people who actively want this option to be available.

At the moment, there is an "If not index, what is the default page?" option in the advanced settings - but that option does nothing. The only way to do it is to turn off auto-update and hand-code all the pages.

People who seem interested so far:

Dr Neo Lao (myself)
Scyze
londonunderground
(added from this thread)
princess(?)
Black Fox
That guy / catlegend

And I'm pretty sure I've seen at least two or three others who were also interested in this option being available, but can't remember their names.

Also note: This isn't a petition demanding anything, I'm just interested in seeing if it's worth pursuing or just live with it. More reading from this post in this thread with Kisai's 2004 response quoted a little further down.

NakedElf · Post by **NakedElf** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:22 pm

While I don't have any particular desire for such (I just use my URL/title to notify people of adult content), I don't really see how it could be a bad thing from the user-end of things. (Well, other people messing up their comics attempting to use it, perhaps...) Dunno if it'd be worth the hassle to implement, but I'm sure it'd be a boon to people who want it.

Princess · Post by **Princess** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:21 am

I used to have my comic on index2.html

People never linked to my warning page so I gave up

Dr Neo Lao · Post by **Dr Neo Lao** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:43 am

It's not just for warning pages. There are lots of reasons for not wanting the default page to have a comic.

It was implemented on the older version of AutoKeen, but it wasn't integrated for the current version. Implementing it for AutoKeen now would (I assume) be a bigger hassle than is worth the effort.

On the other hand, WolfKeen hasn't been rolled out yet (as far as I'm aware) so I figured that now would be the time to see if there were enough people interested.

Otherwise, the ability to ask for this won't become feasible until the next time the code gets updated, probably around 2011...

Black Fox · Post by **Black Fox** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 1:01 am

I am one of those who like a news-introductory first page that leads to the comic...and have for a long time wished for an easy way for it.

Right now I've put a little code of my own to try and bypass it but it's not without its bugs so it would still be useful...

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:59 am

I'm broadly against title/news pages although there are some very good reasons to have them, such as adult content.

My feeling is always that the visitors come for the comic and s you should give it to them. I kow Penny Arcade has the comic a page in but that's not just a webcomic.

I would prefer next and previous chapter buttons or a chapter based archive page. They're both a bit of a crusade for me.*

- Joel Fagin

* Especially the archive thing. I loathe calendar archives.

That guy · Post by **That guy** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:30 am

I know my wife and I have been considering one for her comic, Cat Legend. Not that her site needs a warning page, but it would make for convenient navigating for split storylines and spinoff-comics and such. It would also be nice for anyone who has stopped or indefinitely-hiatused their comic to work on another one. You could put a clean, clear: "Comic over, but check out my other works here" kind of page instead of just the last strip for all eternity.

So... anyway... that might count as two names or just one - but we'd both be interested.

Ataraxia · Post by **Ataraxia** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:48 am

princess wrote:I used to have my comic on index2.html

People never linked to my warning page so I gave up

You see, what you needed was a hot picture of lesbian Pepsi to give people a reason to visit the warning page! Of course that might defeat the point...

That guy wrote:It would also be nice for anyone who has stopped or indefinitely-hiatused their comic to work on another one. You could put a clean, clear: "Comic over, but check out my other works here" kind of page instead of just the last strip for all eternity.

Well, in that case you could just put up the link page as your final update.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:30 am

People do this. Find out how.

Dr Neo Lao · Post by **Dr Neo Lao** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 2:35 am

Huh? That was a rather cryptic post, yeahduff...

Would you care to elaborate?

To the others: I know that there are many reasons both for and against, but it seems that the main reason this option was not implemented into the current version of AutoKeen was that too many people were breaking their comics and needed rescuing by the admins.

I say that it'd be nice if the option was available, but you needed to do something to enable it first (such as getting a password from somewhere) or something that the admins needed to set up.

And by "set up" I mean: the author creates their pages the way they want (but with index.html still the default page) and when they think it's ready they can submit an application to either the admins or a group of assessors (such as for the GenChan) who check that the code is working fine and then they change the default page.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 6:22 am

Dr Neo Lao wrote:Huh? That was a rather cryptic post, yeahduff...

Would you care to elaborate?

I think he means that people already work around the limitations of CG to create the effect you want. You just need to find out how...

- Joel Fagin

Dr Neo Lao · Post by **Dr Neo Lao** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 3:03 pm

I can see a couple of interpretations:

People already know how to do this - go look it up (like you said)

People should work on finding out how this is done. Please find out.

Others do this all the time. How is it done on CG?

I've seen it done. I want to know how to do it as well.

I've seen it done. You're a lazy bum - go look and you'll see how it's done.

As I said - cryptic....

Serenagold · Post by **Serenagold** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 2:58 pm

The front page warnings, like how many mentioned above, are great if you're trying to warn people of adult content or really graphic images, or if you just want your cover or a navagation or a newspost to be the first thing you see or something, but I wouldn't want it as a standard.

Probably the best of both worlds would be an easy tutoral on your wiki page as to how to install one or maybe offer a template for it. Something like that would be real handy for us html-impared.

NakedElf · Post by **NakedElf** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:02 pm

I don't think anyone is suggesting it as the default--merely as an option.

Dr Neo Lao · Post by **Dr Neo Lao** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:32 pm

That's right, I'm not saying that it should be the default. There are lots of good reasons why an author shouldn't have something like this.

What I find annoying is that there appears to be an easy way to turn it on/off in the advanced settings, but it doesn't do anything.

Maybe if the option was changed from being "what do you want?" (open ended) to "do you want index.html or gateway.html as default?" (basically only allow one of two options, and if there is no gateway.html file make the index.html the default again).

That would make me happy.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:20 pm

The trouble with this even as an option is that all the newbs will use it just because Penny Arcade does.

Of course, that'd probably only bother me.

- Joel Fagin

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:35 am

The smiling one understands.

Fabio Ciccone · Post by **Fabio Ciccone** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:46 am

Nothing should sell your comic better than the comic itself.

That said, I see no reason to leave it out of the first page unless for adult warning stuff.