TWCL

wonderbrat31 · ^_^ Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 53 Location: Stow, Ohio

Howdy...

I created my site in ComicPress a couple of years ago. I know nothing about web design whatsoever. Once I got it looking the way I wanted it to look, I rarely changed anything on it, for fear of breaking it.

Lately, I've noticed that text will not show up in my posts. I finally decided to look into it tonight, and noticed that my version of ComicPress seems pretty old (not surprisingly) and that the ComicPress forums are largely spam now, and that ComicPress in general seems a bit abandoned.

My questions are:

1. Could updating my current version of ComicPress solve my text problem?

2. If so... can it be done simply, without a big risk of breaking the site?

3. If not... what else might be causing the problem?

4. If CP has been abandoned... would you recommend I use something else other than CP to create my site in?

Thanks!
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lexia · Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 80

most times updating does not damage anything just back up site in case. But switching to new version not hard at all. As for fixing your issue maybe it can maybe not. Do it and if it's not fix it may be an issue with your settings

wonderbrat31 · ^_^ Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 53 Location: Stow, Ohio

I tried updating my ComicPress manager and it kinda broke - I kept getting an error message that said:

"You cannot update because WordPress 3.3 requires PHP version 5.2.4 or higher and MySQL version 5.0 or higher. You are running PHP version 4.4.9 and MySQL version 4.1.22."

I called my web host (Inmotion Hosting) and they upgraded me to a new server. I was still getting an error message when I tried to post again, so I chatted with my web host again and they fixed the problem. Now I can post and can also put text in my posts, so it's all fixed!

On a side note, if anyone's looking for a good web hosting service, I highly recommend Inmotion Hosting. They have helped me a zillion times with things they weren't even obligated to help me with, probably taking pity on me because I was so clueless! And they're pretty cheap, too!
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Snotnarok · Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 89

Glad to hear your problem got worked out pretty quickly, I dabbled a bit with Comicpress figuring it'd be easier than making my own site and it probably would have been. But your right their forums at the time and now are just a giant spam dump and I think the team is split up doing their own stuff, however one might be working on another plug-in for comics, however I can't verify that.

To finish my thought (A.D.D. derp!) I turned to my website making abilities regardless just seemed like the better option at least for control reasons.
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wonderbrat31 · ^_^ Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 53 Location: Stow, Ohio

Snotnarok wrote:

To finish my thought (A.D.D. derp!) I turned to my website making abilities regardless just seemed like the better option at least for control reasons.

That brings up a question that's been on my mind lately...

I'm a cartoonist. I have absolutely no idea how to build websites. At all.

And yet when I look around at a lot of webcomics, it seems that a lot of people seem to know how to design their own websites really well.

Why is that? How did you guys get that knowledge? Artistic skills and web design and code and things like that just seem very opposite kinds of things to me.

I'm 42 - is it a younger person thing? Do most people growing up these days just learn how to design sites? I am just curious....
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vulpeslibertas · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 5:15 am Post subject:

A lot of it is practice. A lot of webcomickers are also tech-savy people who take out their life's frustrations by making art.

Basic websites aren't terribly hard to make. It just takes time and patience and a willingness to beat your head against hard objects sometimes.
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smbhax.com · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 5:56 am Post subject:

I think it kinda is a young person thing in a lot of cases, having had a lot of time to spend looking around on the web and messing with things on the computer.

Hm when I was a kid we just had a C64 so I guess that explains the look of my site designs. :D
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Snotnarok · Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 89

Well that's kind of a hard question to answer. For me the moment my teacher in school said 'we're going to learn how to create websites' I was researching on my own and in a week I knew more than him in a year I was making them for businesses. Then I found out Flash can help you make a nice website nicer so that got put on the list too.

How did I get this knowledge? Well I did a lot of research and built a lot of websites, my own site actually went through 3 redesigns as I got better.

A great starting place is w3schools.com, I assume they're still around that's where I first learned some of the HTML basics. Learn basic html and then try a program like dreamweaver if you're interested. Learning code will help in the long run.
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iaviv · Joined: 03 Sep 2011 Posts: 257

Everything you need to know is online and is free. Just google it. That's how I learned these things. It takes times, naturally, but if something is important enough for you you'll spend that time.

Snotnarok · Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 89

iaviv wrote:

Everything you need to know is online and is free. Just google it. That's how I learned these things. It takes times, naturally, but if something is important enough for you you'll spend that time.

What you say is very true. Time, willingness to learn is what it takes, and typically it pays off.

Though OP if you do like the way your site looks and functions (and your readers as well) you shouldn't feel pressured to do something.
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wonderbrat31 · ^_^ Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 53 Location: Stow, Ohio

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone... especially for the w3schools.com suggestion, Snotnarok! I've been looking for online places, for little or no cost, where I can learn css and the like.

If anyone knows of any other such places, feel free to keep the suggestions coming! Smile

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R(ed) · Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:06 pm Post subject:

To address Wonderbrat31
In all fairness, learning HTML is easy!

When I was on comicgenesis, my site literally was

Code:

<head>
Oh jeeez webcomic title!
</head>

<body>
A comic!
</body>

The syntax of html is very linear and logical. And in all seriousness if one can use the text/paragraph style buttons used here when writing a post, you're literally good to go.

BUT: html sucks when it comes to the placement of objects around a page so css is used to DEFINE where things should go and how they should be done, with html just being used to say "it exists".

With wordpress and the plug-ins that exist, we are given acess to the database that controls not only what (html) where and how (css) but also can manipulate this information dynamically. There are (nearly) no static pages, just lots of references on "how to build a page" as it were.

I found that quite a big leap when you think about it. There are NO static pages, everything is made up via reference. It'd be like a map of say, London, made up by every street and building telling your computer it exists and updated as new roads and buildings are made...without anyone doing a single thing! No wonder such a big deal was made about web 2.0

Hell, I'm rusty so I need to re-learn this stuff.
----------------------------
Saying that, Comicpress does feel like jumping in the deep end, there is some documentation and faqs out there, but because the code is defined by css, the team's logic (and now Frumph's) is not MY logic which makes a lesson in reverse-engineering more than anything.

You can cheat and just use html and css via the widgets though. Smile

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NobbyNobody · Joined: 16 Nov 2007 Posts: 678 Location: England

I wrote to Frumph with our concerns about ComicPress' future:

Quote:

Hi Philip,

I've just spent many hours re-designing my site and moving lock, stock and barrel to Wordpress with ComicPress. I'm happy with the result and I'd like to thank you for such an excellent plugin.
However, reading through various webcomic forums it seems that the general consensus is that ComicPress has been abandoned. There have been no updates for ages, v3.0 never appeared and the forums are now the haunt of spambots.
Please say it isn't true! Am I going to have undo all my work and start again using another webcomic plugin? Nooooooooo!

Best regards,
(NobbyNobody)
www.odd-fish.net

I just got an email back from him:

Quote:

I havent updated it in 10 months cause it doesn’t need any updating right now and I’m still supporting it and working with it constantly.

So that's OK then!
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iaviv · Joined: 03 Sep 2011 Posts: 257

Here's a question:
Last time I updated WordPress all the comments got deleted, therefore I'm not really thrilled about updating ever again... but here's the thing - what happens if you don't update for, say, a very long time...?
There's an update for WordPress 3.3 now. Do I really need to update, and is there a safer way to update, without losing any information? Or maybe I did something wrong last time I updated? I guess this is more than one question, but if I get at least one answer that will be great.
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CMorgan · ^_^ Joined: 29 Aug 2011 Posts: 47

iaviv wrote:

Here's a question:
Last time I updated WordPress all the comments got deleted, therefore I'm not really thrilled about updating ever again... but here's the thing - what happens if you don't update for, say, a very long time...?
There's an update for WordPress 3.3 now. Do I really need to update, and is there a safer way to update, without losing any information? Or maybe I did something wrong last time I updated? I guess this is more than one question, but if I get at least one answer that will be great.

Im wondering that too, but i use web comic/inkblot. I only have had my site up a few weeks now so im clueless about updating to new word press. I assume one must do so with caution.
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