How to get online? :oops:

Discuss the future, present and past of sequential art.

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InkAddict
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How to get online? :oops:

Post by InkAddict »

I've got an idea for a webcomic strip and would like to get started on it this summer (holidays are comin'!)

However as I'm a total newbie to HTML, how should I get started?

Are there any other guys who have faced the same problem? I have a fair grip of design (Illustrator and Photoshop), and would like it to be GOOD straight away.

What should I do and in what order? I will be able to get my hands on Dreamweaver. Should I create everything from scratch or should I use templates? Where can I find those? Is Keenspace an option, or are the 10 MB Apple offers enough to start with? What should I do first? Does this ask for a lot of maintenance, or can I quickly link and upload my art in less than an hour?

Any comments/tips/tutorials are welcome ! :D
Check out my new site (under construction) at: InkAddict
Scott McCloud
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Post by Scott McCloud »

My main advice is to hand-code it yourself in the beginning and keep it very simple. Then, after you're comfortable with the inner workings of html, go to a program like Dreamweaver. Try some of the visual quickstart books or look for online tutorials to learn basic html. It's actually not that hard and even kind of fun.

Here's some additional info from my FAQ page:

What kinds of tools do you use?

I used to make my pictures -- badly -- with technical pens, crowquills and felt brushes on kid finish 2-ply bristol.

I now make my pictures -- badly -- with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and various other applications on a Power Mac G4 with a Wacom Intuos Tablet attached. Photoshop is considered standard on Macs and PC's. Linux users seem to like The Gimp as a cheap alternative but I haven't used it myself. Illustrator and Macromedia's Freehand are considered equivelent but I don't have much experience with the latter.

Currently, I'm using Adobe's GoLive to put my web pages together (yeah, Adobe really cleans up on guys like me) but I know plenty of designers who like Dreamweaver better and others who think it's important to have both.

For the first couple of years, I hand-coded all of my web work with a shareware text editor called BBEdit Lite, which I still use and recommend. You can do a lot with just Photoshop and a text editor, and new web designers can get a lot out of starting that way because it allows them to get "under the hood" later on when using more visual tools like GoLive and Dreamweaver.

I use another loveable old shareware program called Fetch to upload my pages Most Web Design programs incorporate such FTP (File Transfer Protocol) programs these days, but I just like Fetch.

If you're considering taking the plunge into digital, I would suggest reading the trade mags and sites (e.g., MacWorld) for a few months beforehand and look for those big comparative articles to help you make your first buying decisions. Never buy top of the line! Get the next best computer and save yourself a lot of money.

Once set up, I strongly suggest an income-free zone of at least 6 months to just play around and get a feel for the new tools, without expecting any tangible return on your investment. Learn to play with them first and you'll have a far better grasp of the full range of "work" they can help you with in the long run.
InkAddict
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Post by InkAddict »

Thanx Scott (I already read your standard answer on your website, but you reminded me of some things I would have jumped :wink: )

Anyone else?

Are there online comic sites who let you copy their HTML free of charges? (I wouldn't like to get accused of pinching other people's work)
Check out my new site (under construction) at: InkAddict
reinx
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Post by reinx »

Actually, you can use any site you want to learn, and even if you use the same basic code, but change the pictures. I think everybody that learned HTML learned it from copying others and picking it apart. Most comic strip sites are set up really easy, header/banner -> strip -> control panel/forward,back,beginning -> footer/copyright, etc..

If you decide to use an editor other than notepad, use 1st Page 2000. It has various levels of difficulty you can pick. Oh, and its free. did I mention its free and better than many you have to pay for?
:)
-Casey
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Post by japanimationfist »

I'm not much further ahead than you are Yingo, but I will toss my hat in just the same. I am facing some of the same questions right now, as I begin to put my first webcomic together, and though I am probably doing everything ass-backwards, you can look at me as a work in progress, if you'd like.

I decided that I might be interested in doing a comic about a year ago, and started sketching furiously, waiting for the right idea to come along. I filled three sketchbooks with character sketches until I fell upon the characters I am now using, and the basic back-story. Even then, it took me until just over a month ago to decide on a whim that I should do it as soon as possible.

I looked at investing in a domain name, and web-hosting, planning to avoid the whole Keenspace thing, but realized that I had never done this before, and before I invested any significant amount of money I should prove to myself that I can produce a regular comic, so I signed up on Keen, and now have my own site: http://japanimationfist.keenspace.com - There isn't much there for the moment, but I am putting it together and hoping to launch it at the end of the month.

I am still planning to invest in a domain name (in July?) that I can use to bounce people to my Keenspace site, but I am putting off the larger investment until I've put about a year in, so I can decide if I am serious enough to keep this up. Ideally I would have built everything from scratch, and had it hosted somewhere without becoming one of the nameless Keeners, but this is cheaper for now, and will give me a good place to cut my teeth.

As for the actual construction of the web-pages, Keenspace has a number of tutorials, and they have a system of "tags" to help you add functions to your page. It's almost idiot-proof, but it's also a little restrictive. You have to have the banner ad at the top of your page, and you're somewhat limited as to how you can construct your archive pages. I would have prefered to do something a little more experimental, but once again, this will do for the moment.

For the moment I am using Adobe Pagemill, which came with my Mac when I bought it. It is a simple html editor, which offers you the option of switching back and forth between source code, and layout view. It was free, and I am learning html as I go because I am able to construct things like tables and links, and see what they look like in code. I have some friends who swear by hand-coding, and tell me that I am taking the lazy way out, but to be honest, I am just starting on the comic, and I want that to be my focus, not html. I am hoping that I will learn html as I go, though I would eventually like to move on to Dreamweaver.

As for art, I am currently using Freehand to do the actual illustration work, and then Fireworks to export the files for the web. I would love to have a tablet to draw on, but the government recalculated my income tax, and I got shafted, so I will have to wait another few months. In the meantime I am doing all my drawin with the mouse. Not easy, I'll admit, but I like the challenge, and I figure that when I finally get a tablet it will be easy as sin.

So, there you go, my two cents. You can tune in from time to time over the next few weeks, and watch me struggle with my tools, and then make a point of not doing everything I do wrong, and you will probably do just fine.

P.S. There are no comics on my site, as yet, but I wouldn't mind some comments or critiques on the general layout right now. I am trying to tweak it day by day, so that it will be ready for June 24th. Be gentle. This is my first time.
chrisSturhann
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Post by chrisSturhann »

Yingo,

I could have sworn I posted this, but apparently I must have wrote it up in Notepad, forgot to post it, and closed it without saving, bummer. Me, I'd highly recommend that you learn to code by hand even if you decide to use an editor anyway. If you're doing tables, coding by hand can be a real pain. At my day job, I work with sgml (html is a real simple subset of sgml), so by the time I decided to do my first web page, I was pretty used to looking at marked up text. And html is pretty simple in comparison to sgml. I may be one of the few people who did my first web page by typing in

<HTML>

and going from there. I did do the tutorial located at

http://www.cwru.edu/help/introHTML/toc.html

It's actually pretty old, but the basics of html haven't really changed. It would probably take 2 or 3 hours to get through, but it would be time well spent. If you do go with an html editor, make sure that it will allow you to see the code. Now, I use Home Site. One of the things I really like about it is that it allows you to to drag and drop images into your html and it automatically fills in the height and width attributes on the image tag, probably something most html editors do at this point.

As far as hosting your page goes, you might want to check with your Internet Service Provider, most offer free web space with the service.

Bill,

I looked at your page. The design looks fine. I like the fist background. I tend to not be a big fan of background images, but that's pretty cool.

Chris
InkAddict
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Post by InkAddict »

Thanx to you all!

I've got an idea now of how I'll make my webpages and so on....

...and it seems to go quite well!

Thanx for helping me out, I hope it helped out some fellow newbies too 8)

I'll keep you all updated about my project. Little hint: it's about Hamsters :wink:
Check out my new site (under construction) at: InkAddict
johnnystorm
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Re: How to get online? :oops:

Post by johnnystorm »

Yingo wrote:Any comments/tips/tutorials are welcome ! :D
If you know photoshop and illustrator go with Flash... flash is nice cause its vector based, which means you could use adobe streamline to convert your graphics to vector, color in illustrator, and letter it in illustrator, then you have an image that is scalable and will remain crisp at any size.

Imagine that you made a comic that you could zoom into at 400% and everything looks good.

Also with the Flash skills you get you could get a job that pays some nice $$$.

Plus with all the html incompatibility issues these days... do it in flash, make it once and have it work on every browser :)
http://www.johnnystorm.com --It's all about the samples
gazorenzoku
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Post by gazorenzoku »

Can you convert scanned line art into a vector graphic and still keep the original line variation, style, etc.?

Vince
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johnnystorm
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Vectorize line art

Post by johnnystorm »

gazorenzoku wrote:Can you convert scanned line art into a vector graphic and still keep the original line variation, style, etc.?

Vince
Yup, I've done this quite sucessfully using Adobe Streamline http://www.adobe.com/products/streamline/main.html It is a fantastic program that is a few years old... I really wish they'd come out with a new version all ready.

Try this out: http://www.johnnystorm.com/flash/vector/

-JS
http://www.johnnystorm.com --It's all about the samples
gazorenzoku
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thanks again to jonnystorm

Post by gazorenzoku »

niiiiiiiiiiiice!! I checked out your samples too. It was very nice to see how they retained integrity even after enlarged. They actually looked better after enlarged!!! I am sold!! Unfortunately I don't have Illustrator yet, so I don't suppose getting the software you suggested would help yet? Can you color and stuff on it?

Are there any cheaper vector programs that can color line art? ...I suppose Illustrator is the best vector program, so I should just try and get Illustrator.....

Anyhow, thanks for showing me the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. This is info that should be right up in the face of anyone and everyone who wants to start making web comics (or print comics too).

Vince
Vince Coleman
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InkAddict
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Post by InkAddict »

Thanx to everybody who posted on this topic. :D

It helped me a lot.

I just made my site in Dreamweaver 4, but can't find any webhost, so I'll go with Keenspace.

Anything I should know that might be helpful/handy when I start my online comic? (upload requirements.... :roll: )
Check out my new site (under construction) at: InkAddict
losttoy
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Post by losttoy »

I don't know if I should use this item to voice my beef, but since we are talking about getting started with online comics ... KeenSpot/KeenSpace!

When I was looking for a free web hosting site I started at this horrible place called Artshost. It was a real pain and then it made it so I couldn't upload at all for about a month. So I gave up and signed for Keenspace. Their package looks nice: free web hosting, co-promotion between sites with Keen, automated uploading. But when I tried, I couldn't figure it out, it is rather complicated and you have to have a certiant version of explorer or netscape for it to work. Furthermore, of all the web hosting sites on the internet, Keen takes forever to load. I just don't want readers having to wait over a minute for my latest comic. Maybe I just don't understand automated comic posting, but I like the simplicity, control and speed of GeoCities. I guess I just don't like Keen. Which is bad because there are good artist there which I don't read because Keen is too slow for me.

Just my opinion.
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gazorenzoku
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Post by gazorenzoku »

I also prefer geocities to keenspace, but I like what they are trying to do.

vince
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losttoy
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Post by losttoy »

gazorenzoku wrote:I also prefer geocities to keenspace, but I like what they are trying to do.
Yeah, I guess you are right. They are trying. :)
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rioka

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Post by rioka »

Whenever you get around to it you can get some free scripts (Javascript, DHTML, etc.) to add to your site. I use Dynamic Drive. They are a lot more but I like this one best. Just make sure you give proper credit if you use anyone's script.

Word of caution: Don't go nuts adding lots of scripts to your site. It'll slow you down, uploading-wise. But I must say, they do have a lot of cool scripts... :P

You can get free guestbooks and so forth. Check out HTML Gear
For more HTML tips or general coding, check out Web Monkey. They have sections: Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced.

If you plan on updating your site, its best to use an FTP program. (File Transfer Protocol) Its faster than going to the site upload page and uploading files individually. Takes forever! :roll:
FTP connects you directly to your host's server - think of it as a backstage pass - bypass everything.

There are quite a number of FTP software's out there, CuteFTP, BulletProof, etc. but you usually have to sign up, or something. Oh yeah, you can use Dreamweaver! It has an FTP built in, I believe. Don't know how well it is though - I use a different FTP program. WS_FTP. It's only about 1MB. Comes in handy, you can carry it around in a floppy. Its free too. No sign up and all those attached strings, I mean. If you (or anyone else) want it, I can email it to you.

Hope that helped a bit. Oh yeah, the WS_FTP, for the PC not Mac. Well, I haven't tried it on a Mac...
Rio
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Whooops

Post by Rio »

Looks like I was logged off when I submitted the post above.

Here's my [url=mailto:raucena@yahoo.com]email[/url], if you're interested in the WS_FTP program.
[/url]
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