Viz automatic scrolling comics

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Martinibianco
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Post by Martinibianco »

Viz is a satirical quarterly comic in the UK which has been going for what must be twenty years now, and which I used to read when I was a student. In the "comics archive" on their site they've implemented an automatic scolling feature which entails clicking on what is visible of the next panel in order to be scrolled onwards.

http://www.viz.co.uk/archive/thumbnails.htm

Obviously the content itself is a matter of personal taste.
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Greg Stephens
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Post by Greg Stephens »

Very interesting- It zooms and scrolls much like an Infinite Canvas comic might (though there is no fine user control to go back and re-read something that might have been missed). The diagonal shift back down and to the left at the end of each row certainly underscores the difference between a comic designed for the web (where one could possibly continue scrolling to the right) and one designed for print (where one cannot).

Good link!
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Martinibianco
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Post by Martinibianco »

The inability to go back and re-read things is indeed slightly annoying. Having gone back to the page I've realised that what I wrote in my post above is in fact incorrect: to move forward you don't click on what's visible of the next panel (although that is possible), in fact you're supposed to click on the *current* panel to move on.

I find the "carriage return" effect lots of fun -- it probably doesn't need pointing out that these are comics which originally appeared in print and have been subsequently adapted for the web. A comic conceived on an "infinite canvas" probably wouldn't need the carriage return, although it could certainly be employed for dramatic effect!
Tim Mallos
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Post by Tim Mallos »

I was surprised that I liked the "carriage return". It's analogus to the dredded "swish pan" in television, where the camera moves too quickly to really see what was between point A and point B.

I think, given a sense of the whole at the outset, the effect was oddly pleasing when applied to this comic. It actually does a lot more to maintain continuity than jumping to the next panel would.

Hmmmm. It's fun when my assumptions and internalized rules are challenged.

Ditto: Great Link!

lylebclarke
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Post by lylebclarke »

If you download the .swf file, instead of viewing it on screen, you can change the size and shape of the viewing window. Stretching it vertically enlarges the comic, which isn't much use. But stretching it horisontally makes it so that more of the comic fits on to the screen at once, making it possible to read the last few panels, and skip ahead to the next few. You can't read anything before the carriage return though.

It would also be possible to do this exact same trick with a comic laid out in trails, and thus not have the 'swish' but always a small move to the next spot.
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