CUENTOS SUPPLEMENTARY preview

[catgarza]

ok, so i'm posting this on a few boards to get feedback and hopefully generate some more interest in what we're doing over at www.moderntales.com..

apologies for the generic nature of such posts.

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ok, so i'm a big dodo and i think that you all should check this out while i'm working on getting it onto the main moderntales site. it's a SUPPLEMENTARY for cuentos de la frontera. it has a glossary which translates and explains things in each episode, a gallery of images and downloadable goodies, a bibiliography and notes on the work and research involved in producing the work, and a few other things. i'd love to get feedback and see what everyone thinks, so let me know!
www.magicinkwell.com/cuentosxtras/index.html
i'll be moving it to a new location in a week or two when it's *finally* complete, but you have a few days to check it out through this link until it's posted over at moderntales in the subscriber only section.
thanks!

[catgarza]

it occured to me that this prolly should have been posted over at the HYPE section, but i'm not sure how many of us are reading that (i know i should prolly check it more... haven't been able to get used to it...). SO...

greg, do you think there might be a way to move these sort of posts after a day or two over to hype, but let them start out in this main discussion section? that way those that really wanna continue the discussion can kinda hop aboard first then continue elsewhere? or is this unfeasable?

mostly just wanna say, "oops! sorry!!"

[Bob Stevenson]

I like it. The only problem is the load time - I'm on a 56K modem and it takes forever but it's worth the wait. I imagine most people joining modern tales are on fast connections though. My wife teaches Spanish and she applauds the glossary. I speak enough to get by but it still made for interesting reading. Will keeping up the glossary take too much time away from production on each episode? In the long run it seems like it would be easier to include the glossary as footnotes or image map links within each episode. Good luck. Beautiful stuff to look at.

Bob Stevenson
Journeyintohistory.com

[rcar]

Hey Cat,

I'm on a 56k modem with a lousy connection, but the wait wasn't too bad. Your work as usual is high quality. I downloaded the wall paper and now have it as my desktop. Artist notes is a good idea, but a little barren right now.

On the glossery, you do need it but I think you need somehing more assesable while reading the story. While I'm reading I want to know what the words or phrases mean, not after the story. You did it well by haveing the images with the translations, but maybe a pop-up window with simply text for when you are reading the story might work better. It won't be pretty but maybe more practical. Or maybe scroll down to the bottom of the page for translations. I don't know, just some thoughts. It is difficult, I want to read the story and not be too distracted by jumping around to find out what everything means. Maybe your solution is best.

Just some food for thought. Maybe some others will post what would work best for them.

[Tim Mallos]

I'm on a cable modem, took 3-5 seconds. Hehehehe just being a stinker.
Cat, this supplementary information is really really cool. So much research and thought goes into comics of any depth, it's awesome to see more of the ground work. Keep it up! And thanks!

Tim

Edit: For what it's worth, I kind of like the translations being seperate. It actually adds to my experience to try to understand the spanish. Really puts me in the special place of being able to sit with you while your grandfather tells his tales, but knowing better than to interrupt for a translation while he's talking!

[rcar]

Ahhh, my spelling was stunning last night. Anyway I like what cat did and think it is a keeper, I just babbled a little. But I still think a quicky pop-up is not a bad idea. I forgot to mentioned my favorite part was the image comparison. That was really cool.

[Greg Stephens]

greg, do you think there might be a way to move these sort of posts after a day or two over to hype, but let them start out in this main discussion section? that way those that really wanna continue the discussion can kinda hop aboard first then continue elsewhere? or is this unfeasable?

That's fine by me.

[catgarza]

hey everyone!

thanks for the great responses. yeah, i'd thought about doing the pop-up thing, but since i'm still hand-coding the html, it would be a lot harder to try and add a popup EVERYWHERE that a spanish word or phrase shows up in the story. plus, i'll be translating within the text of the story more often than naught. plus, i think i'd rather eveyone read the story straight through and THEN went back to try and comprehend the spanish stuff.

so i've been putting in a lot of overtime into the strip to try and get to some kind of reasonable schedule to finish each strip. but to no avail. today's strip isn't posted yet as of this post, but should be posted later today, so check back at MT. the supplementary won't be updated, however. this URL is for "sneek peak" purposes only, so the fully updated and complete supplementary should be posted when this next week's strip is. since easter's on it's way, the strip will be about "cascar?nes" (among other things...)

i'm glad everyone found the supplementary helpful and fun! it should help readers get even more insight into the story and my research for it.

[Greg Stephens]

I finally got the time to check this out and it's very nice. I like it a lot- one of the best features is the way you showed the small "pulled-back" version of each of the chapters so far- nice to see the over all shape of the comics.

Also, the before/after photos/artwork is great to see. Silk purse from a sow's ear and all that- not that the photos lack anything, but it's interesting from a process standpoint.

Beautiful. Beautiful.

[catgarza]

ah, thanks for noticing the pulled back thumbs! yeah, i almost *had* to add that just to hear scott say "i love that". it's nice to know people are noticing!

i'm hoping to add some maps and some more info, but this preview will stay the same for another week or two until the fully updated and functioning version is added to the MT subscriber's section.

thanks for checking it out, all and giving me some much needed feedback!