THE SITE REVAMP - Updates to the comic reader, cast page (Patreon)

Hey guys!!! I've got another post lined up with some stuff for the revamp! This one isn't as in-depth as the first, probably, but it's still got some neat stuff to see!

First thing's first...

Updates to the comic reader

 We've got a few new things up here! To start, I've implemented a "button legend" that explains what the buttons here all do to a new reader who's just figuring out how to read the comic.

 It looks like this! It's pretty handy. NOTE: "Site heading" is only displayed on desktop devices due to the mobile layout being different, just like page sizes.)

I've also got some updates for the bookmarks!

When you click the star, instead of it automatically saving, it gives you a pop-up which tells you which page you're saving to confirm, instead of it saving without explaining what it's doing.

To clear your saved page, you click the star again and it gives you a pop-up which shows you which page you have saved and confirms that you want to clear it, so you don't click it accidentally while trying to load your bookmark and lose your place.

 Clicking the bookmark button while you don't have a page saved gives you a dialog which tells you how to save a page. Otherwise, if you DO have one saved, it takes you straight there!

Now, I'm gonna shows off these two new features:

The "enter page number" input box allows you to type in the name/number of any page in the volume and takes you straight there! You can even just put the numbers, or put "page" in front of it if you want. "Cover" and "inside cover" takes you to those pages accordingly, as well. Also, spaces and capitalization don't matter here!

The "select scene" is more for returning readers than it is for new readers. It gives a list of every individual "scene" in the comic and allows you to jump around. The titles of the scenes sometimes only make sense to someone who's already read the comic, and they're kept vague enough to avoid spoilers if a new reader is looking at it.

If you've read the comic already, you should probably remember what scene each of these is referring to.

And for those who may not keep up with the Tumblr blog, I have an update on the comments situation! The site originally went offline early because there was a situation with the service I use for comments displaying inappropriate ads against my consent. I didn't wanna pay a service that would do something scummy like this, so I opted for originally removing comments altogether - but recently I discovered an alternate comments system that works pretty much the same as Disqus!

 It looks like this! Basically every comment from here on out will be post-revamp.

Neat things to mention:

• There will be a premoderated comment section on the FAQ page that will allow non-Tumblr users to ask questions about the comic/series. I will pin important user-asked questions.

• There will be a premoderated comment section on the trigger masterlist which will serve the purpose of answering questions about what category a certain type of content would be filtered under, if something will ever be present in the comic, or suggestions for a new category (unfortunately, this will probably be a rarer thing to include because it would be impossible to account for everything someone needs filtered. However, I'm still taking the suggestions into account in the event that there is some category that I overlooked initially that a lot of people think is necessary).

• Lastly, there will be a premoderated comment section on the Spinch lore page which will allow non-Tumblr users to ask questions about Spinch's worldbuilding. Once again, important questions will be pinned.

 These comment sections will generally have titles like this! It's possible I may include comment sections on other site areas as I work on them.

NOW... for the real exciting thing I wanted to cover.

THE CAST PAGE(s).

As mentioned in previous post, the cast pages will be separated by series, but that's not all- when you open up the cast page for ES, you'll get to select a category for the kind of character you're looking for... including something else.

 You are seeing that correctly- there is a SEARCH FUNCTION that takes you to the profile of ANY CHARACTER IN THE COMIC (if the name exists!)

You can put in their first name, their main allotpun name, their full name- any of these will automatically redirect you to their profile.

Typing in Barry's name (in any form) will take you directly to his profile... but what do these profiles look like, you ask?

(zoomed out for visibility purposes) The new profiles look like this! They're designed to match the layout of the site. As you can see, they're pretty different! We're gonna look over all these sections, since Barry's profile is actually fully complete!

 We'll start with references! Instead of using reference sheets from earlier volumes, I've decided to simply edit the latest sheets with proper design changes between volumes, since some of the sheets have outdated information and ages that change. The tabs are separated by which volume the design changes happen- so far, Barry gets one for every volume.

And here's his character basics! The question mark buttons are "definition" dialogs to explain certain things, such as explaining what an allotpun is...

 Or explaining hatchdays...

 And for other things, like gender identities or sexualities, it explains what said identity means in simple terms. This is potentially useful for specific identities that may not be common knowledge, but for consistency's sake, I have them explained on every identity.

The identity dialogs also provide flags!

There's also an explanation of what type of gendered/non-gendered nouns a character may use:

Because sometimes, a character might use some gendered nouns and some gender-neutral nouns as well.

 Starter bios for the characters are shorter than they currently are, because those get expanded on in the biographies...

Which give a brief history of the character (omitting spoilers, obviously) and a summary of the character's personality. I decided to replace traits with a personality blurb because some minor characters might be more difficult to produce a lot of traits for.

 There is also a trivia section with some fun facts about the character's conception and development or just little tidbits about them in general. :]

Now... another thing to note about cast profiles- FIXED ON MOBILE.

Now, on mobile devices, the profiles are smaller rows by default:

With a "DETAILS" button that you have to click to expand and read their profile. You can only have one profile open at once, opening another one automatically closes the other you have open.

The details section is easier to read in general.

Making the cast page more "mobile friendly" was REALLY important to me, because I know at the moment, it's probably impossible to reliably navigate through.

Another small thing

I've updated the settings dialog so the saturation select is on top (I feel like people might want to access that sooner) and the 'enable all warnings' is also at the top of the warning switches to make going through them easier.

That's everything new I have to share today, I hope you guys enjoy the progress I'm making on this! I'm working very hard to make it as good as it can possibly be.