Wordpress Webcomic — It’s Not Just for Bloggers!
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What can Wordpress do in the hands of a webcomic artist? Quite a bit!
I’ve used a stripped down template version of Wordpress as a content management system for my webcomic “Shimmer” for quite a while now, after finding it far easier to use than the old Xoops system I once had in place. And though, yes, I know there’s such a thing as Comicpress out there, and I’m sure it’s quite nice… by the time I discovered it existed, I already had an established setup and comment base within my Wordpress system. So I chose to keep running it as the central part of the site, stuck between two HTML framed pages.
It wasn’t until I started to learn about blogging and all the wonderful widgets and options that Wordpress really had to offer that I began pondering the task of dumping the HTML and going to a Wordpress site completely. Once I discovered the wonderful world of addon domains, I knew it was something I wanted to do.
So I got the new domain redirected and set to work modifying Wordpress to be a webcomic powerhouse. Did it work…? See for yourself.
Tweaking the Template
The first thing I had to consider was the template. I needed something that had a wide enough content area to display my rather large comic pages. I also wanted one that sported a nice, full featured side bar and had a darker color combination.
I found all this and so much more in the template Royale 1.4. I was absolutely amazed at the features and flexibility of this template. Don’t let the dark color fool you — this would make an excellent template for any color combination. It gets five stars from me!!
I owe most of the layout success to the fact that this template was so very configurable from the inside. I chose what pages to show as links to run across the navagation bar at the top. I used the color slider to choose my link color. I uploaded my own background and used the built-in background chooser to pick my own designs.
Then I set the front page to only show one post — the newest comic. I did have to tweak the code a little in order to get the comments to show on the front page… and to have the navigation options show up at the top of the pages. But besides that, this has to be one of the easiest layouts I’ve worked with on Wordpress.
Essential Plug Ins
WP-Cache
Of course, any time you’re setting up a Wordpress blog of any sort, it’s smart to install the Cache plug-in. After experiencing the downfall of what happens when Wordpress eats up too much of a web host’s CPU processes, I’m never taking that chance again.
PixGallery
Being an artist’s site, I needed an art gallery to host works outside of the comic and fanart sent by others. This plug-in did the trick.
Different Posts Per Page
The other thing I needed was an extensive archive that showed my comic pages in the right order, grouped by Chapters. I knew that I could do this by making each Chapter a Category. This plug in gave me the flexibility to create an archive (with a little code tweaking) that was a nice directory of pages, sorted by Chapter. This was, by far, the changes that took the most time to put into place.
Summing It Up
Wordpress is quite a powerful platform for content management. With the right templates and plug-in combination, it could certainly host more than just blog content. In fact… my next attempt with Worpress will be to host a full writing site on it. I’ll let you know how that works!
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7 Comments on Wordpress Webcomic — It’s Not Just for Bloggers!
My Domains » Blog Archive » Wordpress Webcomic - It’s Not Just for Bloggers! sez:
[...] Original post by Wayfarer Wings [...]
KJ sez:
Hmmm… I’m glad you have worked out a system for yourself! I’m just not sure how I feel about the new Shimmer layout. It seems sort of on the cluttery side, with all the add-on windows and tables. They seem better suited to your blog, especially since the blog’s layout is more “tight” (things fit together, without enormous blobs of empty space.) You’re such a good artist and so good with layouts… so it makes me a little sad to have the actual comic page be the only art, whereas Wayrift has its border table and even Wayfarer Wings has a pretty Tai header.
Thanks for your feedback, KJ!
I’m not sure what you mean about blobs of open space, but then again, I’ve only seen the layout on my normal PC screen. Viewing it on a widescreen laptop might be a different story. I’ll have to check it out.
This is still a work in progress. I was just getting a layout done for it. So it does mean that I’m finished, by far. I was thinking about how to get some art in the header, but I have to actually work on something to go there. That could take a while.
I could also remove some of the widgets that I know I don’t really need. Some of them I prefer to keep because they help spread the word and keep people updated. Maybe that will help. That and checking out the layout in a wide screen.
Thanks again for letting me know what you think!
KJ sez:
Okay… You make a good point about the screen resolution. I dropped mine down and it wasn’t so bad.
I’m still going to have to see what it does in a widescreen… see if I can get it to center. I thought it would do that automatically.
Great post! Thanks for the tips on the plug-ins… I had no idea about the PixGallery plug-in. Also, you’re 100% right about recommending the Cache plug-in. It’s not just a great way to reduce CPU load, it also makes your pages load faster.
Again, great post!
Kind regards,
Martin
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