http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ Web Fiction Guide Forums » Tag: web - Recent Topics en Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:01:25 +0000 http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/check-out-my-site#post-6683 Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:58:27 +0000 Ageless Author 6683@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>If anyone would like to review my site, or would simply like cool fiction to read, check me out here.<br /> <a href="http://www.agelessauthor.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.agelessauthor.com</a> </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/unexploredhorizonsnet-revision-30#post-6627 Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:27:51 +0000 ubersoft 6627@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Two months ago I posted <a href="http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-request-unexploredhorizonsnet">a request for a site review</a>, and ever since then I've been trying to figure out ways to make my site look less, um... "stark." I was a huge fan of boxes and lines, and it came off as kind of cluttered and distracting.</p> <p>To that end, I've been working on ways to clean up the site and make it more usable. This is an incremental process, but this weekend I introduced the next "version" of my site at <a href="https://www.unexploredhorizons.net" rel="nofollow">https://www.unexploredhorizons.net</a> .</p> <p>There are a few ways I've attempted to soften the overall look of the site, mostly by using the border-radius css element to add "rounded corners" to the design (which won't show up on any version of Internet Explorer below version 9, so IE users are still stuck with a blocky design). But what I've mostly focused on is the idea that I want to be able to display multiple stories on my site simultaneously.</p> <p>Obviously this can be a challenge as far as the front page is concerned. It was already getting crowded just with the one story/podcast, and I was trying to ease up on clutter... so what I did was rework my drupal theme to include a features area that contained a tabbed block that could hold multiple chunks of content. So now I can have a tab for each story which will display the latest chapter, and I can put in navigation items to direct readers to related content. With Pay Me, Bug! I show the latest chapter and the latest podcast -- for the other two placeholders I show the prologue of two stories along with an info block related to the novel.</p> <p>One of the advantages of the tabbed block is that I don't need to cram as much information in the sidebars. This is a good thing, though I haven't quite optimized that part of it yet.</p> <p>The second thing I've done -- and this is still in very rudimentary form, I'm afraid, because I'm having technical issues with the module I'm using in Drupal to get this done -- is to create a "splash page" for the novel that contains links to all related information. This can be seen for Pay Me, Bug! here:</p> <p><a href="https://www.unexploredhorizons.net/novel/pay-me-bug" rel="nofollow">https://www.unexploredhorizons.net/novel/pay-me-bug</a></p> <p>It's set up as a grid: </p> <p> - top left is a graphic related to the novel (think of it as a placeholder for a novel jacket cover), along with a link to a little info on the novel itself</p> <p> - top right is the most recent podcast (would be empty for novels without an associated podcast)</p> <p> - center is the latest chapter, with an excerpt from that chapter on display</p> <p> - bottom left contains "worldbuilding" entries (i.e., extra, world-related information that is relevant to but not directly included in the novel, or that goes into more detail of something mentioned in the novel)</p> <p> - bottom right is the complete table of contents for the novel</p> <p>Currently it isn't styled very well because Drupal is having an issue displaying css information that was displaying perfectly well last night. Even if it were, though, it was very rudimentary and needed work... (and the top left graphic is... terrible. I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, which works heavily against me here). But you get the general idea -- it's a splash page where someone can see every piece of information related to a novel.</p> <p>I think this will give me a good organizational model going forward -- the next step is to make the site integrate better visually, hopefully to make a reader more comfortable nosing around.</p> <p>Anyway, if any of you have any comments or suggestions on this implementation I'd love to hear them! </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-request-theatrica#post-6446 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:40:02 +0000 copenlar-jim 6446@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Hello there,</p> <p>I have to admit I'm horribly new and inexperienced, but am absolutely delighted to be apart of this community. I have written my first novel and am desperate for people's views and opinions of it. The site is found at <a href="http://www.theatrica.moonfruit.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.theatrica.moonfruit.com</a> and it has only recently been inducted into this directory. </p> <p>The level of work here is astoundingly high, and I find myself surprised that the publishing world doesn't venture here to get a good view of what talent there is! </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-request-unexploredhorizonsnet#post-6136 Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:29:23 +0000 ubersoft 6136@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Hello!</p> <p>I am rather new to the online fiction world, but I'm not new to web publishing. I publish a webcomic, "Help Desk" (<a href="https://www.ubersoft.net" rel="nofollow">https://www.ubersoft.net</a>) and have been doing so since 1996.</p> <p>Unfortunately this has proven to be a detriment rather than an asset when it comes to designing a site that works for publishing a web novel. Webcomics have the advantage of being primarily visual, so it's easy to point the reader in the direction where you want them to go. Publishing a web novel on a site that you want to ultimately design to accommodate more than one work is a lot harder to pull off, especially when the only thing you're used to designing is your web comic, and you have a habit of reusing the same Drupal template over and over and over again (because creating a Drupal template is a painfully difficult process).</p> <p>At any rate, for the last three months of 2010 I set up a site for my web novel (<a href="https://www.unexploredhorizons.net" rel="nofollow">https://www.unexploredhorizons.net</a>) and a week after going live I massively redesigned it because it was intolerably difficult to use. It's a lot easier to navigate now -- it truly is -- but I'm pretty sure it's still miles away from where it actually needs to be before it can be called "comfortably usable." So for those of you who have had experience with these things, I would love some advice on the site design... for those of you with no specific experience in designing, but a lot of experience in using/navigating these sites, I'd like your feedback as well.</p> <p>Thanks for any feedback you can provide. </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/in-the-tradition-of-online-writing-does-not-exist#post-6174 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:46:29 +0000 ubersoft 6174@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Howard Tayler does a great webcomic called "Schlock Mercenary" (<a href="http://www.schlockmercenary.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.schlockmercenary.com</a>) -- it's a space opera comic that was nominated for a Hugo last year. He recently posted something where he made a distinction between "Commercial" and "Traditional" publishing, noting that the term "Traditional Publishing" was invented by predatory vanity presses trying to recast their reputations at the expense of publishing houses.</p> <p>I found the distinction interesting and that the fight between the two was sort of squeezing out legitimate self-publishers, and posted about it here: <a href="https://www.eviscerati.net/article/2011/02/08/commercial-v-traditional-we-need-gripping-hand" rel="nofollow">https://www.eviscerati.net/article/2011/02/08/commercial-v-traditional-we-need-gripping-hand</a></p> <p>Thought there might be some interest. </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/to-flash-or-not-to-flash#post-2630 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:19:02 +0000 Sora 2630@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>I found this new website called <a href="http://www.wix.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.wix.com/</a> that utilizes flash. I really enjoy using it, but I was wondering would be beneficial to use this for web fiction (although it's not really made for posting the acutal story there =/, unless you do it in chunks). I've seen it used before as the interface, but when you click on the actual story it takes you to another website. I was wondering would readers find flash, well... too flashy? Or would something visually appealing and functional make them stay a little bit longer? </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/gryphonwood-press-now-taking-web-fiction-subs#post-1018 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:29:31 +0000 Ryan Span 1018@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Hi guys!</p> <p>It gives me great pleasure to announce that <a href="http://www.gryphonwoodpress.com">Gryphonwood Press</a>, which has (among other things) published my own serial <a href="http://streetofeyes.com">Street</a>, has given the green light for a great new experiment; we are now considering web fiction for publication in novel format.</p> <p>We've added some web fiction-specific parts to our submission guidelines on the site, which are pretty clearly written as far as I can see, and I've taken the liberty of copying them here:</p> <p>"Web Fiction Specific- Completed books or series submit as normal. For active stories, submissions must be in a publishable format, i.e. the book you want to submit must have a clear beginning, middle and end whether it is part of a series or not. Even if we pick up your story, we will not require you to take down your site."</p> <p>What we do for authors is also clearly stated in our submission guidelines. It's a hell of a lot better than self-publishing, so if you've got a story that falls within our criteria and are brave enough to put your work to the test, we'd love to hear from you.</p> <p>Note: We don't currently have a specific set of submission requirements, but as a rule we only take top-notch <strong>publishable</strong> work. For example, stories where much of the page count is dedicated to graphic sex have no chance, regardless of genre. We don't expect your stories to be completely anaemic or politically correct but please keep submissions sane in order to save our editors valuable time.</p> <p>Please pick up/spread this announcement wherever it may be appropriate.</p> <p>Regards,<br /> Ryan </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/potentialy-useful-resource-for-digital-storytelling#post-1279 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:24:57 +0000 amber simmons 1279@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Wanted to share a link:</p> <p><a href="http://web2storytelling.wikispaces.com/" rel="nofollow">http://web2storytelling.wikispaces.com/</a><br /> A growing resource and discussion area for digital storytelling. Aimed at those who are using Web 2.0 bits to tell your stories. </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/new-hostingdevelopment-service-just-for-web-novelsserials#post-128 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:51:11 +0000 MeiLin Miranda 128@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p><a href="http://www.digitalnovelists.com/">Digital Novelists is open for business</a>. </p>