Here's some scripts that I got running on my comic (http://www.fantasycomic.com) that I've seen in no/few other comics.
1) Dogears
(Name coined by Reinder, who probably stole it from something else). This is probably one of the most popular features on the site (I get frequent praise for it). What it does is simple: it remembers what strip somebody last saw (by means of browser cookies), then when that person returns it checks whether he/she has missed any installments and if so, tells them with a link to the last strip they did read:
You have missed 3 comic(s). Click hear to go to the last one you read.
2) In this strip ...
Every single strip on the site has a small menu (hover over the question mark) listing the characters in the stripby name and portrait.Clicking the character in the menu takes you to their cast page. No more wondering "who was that again" for my readers.
3) Also appearing in...
The above works in reverse as well. For every secondary cast member, the cast page contains a list of all the storylines that character was in, with a link to the first strip in said storyline. Handy for readers wanting to read up on past events involving a recurring character.
4) Comments, comments everywhere (and not a single one is sane)
Not quite as uniqe a feature, but I got comments on every strip, cast page, news item, blog post, as well as nearly all background articles. As a result, there's a high fan involvement and amazing amounts of feedback given the very small size of my readership. To make things easier for readers whenever somebody uses the phrases "strip <number>", "Comic <number>" or similar in a comment, it links to the apropriate comic. Our readers do their own cross-refferencing and explaining!
5) Countdown clock
Alright, so it's not always accurate, but we have a clock which counts down to the next installment.
Most of these scripts are designed to make it easier for readers to keep track of the story and the characters, which is one of the great challenges in story-based webcomics. I hope these ideas help some people out there :)
ComixTalk is not responsible for comments, blog and forum posts. News and ComixTalk Magazine articles are copyright by their respective authors.
ComixTalk, its websites and logos are ©2003-2008 | Managing Editor: Xaviar Xerexes | Site Design: Mind Faucet
Dogears sounds cool. I've
Dogears sounds cool. I've seen a similar feature on some comics that lets you tag a page so you can come back to it later... (Wigu has it, for example...) And I like comments to be available for everything. The more reader interaction the better, and it probably makes them more likely to be repeat visitors.
I like the various cast related features as a reader, but it seems like extra work as a creator... (Then again, my comic has a cast of one, so I don't get a lot of call for extensive cross referenced cast pages...)
Ben Bittner