Metrophorums

[nickgreyink]

I like Metrophix...a lot. So its pretty much a given that it will be my comic script of choice, but I will admit some of the part of the script are kind of hard to follow and my need fixing.

It was fairly simple for me to install once I figured out where to place everything so it wasn't a big problem after that, but in order to use Metrophix you have to have to know and understand a fairly high dose of PHP...which most comic author don't know how to do.

If you don't mind I would like to point out some of the bugs, quirks, and possible turn offs that might steer away possibly users.

I would like to state that I don't think this is a bad script or anything. In fact I love it very much so far. It just needs some fine tuning and I hope as someone who will actively use it to work out the kinks.

First off is the install script. Not very many people know the root user name and password of their MySQL server. Most web servers don't have one, or if they do don't give it out. So you might have to trim that part of the script.

Second the template system doesn't support any HTML codes. The only way to customize it is with CSS. For the novice web designer this is a fairly daunting task. I'm not 100% sure how much you will have to re-write the code to fix this, but I think that should be a basic need for any comic script if you want people to use it.

Thirdly the admin section should have its own template. It doesn't need to be changeable just something so that no matter how you change the front pages you can always read the admin section. I don't necessarily deem this as high, but it still should be fairly important.

That's all I have for now . If you have already fixed these and ore please post here. Thank you.

[cijil]

Thanks for the suggestions! These are exactly the sorts of things I'm looking for. I agree with most of what you've said, too, although the problem there becomes the gulf between what I aspire to do and what's feasible to implement. I'm thinking of scrapping the home-grown template system and going with something like Smarty instead, which should help a lot.

The MySQL thing there may or may not be an easy fix for. There's no getting around the fact that at some point, the user is going to have to create a new database. It is kind of a problem that most hosting companies don't give out their root passwords, though--perhaps the issue is mainly one of nomenclature. I'll have to think of what can be done with that.

I'm glad you like Metrophix so much, though! Keep the suggestions coming.

[nickgreyink]

I know the comic script btPHP uses Smarty so you could look into that script for something to go from. Though don't use the Smarty version it comes with. That version is out of date.

With the Smarty system you can also use other PHP codes on the pages so the user doesn't have to be confined to just plain HTML codes.

Also I read through some of the forums and some of the people wanted to have the script run multiple comics. The Comikaze script does that and also makes use of the REQUIRE php code to allow the user place the script on any web page anywhere as long as it's on the same server and run it under different domains.

Those two things allow users to run several webcomics under several domain names all under one script.

Comikaze also has many, many feature wit it that you might could use, fiddle with, hack, or get ideas from.

If your looking to add features I also recommend iStrip, though its flat file so the coding will be a bit different.

All of these scripts are far out of date and probably need to be upgraded or re-written.

Also i know that you already have the script like this, but just to make sure. Have the script use tags that can be placed anywhere. I learned form trying to use Comicpress that unless you really know what your doing it really becomes a pain to code. A little of the same problem comes with btPHP, but not near as much with Wordpress.

List of webcomic scripts and examples for ideas and features:

Comikaze - Sinfest - http://www.sinfest.net/
Notes: No known example of multiple comic use yet. Sam and Fuzzy also use this script, but it has been modified. You can find it at http://www.comikaze.org/.

btPHP - Dominic Deegan - http://www.dominic-deegan.com/
Notes: You can find this at http://www.enisoc.com/btphp.php.

iStrip - Exiern - http://www.exiern.com/
Notes: You can find it at http://sourceforge.net/projects/istrip/.

S.N.A.F.U. - S.N.A.F.U. Comics - http://snafu-comics.com/
Notes: All comics in S.N.A.F.U. Comics use this as well as the comic Emergency Exit. Code no longer available online. Must email author for it.

Xcomic - Mystic Revolution - http://mysticrev.com/
Notes: Mystic Revolution uses version 9.0a beta. The latest stable version is 8.3 which has a lot less features. you can find it at http://xcomic.mikexstudios.com/.

iManga - None
Notes: iManga is not actively use any more as far as I know. Also it hard to find. The URL for the project is http://sourceforge.net/projects/imanga/.

AutoFox - The Dementia of Magic - http://www.dementiaofmagic.net/
Notes: This is a CGI script not PHP. You can find it at http://exclaimindustries.net/. It runs exactly like the Keenspot script.

SomeryC - None
Notes: you can find it at http://someryc.mostpopularcomic.com/.

Roadwaffles Script - Road Waffles - http://www.roadwaffles.com/index.php?c=1999-11-8
Notes: To get the code go to the Road Waffles address listed above. DO NOT GO TO ROADWAFFLES.COM. It won't pull up. At the bottom where it says "generated with smarchive. loadtime: 0.028 s " click "smarchive". This will take you to the code.
This is a good example if you want a time zone delay that is built into the script and not rely on MySQL.

[cijil]

Most of those sound like pretty good ideas, although I'm a little hesitant to do multiple comics on just one installation; I feel like Metrophix is light enough that multiple copies for multiple comics shouldn't be a problem, and it seems like it would be an immense headache to implement.

On iStrip and its flat-file structure: I was intending to develop a flat-file backend for Metrophix as well (in the next version) because I know that sometimes people just don't have access to a database server, or aren't savvy enough to handle it, or whatever. So that's already on the table. I'll have to check out iStrip for other inspiration.

First order of business, though, is to find out what all these spammers are suddenly doing to get accounts here.

[nickgreyink]

I think people will understand if you decide not to do multiple comics, or at least not right away. Comikaze is the only script I know of that does this. So no big id Metrophix doesn't.

I hope my list of webcomic scripts wasn't too daunting. I went back and read it afterwords and saw that it was quite a posting of stuff, but I thought it would be a good idea to grab some ideas from for Metrophix.

As far as the MySQL/Flatfile thing goes I think it would be a great thing to have the script automatically manage most of the features by itself without the need of a database. Such as the timezone changer in the Roadwaffles script that you can find in my last post. It doesn't require any database at all Flatfile or otherwise and all it needed was a comic to read from to set it on the write date at the write time.

If you are able to get the SNAFU script there are a few more examples of this in there. If you can't get it tell me and I'll send you a copy.

Oh, before I forget one more reason to use Smarty is that its update-able. All the user has to so, in theory, is download the latest version of Smarty from the site and upload it onto their server and they will be able to access all the new features that Smarty has to offer as well as all the old features because the Smarty tags and their functions don't change with and update, just the code behind it.

The only downside is if a Metrophix feature clashed with a Smarty feature you would have to find the problem in Smarty and fix it each time, but modifications to Metrophix should fix the problem permanently.

Also I'm not 100% sure Smarty works without a database. I've only tested it in btPHP which needed a database to work. So something to consider.

Here is a forum I found of what people want to see in there comic script. Coincidentally, it was from trying to find this page one time that brought me to Metrophix. http://comixtalk.com/best_full_feature_set_for_webcomics_script .

As far as spammers go phpBB2 is becoming quite notorious for being easy to crack by hackers. I think phpBB3 is not really much better either. At least that's what I've heard. Personally I use the Simple Machines forum script. Its a bit less known and has a rating on The PHP Resource Index of 9.99 out of 1,127 votes while phpBB has a 9.68 out of only 419 votes. http://www.simplemachines.org/

[nickgreyink]

Oh as an add on about the database creating. Most hosting companies either use cPanel or some variant that allows the user to create a database using a database Wizard or something.

Once the people have the database made they would just input the database name, user name, and password into the install code and Metrophix would use that to gain access to the database to create the tables it needs and use them.

[nickgreyink]

You might have already noticed this, but the word Password is misspelled on the log in page for the admin section.