Big Firefly Push @ Comics Continuum by Novagrass

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Big Firefly Push @ Comics Continuum

POSTED BY: NOVAGRASS
UPDATED: Monday, September 16, 2002 10:36
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VIEWED: 1621
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Sunday, September 15, 2002 7:45 AM

The folks over at The Comics Continuum website have all sorts of Firefly propoganda on their site (a banner and a pop-up ad).

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/

--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--

Mal has a charming sense of humor, but I am a Companion, and right now alecture on the antiquated notions of moral turpitudos. - Inara

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Sunday, September 15, 2002 7:56 AM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.

I guess we know which demographics FOX is attempting to target, which I assume I'm a part of since I read tons of comics.

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Monday, September 16, 2002 6:57 AM

ZICSOFT

Nicely done banner ads. Unfortunately, they all just lead to the same old lame web site.

Yeah I'm being negative. Here's a positive thought: when the show starts getting an audience(and it will, it's too good even for the usual network screwups) they'll invest some money in a decent web site.

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Monday, September 16, 2002 9:32 AM

MILLERNATE

I don't see what the huge problem with the website is. I mean, you can find everything and there is some fairly decent content. If you look at it in the realm of a "corporate entertainment website" (which it is) the site is actually pretty decent.

Nathan
"It looks like a great adventure...That's what it is; that's what it feels like. When I saw the pilot, it was really engaging. It was exciting. It was unusual. It threw me off every now and then. I think people will be grabbed by it." - Ron Glass, on the pilot, during an interview with the Indianapolis Star

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Monday, September 16, 2002 10:04 AM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.

Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:
when the show starts getting an audience(and it will, it's too good even for the usual network screwups) they'll invest some money in a decent web site.

Actually, from what I hear, the official site is supposed to have a new version up when the series premieres on Friday.

I'm looking forward to seeing what a lot of money and an entire webteam can do.

BTW, monetary cost for bringing FIREFLYFANS.NET to you guys--$20.

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Monday, September 16, 2002 10:18 AM

ZICSOFT

Sure you can find things if you look hard enough. But you have to look harder than you should. And the multimedia implementation is pretty brainless.

Consider the photos page:

http://www.fox.com/firefly/photos.htm

To get there, you have to navigate to "features" and then scroll down to a link at the bottom of the page named "Serenity photos". Not that obvious!

This is an example of problem I encounter in my own work as a technical writer. When you have a massive amount of material, whether it's in book form, on a web site, or in a help browser, you have to structure it so people can find it easily. If people can't find it, it might as well not be there.

And even if you start with a decent structure, as you body of materials grow, you have to make sure that people can still find all your stuff. Yet web site designers (and technical writers) often don't bother and just stick new material wherever it seems to fit. So you end up with this huge monster that nobody wants to deal with. The Firefly site isn't that bad yet, but it's getting there rapidly.

Another issue on this page is the way you browse the photos. As with most of the multimedia on the site, they use a separate Javascript popup for each and every image. I'm guessing that somebody's using a Javascript generator that's built into whatever web design tool they're using. This kind of simple-minded popup code is easy to generate from an HTML editor, and sort of looks cook, but it's not very usable. In this case, you have to close each picture before you can look at the next. Or else just ignore the fact that you've got a couple dozen popup windows open. Either way, browsing the pictures isn't a lot of fun.

I'm no more than a dabbler in web design, but I can see two obvious alternatives to the way this page is designed.

The easiest way is to just directly link your thumbnails to your pictures. Doesn't look cool, but it's a lot easier to browse.

Or if every page has to look cool, I'd put an image in the big empty space on the pictures page. Initially, it'd contain something generic (like the Firefly logo). Clicking on a thumbnail would replace the image with the picture the thumbnail points to.

Of course, doing that requires a little knowledge of Javascript. As far as I can tell, the Firefly "web team" doesn't know any. They only use generic Javascript that's obviously generated for them by their editing software.

I don't mean to run anybody down. Designing and maintain web sites is hard work. And worse, it never really ends. (Haken, tell me I'm wrong!) Somebody at Fox or Mutant Enemy would seem to be maintaining this site in their spare time. Except people who work at places like that don't usually have a lot of time to spare. It's just that if Fox wants to use the web to promote the show, they're going to need to devote a lot more effort.

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Monday, September 16, 2002 10:27 AM

ZICSOFT

Quote:
Originally posted by Haken:

BTW, monetary cost for bringing FIREFLYFANS.NET to you guys--$20.

Well, I'm glad you found an inexpensive ISP. But I don't think you're counting the value of your own time. How many hours per week to you spend designing and maintaining the site? And you've been doing this for about 6 months, right? Do the math. I'm guessing at the parameter, but I see maybe $10,000 worth of work in this site.

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Monday, September 16, 2002 10:36 AM

SHUGGIE

Quote:
Originally posted by Haken:
BTW, monetary cost for bringing FIREFLYFANS.NET to you guys--$20.

I think your time is worth more than that Haken.

Shug

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