Comics UK - Version 2 (Finally)

[Al]

Hi everyone,

Tonight @ about 23:00 GMT I will be upgrading Comics UK to phase 1 of the ever-so-long-overdue Version 2 . This should not affect the Forum.

This upgrade has pleasantly coincided with me starting a brand new job on the 10th October (tomorrow) as a (49 year old) Junior Web Developer

So I am very excited on two fronts right now. On the Version 2 front I would have liked to had an extra week to compose a Site Guide section and also give it a thorough testing. I've also only managed to upload titles from A-R in the Gallery section.

But alas, I feel that the new job will take over my life for a while, so although I've tested Version 2 as best I can, I know that the worst kind of website tester is the person that developed it! Because they test it in the way that they would like it to be used and not the way that it actually gets used.

So here it is. Phase 1 has been completely rebuilt from the ground up using PHP5, MySQL, AJAX, JQuery and CSS3 (for you techies out there). Phase 1 is the smallest of the phases and will consist of displaying over 3500 Annual covers (that's nearly 1000 more new or improved covers from Version 1); over 1200 Gallery images (50% up and I am still uploading from the letter 'S'); There are also over 800 Specials, many of which are larger or newer then V1.

OTHER SECTIONS

Other sections include the Loading Bay which allows you to upload images to the Comics UK server of missing or better covers from the sections mentioned above. The risk here, of course, is that it is currently open to abuse. At the moment, the website hasn't got a Members section (apart from the Forum, of course), but that will be coming very soon. It's just a case of trying to synch the Version 2 membership details with the Forum details. If abuse does prevail, This section will be removed until after the Member section goes live.

You will also be able to Add Details about a cover by filling out a text box and pressing the send button. I will receive these details in the form of an Email and will add these details to the database, accordingly.

The Links, Welcome and Feedback sections are as you would expect.

I have been working in cahoots with my youngest son on this version, who is responsible for the style of the site. We hope you like it.

Al

[Digifiend]

Nice one! And congrats on the new job.

Welcome page has a broken image here:

(no prizes for guessing where the idea for that name came from .)

Seems you forgot to change the img src code for it.
http://localhost/Comicsukv2/ckeditor/pl ... _smile.gif

Also, Beano and Dandy website descriptions need updating.

The official Beano Website: Details some nice history about The Beano (& The Dandy) comics, along with their famous (and infamous) characters. It has games for the younger person, as well as its own Gazette featuring stories from Beanotown.

The Gazette is long gone, and Dandy scarcely gets a mention. Might be worth mentioning Retro Beano, which was a new feature on the last revamp.

The official Dandy Website: A comprehensive Website dedicated to everything Dandy. The Home page is a Forum where visitors can add their views. There's a character profile section of all the current stars and an artist section.

There is no forum now. They use their Facebook page for that. The character profile and artist sections are also long gone, all it is now is a few downloadable sample strips, a poll (which hasn't been updated since Strictly Come Laughing finished) and an editor's blog (which is really just issue previews).

The Action website link links to the logo instead of the website.
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/images/LinksL ... Action.jpg

I've tested the email contribution system by sending a message about the 2011 Dennis the Menace annual (namely that it's the last one).

[matrix]

A job well done,good to see it up and running,a great site for British comics.

[matrix]

Cannot find menu header though.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

It's looking great, Al--a pleasant surprize this morning.

[WizzKid97]

Looks very nice, good work Al!

Also, on your Dandy Summer Specials, you missed the 2007 Summer Special, here's a link to the front cover thanks to Lew's blog.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_448y6kVhntg/R ... N_SPEC.jpg

[STARBOY]

Looks really nice, well done and all the best in our new job

[philcom55]

Unfortunately it doesn't work at all with my outdated browsers.

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

Unfortunately it doesn't work at all with my outdated browsers.

Nor with mine, and no other program(me) feels that my Firefox browser does need updating. I have entered today via the Index Page.

[Digifiend]

Looks very nice, good work Al!

Also, on your Dandy Summer Specials, you missed the 2007 Summer Special, here's a link to the front cover thanks to Lew's blog.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_448y6kVhntg/R ... N_SPEC.jpg

That's not the only one missing. There's none listed after 2004, but the last one was a Dandy Xtreme summer special, which is from 2008 (image below, also from Lew's blog). We can contribute images here: http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/LoadingBay.php It's a simple enough process, I just tried it out with those covers.


And those of you having trouble with the site layout on old browsers, phase 2 will include a non-Javascript version.

[comicsgalore]

I remember that issue.

[philcom55]

I could be wrong but I thought Lew had asked people not to lift images from his website.

*...Ooops! I Just checked and he simply asks that credit should be given for anything that is reused elsewhere*

- Phil R.

[Lew Stringer]

I could be wrong but I thought Lew had asked people not to lift images from his website.

*...Ooops! I Just checked and he simply asks that credit should be given for anything that is reused elsewhere*

- Phil R.

I did originally ask people not to nick images from my blog but they carried on doing it anyway. I would ask that I'm credited though, as it's not very cool if people pretend they own the items or have done the scanning themselves. The thing about "file sharing" is people have to agree to share, otherwise it's "file nicking".

I do however take a very dim view of hotlinking, which has happened here once or twice. Use your own bandwidth folks.

Clicking on the ComicsUK logo doesn't work for me on Firefox. It tells me to upgrade to Firefox 3.5.... even though I'm using 3.6! Works with Safari though.

[WizzKid97]

I could be wrong but I thought Lew had asked people not to lift images from his website.

*...Ooops! I Just checked and he simply asks that credit should be given for anything that is reused elsewhere*

- Phil R.

I did originally ask people not to nick images from my blog but they carried on doing it anyway. I would ask that I'm credited though, as it's not very cool if people pretend they own the items or have done the scanning themselves. The thing about "file sharing" is people have to agree to share, otherwise it's "file nicking".

I do however take a very dim view of hotlinking, which has happened here once or twice. Use your own bandwidth folks.

Clicking on the ComicsUK logo doesn't work for me on Firefox. It tells me to upgrade to Firefox 3.5.... even though I'm using 3.6! Works with Safari though.

Hopefully it's all right that I uploaded this, I did credit you.

[stevezodiac]

This day in history Oct 9th 2011

Paul McCartney marries for 3rd time.

John Lennon celebrates 71st birthday (rather quietly).

Comics UK version 2 is launched.