We’re a little late on the reference, we know. Here we have a 2 part comic. The first part you have, the second, well, you'll also have. Next Tuesday.

Regardless, this comic describes my situation perfectly when it comes to web coding. I’m sure some of you might laugh (or cringe) at an inability to grasp what is referred to as simple code. Simple, in comparison to, say, C++ (or is it C# now?). This is like saying “well, a car is simple in comparison to a space shuttle.” They’re both complex when you’re not a mechanic. Sure, you might understand the basic idea behind each one, but trying to build and/or fix one? Heh.

And yet, given my lack of experience and skill in this field, I’ve done my best to jump head first and persevere through the headaches (from staring at a computer screen for hours) and concussions (from slamming my head into the keyboard for hours). While the results are mixed, they’re largely successful. I’m hesitant to say that the new website will be fully operational next week, but that’s my goal. It’s going to have a comprehensive archive, backed by a reliable content management system, and no “under construction” pages. I’d rather not switch from one half-assed site to another. And the new site is looking nice, although the design has changed against my original wishes, I’m happy with the result as long as I can get everything working.

However, I do have some gripes, specifically about the CMS we’re using. Comicpress (a variant theme for Wordpress) has gained a lot of popularity amongst the web comic community due to the “ease of use” and “simplicity.” I use quotes here because this is a crock of shit. It’s only easy and simple as long as you stay within the confines of the bloated and shitty design. I’m not sure where the thought process led to “hey a web comic needs all of this shit” but there should have been a well documented method to removing said shit. Here’s an example: There a standard sidebar that has a default setting of displaying every single fucking widget that they decided to cram into Comicpress’s asshole. There’s no way to actually turn these off aside from placing in a text widget into the sidebar in the dashboard interface, and leaving it blank.

This is fucking stupid.

OIf you throw in a massive amount of features, and the site you’re designing is geared for people who just want to get a comic on the internet, give them a way to turn this shit off. After struggling with trying to remove various bits of code, I finally stumbled upon the aforementioned solution. This is one example of the sheer stupidity of this design. If I want to get rid of these fucking widgets in the sidebar I shouldn’t have to scour through the framework of the site, risking fucking everything up because I was sold on the “ease of use” of this set up. I don’t know what kind of design process you people went through, but usually they start with “Ok, who is our audience and what do they need.” Keyword: need. Is it too much to ask for an option in the dashboard just to switch shit off? Yes? Fuck you.

A less frustrating aspect of the redesign process is that Comicpress has a very peculiar way of dealing with the navigation through the archive, and customizing said process is difficult in its own right. Not to mention the fact that something touting a non-redundant and dynamic site layout is missing an important element: a navigation template that is customizable through the editor. Instead of this, you have to alter the way the archive template page (named single-post.php, the archive template is something else entirely) works, as well as the front page.

Of course, let’s not forgot about the fact that the blog post on the front page displays twice, and searching through the comicpress forums, and asking about it, yields you almost nothing.

Here’s a thought: If you design something for visual people, make sure that you have visual instructions. Or any fucking instructions beyond loading your shitty database manager onto a server.

- Leo