Obnoxious ad

[willpell]

I get that Thunt needs to make revenue to support the comic, but right now there's an ad up there for "The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot" which is wider than the comic page and goes all the way across the screen. It's behind the comic page, but I think it might be in front of the drop-down menus above the comic, making them inaccessible. Plus it's just annoying for it to be so outsized.

[Thunt]

Yeah, we had a quickly resolved issue with the sizing of the ad. It should be fitting properly at this point.

And yes, I do have bills to pay. I don't mind this ad at all because it totally fits the feel of the comic and Danielle has been trying out the game. It actually looks really cool. Like a cross between Diablo and Dungeon Keeper.

[Borys]

Still not, I'm afraid

See? Klik is out of screen.

[thinkslogically]

Looking at the comic on an iPad, there's a big banner ad in the middle of the comic (about half way down) thats too wide by about 15% of the screen width and its forcing the comic to occupy a smaller width on the screen. It's not a huge deal, but it'll be annoying long-term.

Anyway, just a heads up from another device type

[willpell]

Yeah, we had a quickly resolved issue with the sizing of the ad. It should be fitting properly at this point.

And yes, I do have bills to pay. I don't mind this ad at all because it totally fits the feel of the comic and Danielle has been trying out the game. It actually looks really cool. Like a cross between Diablo and Dungeon Keeper.

I was not objecting whatsoever to the advertised product, just to the problematic formatting.

[stevedj]

Current status of obnoxious ad -- still there. Saturday, Aug 31, about 9pm PDT. The problem is it sticks out beyond the right side of the comic itself, disrupting other content over there. But it also affects the popup menus (good thing the "Forum" is at the top of said menu).

Here is a pic --



...hmmm, too wide? the all-important right side stuff is getting cut off... I'll see if I can fix that... ...ah, that's better.

[Xavier78]

Full page ads are obnoxious no matter what is being advertised or where. Also, this one does screw up the drop down menus. I never once used Ad-Blocker on this site, until that is gone I will be. Sorry Thunt.

[GoldenPanther]

A quick glance shows basically this ad is messing up the CSS on the comic page. The countdown timer is shoved way the heck down the page, the flow of the whole page is just... messed up with this ad. Standard webdesign in my experience is currently aimed at a 1280 width, not 1600... the image size was 1440 wide! This is definitely displaying poorly for a large portion of viewers. Still, even when I shrink the image size down using browser tools, the menus still are hidden behind the comic itself no doubt due to the overwritten CSS.

Frankly this is making the comic page kind of less fun to visit. I can wait until the ad is replaced to see if the shading has been finished. The problem is I'm not the only one who is likely to react this way, and that means less views for Thunt. Less views means less income, if I'm not mistaken. Ah well, hopefully this will work out soon.

[admin]

Hey folks,

yeah I am aware that the Ad is not exactly integrated the prettiest of ways, but so called "skin ads" work like that.
They are supposed to basically take over the design of a page for a couple days and pay significantly more than normal ads do because of that regardless of views.

The problem was that with the "old" base design of the site, this was hard to integrate at all so I had to accept a few unsightly effects since it's only for a couple of days anyways.
The repositioned Counter is intentional since it would've been covered by the ad otherwise OR cover the logo.

The blocked menu wasn't though and has been fixed by now.
Sorry for that. <_<
Also I moved the browser theme button a bit more inward so it should be completely visible for all devices now.

I am currently working on a complete rewrite of the theme for the site where such ads and other things are far easier integrated and less annoying,
but the development of it takes time, so for the time being I kinda have to patchwork over the old design with new things, which sometimes causes issues since the old code is a undocumented mess. XD
As it is now, the site kinda assumes large screens and is best viewed on a FullHD resolution and there are some issues on some browsers that decide "on their own" where they think the site ends width wise,
causing the weird cut off on the right. Mobile browsers are especially guilty of that.
The new theme will be cut down to 1280px width again to be fit for common displays.

If there is an apt webdesigner who is familiar with wordpress/comicpress themes on here somewhere, please shoot me a PM or a tweet @duke_igthorn since I can always use a second pair of eyes.
But please only do so if you are actually working in the field and not just a hobbyist who can read CSS. Thanks! :3

But yeah so far from me, just to let you guys know what's up any why.
Thanks for your suggestions and input. It's much appreciated!

If any of you have questions, you can always PM/tweet me and I'll get back to you when I can.

Cheers,
Dukey~

[thinkslogically]

Thanks for the update duke! It's a lot less annoying when its explained, so thank you for that!

[Rogbull]

ad is bad because when I first glimpsed it I thought the beard on the wizard was him puking.

Other than that, moneys must be made. ( And tempts's must be drawn )

[GoldenPanther]

Thank you very much for the update! It's gratifying to hear the reasons behind design decisions, not something you get to hear often.

I wish I actually knew CSS, but I'm a dabbler myself - more web development than design work (PHP) so my working knowledge lets me tweak my own stuff, but I doubt I'd be much help as an extra set of eyes here. Still I wonder if there's any way of putting the counter back near the top (even if it needs to be shrunk down a bit) since it's more likely to drive repeat traffic if it's visible as the page first loads (typically people hate to scroll until they're hooked). I used to dream of building my own community site and I did a bit of research on best practices and whatnot. Still, it's just my amateur thoughts on the subject. Sorry if it's imposing any.

[Thunt]

Dukey is the reason for so much of the awesome stuff that's been happening with the Goblins website lately.

[willpell]

I know that money is a fun thing to have THunt, but seriously think twice before accepting any more contracts to display an ad of this type. If they pay you more, but screw up the site and drive away pageviews, then everyone loses, so please do try to stick to the tried and true formula of easily-ignored ads, even if they pay less in the short term.

Dukey is the reason for so much of the awesome stuff that's been happening with the Goblins website lately.

When spoken aloud, that nickname sounds rather shitty....

[admin]

I know that money is a fun thing to have THunt, but seriously think twice before accepting any more contracts to display an ad of this type. If they pay you more, but screw up the site and drive away pageviews, then everyone loses, so please do try to stick to the tried and true formula of easily-ignored ads, even if they pay less in the short term.

Dukey is the reason for so much of the awesome stuff that's been happening with the Goblins website lately.

When spoken aloud, that nickname sounds rather shitty....

As I said earlier, this specific ad is only going to stay for a couple days so the chances of it actually "driving away" readers permanently in relevant amounts are very slim, even less so with readers interested in the comic.
Also we cannot forget that the site went without any ads for the better part of two months while we were struggling with getting the .com domain back.
So naturally, since Thunt needs to eat every now and then, (and from what I heard, even Danielle needs the occasional sustenance ) this loss in income needs to be compensated a bit.

The upcoming design change for the site will allow for better integration of such ads if they arise and make them look less out of place.

BTW, my nickname "Dukey" comes from Duke Igthorn, the villain of the Gummi Bears cartoon from the 80s. His little minion Toadwart and the Ogres used to call him Dukie, so it kinda stuck with me but I changed it to Dukey so it's less poo related.

[GoldenPanther]

Dukey already mentioned it wasn't the ad itself that caused the mix up in layout - it was the need to modify the current theme on the fly. Once things are settled, it's very unlikely that larger ads like this are going to mess with the site layout.

[stevedj]

I, too, appreciate the explanation. And I don't fault THunt for wanting such ad contracts or whatever - and wish him well in that revenue department.

However, I also hope this style of advertisement dies quickly -- and I think it just might. Until your explanation, here's what I thought was going on:

I thought it was a standard vertical banner ad, that had used some "trick" to excape its bounds, forcing itself onto the rest of the page. And in my mind, any ad that does this sets off all kinds of alarms and red flags in my head - so the last thing I'd ever want to do would be to click on the thing (again, in my mind, I'm thinking spam, or virus, or phishing crap).

Now, thanks to that explanation, I know better. But I would think that most people are going to think like I did at first - it is something bad, and stay away. Don't click. Perhaps stay away from the site I was visiting for awhile...?

So, it is a noble effort on the part of advertisers to try to get more attention, more click-throughs, etc. But I think the approach is all wrong. I for one won't be clicking on any such ads - here or elsewhere.

[Borys]

Interesting place for add.

[AntMac]

It just seems it would be simpler if Thunt told these people that his readers said "please give Thunt money, thank you". It would save all this malarkey with banners etc, wouldn't it?.

The ad didn't worry me, in fact I did not notice it was even on the page!.
This because I hardly know what I am doing anyway, just getting the correct page on the screen half the time, is me going to myself "OH yeah, baby, you got the skills, you live in the future, man, Buck Rogers is all envy!"

(Cue the young asking,

"? Who is this Buck Rogers?". )

[admin]

And as promised, the skin ad campaign is over already and the ad is gone.

Yeah I know that the Comic Jump List is being displayed RIGHT in the middle of the archives. Again that was due to the old layout that I had to either have it on all sites or only the frontpage.
As soon as I have time I'll write some "override" CSS to make it go away in this particular area. ^^

P.S.: I figured I'd do it right away, so lo' and behold, it is also fixed.

[Krulle]

Herzog Igzorn!
Starke Sache, Mann! Du hast sicher Grammy gefangen und was von dem Saft getrunken?


Und Danke f├╝r Dein fleissiges Schaffen!

(PS: Why don't you use your Duke Igthorn account here?)

[admin]

Herzog Igzorn!
Starke Sache, Mann! Du hast sicher Grammy gefangen und was von dem Saft getrunken?


Und Danke f├╝r Dein fleissiges Schaffen!

(PS: Why don't you use your Duke Igthorn account here?)

Haha! Aber nat├╝rlich! Dunwyn wird mein sein! MEIN GANZ ALLEIN!
Ahem... back to english. XD

Yeah, when I'm on "official" business I use the admin account. For casual talking I'd use the other one. ^^

[willpell]

The ad is long gone, but on the subject of the forum skin, it appears as though the two "forward" Klik-buttons at the bottom of the comic have been switched. Reading from left to right, the buttons are now "first comic", "previous comic", "archive", "latest comic" and "next comic". While this sequence isn't necessarily "wrong" per se, it's unusual and potentially confusing, if you don't note the shapes that the buttons take when highlighted and just assume that they're in the traditional "first, previous, next, last" order.

[admin]

Yeah, that was a weirdness I noticed too. It's fixed now.
I really hope I have some time soon to revamp the whole layout, so these little weirdnesseseseses are a thing of the past. XD