How can I get my webcomics on my website without external services and without a headache?

June 13, 2010 8:59 AM

I want to dynamically load images onto a single page (already built) using navigational buttons (webcomic stlye).

I'm building a simple little website for myself to serve as a miscellaneous dumping ground for my creative projects. I'm trying to create a page for my (occasional) webcomic that will allow visitors to click Previous, First, Last, Next links which will, in turn, load the appropriate image. I already have the page built.

What I'm looking for:
-Simplicity: I want to be able to make as few steps as possible when adding images to the site. I could create multiple copies of the html file whenever I upload a new comic, but then any edits to the site would have to be made to every file. I would like a more elegant solution which requires me to make design changes to one file only.

-Portability: I will be moving the site soon and want to be able to carry the content of my site on a thumbdrive and simply dump it in the root directory of the domain. My webhost is and will be Dreamhost

-Text too? I'd like to be able to dynamically load short snippets of text along with the image, though this is a secondary priority.

-No Javascript, no flash. I don't want visitors seeing weird prompts about allowing plugins and additional software.

-No need for calendars, archives, etc. - I'll deal with those things another day if and when they become necessary.

I've tried a bunch of php/database solutions including Comicpress and Comikaze. The closest thing to what I need so far has been
Comic Gallery (no server installation, no database, just a single php file), but it won't work for me for some reason (it will upload the last image, but won't update to new images/links) and I have no clue how I would modify the code to update the text as well.

Other things I've tried:
html targets
individual pages for comics
javascript

I have a firm grasp of html and css, so i don't mind getting my hands a little dirty, but I need help with this.

posted by monkeyagent to technology (3 answers total)

I gave Comic Gallery a shot and got it working with one change to comicgallery.php, since the $HTTP_GET_VARS global is depreciated in PHP. Just comment that out and add the line with the $_GET replacement:

// check for the picture to view
// $pic=$HTTP_GET_VARS['p'];
$pic=$_GET['p'];

Since the script is just looking for an alphabetical list of files, it would be pretty easy to have it include a text file with the same name as the displayed picture. E-mail me if you're sticking with Comic Gallery and want help with that.
posted by cowbellemoo at 9:44 AM on June 13, 2010

No Javascript, no flash. I don't want visitors seeing weird prompts about allowing plugins and additional software

I think you're confusing Javascript with Java. They are completely different and unrelated things. JS does not require any plugin, Java does. And what you're asking for is practically impossible without JS.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:05 PM on June 13, 2010

Well, I feel sheepish now - I stumbled upon Walrus which I have now gotten up and running. It's exactly what I wanted and works great. Once I got it configured, all I had to do was put a single line of code in the place of text/links to call up the comics/text.
At some point I do plan to learn some server-side scripting. But this will work in the meantime. Thanks!
posted by monkeyagent at 12:27 PM on June 13, 2010