TL.net I need your help.

In my spare time I started the site

http://www.9panels.com

with 2 of my friends to read manga online. The site is almost functional and I wanted some feedback.

All the code is written by us and none of us have any experience in making websites.

Any advice/feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks!

United States6173 Posts

June 08 2009 22:51 GMT

I don't really read manga...much less online, but the site seems fine. Just work on your content and you guys should be fine.

As far as I know, there are only two really decent major online manga sites: onemanga and mangafox...so look to them as competition.

artofmagic

United States1951 Posts

June 08 2009 23:02 GMT

I enjoy the site. no bullshit but mangas!

I'm not an advocate for flash, and i believe all the features can implemented via javascript. However I do love how your flash manga-loader widget indicate when a page is ready to viewed or not.
(Maybe you can try to implement a javascript version of the widget)

-UI wise, it's simple and great. I do recommend changing font color and style. It needs a better color theme, and more emphasis on the important part (bigger font size for Manga name, and Chapter #)
Also the submit info bar (in the flash in the main page) is taking way too much space.

also is this built under php+mysql?

Jin

Canada439 Posts

June 08 2009 23:07 GMT

On June 09 2009 08:02 artofmagic wrote:
I enjoy the site. no bullshit but mangas!

I'm not an advocate for flash, and i believe all the features can implemented via javascript. However I do love how your flash manga-loader widget indicate when a page is ready to viewed or not.
(Maybe you can try to implement a javascript version of the widget)

-UI wise, it's simple and great. I do recommend changing font color and style. It needs a better color theme, and more emphasis on the important part (bigger font size for Manga name, and Chapter #)
Also the submit info bar (in the flash in the main page) is taking way too much space.

Awesome advice. Thanks. Ya, there's a lot of code changes currently underway for the flash stuff. The bottom bar in the front is a little broken right now (not displaying correct date or submitter >_<).

The reason we went with flash is because it gives us the option of viewing manga in full screen (and other customizable sizes) as opposed to js. The loading times are a bit faster too. But I will try and see what features can be done with js instead of flash.

Thanks!

Shattered

United States267 Posts

June 08 2009 23:13 GMT

site looks good ^_^ and theirs alot of stuff on there so far if i read manga id definately use your site

Tensai176

Canada2061 Posts

June 08 2009 23:17 GMT

So, heres the things I noticed.

I feel there should be the 'normal' 'extended' '9panel fullscreen' options somewhere where it can be accessed anytime. Also when you finish a chapter, it's always great that the forward button brings you to the next chapter as opposed to repeating the one you read. Other than that, i love the site.

Gyabo

United States329 Posts

June 08 2009 23:20 GMT

oo excellent site. I've been meaning to get back to reading Kenichi, guess I'll do that on your site.

Also, the fast loading flash feature is awesome!

Jin

Canada439 Posts

June 08 2009 23:22 GMT

On June 09 2009 08:17 Tensai176 wrote:
So, heres the things I noticed.

I feel there should be the 'normal' 'extended' '9panel fullscreen' options somewhere where it can be accessed anytime. Also when you finish a chapter, it's always great that the forward button brings you to the next chapter as opposed to repeating the one you read. Other than that, i love the site.

There's a button on the menu bar on the bottom where you can choose modes. Our icons are pretty crappy tho, I don't think most people will even see it's there. Will fix that up. Thanks!

AeTheReal

United States108 Posts

June 08 2009 23:36 GMT

Wow! I really like the manga viewer. Maybe it's just me, but I find the popping out thing the UI elements on the bottom kinda annoying. Perhaps just highlighting itself from mouse over is enough? Also, linking the end of one chapter to the next chapter is going to be a common request if you don't implement it.

Wangsta

United States776 Posts

June 08 2009 23:37 GMT

#10

I really like your site layout, simplicity is the best, honestly

I dunno how hard it would be to implement, but having cookies to remember which mangas a person last read might be a nice feature, saves a few clicks

Jin

Canada439 Posts

June 08 2009 23:40 GMT

#11

On June 09 2009 08:36 AeTheReal wrote:
Wow! I really like the manga viewer. Maybe it's just me, but I find the popping out thing the UI elements on the bottom kinda annoying. Perhaps just highlighting itself from mouse over is enough? Also, linking the end of one chapter to the next chapter is going to be a common request if you don't implement it.

ya i think the linking is quite important too

it's being worked on as we speak, hopefully will see it up in a few hrs

Cambium

United States16368 Posts

June 08 2009 23:55 GMT

#12

Really neat site

Will use

Ares[Effort]

DEMACIA6550 Posts

June 09 2009 00:03 GMT

#13

Beautiful site man, I really liked it personally! I will visit this anytime I want to read naruto and instead of going to those bullshit sites that have those annoying pop ups then randomly people start talking about new services!

This site is amazing I hope you guys go a long way with this!

Daigomi

South Africa4316 Posts

June 09 2009 00:13 GMT

#14

I like your manga viewer, much nicer than the ones I used when I read manga way back

The only thing I would ask is that you add some sort of zoom feature. When I read manga, I used to zoom in so that the page filled the screen, and then scrolled down as I finished with the frames. This makes reading on small screens or from a distance more easy.

Jin

Canada439 Posts

June 09 2009 00:26 GMT

#15

Thank you for all the kind comments so far.

We are trying to integrate all these recommended features. Hopefully if you will see them in the next few days.