Manga+Press

Yep, fixed those pesky bugs that were brought to light by WordPress 2.8 Had more to do with how I had the jQuery UI Tabs set up than with WP 2.8 though.I’m also going to pick up working on Manga+Press again because I’m starting to feel that there are certain features that either might make MP too intensive on some servers or features that in my opinion, need to be fleshed out a little more. Here are some of the examples of what I’m talking about:

• The banner skin option.
  I’m thinking that the effect might be easier to duplicate with a little CSS layering than using a server-side library like GD or ImageMagick. Maybe I should add it as an option? Since I brought up CSS layering, maybe I should try a CSS sprite? Hmm, or maybe not. That would work for a lower res comic but not for hi-res, full-color comics.
• The database tables.
  I’ve been going back and forth on this one. I’m starting to think that maybe Manga+Press doesn’t need a seperate table to store the ids for the comic posts. MP already adds custom meta data to the post to identify it as a comic. Maybe I’ll have to explore that a little more.
• The series/category manager.
  Now this was a good idea as far as it went. The idea here was to have the WordPress categories act as series and chapters, with the idea that it would make for easier archiving later down the line. However, the problem with this was my original decision to use a f*cking effing drop-down for the categories instead of generating a series of checkboxes with PHP. I think I might have run into some problems with getting all of the child categories of the main category that was designated as the comic category.
• Manage Series tab.
  Since we’re talking about the series/category manager, I’m really looking at this tab as being—hmm—rather redundant? It doens’t “manage” anything at the moment and about all it serves to do is provide a list of categories that are being used as series/chapters/etc. One possibility would be to add series pages and descriptions.
• Manga+Press Main Page.
  Now this is a page that could use some serious readjustment. I really feel that it makes absolutely no sense with the way it’s set up right now. I’m thinking that maybe I should reconsider the current setup. Maybe there should be a “featured comic” rss pane for other Manga+Press users? Now that is probably a very good idea. One that I think I’m going to look at a little more closely.
• Manga+Press Themes.
  Something that I’ve been thinking about for while now. Manga+Press practically has it’s own templating system to the point where you can’t really just plug it in and go like you would with other comic managers like ComicPress. MP already comes with one theme. Maybe I should work on hacking the default Kubrik theme that comes with WordPress so that it supports MP.
• Sidebar Widget
  About as far as I’ve gotten is a sidebar function that displays the latest comic thumbnail. I’ve only scratched the surface with WordPress widgets—still learning how they work and all that stuff. But it is an idea that will manifest in later versions.
  

So, those are some ideas that I have for future versions of Manga+Press. I’d also like feedback on the current version; if there are any bugs I should be aware of, what could be added; what could be removed? That sort of thing.

Anyway, till next time