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Migrating from Webcomic+Inkblot to StripShow

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11:28 am
October 12, 2010


arkholt

Buena Vista, VA

Member

posts 7

I started my web comic, The Bird Feeder, a few months ago, and at the time decided to use the plugin Webcomic with its Inkblot theme. I decided against ComicPress, because it didn't seem flexible enough for me. I wanted the theme and the plugin to be safely separate. It worked well for me for a while, but Webcomic still wasn't quite flexible enough for me, at least given the amount of web design and development knowledge that I have, which is not much. StripShow seems a bit more of what I want, meaning I want to be able to easily take any WordPress theme and use the plugin with it. Inkblot as a theme is great, but I want something different. I've messed with the CSS quite a bit, but CSS only goes so far. Also, the developer of Webcomic announced that he has gone on a "hiatus." I've followed many a single-developer project, and red flags were going up immediately.

My point, however, is this: I have 80 comics now, and blog posts to go with them. Is there a way to (relatively) easily and painlessly migrate from Webcomic to StripShow? If so, great, but if not, what is the most painless way to do so?

6:57 pm
October 12, 2010


GreenGel

Moderator

posts 21

Well, I don't know if there is a direct converter or simple way to do it. But the bulk importer should work well for putting up your comics. It has a pretty simple interface, so figuring it out shouldn't be too difficult. Basically, install stripshow, upload your comics (or set your current comics folder to match what stripshow expects) and it will take all those images as "orphans" then use the bulk importer to set up your options the way you want.

I'm not personally familiar with the autocomic feature of stripshow, not having used it, but I don't see it causing any issues.

I'm not sure how it will work for the posts associated with each of the comics you currently have. I know the posts themselves will still exist in WordPress so you may be able to associate each of those posts with a particular comic image, but I don't honestly know on that part.

Anyone, my point is, with the bulk importer, and 80 comics, you are probably only looking at about an hour (or much, much less) to get stripshow basically set up.

Hope that helps.

1:43 am
October 13, 2010


Brad

Admin

posts 233

The actual comics shouldn't be a problem — you just switch the plugin. But your theme might me. What's the URL for your site — I could take a look?

4:22 am
October 13, 2010


arkholt

Buena Vista, VA

Member

posts 7

Post edited 7:34 am – October 13, 2010 by arkholt


There is a link to my site in my first post. I guess you didn't catch it. No matter. Here's a second: The Bird Feeder

Looking at it, I can see that you're both correct that the comics wouldn't be a problem at all, so that's a load off my mind. The difficulty, however, would be the posts associated with them. Webcomic uses custom post types for its comics (a feature I notice you are in the process of implementing), and I'm not sure how that plays into it, or how to properly transfer those over.

I don't know how much of a problem the theme might be, but would it be that much trouble to switch over to StripShow Sandbox or any other theme? I don't mind ditching Inkblot, as I've never really been much of a fan of it.

EDIT: After reading the documentation, I've actually been considering using Thematic. I'd been considering it before, but was having a terrible time trying to figure out how to get Webcomic to work with it.

8:41 am
October 13, 2010


Brad

Admin

posts 233

OK, I've looked into Webcomic 3, and I see that they are indeed the first ones out of the gate with custom post types. So migrating to stripShow 2.5 would be difficult. That means I'll need to get 3.0 out pretty soon. I could make a little script to change the posts BACK to regular posts in a certain category, but that might be counterproductive.  If you really want to switch to stripShow now, I can help. But you might be better off just waiting.

One thing I will definitely do is put a button in stripShow 3 to convert from Webcomics' custom post type to mine.

9:00 am
October 13, 2010


arkholt

Buena Vista, VA

Member

posts 7

Great info, and although I hope you don't feel any pressure from me in that area, I anxiously await the next version. I will definitely wait, though. Seems to be the easiest and most painless option.

Thanks very much for the info, help, and the great plugin. :)



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