Topic: Webcomic Hosting

So, those of you who have webcomics, what set ups do you use? Do you host your own? Do you host through a free hosting service? Developed your own script to run them? Use a pre-developed one?

If you could have any features when it comes to hosting your own comics, what would they be? Hosting-wise and scripting-wise. I've been looking at the wordPress webcomic plugin, and it seems decent, but not great.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

When I started I considered the options of using a free webcomics hosting site (like ComicGenesis) that would help me get started with design, archiving, and hosting. But I'm stubborn and need to have creative control over all aspects of my projects, so I opted to pay for hosting from 1&1 (www.1and1.com), and I'm glad I did. I don't have to worry about unwanted ads or proprietary logos on my page, and I have full control over the hosting details.

As far as actual design, I taught myself HTML (and more recently CSS) and code all the pages manually. It's a lot more work, but it pays off in the end. I thought about ComicPress, but I wasn't enthralled with taking someone else's coding and playing with it; I wanted to start from the ground up.*

Of course, being so DIY-minded about this puts me at the extreme end of the spectrum. If you don't want to worry about all the things that I worry about, doing a webcomic hosting site is probably best.

*I do use an archiving script for my archives, but I stripped it down to bare bones and only use it for that section of my site.

The way I code my site is a bit of a mess currently. I also do it manually via HTML. Which I desperately want to change soon to CSS. Which means I'm not the kind of person who knows about the pre-made sites out there. I have to say though, GoDaddy has been great for hosting, costwise.

One feature I do want though is to have an automatic update option. I'm still looking around for a way to set that up, since it's a tad of a pain to manually go back and make a few edits for the newest update.

What do you have in mind that you're asking these questions? Thinking of making your own comic? =D

My site used to run on iStrip, but then removed it when it became inadequate for what I wanted to do. I replaced it with ComicCMS, which works wonders, and is less of a hassle to use than iStrip.

As for hosting, I have my own site and use mirrors at DrunkDuck (...where I'm actually a moderator) and at ComicDish (...where I'm an admin.)

What do you have in mind that you're asking these questions? Thinking of making your own comic?

Well, for starters...

- A good reliable server.
- Easy to use Webcomic Uploading interference.
- No limits to webcomic page files.
- Ability to easily modify HTML or template of said hosted webcomic.

So, a setup where you'd have traditional webhosting access, AND perhaps some preset template-based system(s) with a back-end user-interface?

Giving experienced developers the versatility to do it themselves, but the newbies have the tools to start from scratch and grow.

Makes sense, really...

I tried comicPress; interesting, not that impressed. I have yet to try ComicCMS but it looks more along the lines to what I'd like to develop. Which, I think is the way I'll need to go. Develop a webcomic hosting script from scratch.

I have a few more hurdles to jump over then I think I'll have something of value to offer.

I'm far too lazy to re-learn we design, so I used a WordPress install on a Dreamhost site. Dreamhost has some very nice hosting packages and great reliability, although I have occasionally noticed slowdown in peak times.
For actually displaying the comic I use the above-mentioned comicpress, recently upgraded to the new version. I'm enjoying it with wordpress 2.5 and all the improvements therein. I had to learn (read: play with till it worked) a fair bit of PHP to get it behaving just the way i wanted but now that I have it's very easy to use.

Also nice about project wonderful: one-click self-installs on popular content managers such as wordpress. no mucking about with SQL. it just... works.

I've been designing websites as a hobby (and once in a while as a job) for like... Seven? Eight? Years now, so there was no question with my comic -- I'd host it on my own and run everything. I also use 1and1.com for all my websites' hosting, and I'm pretty happy with them -- they give a ton of space and resources, have plenty of technical aid and it doesn't cost much.

I use basic php and a few free prerendered scripts for almost everything on my comic, and the layout/pages were all hand-coded by me, except for the few prerendered ones like the tag and poll scripts. I like the ability and freedom to do whatever I want, so I avoid using Wordpress and the like for comics (I do use WP for an "Ask" section, though).

So, as mentioned before, I'm working on a webcomic hosting service. Its been a complicated project so far, but its near completion. Which'll be nice since I'd be able focus more in this site again.

Got a few more questions for you all, as far as features you'd all like.

I've decided to make it a true hosting service, meaning no "host free but show my ads!" stuff. I want to give complete control to webcomic creators. I also hope to have tutorials on using some of the Free comic management scripts out there, with the potential of creating my own.

So... Would a hosting service with a large webcomic hosting community behind it be appealing? Would you consider hosting with a company like that more than a more traditional hosting service? Or is it all a numbers game. Does the cheapest with the most space win, no matter what?

While I plan to maintain this site as more of a tribute to webcomics; a gateway for the general reader, and a way for webcomic cartoonists to promote their work. I plan to make my Webcomic Hosting service more of a community for creators to learn about the "business" aspect of the webcomic industry. The two will intermingle a lot, I expect. We'll see.

Let me know what you think. I'm hoping to release it by the end of the month. As always, any more suggestions, questions or comments are very welcome!

Well, though I'll still be using my own hosting service as it has everything I'll ever need and more, I suppose I could offer a few questions/suggestions for the community's benefit.

Is the hosting going to be free, or paid? Or perhaps both? I know you don't want ads, but if you make it a free service, are you sure you will be able to pay for things without ads? If the answer is yes, then don't worry about it.

Perhaps there could be a free service that, while having plenty of freedom, might be slightly limited in some way? Maybe not ads, but less ad/bandwith space or something? Then the paid version would offer more options.

Even if you don't do that and want to give creators freedoms, offering pre-installed comic scripts like istrip and others might be good for people who don't know advanced HTML, PHP, and other scripting.

Just some ideas.

Is the hosting going to be free, or paid? Or perhaps both?

offering pre-installed comic scripts like istrip and others might be good for people who don't know advanced HTML, PHP, and other scripting.

You make a fair point, and I think that sounds fair to keep the server and pages from being overrun with comics that get abandoned quickly, as you said. Besides, if they REALLY want to do a webcomic and they can't get hosted here, it's not the end of the world. There are plenty of other free servers out there they can go to if they're desperate.

Are you planning on making a form for hosting request submissions? Might be a good idea if you're not.

Are you planning on making a form for hosting request submissions? Might be a good idea if you're not.

Well, depending on how extensive time-wise you need to beta-testers to be, I might be able to help.