I was excited about adding this to my facebook page - right up to the pint where it tried to get me to sign up my friends. If it is a good thing, I 'll let my friends know.
I would think the dilbert empire could get by without having to push this on my friends.
I hate applications that force me to do that - so unfortunately - off it comes.
I really like the one-panel-at-a-time thing. It "unfolds" the comic. I was a bit confused on how to go to the next frame. I would switch out the "next frame" button with the "next panel" button. (The same for the previous buttons, of course.)
The new way would have a big "next panel" button on the comic and a small "next comic" button under the comics. I might also do a "next panel" for clicking anywhere in the comic, so newbs get the most obvious interaction easily.
I added it to my Microsoft Spaces blog, http://waltl.spaces.live.com/ and it only shows up when I am logged on to the blog. For some reason it is not displayed to the public. Otherwise, it works well and looks great. Please get a working version added to the Spaces gallery when it is out of beta!
Sorry, i broke it, but it's a pretty small error: if you press the next and weekly buttons one after the other quickly, it will open both the next comic and the weekly menu.... sometimes, you have to do it pretty fast and a few times... i got bored, you set a challenge, i rose to it, praise me.
I'm excited that eventually you will be able to see all three panels at once. One at a time is a deal-breaker for me. I'll just look at dilbert.com for now.
I prefer the one-panel-at-a-time approach because when I read comedic comics I tend to inadvertently read the punchline prematurely but the one-panel-at-a-time approach prevents that.
I was able to add it to my Blogger blog quite easily. The only issue I had with it is one that I see with many Flash animations, it keeps my CPU usage up in the 90-100% range while not really appearing to be doing much of anything. I'm not familiar with Flash programming myself, but when I've asked those that are, it has seemed like an issue with the Flash file rather than with Flash itself being that CPU hungry by nature. As another example, before I "Click here to see today's strip", the animation only increases CPU usage by about 10-15% while animating the coffee fumes, although for the few pixels it's moving around that still seems a bit high.
I get the same repaint issue mentioned already when looking at it on the blog page (I'm on XPSP2 with IE6 and Flash 8). I have to move the mouse about to refresh the image when I click for the next panel; sometimes it works ok, sometimes not.
Have to agree with everybody else, this is a counterintuitive way of reading the strip. 3 panels please, not one with interaction required, it makes the punchline stilted somehow.
Mr Adams, I thought you'd have wanted to present the 3 frame format as intended. The human eye scans the whole scene: artificially having to drag the strip around feels wrong. I know it'd make the widget bigger, but at the very least a resize option taken from the width property fed from the browser would seem a good idea? I do appreciate you probably didn't develop it, mind... ;)
Otherwise a good idea. Is it coming to Google Desktop?
Just adding my voice as another Mac User who hasn't got Leopard.
This is kind of like assuming that as New PCs come with Vista nowadays, everybody else on a PC must already be on Vista too. Let's have a bit of a wider compatibility (Didn't I read that Dilbert is drawn on a Mac after all? Help us all out here. :D)
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This widget is an attempt to solve a problem that isn't there. The need to navigate through the 3 panes is a hassle and detracts from the humour of the comic. Colour is un-necessary too. It all looks sooooo busy. Perhaps it's just that today's comic is unfunny that I don't like the widget. Or did the widget make the comic unfunny?
I can see how this in an attempt to make a wide and short format fit on a webpage, but there are better solutions. Did you consider using a layer that enlarges the comic so that it temporarily coveres up other parts of the page? Much like some advertising banners do? THis is annoying when it's ad banners, but if it was the comic and you had requested it to enlarge, it would not be considred by the user as a browser takeover.
A cool feature would be the ability to have it minimized into a bar, then maximize when you roll over/click it...my desktop is already framed by widgets and this one sticks out a little.
I don't really need to look at the comic all day long, but I sure as hell don't want to close it when I'm done, then reopen it when I want to look at it again.
thanks...
Posted by: diziizle | January 31, 2008 at 07:40 AM
Alpha -- you didn't notice the big button with a word in all capitals, 'SKIP'? Every app I've added on Facebook has prompted me...what's the big deal?
Posted by: Jeremy | January 28, 2008 at 08:02 PM
I was excited about adding this to my facebook page - right up to the pint where it tried to get me to sign up my friends. If it is a good thing, I 'll let my friends know.
I would think the dilbert empire could get by without having to push this on my friends.
I hate applications that force me to do that - so unfortunately - off it comes.
Posted by: AlphaN | January 28, 2008 at 03:30 PM
I really like the one-panel-at-a-time thing. It "unfolds" the comic. I was a bit confused on how to go to the next frame. I would switch out the "next frame" button with the "next panel" button. (The same for the previous buttons, of course.)
The new way would have a big "next panel" button on the comic and a small "next comic" button under the comics. I might also do a "next panel" for clicking anywhere in the comic, so newbs get the most obvious interaction easily.
Posted by: doodaddy | January 28, 2008 at 11:53 AM
I added it to my Microsoft Spaces blog, http://waltl.spaces.live.com/ and it only shows up when I am logged on to the blog. For some reason it is not displayed to the public. Otherwise, it works well and looks great. Please get a working version added to the Spaces gallery when it is out of beta!
Posted by: Walter Lounsbery | January 25, 2008 at 06:01 AM
Sorry, i broke it, but it's a pretty small error: if you press the next and weekly buttons one after the other quickly, it will open both the next comic and the weekly menu.... sometimes, you have to do it pretty fast and a few times... i got bored, you set a challenge, i rose to it, praise me.
Posted by: Darkwing | January 25, 2008 at 01:25 AM
The actual strip is too small. I'll just stick to dilbert.com where I can actually see the content.
Posted by: BoltBait | January 23, 2008 at 11:45 AM
I'm excited that eventually you will be able to see all three panels at once. One at a time is a deal-breaker for me. I'll just look at dilbert.com for now.
Posted by: bbk | January 23, 2008 at 10:09 AM
I prefer the one-panel-at-a-time approach because when I read comedic comics I tend to inadvertently read the punchline prematurely but the one-panel-at-a-time approach prevents that.
Posted by: No one | January 23, 2008 at 08:35 AM
Why does this need a bandwidth-expensive Flash widget? Putting today's strip in a jpg with a standard name somewhere would be enough.
Posted by: Robin | January 23, 2008 at 08:04 AM
The only thing i notice is there is no easy way to go into the archive and find an old strip, beyond going to weekly and clicking
Otherwise its a great little widget.
Posted by: roninhac | January 23, 2008 at 07:54 AM
This is the coolest widget I've ever seen...It works great.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=115987154
Posted by: John | January 23, 2008 at 07:43 AM
Well, getting back in history takes about a million clicks, but otherwise it's a neat dohickey. It's good enough for it's price class...
Posted by: Jonas | January 23, 2008 at 07:09 AM
They won't let me use Leopard (officially) at the office, yet. So I'll save it for home.
Posted by: Thomas | January 23, 2008 at 06:39 AM
I was able to add it to my Blogger blog quite easily. The only issue I had with it is one that I see with many Flash animations, it keeps my CPU usage up in the 90-100% range while not really appearing to be doing much of anything. I'm not familiar with Flash programming myself, but when I've asked those that are, it has seemed like an issue with the Flash file rather than with Flash itself being that CPU hungry by nature. As another example, before I "Click here to see today's strip", the animation only increases CPU usage by about 10-15% while animating the coffee fumes, although for the few pixels it's moving around that still seems a bit high.
On the color side, that is cool.
Posted by: Lee Booth | January 23, 2008 at 06:31 AM
It is very cool.
I have the 'repaint'-issue as well. Sometimes it doesn't show the picture unless you move over it with the mouse.
BobNL
Posted by: BobNL | January 23, 2008 at 05:27 AM
I get the same repaint issue mentioned already when looking at it on the blog page (I'm on XPSP2 with IE6 and Flash 8). I have to move the mouse about to refresh the image when I click for the next panel; sometimes it works ok, sometimes not.
Posted by: irvinite | January 23, 2008 at 04:57 AM
On firefox 2.0.0.11 - the repaint is not working (black screen until mouse is moved over whole screen like a paint-brush).
Cool though !
Posted by: David, Hungary | January 23, 2008 at 04:40 AM
This looks to be a fantastic widget! I just wish there was an easier way to scroll to the comic you are looking for.
Posted by: Ian | January 23, 2008 at 03:50 AM
Daily Dilbert for free? So I can go ahead and cancel my subscription to Comics.com?
Posted by: Deeyem | January 23, 2008 at 03:03 AM
Have to agree with everybody else, this is a counterintuitive way of reading the strip. 3 panels please, not one with interaction required, it makes the punchline stilted somehow.
Mr Adams, I thought you'd have wanted to present the 3 frame format as intended. The human eye scans the whole scene: artificially having to drag the strip around feels wrong. I know it'd make the widget bigger, but at the very least a resize option taken from the width property fed from the browser would seem a good idea? I do appreciate you probably didn't develop it, mind... ;)
Otherwise a good idea. Is it coming to Google Desktop?
Posted by: Andy Watt | January 23, 2008 at 01:41 AM
Just adding my voice as another Mac User who hasn't got Leopard.
This is kind of like assuming that as New PCs come with Vista nowadays, everybody else on a PC must already be on Vista too. Let's have a bit of a wider compatibility (Didn't I read that Dilbert is drawn on a Mac after all? Help us all out here. :D)
Posted by: Jakaru | January 23, 2008 at 12:44 AM
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This widget is an attempt to solve a problem that isn't there. The need to navigate through the 3 panes is a hassle and detracts from the humour of the comic. Colour is un-necessary too. It all looks sooooo busy. Perhaps it's just that today's comic is unfunny that I don't like the widget. Or did the widget make the comic unfunny?
I can see how this in an attempt to make a wide and short format fit on a webpage, but there are better solutions. Did you consider using a layer that enlarges the comic so that it temporarily coveres up other parts of the page? Much like some advertising banners do? THis is annoying when it's ad banners, but if it was the comic and you had requested it to enlarge, it would not be considred by the user as a browser takeover.
Posted by: Tom du Pré | January 23, 2008 at 12:44 AM
A cool feature would be the ability to have it minimized into a bar, then maximize when you roll over/click it...my desktop is already framed by widgets and this one sticks out a little.
I don't really need to look at the comic all day long, but I sure as hell don't want to close it when I'm done, then reopen it when I want to look at it again.
Posted by: Jonah | January 22, 2008 at 11:17 PM
I have the same repaint/redraw issue as reported earlier, but with both Firefox2 and IE6 (Win 2Ksp4).
I kinda liked dilbert in B&W - see how I go with the colour over time.
Posted by: Sebastian | January 22, 2008 at 11:14 PM