Manga+Press » What’s New

Manga+Press 2.6 Static Page Issues and updates

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:54:25 +0000

First off, I just found out that Manga+Press does not play well with WordPress’s Static Page settings. If you’re using your latest comic page as a static front page, you will have to create a custom page template and apply it to your latest comic page. If you need more info on custom page templates in WordPress, check out this page in the WordPress Codex for more information on how to create a custom page template. Also, check out my page on Manga+Press’s template tags, and there is a code sample available for download as well. Unfortunately, I’ve been doing some tests to see if I can integrate Static Page support but it seems like the “fix” causes more problems than it actually fixes.

Also, if you’re having issues with the “Powered by Manga+Press…” text in your footer ruining your layout, you can use this line of code in your theme’s functions.php file to remove it:

remove_action('wp_footer', 'mpp_add_footer_info');

I had a great idea for a companion plugin to Manga+Press: CharacterWiki! Which is exactly what it says it is. Basically, it would be a plugin that would allow you to create a Cast of Characters listing and/or a series guide. I have no idea when I can start development on this project but I hope it’s sometime soon!

And finally, I should have a Manga+Press API reference up in the next few weeks. I’m working on it as part of my senior portfolio since the development of Manga+Press is playing a major part in my portfolio.

Manga+Press 2.9 Changes and Tips

admin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:45:24 +0000

Manga+Press 2.9 features some changes to its interface as well as some new features. First off, the changes:

Manga+Press no longer has its own top-level menu. To summarize the reason for this change: it seemed rather pointless for Manga+Press to have its own section. Here are the locations of the Manga+Press pages:
1. Manga+Press Options is now located under Settings.
2. Post New Comic is now located under Posts.
  - 2.5 introduced the option of using Add New to post comics, and if you want more control then that is what I’d suggest. Post New Comic is still limited to uploading files 500KB or smaller; using WordPress’s own interface gets around this limitation.
3. Manga+Press Uninstall is located under Plugins.
4. Series has been eliminated
5. Manga+Press Dashboard has been eliminated.
As you know, Manga+Press 2.5 was supposed to have the option of automatically modifying your Latest Comic and Comic Archive pages but had to be eliminated due to issues. These options are now enabled in Manga+Press 2.9. To enable them, all you have to do is specify pages for Latest Comic and Comic Archives.
- Tip:
  - If you wish to use your own custom pages, then this option can be disabled by not selecting any pages for Latest Comic and Comic Archive (or setting the dropdown to the blank option).
  - If you’re using a custom theme from WordPress.org, then it is suggested that you test whether or not that theme can handle the automatic insertion options. I do know that some themes—specifically magazine-style themes—don’t handle that option all that well so it is probably better to create a custom template page for your latest comic and comic archive pages.

Beta Release: Manga+Press 2.9

admin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:32:14 +0000

Yes, this was supposed to be last night but life happened :\ So, here it is: Manga+Press 2.6 beta. Download, enjoy and install at your risk I do have 2.6b running both here and on my comic website and I’m not seeing any problems like the ones I discovered after the official release of Manga+Press 2.5. The features that should have made 2.5 a milestone release (which subsequently had to be disabled) are working with no foreseeable problems in 2.9.

Now, the next step in development is to make sure that Manga+Press 2.6 works with WordPress 2.9-rare (version numbers are strictly coincidental ^_^) and how to best integrate the new features of WordPress 2.9 with M+P 2.6; those updates will be out with M+P 2.6.1 Some of the new media management functions in WordPress 2.9 makes me very happy that I had the foresight to integrate M+P into the WordPress Media Library.

Till next time

Manga+Press 2.9 beta

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:16:57 +0000

Considering some of the issues I’ve had with Manga+Press 2.5—or rather how they seemingly cropped up after I submitted the completed version to the WordPress plugin repository, I’ve decided that this time around the first release of Manga+Press 2.9 will be a beta. I plan on having it packaged as a zip and ready to download by Saturday evening if anyone is interested in testing it out. I will say that 2.9 is the version that 2.5 should have been. This version features automatic formatting of both the Latest Comic and Archive Page, but also the ability to turn the feature off and customize your own Latest and Archive pages.

Coming up: Manga+Press 2.9!

admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:38:59 +0000

Yeah, you’re reading that title right—I said Manga+Press 2.9. The thing is, it probably won’t be out until November or December because I’m in the process of making some major changes to both the interface and the code. For one, I found a few new (better) ways of doing things—like handling options, for instance but it’s requiring a rewrite of the code—which is why I’ve jumped the version number up! Anyway, if you’re curious about the cosmetic changes that I’ve made, please The biggest change is Manga+Press is no longer going to have its own menu. I’ve moved the Manga+Press Options page into the Settings Menu; the upgrade and uninstall pages have been moved to the Plugins menu and I’m debating on keeping the Post Comic page or removing it since in 2.5, I created the hook to post comics directly from Add New. If I do keep the Post Comic page, it will likely be moved to the Posts category.

You know, I’ve been meaning to do this for a while but it’s about time that I stated some goals about what I wanted Manga+Press to be. When I started this project back in February of 2008, it was the final for a scripting class that I had to take. The primary goals were:

To develop a seamless means of integrating comics into WordPress by just using WordPress’s media management, posts and category system.
To create a webcomic CMS where you have the choice of prominently displaying your comic on the home page, or keeping it in the background.
To create a webcomic CMS that is easy to configure and works from the beginning with little or no configuration or special themes.

At the time I started this project, the only option available was ComicPress and for myself at the time, ComicPress didn’t really suit my needs or offer me the flexibility that I needed. With that in mind, when my Winter ’08 quarter rolled around and I was going to be taking Dynamic Web Apps (I’m currently a senior at The Art Institutes International Minnesota), the subject that quarter was WordPress and so guess what became my final project?

With those goals stated, I feel that I’ve only met some of them half-way, for instance, ease of use. I’ve got seamless integration of comics with WordPress’s original functionality down, though. Eitherway, 2.5 was a good fair release and I can promise that 2.9 is going to be even better