Directions of Destiny

It's been a little longer since the last entry than I had hoped for, but I'm back for some more site updates! A lot of things have been going on in the backend lately, including a server change that should speed things up a bit, and a slightly updated layout! I had quickly grown tired of the duller colors of the original new layout, so I adjusted the color scheme to have more contrast, and I decreased the size of the header a little too so that it's less overpowering.

Also, the three weeks before the new semester started I'd been working on figuring out a new shopping cart script for this site, because previously I had used this other program (Zen Cart) that was kind of ghetto!! It did its job but it was a major pain in the butt to use, and it was lacking a certain level of customization.

Namely how I wanted two stores to share the same product IDs and database and cart, but have different layouts with only certain products appearing in each store. If you ever tried to use the Shop link here, you may have been a little jarred by the fact that it takes you to a separate website with a separate layout and everything--I didn't want that! :O I want Directions of Destiny to be its own site and I wanted visitors have a more streamlined experience when they browse this site.

Long story short, I managed to find Magento, the perfect open-source shopping cart script that does everything I want, and after weeks of burrowing myself deep in code and support forums, I've finally finished the New Alatus Gift Shop!

Annnd the feature item right now is the new Section 2.1 book for only $4! :O! This was something I printed back in the summer to try to promote my comic at the summer conventions, and I've finally gotten around to making it available online. For those of you who were around back then, it is similar to the first mini-book I released back in 2005 for Sections 1.1 and 1.2, but this time it's just one chapter, but with lots of extra content! Notably, I've included a full breakdown of my comic-making process in the book, and there are a few new minicomic strips as well as some sketches and other stuff!

For the time being my store on my personal website is closed, but the cool thing is that when I get around to putting it back up I'll be able to have both that and the Alatus Gift Shop share the same shopping cart and everything ahhh I'm so excited Dx! Anyway, I think that pretty much fully wraps up all the site-maintenance stuff for Directions of Destiny, so from here on out I should be putting up much more comic-related content :D Check back soon!

As you may have noticed, I've managed to put up a new layout for this site like I said I would in the last entry! I hope that it makes it much easier to get around and more visually appealing for you. :D Also like I said, with this big ol' blog space on the front page, I plan to update more often throughout this year with various sketches and art and stuff related to the comic as I flesh out the script for the rest of the story. Please check back every now and then if you're interested!

As a bonus, here's the line-art for the two header character art I've done so far. Instead of using a pen to ink the line-art, I drew the sketch in blue pencil and "inked" it with pencil, and so I like the nice softer effect it leaves? I plan to add header art for the rest of the characcters too in my spare time.

A lot of things were going a little haywire in the background over the last few days as I was putting this up, but I think most things should be working properly now? If you find anything that doesn't work, please comment in this entry to let me know about it, or if you have any suggestions you should leave a note as well :>

It's always a little awkward when you walk in on your brother in the middle playing with his sword.

Our main protagonists Zephan and Azalea are here for this week's vote incentive sketches :> Vote at TWC and Buzzcomix!

If anybody had trouble commenting, sending an e-mail to me, or shopping at the Mansion Boutique over the last few weeks, those problems should (hopefully!!) be resolved now because I've ditched my old website server like a germy old rag!!

I also added a bit more navigation to the comic display pages, namely a Subscribe to RSS Feed link and a Return to Archive link. Info page has also been tweaked slightly with a new synopsis.

That's all for this week, Adieu, adieu~

First thing's first: updates will most definitely be resuming come next Thursday, August 28th!! I've been making more breakthroughs in the script for the overall story lately, so I am very excited to get this thing back up and rolling! I've got the next several pages inked already so there should be absolutely no excuse for me to not finish something.

Also, I finally got my butt moving with finishing streamlining the layout for this site! This includes all the sub-sections like the Guestbook and Links, and but the whole site is now a lot more unified! :D What haven't been streamlined however are the Shop and the Forums--for the shop, I've simply linked to the Mansion Boutique at my portfolio site for now, and for the forums, eeehhh that will just have to wait. 9_9

Additionally, I've also updated the Gallery with all the current illustrations I have related to Directions of Destiny, as well as FAN ART!! Some of which have been sitting in my E-mail Inbox for over two years waiting to be put up @w@! So definitely give those a look :D

Links have also been updated to reflect most of my current webcomics reading list.

Otakon came and went and as always it's fantastic meeting all the Directions of Destiny fans in person! I'm sorry I ran out of copies of the book to sell, but I will definitely attend again next year, but this time with plenty of both Unit 1 and Unit 2 in stock!!

I'll see you all next week with the update!! 8D

So, first page of Section 2.1 is finished and ready and up! As you can see, I'm starting off small with just one page this week (as opposed to three or four pages back when I last did my regular updates), but at least I'm starting, amirite?? ...rite??? :Da

Furthermore, if you'll notice the front page, it looks like I did a bit of spring cleaning with a new layout! The first time in how many years...?? As of this writing I haven't carrried the new layout over to the rest of the site just yet, but I'm hoping to do that as the week progresses so that by the time next Thursday rolls around, everything will be uniform again.

I designed the new layout to fit with wider screen resolutions now that I'm pretty sure nobody's using 640 x 480 anymore, and also to make things less cluttered and confusing. It's still got the same general look and feel as the old though to maintain a bit of familiarity, but once I get the other sections updated, the site's organization should be much fresher!

Also, the internal workings of the site will also be completely different (for one thing, it's all in CSS instead of old-school tables >3<b), and basically it'll be a loooot easier for me to update the site now. Where before it would take me between half an hour to an hour to get everything ready for the site after I finish the page, now it's just a matter of preparing the thumbnails and writing this blurb.

Let me know what you think of the new layout in the comments! :D And also remember that I'm still updating the vote incentives eeevery single day, Monday through Friday!!