Aug/092
Infinite Canvas
I happened to think about Scott McClouds theories around Infinite Canvas in web comics the other day; experimenting with other formats than ordinary page layouts for the web. I believe that web comics not only could, but should differ from printed comics:
- Reading is a bit cumbersome – we do not have the same instruments of turning pages (mouse vs hand)
- We do not have same amount of fixed space as a printed page (16:9 widescreen vs 4:3 screen, resolutions and so on)
- The storytelling is a bit closer to video than print
Infinte canvas is a very interesting approach to web comics. One of the best examples I’ve seen in this area is the Röyksopp’s music video (even though it doesn’t actually tell a straigth forward story). If this had been created as a frame-by-frame story, where the user has to interact, the story could even be told as a hypertext fiction (or even a game ?)
Technically speaking, this could be a very interesting conecpt to explore. Unfortunately, it would is quite hard to achieve with standard Javascript techniques (maybe using SVG or Canvas, anyone?). Flash should be able to solve this problem nicely, but that would mean that that the graphics have to be drawn as vectors (most artists I know draw by hand). In addition Flash is not available to some platforms (ie. mobile phones).
Hopefully, one day… I will return with examples, if and when I find out more..
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Aksel
Before the laughter dies
Comikoan webcomic
Norse codes webcomic
Wakan Unwanted comic
13:49 on March 13th, 2010
Actually, using SVG as the canvas infrastructure isn’t such a far fetched idea as you think. Even with many artists drawing in a pixel-based format, these pixel-based images could be easily integrated/embedded into an SVG document – with SVG being the “table on which the pixel-images are laid out”.
I am currently involved in the production of a working prototype of a SVG based infine canvas web-app and would strongly advocate against the proprietary (=evil) Flash idea. SVG is open, mature, cross-platform and well suited for such an idea!
20:17 on March 14th, 2010
I know, SVG should be a well suited format (hmm – what about good ole’ IE? w/o plugins). Do you have any links to your prototype app – would be great fun to have a peek
What kind of SVG-editor are you using to design the user interface ? I guess Illustrator could do the job, though not aimed at web development in particular.
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Aksel