Zuda has been under a lot of scrutiny, because it is an easy target. Marvel has a player, ComicMix has a player, as do several other sites (like those HEROES webcomics - talk about terrible) … and I think it is shortsighted to not take that all into consideration. I mean, I’m at a real loss here to understand how you got burned by Zuda, burned out on writing the review sure, I can see how that is exhausting, but burned by Zuda? Really? That really just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s so simple to use. And loads pretty darn fast for me in full screen mode - and it’s formatted to my screen. Maybe I’ll write a little retort and do a side-by-side player comparison of several different players, but others have done it for me, and I tend to agree.

Here’s a nice write up, if you haven’t read it yet:
http://weblogs.variety.com/bags_and_boards/2007/11/if-there-were-t.html

And another far more comprehensive:
http://webcomics.com/full_blog_story.php?id=109 (Part 1)
http://webcomics.com/full_blog_story.php?id=110 (Part 2)

As far as the use of Flash, take a look at this interview:
http://www.comixology.com/interviews/2/Interview-with-Ron-Perazza-of-Zuda-Comics

Cmxlgy: From a web technology point of view, using Adobe Flash to deliver your content is contradictory to other webcomic websites that use more traditional web-based technologies. What was the rationale for using Flash over JavaScript and HTML?

RP: I don’t think that a technology alone can be considered good or bad. For example, content aside, simply using a JPEG doesn’t necessarily make for a better or worse reading experience. For us, full screen mode was important - we wanted to offer readers the ability to shut out the whole site and just read comics, if they wanted to. We also wanted readers to be able to zoom in and out at their whim in order to check out the detail on a specific panel or area of the comic. There are other features to the viewer, but the point is that we made a technology decision based on functions we thought were important to the reading and evaluation experience. I understand some people are a bit ruffled about linking – one of the most obvious pro JPEG/HTML arguments. However, this too is entirely possible in Flash and has always been part of our development plan. Users can already link to the comic directly (for example, zudacomics.com/bayou). Also, using Deep Linking, users will also be able to link to a specific page within a comic.

And honestly, in this day and age, why would anybody be using InternetExplorer for anything where there is Flock and Firefox? I mean, seriously. And maybe we should time how fast it takes for me to load a Zuda screen in FullScreen Mode vs loading a screen from StarslipCrisis, becuase I can tell you right now which one loads faster for me … and it’s all Zuda baby. Are you still on dial-up?

Certainly, I’m not trying to be antagonistic, but when you start an article with a sensationalist headline, like ‘Zuda Sucks’ there are bound to be a few ruffled feathers. I like what Zuda is doing, or else I wouldn’t have sent HIGH MOON to them.

You are welcome to e-mail me privately too, I’ll send you my phone number and we can talk about this then too.

As of now no? Not even remotely useful for me. I would love to read the comics there, but I really can’t.

I love flash, I just try to find a javascript, DHTML or PHP solution to a problem before I use it on a site.

It’s not complex. I go to fullscreen mode; I go to the first page; I click on the page to advance to the next page. Since it’s shaped like my screen, I never need to scroll down. What’s complex about that?

Frankly, it’s a simpler and more transparent reading experience than the standard webcomic site model. The click-on-the-page-to-advance function should be the norm for all webcomics. Especially comics that are standard-comic-book-page shaped, where you have to hunt around with the mouse for the teeny, tiny “next page” link after reading every page. (Comics where you don’t have to scroll are easier, since you can just keep your mouse pointer on the right spot and not move it).

The reason the standard webcomic site model (which I use on my own webcomic) predominates isn’t that it provides the most transparent reading experience. It’s that it’s not very difficult to install, even for people who don’t know a ton about web programming; and that it provides a model that ads can be added to easily. But if neither of these factors are an issue, a comic that fills the whole screen, and which you can read by clicking anywhere on the screen to advance, is better.

“Write to Zuda. State who you are and your experience. Offer them suggestions. Be polite. But, they are open to feedback about their system and they encourage discussion (and noted by their recent 20-Page thread about the Ideal Competition: http://tinyurl.com/4hqodc). You could also post on the Zuda message board to really get the dialogue going. Heck, maybe you can even score an interview with them for the site.”

Thank you, but no thank you, Kwanza already told me, and I’m going to paraphrase here, that they have no intent of changing their user interface and if I didn’t like that, I could go somewhere else for on-line comics. So, I did,

My whole beef with Zuda is that ever for comics I *want* to read, the format prevents me from doing that. I think they’re willingness to put comics on their sites from all different genres and styles is very nice, but I’d also like it if there was some option to read the comics that works with my reading habits. But oh well, I can just as easily wait for the collections to be printed and buy those. So, either way, I guess it works for me!

(From a purely business perspective, it reminds me of how old airliners have been trying for years to compete with an upstart like Southwest and failing under their own bureaucracies.)

I loved the puka-shell-wearing-jock-douchebag analogy, by the way. That pretty much sums up the entirety marketing as concisely as possible.