License

This minimal webcomics platform is available under the terms of the permissive MIT license. While not required, if you do something interesting with the code, please drop us a line; we'd love to know what you're up to!

Project Setup

Want to run a comics server for yourself? Maybe you'd rather send us a bug fix or new feature? Get started here.

Docker Setup

If you're unfamiliar with Docker, this might be a little tricky for you. It's worth learning though; power through it until you understand!

• Install Docker and Docker Compose for your platform
• Run python generate_env.py to set up the docker environment configuration. Answer y to the prompt if you're doing development work, or n if you're deploying a server.
• Run docker compose up --build -d

You now have a server running. Unfortunately it doesn't do much - we need to initialize the data or restore from a backup.

Initialize Data From Scratch

• Enter a shell on the docker django machine docker compose exec django bash
• Create the database python manage.py migrate
• Add a superuser python manage.py createsuperuser. Follow the prompts.
• Collect static files python manage.py collectstatic
• The site will now be running on http://localhost. (Note that this is running on port 80 unlike many development servers.)
• Add Data into the Django Admin. Set up at least one Comic and then give it at least one Page. The Comic should use localhost as its "domain" so the URL router knows where to find it.
• Open the Site in a Web Browser.

Backing Up and Restoring Data

To back up your database, run docker compose exec django python manage.py backup dump <your filename here>.zip.

To restore your database from a backup zip:

• Ensure you have an empty database to start. It should be migrated.
• Then load the backup zip docker-compose exec django python manage.py backup load <your filename here>.zip.
• Log into your admin and make sure to change any Comics or Alias URLs so they work on your new IPs/Domains.

Setting up SSL certs

The caddy server will automatically generate certs for the domain set in project.env

Roadmap

• Bug Fixes
  • Alt text doesn't dynamically change with page switch on Chrome
  • nginx access and error logs don't ever cycle, so they might fill up the disk.
  • Migrate to a slightly larger server for the extra RAM
• Nice New Features
  • Community Page: a quick link to all social pages
    • LD+JSON for author and all community links
  • Extended Markdown for tag links; update transcripts and wiki pages
    • Auto-migrate tags when they are renamed.
  • Global search functionality for archive (returns tags and pages)
• Comments Overhaul
  • The forum isn't working out well for comments, is hard to set up, and embedding has gotten harder. What can we do instead?
• New URL-based Router
  • Blacklisted page slugs ("feed", "data")
  • Restricted admin permissions for artists
  • Automate SSL certs through LetsEncrypt as a management command
  • Autorenew certs where applicable
• Code Cleanliness & Data Integrity
  • Ensure RSS feed has no issues. Validate with https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi
  • Make the CSS variables load into the template and move the main css file out to a static file
  • Load any JS variables into the template and move the main js file out to a static file
  • Migrate media files to namespaced paths. Randomize comic page image names so they're not guessable.
  • Periodically clean out orphaned media. Make sure the comments still link properly.
  • Use proper HTML template elements for dynamic sections
• Optimization
  • Run everything through an SEO checker
  • Google PageSpeed Insights
  • User Timing API for real user data
• Onboarding
  • Add a "no content" placeholder template for comics that have no pages yet
• New Reader "Quests" Section
  • Subscribe to RSS feed
  • Social Share Functionality
  • Vote for me on TopWebComics
  • Patreon integration
    • Become a Patron
    • Remove Ads if user is authed
    • Google Analytics tracking for conversion
  • Browser Push Notifications
    • Only present the modal if requested
    • Take them to a dedicated page that explains what to expect and then present modal
    • Look here: browser push notifications
  • Join the Conversation on Discord
  • Tip me on Ko-Fi
  • GA event tracking
• Host static media through a better server than gunicorn
• Auto-post to various social media
  • General OAuth login
  • Reddit
  • Instagram
  • Discord
  • Patreon
  • Webtoons
  • Tumblr
• Merch Shop
  • Identify partner
  • One product beta
  • Upload image with strict specifications
  • Google Analytics tracking for conversion
• QoL improvements
  • Error handling for failed AJAX requests
  • Reveal Hover Text button
  • Smooth out navigation so people don't get stuck in the tag pages ("Return to the Comic" button)
  • Search
  • Translations
  • Transcript/Tag suggestions
  • Better reading experience for people with 1366x768 laptop screens
  • Nice 404 page. Maybe make it configurable per comic. (404 Sword Not Found)
• Search Engine Optimization
  • Metadata
    • Page
    • Archive
    • Tag
    • TagType
  • robots.txt & sitemap (These are stubbed out. Please finish.)
  • Schema.org tagging for our pages, tags
    • About the author section
    • Character section
    • Distinguish between cover art, etc
    • Javascript changing of values where appropriate
    • Tags might want a nullable "schema type"
• Other Wishlist
  • Translations
  • Order by Chronological vs Release vs whatever

Other ideas:

• Swords "panel bot" (request a comic id and panel number for a cropped version of the comic)

AWS Ubuntu Setup

Here's a rough outline of what I did to get this server deployed on a fresh Ubuntu AWS EC2 instance.

# Apply security updates
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

# Get Docker
sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce

# Get Docker Compose
mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins/
curl -SL https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.3.3/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 -o ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
chmod +x ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose

# Make it so we don't have to use docker with sudo
sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}
newgrp docker

# Get the project
git clone https://github.com/pennomi/comics.git
cd comics

# HEADS UP! First remember to set your DNS to the public IP address of the server
python3 generate_env.py  # Select "n" because this is a production environment
docker compose build

# Start the server
docker compose up --build -d

# Create the database and initialize the static files
docker compose exec django python manage.py migrate
docker compose exec django python manage.py collectstatic

# EITHER initialize the data
docker compose exec django python manage.py createsuperuser
# OR load from a data dump
docker compose exec django python manage.py backup load <dumpfile.zip>

# Restart the server
docker compose restart