5 ms·

An interactive browser-based zine creator

53 points by memorable 4y ago

teddyh 4y ago
Something is worth reading because it was presumably hard to create, and mostly only people who really have something worth saying will do the work. If things are easy to make, there will be no proof-of-work, so to speak, and the market will be flooded with people wanting to have readers who still believe most of these kind of things are worth reading. Once people in general learn that these things are now mostly utter crap, people will stop giving even the rare worthy ones the time of day. This can be applied to zines, books, computer games, web sites, etc. With ease of creation comes a cost.
- naet 4y ago
  What I love about zines specifically is that they are easy to make. Anyone can easily print one via copy machine on a very low budget, allowing a broader audience of people to author something unique compared to other publishing media. The barrier is incredibly low, but also just high enough that most people don't end up doing it unless they have some content they are passionate about printing.
  - teddyh 4y ago
    Easy enough to be possible without being just a click of a button away, yes, at a time when people mostly associated any printed material as having taken a large effort to produce.
  - pessimizer 4y ago
    When zines were popular, they were difficult to make and individually mailed to people, and there wasn't a ubiquitous web or a facebook/blogger/whatever. I guess "difficult to make" is relative, but back then it was relative to publishing a newsstand magazine, not relative to a few clicks on wordpress dot org. "Zines" these days are hipster retro kitch, down to fake artfully misaligned/kerned typewriter fonts (or comic book font for a faux-cometbus look.) That being said, this site is attractive and fun.
    - Finnucane 4y ago
      Zines were not difficult. All you needed was an x-acto knife and a glue stick, and a 24-hr Kinko's.
      - wincy 4y ago
        Zines are one of these words that just was never in my vocabulary until maybe six months ago. I had to Google what people were talking about. They’re just cheap magazines right?
        trynewideas 4y ago
        self-published print works, one or more copies handmade, the rest duplicated cheaply. arguably a modern successor of 18th-century pamphleting. usually folded and staple-bound, if bound at all. low barrier to entry made them popular with marginalized groups; easily mailed, they were also the nexus of some early fan communities, especially for Star Trek, comics, music, and film. some early web publishing was heavily zine inspired; boingboing was a zine for almost a decade before becoming a blog maybe a more digestible history of zines in the internet era: https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/postscript/alt-zines-and-memories-of-a-media-transition/ https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/postscript/alt-zines-and-memo...
- Finnucane 4y ago
  The whole point of zine culture was that anybody could put out anything and trade it with all the other people putting out their anythings.
  - teddyh 4y ago
    Yes, just like the other things I listed, it was good in the beginning. And, like the others, once the bar of required effort became low enough, the market flodded with low-to-no-effort stuff.
    - Finnucane 4y ago
      I love the smell of mimeo in the morning.
    - magpi3 4y ago
      This just creates a market for zine reviews. And what you write is eventually true of every medium: movies, books, apps, etc.
      - Finnucane 4y ago
        See also: Factsheet Five.
- magpi3 4y ago
  Zines are great ways for people to get into publishing their own stuff for the first time. You are right, very few people will want to read what you create, but a few will and this is of course an amazing thrill. Most zines are amateurish but that's the point: it's a great way for kids or young people to try their hands at creating stuff. And some if it is good. Haven't looked at this yet, but I think electric zine makers are a little backwards: the idea behind zines is you just need paper, ink, staples, a photocopier, and an imagination. If you are going to go all in with digital publishing pdfs, there are already lots of tools for this.
bmacho 4y ago
Funny website, I like its aesthetics! Where to click, tho?
bacchusracine 4y ago
No Linux version? I guess I'll see if I can run the Windows version in Wine...
kixiQu 4y ago
It isn't browser-based -- it's cool as hell and worth every speck of attention it can get, but it's not browser-based. Title needs correction. The creator, Nathalie Lawhead, has blogged about a lot of aspects of it and it's really cool to learn how much thought underlies all the wacky details.
- willcipriano 4y ago
  I think it's a 'interactive browser based zine'-creator. As in the zine is interactive and browser based.
  - kixiQu 4y ago
    But it isn't, either -- the main function of the software is to make printed zines. It also has some more limited functionality to enable browser export, but then those aren't interactive (e: https://catfishstudios.itch.io/azine https://catfishstudios.itch.io/azine )

53 points by memorable 4y ago

Something is worth reading because it was presumably hard to create, and mostly only people who really have something worth saying will do the work. If things are easy to make, there will be no proof-of-work, so to speak, and the market will be flooded with people wanting to have readers who still believe most of these kind of things are worth reading. Once people in general learn that these things are now mostly utter crap, people will stop giving even the rare worthy ones the time of day. This can be applied to zines, books, computer games, web sites, etc. With ease of creation comes a cost.

naet 4y ago
What I love about zines specifically is that they are easy to make. Anyone can easily print one via copy machine on a very low budget, allowing a broader audience of people to author something unique compared to other publishing media. The barrier is incredibly low, but also just high enough that most people don't end up doing it unless they have some content they are passionate about printing.
- teddyh 4y ago
  Easy enough to be possible without being just a click of a button away, yes, at a time when people mostly associated any printed material as having taken a large effort to produce.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  When zines were popular, they were difficult to make and individually mailed to people, and there wasn't a ubiquitous web or a facebook/blogger/whatever. I guess "difficult to make" is relative, but back then it was relative to publishing a newsstand magazine, not relative to a few clicks on wordpress dot org. "Zines" these days are hipster retro kitch, down to fake artfully misaligned/kerned typewriter fonts (or comic book font for a faux-cometbus look.) That being said, this site is attractive and fun.
  - Finnucane 4y ago
    Zines were not difficult. All you needed was an x-acto knife and a glue stick, and a 24-hr Kinko's.
    - wincy 4y ago
      Zines are one of these words that just was never in my vocabulary until maybe six months ago. I had to Google what people were talking about. They’re just cheap magazines right?
      - trynewideas 4y ago
        self-published print works, one or more copies handmade, the rest duplicated cheaply. arguably a modern successor of 18th-century pamphleting. usually folded and staple-bound, if bound at all. low barrier to entry made them popular with marginalized groups; easily mailed, they were also the nexus of some early fan communities, especially for Star Trek, comics, music, and film. some early web publishing was heavily zine inspired; boingboing was a zine for almost a decade before becoming a blog maybe a more digestible history of zines in the internet era: https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/postscript/alt-zines-and-memories-of-a-media-transition/ https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/postscript/alt-zines-and-memo...
Finnucane 4y ago
The whole point of zine culture was that anybody could put out anything and trade it with all the other people putting out their anythings.
- teddyh 4y ago
  Yes, just like the other things I listed, it was good in the beginning. And, like the others, once the bar of required effort became low enough, the market flodded with low-to-no-effort stuff.
  - Finnucane 4y ago
    I love the smell of mimeo in the morning.
  - magpi3 4y ago
    This just creates a market for zine reviews. And what you write is eventually true of every medium: movies, books, apps, etc.
    - Finnucane 4y ago
      See also: Factsheet Five.
magpi3 4y ago
Zines are great ways for people to get into publishing their own stuff for the first time. You are right, very few people will want to read what you create, but a few will and this is of course an amazing thrill. Most zines are amateurish but that's the point: it's a great way for kids or young people to try their hands at creating stuff. And some if it is good. Haven't looked at this yet, but I think electric zine makers are a little backwards: the idea behind zines is you just need paper, ink, staples, a photocopier, and an imagination. If you are going to go all in with digital publishing pdfs, there are already lots of tools for this.

bmacho 4y ago

Funny website, I like its aesthetics! Where to click, tho?

bacchusracine 4y ago

No Linux version? I guess I'll see if I can run the Windows version in Wine...

kixiQu 4y ago

It isn't browser-based -- it's cool as hell and worth every speck of attention it can get, but it's not browser-based. Title needs correction. The creator, Nathalie Lawhead, has blogged about a lot of aspects of it and it's really cool to learn how much thought underlies all the wacky details.

willcipriano 4y ago
I think it's a 'interactive browser based zine'-creator. As in the zine is interactive and browser based.
- kixiQu 4y ago
  But it isn't, either -- the main function of the software is to make printed zines. It also has some more limited functionality to enable browser export, but then those aren't interactive (e: https://catfishstudios.itch.io/azine https://catfishstudios.itch.io/azine )