Roundup? StoryArc? What are they?

[SleepingPanda]

As a user I would very much appreciate more details about the metadata and how it's supposed to be populated. What exactly is the definition of StoryArc within the context of the rfcs? Is it the name of a chapter? A collection of chapters? Furthermore, what is ComicPageType: Roundup (and the other page types for that matter)? These metadata fields are confusing and I can't find any details on how to use them as the needed context is missing from the schema documentation. If it's all explained somewhere, I'll ask that you please excuse my obtuseness and point me toward it! Also, I'd like to request Page Type: ToC.

[gotson]

I'm confused, are your questions about Comicinfo.xml?

[SleepingPanda]

Sorry for being unclear. I am requesting more documentation on the schema. It's unclear to me what StoryArc means and how it should be used. What is the definition of the various ComicPageTypes and a request for a new ComicPageType for Table of Contents.

[SenorSmartyPants]

My understanding of round up page type is a recap of previously in the story information.

[SleepingPanda]

Thank you! Are you at all familiar with the usage of the other ComicPageTypes?

Is the Story page type used to identify the story content of chapters? How is the Deleted page type supposed to be used? Does it mark a page as deleted to reader applications or is it supposed to be used during the file's development? If the former, is it currently recognized by any readers? Is the Letters page type used to identify letters to the editor? Or some other type of letter?

May I request these details to be included in the project's schema documentation? My hope is that one day cb(z/r/etc) reader applications can use this metadata similarly to epub readers and I'd like to prepare my files for such an occasion.

[majora2007]

@SleepingPanda I will say all the major players in the scene support these tags and have documentation about tag use for their application. There is consensus to keep similar functionality between the applications to reduce strain on users, especially those who switch between different programs.

I'd recommend checking out Komga or Kavita's wiki for how applications support ComicInfo.

[SleepingPanda]

@majora2007 Thank you, I'll definitely do that. But I would still ask that this project's schema documentation be the source of truth (isn't that its purpose?) for its usage rather than having users rely on other applications interpretation/usage of it.

[SleepingPanda]

@majora2007 There doesn't seem to be any defined usage for ComicPageTypes in either Kavita's or Komga's wikis. Komga's usage of StoryArc tags doesn't explain what the tag's data source is either, just how it uses the data for its own purposes. These aforementioned reasons are exactly why I would ask the project's schema to explain its own usage!

I apologize if my explanation is unclear or if it seems like I'm splitting hairs. The project's own schema documentation already provides a wealth of explanation for most other tags but it is incomplete.

[gotson]

@SleepingPanda the documentation is not exhaustive. We don't own the schema, it was developed by ComicRack and never documented, so people are using it in various ways. We are trying to document the accepted usage.

StoryArc was designed to store story arcs within a series

for instance if you look at Undiscovered Country, each group of 6 issues is a Story Arc, starting with Destiny, then Unity…

the thing is many people started using StoryArc for reading order, and Mylar was doing so, and the problem was that there wasn't any ordering possible with StoryArc, so after discussion between myself and evilhero we added StoryArcNumber

ComicPageTypes is probably not used outside ComicRack

[SleepingPanda]

@gotson Thank you for that detailed answer! That's exactly what I wanted. It seems I was using StoryArc incorrectly as a place for table of contents. I'll have to revise my library based on this new information. I'll also remove the ComicPageTypes tags from my files.

[gotson]

Reopening as we still need to document those fields.