“Left” was the most problematic of the Directions installments.
The biggest difficulty was in making a comic that reads from right to left. It’s counter intuitive because pretty much all of the internet—from code-writing to browser rendering—is based on top-right orientation. So I employed a few tricks back then to make it work.
Unfortunately, most of the html I used to render the comic in 2003 was outdated and broke in a modern browser. Thanks to Steve Harrison for helping me recreate the original reading experience for more current web standards.
The comic itself, like each installment in the series, also employs some form of interactivity. The end of “Left” allows the reader to submit an email with their reaction, which I would collect on an attached page for the reader to look at. Unfortunately, all of those initial reactions have been lost, so even though it’s been recreated, it lies empty. Please feel free to read the comic and let me know what you think.
Note: The interactive elements of the narrative were built in Flash, a popular online animation tool at the time. Most browsers no longer support the playing of these files, but there is a Flash player extension availabe for Chrome that will load them with a couple of clicks. This is the easiest way to see these comics as created.
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