Editing Design of xkcd.com

[[File:xkcd_website.png|thumb|right|250px|The four segments on [[xkcd|xkcd.com]]]]{{TOC}}The '''design of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]''' includes four white segments, which are separated by a thin black border and a light blue-gray background color. All text on the page uses a small caps font, except for the word "xkcd" in the logo image. Here is a list of the changes that have been made:

The design has changed many times over the years, but mainly in the beginning. Prior to [https://web.archive.org/web/20041024201125/http://68.57.186.221:8080/ October 24, 2004], the website didn't mention the name "xkcd" and didn't include any comics. During that time, the site's message simply stated: "I don't use this page for much. It goes un-updated for a long time, and I don't really change the content, though I'm thinking of putting together a good links page. For now I just mostly use this to host pictures.". Before [https://web.archive.org/web/20051018051614/http://www.xkcd.com:80/ October 18, 2005], the website was redesigned to be used to host xkcd comics. Between [http://web.archive.org/web/20060706040359/http://xkcd.com:80/ July 6, 2006] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20060710090528/http://www.xkcd.com:80/ July 10, 2006], the design of the website changed dramatically to one very similar to the current one.

==Links==
[[File:xkcd_links.png|right|150px]]
:''For more information, visit the [[links|main article]].''

The first segment is at the top left of the page, and it contains links to navigate around on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] and his social accounts. There have been multiple changes to the links over the course of the site's history, with the last one being made in 2023. It states:
<b><!-- EDITOR NOTE: If the links change, update it bot below AND on [[links]] and make a note on [[links]] with the earliest web archive link of it.-->
:[https://xkcd.com/archive/ Archive]<br>
:[https://what-if.xkcd.com/ What If?]<br>
:[https://xkcd.com/about/ About]<br>
:[https://xkcd.com/atom.xml Feed]•[https://xkcd.com/newsletter/ Email]<br>
:[https://twitter.com/xkcd/ TW]•[https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD/ FB]•[https://www.instagram.com/xkcd/ IG]<br>
:[https://xkcd.com/books/ -Books-]<br>
:[https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ What If? 2]<br>
:[https://xkcd.com/what-if/ WI?]•[https://xkcd.com/thing-explainer/ TE]•[https://xkcd.com/how-to/ HT]<br>
</b>

==Header==
[[File:xkcd_header.png|right|150px]]
The second segment is the header, which contains the logo, the [[Tagline|tagline]], and the [[Header text|header text]]. The header is wider than the first segment but has the same height. The xkcd logo is positioned on the upper left corner and serves as a clickable link to the front page. The image used in the logo of xkcd is from the first panel of [[77: Bored with the Internet]], showing only the characters and the chair and the desk with a now old fashioned computer screen. The color of the text in the logo is a shade of grey/gray(spelling varies with location), with a hex value of #6e7b91, and an rgba value of (110,123,145,255).

===Tagline===
:''For more information, visit the [[Tagline|main article]].''

Next to the logo is the tagline, a short text that appears regardless of which comic is being viewed. There have been eight taglines displayed over the course of the site's history, with the current one being added in 2006. It states:

:A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

===Header text===
:''For more information, visit the [[Header text|main article]].''

The header text is updated whenever Randall has news to share. After the novelty of the news ends, the page usually goes back to its default header text, which states:

:xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

==Comic==
[[File:xkcd_comic.png|right|150px]]
This section of the website is dedicated to displaying comics. Positioned above the comic is the title, presented in large and bold lettering. Just below the title, but above the primary comic image,  there are five buttons. They follow a fairly standard layout: on the outer edges are the <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 11px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;">|<</span></li> and <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 11px;">>|</span></li> arrows, which transport the user to the first or most recent comic accordingly. Adjacent to these are the <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 11px;"><&nbsp;Prev</span></li> and <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 11px;">Next&nbsp;></span></li> buttons, allowing navigation between the comics immediately before and after the currently displayed one. In instances where the displayed comic is the first or the last, attempting to access the previous or next comic will simply result in the page being reloaded. At the center there is a <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 11px;">Random</span></li> button, which, when clicked, loads a comic at random. The same set of buttons is duplicated below the comic as well. While this redundancy isn't needed in most comics, it ensures that the buttons are conveniently accessible both before and after scrolling, especially for [[:Category:Large drawings|large comics]].

Finally, beneath this second row of buttons, two links are provided. The first functions as a permalink, directly linking to the comic currently displayed on the page. In some cases, custom permalinks are used for various versions of the same comic, such as in some of the [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive comics]] like [[1350: Lorenz]] and [[1663: Garden]]. The structure of this link consists solely of the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] domain followed by the respective comic number. For instance, the link for comic [[2000: xkcd Phone 2000]] would appear as: "https://www.xkcd.com/2000/". The second link leads to the image URL suitable for hotlinking or embedding, in this case "https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/xkcd_phone_2000.png". This link is stored within a comics-specific logical subdirectory of the server. The filenames of these images typically align with the comic titles, although exceptions arise, particularly in cases of [[:Category:Comics sharing name|title conflicts]] or when the visible comic is dynamically generated or a composite rendering.

:Permanent link to this comic: https://xkcd.com/2000/
:Image URL (for hotlinking/embedding): https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/xkcd_phone_2000.png

==Bottom segment==
[[File:xkcd_bottom.png|right|150px]]

=== Footer comics ===
:''For more information, visit the [[Footer comics|main article]].''

The footer comics are likely selected for representing the topics covered on xkcd. There have been five changes to the footer comics over the course of the site's history, with the last one being added in 2019. They are:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
|[[150: Grownups]]
|[[730: Circuit Diagram]]
|[[162: Angular Momentum]]
|[[688: Self-Description]]
|[[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]
|-
|colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]
|}

===Feeds===
Below the footer comics, there are three feeds links. These links consist of a RSS feed, an Atom feed, and, starting from [https://web.archive.org/web/20190206060904/https://xkcd.com/ February 6, 2019], a subscription link for receiving news via email. On [https://web.archive.org/web/20190611031920/https://xkcd.com/ June 11, 2019], the last two links were also added to the [[links]] at the top for easier access. They are:

:[https://xkcd.com/rss.xml RSS Feed] - [https://xkcd.com/atom.xml Atom Feed] - [https://xkcd.com/newsletter/ Email]

===Comics I enjoy===
Beneath the two feeds there is a list of Randall's favorite webcomics with links:

:Comics I enjoy:
:[http://threewordphrase.com/ Three Word Phrase]
:[https://www.smbc-comics.com/ SMBC],
:[https://www.qwantz.com/ Dinosaur Comics],
:[https://oglaf.com/ Oglaf] (nsfw),
:[https://www.asofterworld.com/ A Softer World],
:[https://buttersafe.com/ Buttersafe],
:[https://pbfcomics.com/ Perry Bible Fellowship],
:[https://questionablecontent.net/ Questionable Content],
:[http://www.buttercupfestival.com/ Buttercup Festival],
:[https://www.homestuck.com/ Homestuck],
:[https://www.jspowerhour.com/ Junior Scientist Power Hour]

===Other things===
Beneath the "Comics I enjoy" section, there is another section of links to external sites. Since [https://web.archive.org/web/20190226192426/https://xkcd.com/ February 26, 2019] there have been three links. They are:

:Other things:
:[https://medium.com/civic-tech-thoughts-from-joshdata/so-you-want-to-reform-democracy-7f3b1ef10597 Tips on technology and government],
:[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/climate/what-is-climate-change.html Climate FAQ], [https://twitter.com/KHayhoe Katharine Hayhoe]

On [http://web.archive.org/web/20170321030609/https://xkcd.com/ March 21, 2017], this section was added to [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] for the first time. It stated:

:[http://womenalsoknowstuff.com/ Women Also Know Stuff], [https://techsolidarity.org/ Tech Solidarity]

On [http://web.archive.org/web/20170715021703/https://xkcd.com/ July 15, 2017], the third link was added:
:Other things:
:[http://womenalsoknowstuff.com/ Women Also Know Stuff], [https://techsolidarity.org/ Tech Solidarity], [https://medium.com/civic-tech-thoughts-from-joshdata/so-you-want-to-reform-democracy-7f3b1ef10597 Tips on technology and government]

===Warning===
:''For more information, visit the [[Warning|main article]].''

The warning on xkcd was originally added to the site in 2006, but it was removed in 2016. It stated:

:Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

===Footnote===
:''For more information, visit the [[Footnote|main article]].''

The footnote on xkcd is written in a very tiny font, which makes it very hard to read without zooming in. There have been two major footnotes displayed over the course of the site's history, with the current one being added in 2016. It states:

<small><b><i>
:xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS
:at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device
:from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.
</i></b></small>

===License and copyright===
Randall allows people to use his comics for free as long as they do not make money on them and as long as they credit him with the work. 
There are two notes:

:This work is licensed under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License].

:This means you're free to copy and share these comics (but not to sell them). [https://xkcd.com/license.html More details].

"More details" is a link to [https://xkcd.com/license.html xkcd.com/license.html], which expands on what people are and are not allowed to do. It states:

:This work is licensed under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License].

:This means that you are '''free''' to copy and reuse any of my drawings (noncommercially) as long as you tell people where they're from.

:That is, you don't need my permission to post these pictures on your website (and hotlinking with <img> is fine); just include a link back to this page. Or you can make Livejournal icons from them, but -- if possible -- put xkcd.com in the comment field. You can use them freely (with some kind of link) in not-for-profit publications, and I'm also okay with people reprinting occasional comics (with clear attribution) in publications like books, blogs, newsletters, and presentations. If you're not sure whether your use is noncommercial, feel free to [mailto:licensing@xkcd.com email me] and ask (if you're not sure, it's probably okay).

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