As the title says, we at FoOlRulez have been bought out. Our old “competitors” at Yen Press finally realized how much quality we offered our readers and offered us money to do their work for them.

What does that mean for releases?

• We will now require a subscription to access our FoOlSlide. We’re currently working on the access system, so the Slide will remain free until development is complete.
• We can now pick up any Yen Press-licensed series we like. Yes, this means we’re doing Spice and Wolf again.
• Releases will be delayed even further. There is a good reason why Yen Press requires six months to release a new volume, but I’m not allowed to tell you why. Just trust me on this one, okay?
• Our releases can no longer be hosted by aggregators. At all. Period. No questions. We’re official, you’re not. Deal with it, MangaFox and such ilk. (We are currently negotiating with Batoto about a “special exemption,” but no promises.)
• All releases done after the Yen Press buyout will be watermarked. We will not be retroactively watermarking our old releases. We and Yen Press are all lazy. (If this bothers you, I recommend using FoOlUnwatermark)

Finally, all of our backlogged releases will be dumped over the course of the next 24 hours. This includes things we started but never released for REASONS. Since they were produced before this buyout, the watermarking will not apply to these releases, either. I will list them below as they are made available.

• Seitokai Yakuindomo
  • Volume 7, chapters 170-178
  • Volume 7, chapters 179-180, and Volume 8, chapters 181-189
  • Volume 8, chapters 190-199 (delayed 24 hours for Hayate on Batoto)
• Spice and Wolf
  • Exclusive YenRulez Announcement Special
• Iincho
  • Chapter 1
  • Chapter 2

We are known as the most pro-reader scanlation group. We brought you FoOlSlide, we brought you FoOlReader, and we even brought you FoOlFuuka, the best imageboard.

But as time passes, scanlation keeps changing. Some people watermark pages like it’s their own material and claim rights to the manga and I really feel they should stop. However, we know how people on the Internet are…

But we saw it coming.

We know how greedy scanlators can get and that’s why we have prepared a function that resides in every FoOlReader and FoOlSlide. This function allows our comic readers to view the original input file presented to the software PRIOR TO WATERMARKING. Yes, you can now see the unwatermarked versions of the scans. This was a dev-trick that allowed us to read any manga anywhere without having to see watermarks. But, we saw how the situation was worsening and decided to reveal the trick to the world.

Ok, just tell me how!

It’s easy: you just need to install an userscript in your browser. The script is able to detect when you are using FoOlSlide or a FoOlReader and it will enable image source detection, procuring the original, unwatermarked image for you.

Here’s the file: [download id="6"]

On Opera:

If you haven’t set your userscripts folder, go to Preferences (Ctrl + F12) → Advanced → Content → JavaScript Options → User JavaScript Folder. Choose what you want your userscripts folder to be. Save the FoOlUnwatermark file into your userscripts folder.

On Firefox:

You need either GreaseMonkey or Scriptish. If you have either extension installed, clicking on the link should work.

On Chrome:

Just click on the link.

So yeah…

We hope this will ruin the plans of those dastardly scanlators, and that it will take them quite some time to catch up and find the code that splits the watermark layers. As we are clearly the most tech-savvy team in scanlation (and seeing as how everyone else is bad at computers) I don’t see that happening this year.

So, will they just stop using FoOlReader/FoOlSlide? If they do, you will know THEIR TRUE COLORS.

El. Psy. Congroo.

But then, there’s also the readers, that are going to be losing the reading quality I provided. I will therefore stop being such a fool.

So, from now on, I am not going to go against my ideals when people ask me personal corrections for my open-source software. I code for the love of proper reading, not for giving individuals a tool for world domination. There are some things that are objectively right to do, and I did them, or will implement them. And there’s things one shouldn’t do, objectively.

I am never going to add anymore or suggest you code about:

• Right click block
• Any kind of code to make saving the page harder
• disable preloading…
• Adding registration/login locks
• Ways to add too much advertising
• Obliging people to click buttons to read
• Automatically add watermarks
• Encryption (yes, there is a certain way to do this)
• Any kind of horribly thought interfaces
• Limiting sharing freedom in general

Such requests come mostly from shoujo teams. I respect your rules, and I am not going to change them. I just won’t assist you anymore in your world dominations plans. Find a coder and get him to edit it for you.

Let me say this: I probably have much, much more experience than you, in web development. If you ask me this kind of code, you probably aren’t knowledgeable enough, therefore you should listen to my suggestion. Giving limitations to readers is not only morally wrong, but it’s also annoying them, and making them go to other sites. You’re losing three times.

I am not open-sourcing my software to give scanlators a nice toy, but so I can go to their site and enjoy reading. I am not going to rape my own software from the reason I have created and released it for.

To everyone who is using it to share freely, instead: THANK YOU. You’re contributing in making this community a better place.

THAT WAS TOO MUCH FOR FOOLREADER.
FoOlReader is just too pathetic to do all of that. It’s extremely simplistic code, made so it just worked.

FoOlSlide

FoOlSlide is the evolution of FoOlReader. It’s a Content Management System for your comics, that can be used on any PHP/MySQL server. That’s almost any server!

Here’s the initial objectives of FoOlSlide:

1. provide a comics manager that is free and that anybody can use
2. create a system on par with any other related site
3. integrate the comic related material (blogposts, forums…)
4. connect all the “Slides” in a network
5. create a support network of aggregators, “Porters”

FoOlSlide will come in one single version, supposedly at the beginning of April. It will need PHP and a MySQL database. That’s the same requirements that WordPress has, and installation is pretty much the same.

The first release will be basic, because we’ll need first to make sure the core works on any server. There is an auto-update system, so we will add more features as soon as they’re ready. It will work with as many comics and chapters as you might need, from hosting just few from one single group, to hosting as many as any aggregator.

The first big update that will come around end of April will be adding several more databases: Authors, Publishers, Magazines, Release dates and more. This will make out of FoOlSlide a complete release tracking system, much like MangaUpdates is, since there’s no need to add images when you make chapters.

The second will come another month later. FoOlSlide is actually created with in mind dozens of teams working on the single Slide. This will be an upgrade of the login system, all by all, and it will also be part of an addition of team tools, like the most wanted “priorities tab” and the “iPhone push”… and a load of stuff that will make every group much faster. If you want an example, this is an extremely more thought out and optimized version of MangaHelpers. Of course, this all happens on YOUR server, and in your full privacy.

The third, incredibly massive update will involve the network between FoOlSlides. This is top-secret.

All the restrictions I have is the manga we work on and my University. Please, don’t expect too much as in speed terms. I can ensure the first two points will come, because those are mostly already coded.

There’s no simple solution, but as I looked over the place, I found that the trick is using JavaScript to let the iFrame get to the content outside of it, without breaking the TOS. In fact, you can’t edit the AD with JavaScript, but you’re free to put stuff around it.

Here’s an old source.

http://geoland.org/2007/01/adsense-in-iframe/

I think I’ll be able to add it this month to the next version of FoOlReader, and FoOlSlide. No need to code it yourself, just wait.

Unless I get even better ideas.

Thanks to everyone who’s loving my script! I’ll deliver a new version with few new tricks in the next two weeks.

The database driven version will come later next month. I am using CodeIgniter and a lot of care for security. You don’t want your scanlation team to have a breach in their software, do you?

Here’s the list of adopters, in random order:

1. http://zososcans.eu/reader/
2. http://reader.re.funpic.org/reader/
3. http://mudareader.linkmonsters.net/
4. http://oneclash.co.cc/reader/
5. http://reader.fth-scans.com/
6. http://www.ergo-team.it/reader/
7. http://www.tpcfansub.org/ositoreader/
8. http://mangacurse.info/reader/
9. http://reader.manga-download.org
10. http://foolrulez.org/manga
11. http://yarn.dyndns.org/sense/
12. http://reader.kesshouten.com/
13. http://manga.redhawkscans.com/
14. http://haru-ka.net/leitor/
15. http://lel.fuyunoyo.com/
16. http://scans-lecture.co.cc/
17. http://www.mangareader.pl/
18. http://ani-manga.info/4-Koma/
19. http://allmymanga.com/reader/
20. http://mangacommunity.org/
21. http://read.sc-scans.com/
22. http://thaicover.net/
23. http://brioclub.in.th/
24. http://www.suteki.dandere.com/
25. http://creative-manga.org/MangaReader/
26. http://read.truescans.tk/
27. http://www.cover.b.gp/reader/
28. http://reader.holylolikingdom.net/
29. http://www.sense-scans.co.cc/comicreader/
30. http://www.sscans.com/read-online/
31. http://www.aoluniverse.ws/mangareader/
32. http://mangabeta.animefrontline.com/

In the past weeks over 20 groups adopted FoOlReader, and this makes me indeed quite proud. Hopefully I can convince more people to upgrade to a manga reader with preloading – which is the only thing that makes FoOlReader this special.

You can grab it in the downloads section or on IRC by typing “!get FoOlReader 0.91″.

You can find the new themes in the main page about FoOlReader.

What’s materially new, beside two new themes?

Changelog:

0.91

• changed deprecated set_magic_quotes_runtime() function in favor of phpini()
• fixed missing “traditional” php tag in functions.php
• fixed bug that wouldn’t let chapter change after the last page has been read (ampersands)
• fixed bug that wouldn’t let thumbnails work on some servers (rawurlencode)
• fixed my typo in the blueharu theme
• fixed and simplified javascript in blueharu theme (dropdowns)

0.9

• made the theme fully HTML5 w3c compliant
• commented most of code, beside the theme, which would be redundant
• improved compatibility with Internet Explorer
• improved compatibility with servers
• improved compatibility with UTF-8 characterset
• updated default theme to an even more generic style
• updated preloading bar with single-line system
• updated preloading
• updated automatic page scrolling
• updated thumbnail system
• updated system for spread pages
• moved the default theme functions into the theme file functions.php
• added a page to list all the chapters of a comic
• added “back to site” button activable from settings
• added error catching for chapters with no pages, comics with no chapters, no comics at all
• added hash system in URL (#page=1) compatible with browser history (back button)
• fixed CSS to deal with antialiasing on IE and Firefox
• fixed dropdowns to work only by clicking and to close if user clicks anywhere else
• fixed bug where some characters in image filanames made the reader skip the file
• fixed bug with spread pages where keyboard wouldn’t let reader move the page
• fixed over 30 other rare bugs

That’s a lot of stuff!

If you’re not in the right mood to read a little story, just go to the end of the post.

Back when I was more loli than I am now, I tsundere’d all the time when I tried to read my manga. All the groups who were delivering the high quality versions didn’t have a reader at all, and I, like the greatest majority of the readers, just went to the next manga aggregator site, just to read it, despite of the lower quality, and tons of ads, some of which spoke, scaring me all the time. Very soon, despite my young age of 11, I grew a bad eye-cancer, a disease that is very diffused between scanlators. Luckily, The Doctor cured it.

Thank God there’s nanomachines! I couldn’t have my “naisu boddi” violated by needles and horrible stuff like that. At that point though, I was totally over my limit, and went in my Onii-chan’s room and screamed in his face: «Get me a freaking group so we can get the stuff rolling will you?!»
With a smug face, he answered: «Here. Go from these guys, they’re stupid enough to code with a kid like you.»

And so I went out and bought FoOlRulez stocks. After I got majorty, I got the project rolling. Bam, badam, gave a random name like FoOlReader. Nobody cared anyway. One year later, all was done. And now it was running for quite a while, with an amount of satisfied customer in the order of

Gentlemen, this is FoOlReader, the best web-based manga reader to date.

Why is it the best? Well let’s see…

• It doesn’t need a reload of the whole page to change image.
• Because of this, it uses less processor.
• It uses (still) no database, so it works on any server.
• It makes it kinda easier to keep your projects listed, with thumbnails and descriptions.
• It supports pagespreads automatically.
• It helps the search engines to find your manga.
• It helps you gathering followers (forum, twitter, facebook…)
• It doesn’t make people run to other, low quality, slow readers.
• It has integrated advertising functions, that reload each time the image changes.
• It uses a ton of JavaScript.
• It just looks cool.
• It allows themes and plugins.
• Works on mobile.
• Much more that would just make this post look even uglier!

Want to try it? Just jump over to our manga reader.

Here’s not the place where I should get technical, so I will just redirect you to the readme in our server, so you understand what do you need (basically, the most simple server will do!).

The next thing you will want? The download. Just go in the usual download section for the manga, or on IRC, and download it. You will find the readme.html in the ZIP too, just to be sure.

Want some help, fast? Just jump on the IRC and hope I am online.

Want a custom version, a theme or anything that would take me quite some hours? Well, in the interest of FoOlRulez, I can work for you. Be ready with a donation, though!

What if you like it, but your favorite group doesn’t have it? Go and tell ‘em.