The new deviantART.com

check it out

http://www.deviantart.com
from WinCustomize Forums

Our friends at deviantART have done a full-blown make over.  We're not just talking a cosmetic change here, but a complete re-envisioning of how deviantART should look, feel, and interact with users.

I recently spoke on the phone at length with co-founder Angelo Sotira about some of the plans they have to take deviantART to the next level.

deviantART started out as a skin site much like WinCustomize.com is but branched out into being a general art site. Today, it is one of the largest art sites in the world.  They have some very impressive features in the works.

The new deviantART has been designed to be even faster than before and provide users with more information with less clutter.  The site has always tried to balance community with function and the new deviantART has some innovative features designed to help achieve that balance.

We're currently working on our own re-design in the form of WinCustomize 2K7. It's taking a different direction than deviantART has since we deal with a very different kind of audience.  But the new features on deviantART are impressive combined with, IMO, an excellent overall site design I think will take deviantART to new levels of popularity.

While no longer focused on skinning, the site still contains a lot of good skins and themes and continues to receive good support from the skinning community.

Feel free to share what you like, what you think should be improved and where you think community content sites are going next.

 

14,239 views 29 replies
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I haven't been to DA too much since the make-over....it looked absolutely attrocious in IE7beta...and not much better in Opera.  Hopefully that was just a temporary thing, but the page formatting was all over the place like a madman's dinner....
Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The whole thing looks clumsy to me
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah...I wasn't to thrilled with it either. The navigation seems to need a navigator.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm with Jafo . . . I go there frequently but it's a mess . . . the alignment is totally screwed up and the categories button doesn't work. As WebGizmos says, "the navigation seems to need a navigator."
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yep. The navagation is the killer. It looks nice but the navagation is just terrible.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have to agree with everyone here. The look is okay through FireFox, but navigating is an utter nightmare.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
In IE6 everything seems to be running smoothly. I love how they set the navagation up.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I use Firefox, and I think the new layout and navigation are awesome. I love everything about the new site except that they didn't dump that babypoop green color scheme. Bleckh!
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It seems they went with the 'cool and flashy' navigation rather than 'useable' navigation.

Whatever happened to 'form follows function?'
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It was the slowness of the place that caused me to stop visiting about two years ago. I've been stopping in again recently but that place has a little too much attitude for my tastes. I'm mainly interested in their WB skins -- since to be honest, most of their "art" just sucks -- but almost everything there is either a clone of Vista or a clone of Mac. All in all, I think WinCust will remain my choice for skins.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I also visited DeviantArt and had a problem locating buttons.I had heard somehwere that the new site was wreaking havoc with Java Script.Anyone care to comment on that? Also, I coudn't even see any categories!
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I like the new look, layout, and functionality for the most part. I just found the Next and Previous buttons last night, which let you run though someone's gallery like a slideshow. Although it is infrequent that I want to see too many items from a single gallery.

My biggest complaint is a "dumbing down" of the "Message Center". Before the change, you could be surfing dA, and at any time look to a spot and know how many Journals, Polls, Hot Topics, Personal Notes, Comments, Forum Replies, etc you had unviewed. So I could let journals and so-called Hot Topics go unread for days, waiting for a "1C" or "1M" to join the message center alerts, and I would go look at them all.

Now, though, it says only "X Messages" and I have to view another page to find out that they are all Journal updates, or something less interesting.

A widget to monitor the DA message center is looking like a better idea after the change.

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I still visit DA at least once a week - sometimes more. I'll still visit with or without the makeover. Although the site itself seemed to have improved on speed even before the makeover. That was a big issue for me - pages taking forever to load. But all in all...I still like the ART...but not the flaming at times. Enough strife in daily life without the cat calling comments. But - thats the tone of DA - speak and ye shall be heard .
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Been a member since 2000 at DA.
I like version5. Nice fresh modern appearance.Easy to navigate,only 3 pages to deal with now.All the sub-sections are linked on any page,boom,your there.Eliminates scrolling.I think it is designed to be more user focused,less moderation,adminisrator friendly.

---and sure they have thier problems as any major rework would have. They will get it sorted out. In the long run,the site will be easier to maintain.


I want to correct my profile here at WC. I'm 60,not 22. lol  The site won't let me do this.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The new deviantART has been designed to be even faster than before


In this area it's been a TOTAL failure. The site is many times slower than a coouple months ago and the new "menus" hang just about every other use. Most pages never finish loading at all.

I does look better, but the way it's set up, I now have to wade thru even more garbage to find that one or two worth while downloads.
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
A very fair assesment jark,maybe some "sour grapes"added.

Remember Bkaro? Now that was truely revoluntionary.
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah...as far as the navigation...I used to be able to browse through DeviantArt with little effort...but the navigation now just gives me an instant headache...I won't be going back.
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Like all "site revisions" it was a bit of an initial shock, after a week it was just like it never changed, as far as navigation, if you are like me and are subject specific it is a vast improvement, there were several of the first days that had quirks and stalls, after the first hurdles were overcome it seems fine now, I have cable internet so speed was never an issue, I have found that despite the human races insistence on promoting change - it is never welcomed initially and the first reaction is always anger, I believe we all get accustomed to functionality and when the familiarity is altered anger is the first reaction, it challenges ones comfort level whether you will admit to it or not, I am 50 years old and still remember giving up a slide rule for a digital calculator and hand feeding yellow ribbon into an IBM computer just to perform a simple routine, when the first computer mouse came out I thought someone had flipped out, Windows 3.1 was the greatest thing I ever saw (Slide Rule ?) what was wrong with just punching buttons ?, as for the Hype about the new site, of course they are proud of the changes, it had to be a lot of effort and people should be proud of effort and accomplishment – and I am sure as stated it was probably as much behind the scene alteration as cosmetic, and after all isn’t anything to do with computers and cyber world a “Work in Progress”
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Skinner MohsinNagi: Featured art,aka daily deviation,aka DD,is now back up on user pages. Just have patience. They are working fervently to get the bugs fixed. We will see great things to come---
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Mitsubishiman: I also,have high speed.No problems encountered with loading issues at DA.As a long time member,I find vast improvement. Change is always a treat to some. It's human nature.
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I find the site very fast and the navigation very well done.
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Works perfectly line in Firefox, it doesn't quite like my IE7 ...

I like it a lot though, it's much faster than ye olde DA too!
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think it works very well for the most part it does seem slightly faster than the old version (the old version would just hang during USA internet prime time) Although annoyingly DeviantSkin has been broken now if the new coming version of Wincustomize.com has website wide skinning built in natively then I'll be visiting alot more often