I agree the site changes are "two steps forward and four steps back." The site looked better before the changes. What do you want a viewer to notice first -- your terrific artwork, or the fact that you're on Facebook and Twitter? Those banners grab too much focus.



Also, because the Facebook and Twitter banners are so large, the site is now wider than before and the right and left areas are partially cut off. To use the left hand areas I have to scroll horizontally. Perhaps that's due to my monitor's dimensions, but my monitor isn't a tiny little thing; I don't have this problem with other sites. I suggest moving all the right hand material to the bottom of the left hand column. Better yet, eliminate those banners since they don't seem very popular. ;)



I also agree that it would be great to have a way of looking up all the abstracts, planetscapes, night scenes, day scenes, etc., without having to go year by year. But I do like being able to look up the images by year as well. Perhaps you could add the categories to the "collections" link in the gallery.



Since you're considering changes, it might be helpful to have a "general comments" area for suggestions and remarks not related to the current image or blog topic. Perhaps change "latest comments" to "comments" and add a menu with both headings -- "latest comments" and "general comments." As with other sites, perhaps you could allow the creation of topic threads. Just an idea.



Hiring a site designer when you're up and running on the new server is a good idea, Ryan. You're a superbly talented artist and you deserve a site that superbly showcases your work.

I think we all need to help Ryan get back to what he does best, the artistic wallpapers. All this mucking about with the website is just getting a little irritating. Before I knew where everything was, now you never know where you are going to find things.



Ryan, please get yourself better and stop mucking about with the website. And put the newest wallpapers back at the top of the member's page, the big block of text on a grey background is a little off-putting. And bring back the black background to match the rest of the site, it looked a lot better.

Frankly, I don't see much improvement. I agree with Chase and the others about the large banners for Twitter and Facebook -- FireFox, too -- on the right side of the home page. They're bigger than the thumbnails of your artwork and more noticeable; they're the first things that catch the eye. There must be a less obtrusive way to link to your areas of these social sites. I suggest moving the banners to the bottom of the column, or eliminating them altogether in favor of simple unobtrusive links. One of the benefits of being a paying member is not having to endure the annoying banner ads cluttering the free site.



I'm sure it wasn't your intent, but telling your fans that we are "welcome to block them however we like" sounds like if we don't like the banners, tough. Are those who don't use Firefox just out of luck?



Pardon the rant, Ryan; with all the advertising we have to put up with I liked coming to your site and seeing only your superb images and the comments about them.

I really don't like the new design. The right side screams at me like an annoying internet advertisement. I really don't like Twitter and think Facebook went downhill a long time ago (though I am a fan on there).



I would rather see the list of newest pictures along the right side -- at least above the facebook/twitter stuff -- and some some sort of header above. The page is very blah now. Seems like you took 2 steps forward when you added the background and 4 steps back when you removed it.



I also don't care for the off-black boxes you're now using. Even on my Apple Cinema display, I can barely see them, and they look tacky.



I do like that you removed the lightbox script. It's a cool script, but made navigation slow, so finding a particular image is much faster now.



Just some thoughts. Keep up the great work!

I've always been a fan of simpler site design anyway. The less gook spread all over the place cluttering everything the better.

I do like the shorter link list. Big improvement. But...



I would love to see the galleries organized by category - landscape, abstract, holiday, etc - rather than by year.



I don't really care, and can't remember anyway, what year you did something; I just come looking for an abstract that would look great with my new color scheme, or something tropical to suit my mood... The thumbnail "all" gallery helps, but it would be much better to be able to look through all abstracts for all years, and so on, without having to click through 13 different Abstracts galleries.

Nice job,

I read a comment later on in the last thread after I ranted for a bit discribing my comment as a "Lecture" and I seriously hope it wasn't taken that way.



I see there were alot of places where you took our advice and it looks "cleaner." I particularly like the code you used to add more than just the twitter box. However, since your whole site doesn't have qualities like that, the rest of it still looks rather flat.



It's amazing even what the little things can do right?



Allan Chappell

I think you should move your blog post area to the top of the ride side. The Facebook and Twitter graphics aren't the first thing I want to see when logging in. You don't have to eliminate them, just move them down so all the important stuff is at the top of the page.

Hey Ryan,



If you get something a little more concrete about web design why not post up, I'm sure there's a few of us website creators around who might be up for the job - myself included :)

It is Tropical Moon but it is the 2001 version! For some reason I like it better then the newer version but it doesn't crop well at all to make into a dual monitor wallpaper. It is nice for the login screen though.



Ah well, I tried!

I liked the background pics as long as they are subtle. I actually changed my Win7 login screen to "Tropicalmoon" which I think is one of the DB collection.

I think the most recent changes look nice. I didn't have a problem with the background image, that was fine with me. Not sure why so many didn't like it. I think the links on the left being compressed are fine too. I've never been real picky about the way you've had the left side layout setup but I do like how it's consolidated. I'm not too worried about a website redesign, after all, we are here for your artwork not the website design am I right?

I couldn't open up any images with firefox 3.5 I kept getting the following

"The image cannot be displayed, because it contains errors"



I have no problem with IE8

Ryan,



I was not "meh, whatever" about the background - I thought it added a lot to the site. Bring it back!!!

I like the simpler navigation links at left and I LOVE the new gallery page with thumbs and no silly "popup" windows to view selected images.



The only thing I would change are the big ugly "Twitter"/"Facebook"/"FirefoxPersonas" images at right.



but hey, it is just as simple as using firefox+adblock to eliminate them too.

just got around to looking at the site again today and you have clearly taken just about everyones comments into consideration; the improvements are obvious and easy to adjust to. good work!

I've never used MySpace, so my opinion may not matter... however, I really enjoyed the Phraxis background without the planet.



I updated to both of them, saw both of them, and liked the second more than the first (though I didn't necessarily mind the first).



I'm not an expert or anything, but just wanted to add that I thought the static background added a nice touch. :)

Hey Ryan,



I'm a web designer by trade. I won't give you a lecture like some have just the simple advice I was given which is "KISS" Keep It Simple Stupi... well you get the idea! Concentrate more on the information you are showcasing and dont make the site too "graphical" as it may distract from the work itself.



I've been following your site since about 97 so I know that it has built up over time content wise. Remember your website is built for your art not the other way round.



Take it easy!

I would have to agree that the current site layout is not that great. It's not too hard to use, but it just doesn't seem very organized. When I hit the member's gallery content page, I see three vertical columns of text, and a few image thumbnails at the top of the page. That doesn't have the inspiring feel a huge site like this needs to have. The menu on the left is awkward; a website viewer should not have to scroll down the page to see all of a site's navigation menu links!



I've done some small-scale web design via XHTML and CSS (my best site so far is probably www.bedardhammers.com), so here are a couple suggestions that I think could really improve the site structure. Of course, this is your website, and I don't want to sound demanding here; but hopefully you'll find these ideas helpful.



1. As I said, the member's gallery home page is not very impressive. It seems strange to fill the home page almost completely with text, and then stick some tiny thumbnails of recent wallpapers up at the top of the page. I would insert a medium-large size thumbnail of your most recent wallpaper right in the center of the home page, and set it to link to the gallery download page for that wallpaper. You could center a title over this thumbnail (saying "Enshrouded", for example), because to me, the names of pieces of art are quite important. Below that, the text updates could pick up. The home page really needs a focal point, and a recent wallpaper image in the center with a large title would provide that focal point. Of course, everyone will read the text below it anyway.



2. Simplicity is always key to good website design, in my opinion. Instead of crowding all the menu options into one long, vertical bar, why don't you break up the entire site into sections? I would break the site into two sections. The first could contain the home page and pages like "ryan's blog" and "Ryan's Workspace" [by the way, why is one capitalized and not the other?]. On the left, you could link to the Firefox Personas, free site, etc.; but you would not include the gallery links. The second section could contain the actual galleries. The gallery navigation menu would work great with only a "Home" link and the year/collections/comments links. If you were to divide the site up this way, it would reduce the number of navigation menu links for each section of the site.



I like the current gallery layout for the most part. It's organized and makes sense right off the bat (except for that long list of links on the left, again).



A small visual detail I would adjust is the semi-transparency of the navigation pull-out submenus. Being able to see text behind the submenu links is unnerving.



One other small suggestion: why do we have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the "Read Comments" page to find the "Add Comments" link? Always (always!) put standard navigation/functionality links up at the top of the page where everyone is looking for them (in some cases, a link might need to be both at the top and bottom of a page).



Anyway, I hope this has been helpful. Again, I'm happy to download your wallpapers no matter what the actual site is like, but I do think the site could use some improvement.

Just noticed this, but exellent work on the comments page - I no longer have to keep clicking back or find that "secret link" back to the homepage!

I really don't like the background - don't get me wrong, it's a "nice" picture, but I don't like the way it stays still as I scroll around the page. This is a feature a lot of websites use, and a feature I really dislike.



Also, I agree with the poster who said the navigation on the left hand side is getting clustered, I don't quite see the need to read the "Member testimonials" if I am already a member. All the links to the less popular pages could be summarised under a heading such as "Misc." And all of the links to images by year could be under a summarised heading of "Images by year".



The menu system needs some vast improvement in my opinion. Your site design is functional, but not very appealing to new visitors.



Menu's and links should be basic, and easy to read - they shouldn't be a flashy, animated button. Keep that in mind ;)

hi again,

i reviewed the site again today, and i noticed some changes were made;



it is better in opera, but there still are errors,

if that was your reason for editing;



in any case the new look is that: the title is in the correct position, the left pane of links is correct, but the gallery photos (while organized properly now) begin at the bottom of the left pane links and are not in line as intended



on a side note, for the most part i would agree with Allan's comment, especially in regards to the left pane.



i don't personally think that you should bother with having user selectable backgrounds, seems like your time could be better used for other site reworks; also it takes away from the unique qualities of a website, thereby making it much less memorable and much more generic.

Going through your posters on zazzle i'm curious as to what resolution you use. Just wondering, thanks.

Ryan,

I love your art, but unfortunately, web-design isn't your strong point. I've always thought the website looks old. Don't get me wrong there are things to be said about old things. I hope this is taken as constructive criticism as opposed to a bash against you or the hard work you have put into presenting the material you show the world.



I understand that using a black background actually brings out your art, however, I feel that it also contributes to the "Old" feeling. There are methods of using dark colors or shades to still be neutral and present a more professional face.



The differences in the sizes of fonts between the left hand navigation and the body text is too great. Also since the navigations is white on black, it actually looks bigger than it actually is. Also the difference in the sizes of fonts in the menu just to keep the text from wrapping is also noticeable.



Alot of the site looks "pieced" together, and the client experience is not smooth, especially for members who have to log in. This has always been the way so I'm used to it but the question has always been why do we have to log in twice? The code should be smart enough to cross domains if that's the limitation. In addition, there are different styles implemented through the site, though all similar.



The left hand side is getting REALLY busy. I know that there is alot of content that you want to relay to your fans, but you need to spread it out and strategically place it in areas other than just the side bars If you do place it in the side bars, there needs to be a menuing system of some sort laid out to accommodate the navigational aspects of the left side bar and a few sectioned blocks to accommodate some of the "Must See" stuff for your fans. I know that you have alot of "Resolution size" data due to the downloads from your site. So you will agree that not all your information shows up to some users, thus you must have to had thought out a way to prioritise what your fans see in order to get all the information you want seen the most in the viewing scope. I think this is a red flag in the terms of user interfaces. What you are doing to the Members Gallery Update page is a BIG step in the right direction, but you need to implement a common style across the site.



Lastly, I think an upgrade to a modern a programming language other than shtml is in order. I think you would be alot happier with the flexibility and results. I know the hard part of that is getting started. For instance, I've noticed this comments page is written in perl, where the rest of the pages are not. I'm impressed with what you have done with shtml and the success it has brought you thus far, but I believe that it is it's inflexibility that makes it hard to do everything you want it to do.



Again, please take this as someone trying to help rather than a beating. My respect for you is beyond words because of what you can do that I will never be able to do, and I expect that if I ever did art, that you would show me the errors I was making rather than say, "Hey looks good." If you need help, be assured that you have an entire community sitting here waiting for you to ask.



Thanks for taking the time to read what I have to say,

Allan Chappell

allan at aljoproductions dot net

Thank you for keeping the year by year links for the gallery. It's much easier to navigate around.



Also for the neutral background good choice.



Best wishes to your health. Hope you still got to enjoy your July 4th holiday weekend.



Take Good Care Ryan.

I like the new gallery page, although I'm not really sure I want to do without being able to view images by category (day/night scenery, abstract, etc).

I seriously dislike having a background image for the site. Please, please, please add the option to choose whether or not one wants to have a background; I would really like to be able to turn it off and make it look the way it did before.

I did like the option of going straight to one of the categories(day/night scenery, etc) instead of only year by year. Other than that, I like the face lift

Looks fine in Safari 4 on a Mac, as well as FF3. Issues with page rendering is why I dumped Opera ages ago, but YMMV.



I like the updgrade--the planet was a little bit distracting, but this looks like a solid update. 2009 look, quick to load, and a bit easier to navigate. Well done!

Looks fine in Firefox 3.

hi i dont know if you ever use the Opera web browser, or if you intend to support more than just IE, i hope you do; but anyways, the new gallery has some MAJOR height or width (have not seen both together) issues in Opera



anyhow just thought that you shuld know that there are some issues, and i dont know how much you know about html and the like (seemingly enough) but when using IE it is always easier to code because it accepts just about anything and makes it look the way you want it to.



however in other, more standards (W3C) compliant browsers, many pages will end up looking different than intended



so if you are finished with the page, i would recommend checking it out in opera and probably ff as well if you have not already done so



validator(dot)w3(dot)org gives access to a free tool taht will review your source coding and let you know of any parts that do not comply to the international standards; which when followed will let all browsers view the same thing

I love the new show all gallery page! It's amazing to see how much great work you've done. You know what would be cool, is if when you put your cursor over one of the images, it pulled up a bigger version of that image along with the name like 300x300 or something... But without this, it's still awesome.



Thanks!

It'd be nice if the pop-up menu for Collections could be a little more opaque. It's kind of hard to read as it is.

I guess maybe I was the only one using them, but I would often use the links on the side to navigate quickly to all your planetscapes or all your night scenery, so I do miss that list of links.



Otherwise, I guess the redesign is modest and well thought out. I would love to see the links back, but I guess I can bookmark the ones in my history right now.

I like what I see, but the twitter text is a bit on the small side, or at least it is for me running at 1920 x 1200

Looks good, aside from the gallery link in your post is broken. The one on the side works correctly.



Keep up the good work.

--Brian

I like the overall look, but i second the complaint about the transparent menus. they are TOO transparent and cause some obscuring with the main text. I would make them just a little more opaque. Other than that, looks good!

I think the site might be a little more readable if you put an opaque background behind the center column, leaving the pretty for the sides of the page.



Speaking of the Gallery, it would be neat to have some way of seeing similar backgrounds based on interest (People who liked this background also liked X, Y, and Z). Don't know how you go about implementing that, but it would be a neat way of discovering images you might not otherwise find.

looks awesome, but the awesome begins to wear off quickly. others have already made the relevant points wrt usability.

web page backgrounds can be distracting but if you know how to implement them, it becomes a great addition. usually dark backgrounds that have medium to low opacity make for great additions if using white text like here.

...they make the page hard to read. In particular, the backgrounds detract/obscure/overwhelm the thumbnails. My vote would be for a solid background and leave the images to the good work you do.



I'm sure many will like the backgrounds as they add a difference to your website from most others. I personally find them distracting and would prefer just a solid, dark background. If you could make the background choice a "per user" option, so much the better. That way, those who like to fancy backgrounds could enjoy them; those of us who prefer functionality over fluff could have just the basics.

This is gorgeous. Everything looks so much more...

alive and kinetic. Well done!

I've been a fan of your work for many years now and I have to say that the background pictures are an awesome idea. It gives your site a unique feel to it. Viewing your thumbnails with the background can be slightly distracting until one gets used to having the picture there. I would love to see it stay up but one idea that might be worth looking into if it is possible is to put up a random picture everytime you log into the site so that people don't get bored with one picture or another and you don't have to spend large ammounts of time updating.

Oh yeah, one more thing. You might want to offer alternative page styles that people can choose from so no one gets stuck with a background (s)he doesn't like.

When I first saw the new background I liked it a lot. It makes DB feel like a "place" rather than just another web site.



But there are definitely some functionality problems. Text is difficult to read (but I got over that pretty quickly.) My biggest gripe is how much is taken away from the image thumbnails. The wallpapers have lost individuality. It's like I'm constantly looking at two pieces at once.



I've read all the comments and others are voicing the same problems. Perhaps a compromise is in order. I think a background (like the one you have around the text, but more solid) would help. I know this would take away from the picture behind it, but really, which is more important?



Overall I like the changes, even for a work in progress. Can't wait to see the final touches.

I can only imagine the stuff that will come out of your stylesheet in the next couple of days! You'll have to have a gallery just for those lol



I was thinking that Echoes or Episteme would make for a good background. They're toned down abstracts that don't have a focal point that draws the eye away from the other images. Just a thought.

I think oxycodone would be the best time to be near a stylesheet! youd feel your best. no pain and all happyness in which you could express though your art! keep it up with those 30's! well hopefully they're roxI 30's. the best and most effecient pain killer of them allllllllllllllllllll

I actually love the background as it is right now, but I would probably like most of your darker backgrounds for the site. Or you could set up some sort of rotation (if that would somehow work, I'm not much of a webpage expert).

I'm digging the background. I'll have to poke around some more and see what else has changed.

I've gone back and forth between liking and not liking the background Images. Containment was too bright in the middle, it made reading the text difficult. Phraxis is better, but I think the solid black makes the focus go right to your images rather than being distracted by the background image.



If you created a toned down website background specifically for the site it might work better than using your brilliantly rendered images, or used some of the images that aren't as bright.



One improvement that I'd recommend for the site, I don't think it's THAT important, but when I click on the pickle jar image, if the top one could be the gallery image with the pickle jar images below it. It makes it easier to see the difference between the different renders.

I like the look. Nice job.

Don't go to craze with the design. remember less is more and keep it functional! I do design for the web and if it is too cluttered or it isn't functional people will complain. A lot of the new bells and whistles are cool to look at, but do they truly fit in your site? Food for thought.



Good luck

My first impression was to like it.



Then I started looking at the actual page design and found I had trouble separating where various parts of the screen split (main page left column, main column, and right column for instance).



I think it is a good idea. I like the static positioned non-floating backgrounds, but it needs more work.



Also, while it works well on Phraxis, you might want more of a contrasting transparent overlay for lighter backgrounds in the future.

OK I am going to lay it on the table. I hate website that "float" over an image, this was always my biggest complaint about myspace. It both makes the text hard to read, but when scrolling the fact that the image in the background doesn't also move plays trick on the mind. Just my two bits worth :-)

Although I love your images, the way you have the background set up now makes the text a harder to read and distracts from the foreground image.

WOW. As usual Ryan, you have done the amazing.



My issue is with how the comments are displayed in grey "boxes". I'm not a techie, so please bear with me. Is it possible to have the comments/text-based areas more organically integrated into the background?



That's what I would love to see. And maybe that's not in the realm of any reality right now? Let us know!



PS - I have not enough words to describe how sorry I am about your latest surgery. Life is not fair - I know it myself.



My hope/wish, nay, belief, is that you will be well, thrive, survive and go on to do even more amazing art.



Your friend,

Maryann

I think it would be really cool if you allowed logged in members to pick from a small list of backgrounds in a drop down. You could have a few css files and load the appropriate one based their setting. One of the options could be "none". This way, everyone could be happy.

I like the background, except when I am viewing your renders. Its distracting to me when there are other images that I am trying to view on the page as well.

I like the background. Loved the wallpaper had it on the desktop for awhile. makes a good site background.

Ryan, looks good. Yes, it can be a little distracting at first, but once one gets used to it, I think they'll grow to like it. As long as there is good contrast between the text and the background (IOW, you retain site functionality), I think it'll be fine.

While I like the art you chose for the background, I find it incredibly hard to concentrate on the individual pictures in the galleries now. It looks VERY cluttered to me, and frankly it gives me a bit of a headache.



Sorry- just my $.02

Very well done! I am enjoying these new changes!

Overall looks good, but I'd do some checking between IE8 and FF 3.0.x. IE8 has some opacity under the left side bar but not in FF. Also the side bar shading doesn't go all the way top and bottom. You might also want to give it a bit more padding around those translucent boxes so it doesn't make the text within it seem crowded.



I definitely like the direction you're going with this though. Keep up the good work!



PS - if supporting IE6 gets to be a hassle, just drop it. With IE7, IE8 and FF 2/3/3.5 available there's no reason to be using IE6 any more.

I like the new background, it is much more interesting and lively than black, and still more comfortable for the eye!

What a great idea -- your wonderful wallpaper as wallpaper for your site! The dark blue makes the lettering show up nicely and I like the diaphanous menus. I hope you plan to rotate the images periodically to keep the site interesting and fresh. Plus, those who don't care for the image you've chosen won't have cause to complain for too long. ;) Great changes!

I like the new look, however, I would make the side menus have an opaque background as it is hard to read what the menu options are when they show up over text.