Amazon uses a complete white background and not a blue one with lots of bright white boxes in which there are smaller thumbnails which promote the product. The first one does not distract from the content, the second one does. So not really professional

Whether copying an Amazon like style for a dedicated art related site is arguable as well. A renderosity user spends more time in the forums and store as an average Amazon shopper, so the demands for the site may be different as well. If I shop at Amazon, I usually know what I want, search and order and I am gone in a few minutes. At renderosity I browse the store to see what is new and the promo thumbnails have to seduce me to go to the details page to see what it is.

Quote - But the biggest webstores in the world use very bright backgrounds for their online stores and shopping carts - look at amazon, walmart, bestbuy, etc - none of them use colored or textured backgrounds (not professional at all), they're all brilliant white usually with shades of blue and/or orange text and black text for descriptions. 

 

~Shane

yes, what you say is true, but none of those sites mentioned are dealing with "art."  they are strictly for selling, no fuss no muss...IMHO, when one visits an "artsy" site one expects to be pleased not only with its functionality, but also one would hope to derive a pleasing visual experience from the site.  once again, in my opinion, the Rosity site, as it stands, is an ugly, chaotic visual mess.  and, by the way, it is not all that great in the functionality department either.

loose the white  find a  softer easier  color  on  the  eyes  and  make  the  contrast  better  would  help

1 You have corporations that are human and care about there customers and are considerate.

2 you have corporations that are inhuman and do not care about there customers and are very inconsiderate.

We all half to decide what we are going to be.

"Whether copying an Amazon like style for a dedicated art related site is arguable as well. A renderosity user spends more time in the forums and store as an average Amazon shopper, so the demands for the site may be different as well. If I shop at Amazon, I usually know what I want, search and order and I am gone in a few minutes."

EXACTLY!

I'm like hmm... I'd like some new music.  I go to Amazon, get what I want and am outta there.  It could be pink and purple with white fonts and I could care less.

An artsy site needs a bit more pastel and less white.  Look at DeviantART.  Greys, tans.  Even browns are neutral enough.  Easy to read.  Not stark.  Even the colored buttons are subdued to draw your eye just enough if you need a certain sorting option or whatnot.

IMHO, DAZ, Renderosity and RDNA (etc) shouldn't look like Office Max, Walmart or Amazon's sites.  And you don't hang out in Walmart period unless you are the walking dead... :P

Quote - ...And you don't hang out in Walmart period unless you are the walking dead... :P

Or showing off your new skin-tight leggings, fur boots and feathered boa of course. LOL

Laurie

I'm also wondering why the headers for the forum need to take up the entire bloody vertical center. Who thought it would be an awesome idea to make me scroll an entire page down just to get to the first post on a 19020x1200 LCD? What is this?

hmmm, your screen is obviously too big.

my CRT is 1024 x 768 which is good.

Send me your obese lcd screen and I will give you my nice CRT.

:woot:

My thoughts on this...

One thing that strikes me about the change to all of this, is that it doesn't really work on android or a tablet either. I looked at it on my phone and it is no more usable than it was before. On a tablet, it depends on the lighting around you. If you are in bright light with it, the blue on blue stuff sort of disappears.

Usually sites that are aimed at these devices are written to be switchable between one or the other. They are user customizable as well. I am sure that this is a work in progress, but just as sure that there should have been more progress before going live.

People with protanopia, tritanopia, or deuteranopia (types of partial color blindness) will not like the color scheme as it is now. Two of the three types of color blindness present serious problems with the current color scheme.

People that are color blind need contrast to tell similar colors apart. This new sheme has lots of contrast, just not where it really needs to be to see everything.

If you don't think that all of this is a problem, compare user number online from before and after. That should speak more than what anyone can ever post.

Not bashing, just my thoughts on it....  :b_uncertain:

Another thing to consider is that this is a weekend. I suspect we shouldn't expect much to change until Monday afternoon at the earliest. (My personal opinion, not a statement from management.)

Ok. A more relavent site than amazon would be turbosquid. Much, much brighter than the new rendo scheme and still works good for them. 

But whatever. I don't see a problem with it, except the blue links on smoke blue background. Everyone has an opinion.

What happened to their bi-annual theme design contest they used to do anyway? Is this the more cost-efficient route?

~Shane

Quote - Ok. A more relavent site than amazon would be turbosquid. Much, much brighter than the new rendo scheme and still works good for them. 

But whatever. I don't see a problem with it, except the blue links on smoke blue background. Everyone has an opinion.

What happened to their bi-annual theme design contest they used to do anyway? Is this the more cost-efficient route?

 ~Shane

I dare say that one cannot compare what's going on between Turbosquid and Renderosity.  The Turbosquid background is a very subdued greyish blue, while the Renderosity background is a blue-green.  And although they do use a white background for their graphic elements, the site as a whole is tight, elegant.  The screenshots below illustrate what I am talking about.

so here's the Turbosquid first

sorry i can't do a side by side.

so, does anyone find them to be comparable in design (layout/color)?

The Rosity example is a screenshot using IE 7 (hate IE and will not update and rarely use it).  I use Firefox (19) and have changed all the colors to nice and dark for ease of viewing pleasure.

This is a site for artists and artists have known the rules of color compliments and contrast since before we even had electricity. I just wish the people redesigning this site would go back and check them out.

You have to also keep in mind that what people are looking at here are computer screens. It is a light shining in your face with images imbedded in the light. These overly bright backgrounds are like having a spotlight in your face.

I don't know if the sensitivity to brightness etc. is age related, but considering that quite a number of folks here seem to be over 30 shall we say … I wonder how old their designers are?

dear renderosity,

          the new layout that you have chosen has caused me to consider the following options as to the thought of ever attempting to sell the products that i have been working on here or not

1refuse to remain an active member here due to the recent headaches gained by the new layout and lack of respect for the members at large

2refuse to become a vendor because of the headaches i gain form the new layout and lack of respect for the current members

3just give up and resolve myself to doing what they did     not caring about people

Quote -
dear renderosity,
the new layout that you have chosen has caused me to consider the following options as to the thought of ever attempting to sell the products that i have been working on here or not
1refuse to remain an active member here due to the recent headaches gained by the new layout and lack of respect for the members at large
2refuse to become a vendor because of the headaches i gain form the new layout and lack of respect for the current members
3just give up and resolve myself to doing what they did     not caring about people

Maybe since a lot of sites have a lot of white ,Renderosity thought it would be OK.
Maybe since so many have expressed it's not OK.
Maybe Renderosity will change it back or have a site more like zBrush or LW.
Hopefully Renderosity will be cool again and you can become vender of the year :)

Here's a cool video to remind us why where CGI Artist.

https://www.lightwave3d.com/lightwave_montage_reel/

great  video thanks RorrKonn

A lot of information has double and even tripple checkboxes, all wildly displaced.

How many forum selections do we need on a singe forum page?
How many links do we need to the marketplace?

The footer contains it all.

The header can be cleaned out allmost completely.

Smart phone and tablet users better stay away.

They will scroll the hell out of their screens.

And give up in frustration.

Or ending up blind.

Certainly going elswhere.

I think there is an International ISO norm that says what has to go in a header, and what has to go in a footer.

But never-ever put doubles or triples on a single page.

It is a waist of usable space, site pollution, and shows very bad housekeeping.

For a home page, most could live with a bit of pollution, why not, everybody has to live, but on a forum page?

An absolute NO-NO.

Aiieeeee! The Product pages just look nasty :(

Laurie

Just an observation here, but I remember not too long ago logging on and seeing 4 to 5 thousand members online, Now the highest i usually see is 2000 ish. I understand that some members have no issues with the colour scheme, but obviously some do, I've just ventured into the chat room for the first time in a week as the huge expanse of white blinds me even with my contrast turned down.

I really hope that some semblance of common sense prevails in re looking at the colours and design of the site, and that I feel visually comfortable here again. This is not an attack on anyone, just a personal statement.

Oh, the new site design has been very popular giggle.

In all fairness, Rendo hasn't had 4 or 5000 ppl at one time on the site in years. In the 2000s is about average. Everytime I come to the site the last few years it's been anywhere from 1500 to 2500 on average - the main reason they likely won't change the site. As long as the average stays about the same, they'll do nothing.

Laurie

I must have been thinking of another 3d site oooops ;)

nice page  design LaurieA

Quote - nice page  design LaurieA

Well, it ain't great, but it's better than the alternative ;). At least I can look at the gray all day long if I want to and my eyes won't dissolve. LOL.

Laurie

@ Vilters - thanks for the screenshots and comments.  You've illustrated exactly what I've been saying about wasted space here for years.

For the record, I have a naff LCD which is 1280 x 1024.  The whole screen is filled with headers, adverts and other useless (to me) stuff.  I have to scroll down a whole damn page to find the forum.  Annoying.  Very, very annoying.  

Silly Rabbits!

you know how this goes. they change the layout (for the worse usually), we complain, they listen...then go ahead and do it anyway.

True, dat. :(

Hello web programmer, I hope you had a nice rested weekend.

Now, it's time to get back to making this work right.

Check all these pages of comments and you should be ok.

Why it takes so long to change a sites colour amazes me, something that shouldn't take too long to do.

All the best.

LROG

Quote - Renderosity, tamed. I'm sure they'll throw in a monkey wrench and I'll have to do it all over again....

Laurie

Laurie,

When I was here earlier today, I had all that blue on the pages. When I came back this evening, it was all changed to bright white. I did what you did. I'm using Pale Moon for my browser and changed the colors in my options to change Rosity's color options. My screen now looks like yours, thank goodness.

Gawd, someone added a gradient. facepalm

Laurie

It's like, they're almost hearing what we have to say, and are trying to fix it in absolutely the wrong way.

I happen to like most of what I am seeing. The only thing that looks sort of glitchy to me is the large space that appears at the top of each page of comments in a thread. It looks like a space for a comment, but is dark and empty. I am now seeing mostly blue links over a dark charcoal in the forum, not sure what everyone else is seeing on their screen.

Quote - I happen to like most of what I am seeing. The only thing that looks sort of glitchy to me is the large space that appears at the top of each page of comments in a thread. It looks like a space for a comment, but is dark and empty. I am now seeing mostly blue links over a dark charcoal in the forum, not sure what everyone else is seeing on their screen.

Yes, the blue links on a dark charcoal background, that is one of the big complaints: Very difficult to read

Well when they get in monday, I hope they get the message that the Header and the Footer is WAY too big. I have to scroll way down just to get to the forum posts or cruise the gallery. Must be fixed!

Quote - Scrolling down to the second page I see this.

A lot of information has double and even tripple checkboxes, all wildly displaced.

How many forum selections do we need on a singe forum page?
How many links do we need to the marketplace?

The footer contains it all.

The header can be cleaned out allmost completely.

Ah, see, my screen doesn't look like that at all. It's all laid out rather decently on my end and nothing seems too bright or blinding. But, I have a 22" widescreen LCD, with 1680 x 1050 res, and I use Chrome. (You couldn't pay me to use the p.o.s. that is IE, and firefox hasn't worked right for me for years - all the plug-ins crash and it never lets videos stream no matter what I try).

Nothing seems too bright or disorganized for me. So that's why I was wondering why so many complaints. 

I don't know if its a chrome-specific feature, but if I shrink the page, the page content shrinks with it, and stays organized.

But yeah, that mess vilters posted would irritate me.

~Shane

fox,chrome look just a like.

ie has a big empty space at top of fourms ,the backgrond blue is a bit darker.

In case you don't see it, there is grey text on the blue gradient.

Quote - Ah, see, my screen doesn't look like that at all. It's all laid out rather decently on my end and nothing seems too bright or blinding.

....

Nothing seems too bright or disorganized for me. So that's why I was wondering why so many complaints. 

I'm on a 22" widescreen too, so I'm used to extra horizontal space as most page layouts adjust themselves to a wide screen format. I don't have a problem with it.

What I find really annoying is the vertical mess. This is a forum, I come here to read threads. Why do I have to scroll an entire page before I can even see the title of the thread I have chosen to read?!

I know this site is in the business of selling stuff and so we need to see a banner ad, but why do we need so much other crap at the top of EVERY page? When I finish reading page 1 of a thread, before I can continue reading on page 2 of the same thread I have to scroll down a whole page of:

Social media buttons

RENDEROSITY LOGO

WELCOME TO THE RENDEROSITY FORUMS

WELCOME TO THE POSER FORUM

POSER FORUM

with a picture!

MARKETPLACE LOGO

(Along with 3 bars of links, some of which are actually useful)

And then, a whole page of fluff later, I finally get to the thread I came to read. And I have to do that on EVERY page.

The result is that whatever benefit all that stuff may have had is lost on me because I never look at any of it, I scroll down it immediately. Even the banner ad is wasted because it is the first thing to go as I scroll all the other crap out of the way.

And as for the contrast thing... If the general theme is light text on a dark background,  that's great, it can look classy, it can be relaxing on the eye, BUT STICK WITH IT! Don't put stuff in white backgrounds on the same page, it doesn't look classy and it certainly isn't relaxing on the eye (for just the same reason as you don't drive your car at night with the interior light on).

Yeah, someone explain the difference between an HOME page and a FORUM page to those guys.

Well, this morning it is better.

Now I can see NOTHING any more;

Alli is light WHITE over dark WHITE, with some WHITE -WHITE around the WHITE.

I find the white on the market pages too bright but I am more annoyed that once I have clicked on a product I have to scroll down a full white page to get to the description.

Also, in my gallery page my last upload displays just a section of what is clealy a full sized image.  How do you check that the render is correct before commit it to the gallery if you can onle see part of it.

well on a bright note, at least they seem to have toned down the background blue a little, but to be honest I'm not sure, my monitor is set to view so dark now, it could just be that, I tried viewing with google and firefox and it looks the same. To be fair it is a LITTLE easier on my eyes.

The only comment I would like to make is in response to the members who appear to think that we should emulate other websites. Call me old fashioned, but having a unique identity is what makes a website unique, otherwise they will have to make the "Renderosity" banner full page, so I actually know which website I have logged on to. :)

On another note, has anyone found difficulty when "quoting" previous posts, in so much that anything you type after the quote is invisible when you preview ?