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As the majority seems to be more properly busy still whinin' at the devs about a regular big site update thing, I think it shall be time for me to demonstrate that perhaps making a compromise and more constructive method of analyzing can be more viable option for all sides...

I mean sure, the kind of lacking way of handling this (i.e locking Beta-tests to CORE-members only and not encouraging properly people to test and give feedback regularly due to optional toggle for it: plus with new users forced into Eclipse straight away) isn't the best way DA has handled this inevitable update. However I am not willing to stand along with same people who intentionally ignored all invitations to test the feature and give feedback in the very Beta-version for a past year and now are apparently distraught about being "caught with pants down". All the speak about crappy fonts and layouts, now being wated when the matter is out of current focus. Applause for you, "fellow community-member" >_>

As such, I decided this morning to get into GIMP and make a very simplified but still on-point editing ideas that I'd personally make for the Eclipse-display. Not claiming to be any master of talented to understand coding too well but I did study web design for 6 months back in vocational college plus I have papers of a media-assistant so... yeah. Kinda out-of-context mention but let us ignore that: assuming that anyone reading hasn't yet gone "lol ex dee they ain't listening", since while they be stuck in the ignorant phase I'm keeping my eyes open for a real possibility of later patches where visual/practical suggestions can make better difference in the end.

But, I shall still give an attempt at least: we got a green theme by request about 7 months ago so I shall stick towards potentials.

ANYWAYS, TIME FOR THE CHANGE-LOG I'D MAKE:

>>> First, the banner: as an idea it has been really fun given how it does allow artists that bit of extra editing for their page to give an introduction (that or just have something they like, like that 2016 drawing of Silverfur siblings napping that I still adore to this day). However I do have a small "eeeehhh..." about the fact that as of now the banner by default has a bit of weird extending feature that causes it to display almost as high as possible leading to this being seen as first thing:

That is quite a lot of space used for a simple banner that typically is used for displaying a stylized name or a pattern really. I could say that this can be fine, but I would possibly add an option that allows locking the banner resolution to a specific size (optimally about the size of the edited screenshot posted) as it does allow a consistent style across platforms better.

>>> Next, the header. This would be a relatively simple on surface, albeit with a bit more work for the technical stuff. Starting off with making a more clear visual of buttons by using lines to separate the text on the header (as well as one below the banner): simple, but effective. I also would see a small shift to the icon placements on the header given how people have had confusion about "not finding submission button"... Well, just shift it to being first button on right side with a small downward chevron and that solves that problem.

I also took some direction with something I agree with for being prominent: the fact how notifications for messages and WATCH-feed (deviations, journals, status posts, etc.) are currently separated with a "Watch"-button on left while messages are a bell icon to right. It is disorienting so I would pretty much scrap that "Watch"-button on left and just move all notifications under that bell icon since it is more recognizable and useful to have all messages in one place apart from Notes (which would keep that letter icon). Finally, the small user icon on the header being at the most far right like in the old version (to hold settings and log-out, perhaps a small chevron next to it helps) and that sums up changes I'd have for the header.

>>> Lastly, a quick mention towards having bordered/boxed-in areas for stuff like featured gallery and activity-box on the profile page. Current look of not having any borders makes the layout feel too tight and oddly stacked compared to having a more fluent and understandable showcase of specific parts of your page (you can see it from simple border I gave to the "Featured Deviation" and "About Me"). I don't have much to add here since it is a rather simple fix of just adding a color to the CSS-format used for the said areas over having it transparent, and that's it.

>>> POST-EDITED DETAILS: Decided to make an adjustment as I did note one specific detail from the old that may be a critical point as well: not only having a green button under the "SUBMIT"-text would make it much more noticeable, but I also think that vector-icons for the page header under the banner could use the familiar icons to tell which part you're in the user's pages (icons like , , and others) and add to the more "shaven" feel over the simplified web-builder look. I also made a pseudo-display of the edit page button which could operate like it used to: opening a separate page where to edit your front page over having it always editable by default.

>>> POST-EDITED DETAILS: Oh, I also remembered upon the "Friends"-tab on the header of previous version which I located upon the top header ahead of notes and notifications. It certainly can work as a great tool to allow direct list of people who you have befriended since the "Friends"-box is missing in Eclipse as we speak so having some kind of handy list of which people are on my general friends list (as only thing I can do is Top Fellas-part into my profileID). In meanwhile, the popular demand of seeing friends online could be brought into Eclipse for sake of utility and beloved feature by many.

>>> POST-EDITED DETAILS: Well look at that, DA's staff has heard me and others on this matter and have legit implied this fix. How about that being a cold shower for them complainers: As it turns out, commenting in more appropriate manner actually has better results than stupid spam of "No to ECLIPSE"-thing that prevented people more from browsing recommended artworks, eh?

So yeah, that summarizes at least the few core parts of the main page I would like to see getting a bit of refining. After all we got the green theme already so what prevents us from making more balanced and honest talk for how we can make this work-?

Regardless, I shall keep my eyes onward for future optimization that benefits casual users as well. Best of luck for your efforts, DA: I'll be sure to be as helpful as I can instead of having existential crisis about a favorite cereal box cover looking different

Description
As the majority seems to be more properly busy still whinin' at the devs about a regular big site update thing, I think it shall be time for me to demonstrate that perhaps making a compromise and more constructive method of analyzing can be more viable option for all sides...

I mean sure, the kind of lacking way of handling this (i.e locking Beta-tests to CORE-members only and not encouraging properly people to test and give feedback regularly due to optional toggle for it: plus with new users forced into Eclipse straight away) isn't the best way DA has handled this inevitable update. However I am not willing to stand along with same people who intentionally ignored all invitations to test the feature and give feedback in the very Beta-version for a past year and now are apparently distraught about being "caught with pants down". All the speak about crappy fonts and layouts, now being wated when the matter is out of current focus. Applause for you, "fellow community-member" >_>

As such, I decided this morning to get into GIMP and make a very simplified but still on-point editing ideas that I'd personally make for the Eclipse-display. Not claiming to be any master of talented to understand coding too well but I did study web design for 6 months back in vocational college plus I have papers of a media-assistant so... yeah. Kinda out-of-context mention but let us ignore that: assuming that anyone reading hasn't yet gone "lol ex dee they ain't listening", since while they be stuck in the ignorant phase I'm keeping my eyes open for a real possibility of later patches where visual/practical suggestions can make better difference in the end.

But, I shall still give an attempt at least: we got a green theme by request about 7 months ago so I shall stick towards potentials.

ANYWAYS, TIME FOR THE CHANGE-LOG I'D MAKE:

>>> First, the banner: as an idea it has been really fun given how it does allow artists that bit of extra editing for their page to give an introduction (that or just have something they like, like that 2016 drawing of Silverfur siblings napping that I still adore to this day). However I do have a small "eeeehhh..." about the fact that as of now the banner by default has a bit of weird extending feature that causes it to display almost as high as possible leading to this being seen as first thing:

That is quite a lot of space used for a simple banner that typically is used for displaying a stylized name or a pattern really. I could say that this can be fine, but I would possibly add an option that allows locking the banner resolution to a specific size (optimally about the size of the edited screenshot posted) as it does allow a consistent style across platforms better.

>>> Next, the header. This would be a relatively simple on surface, albeit with a bit more work for the technical stuff. Starting off with making a more clear visual of buttons by using lines to separate the text on the header (as well as one below the banner): simple, but effective. I also would see a small shift to the icon placements on the header given how people have had confusion about "not finding submission button"... Well, just shift it to being first button on right side with a small downward chevron and that solves that problem.

I also took some direction with something I agree with for being prominent: the fact how notifications for messages and WATCH-feed (deviations, journals, status posts, etc.) are currently separated with a "Watch"-button on left while messages are a bell icon to right. It is disorienting so I would pretty much scrap that "Watch"-button on left and just move all notifications under that bell icon since it is more recognizable and useful to have all messages in one place apart from Notes (which would keep that letter icon). Finally, the small user icon on the header being at the most far right like in the old version (to hold settings and log-out, perhaps a small chevron next to it helps) and that sums up changes I'd have for the header.

>>> Lastly, a quick mention towards having bordered/boxed-in areas for stuff like featured gallery and activity-box on the profile page. Current look of not having any borders makes the layout feel too tight and oddly stacked compared to having a more fluent and understandable showcase of specific parts of your page (you can see it from simple border I gave to the "Featured Deviation" and "About Me"). I don't have much to add here since it is a rather simple fix of just adding a color to the CSS-format used for the said areas over having it transparent, and that's it.

>>> POST-EDITED DETAILS: Decided to make an adjustment as I did note one specific detail from the old that may be a critical point as well: not only having a green button under the "SUBMIT"-text would make it much more noticeable, but I also think that vector-icons for the page header under the banner could use the familiar icons to tell which part you're in the user's pages (icons like , , and others) and add to the more "shaven" feel over the simplified web-builder look. I also made a pseudo-display of the edit page button which could operate like it used to: opening a separate page where to edit your front page over having it always editable by default.

>>> POST-EDITED DETAILS: Oh, I also remembered upon the "Friends"-tab on the header of previous version which I located upon the top header ahead of notes and notifications. It certainly can work as a great tool to allow direct list of people who you have befriended since the "Friends"-box is missing in Eclipse as we speak so having some kind of handy list of which people are on my general friends list (as only thing I can do is Top Fellas-part into my profileID). In meanwhile, the popular demand of seeing friends online could be brought into Eclipse for sake of utility and beloved feature by many.

>>> POST-EDITED DETAILS: Well look at that, DA's staff has heard me and others on this matter and have legit implied this fix. How about that being a cold shower for them complainers: As it turns out, commenting in more appropriate manner actually has better results than stupid spam of "No to ECLIPSE"-thing that prevented people more from browsing recommended artworks, eh?

So yeah, that summarizes at least the few core parts of the main page I would like to see getting a bit of refining. After all we got the green theme already so what prevents us from making more balanced and honest talk for how we can make this work-?

Regardless, I shall keep my eyes onward for future optimization that benefits casual users as well. Best of luck for your efforts, DA: I'll be sure to be as helpful as I can instead of having existential crisis about a favorite cereal box cover looking different