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I can't imagine this hasn't been mentioned before but I didn't see anything and it's really annoying me.

It's pretty clear that the new gallery front-page format is not working. All you have to do is look at it to see the mess it is. I'm assuming that's a technical issue for Lego to sort out, and I'm sure he will eventually... so leave it at that.

What I think is worth discussing is what kind of pics get on the front page. Recently, it seems to be dominated by professional, golden demon level work... almost exclusively. While these are beautiful works... they are so unreachable for probably 99% of dakka users that I question their dominance of the gallery front page. Great work can be inspirational... but if all I see are Sistine Chapels wherever I look... they A) lose their impact and B) quickly realize that I will never be able to paint like that, get bored and stop looking. I want to see the best work of the other 99% of dakkanoughts out there... stuff that folks like me or perhaps just ahead of me are doing. Stuff that I can achieve myself if I try harder or learn just a bit more.

Having a few GD level & professional pieces up is just fine, they're wonderful to look at from time to time. But doing so to the exclusion of all else makes us look like a poor-mans CMON. Dakka can do better... SHOULD do better given our prominence in the 40k forum world.

My two cents... fire away.

Gitsplitta wrote:It's pretty clear that the new gallery front-page format is not working. All you have to do is look at it to see the mess it is. I'm assuming that's a technical issue for Lego to sort out, and I'm sure he will eventually... so leave it at that.

Er... no, it looks fine to me.

What is the issue you're seeing? And what browser are you using?

What I think is worth discussing is what kind of pics get on the front page. Recently, it seems to be dominated by professional, golden demon level work... almost exclusively.

I believe the software just grabs random recent pictures with a certain rating. It's definitely not all golden demon level stuff... a couple of my miniatures have made it in there

insaniak wrote:Er... no, it looks fine to me.

What is the issue you're seeing? And what browser are you using?

It fixed itself after I posted this complaint... I assumed someone in charge just tweaked something. When it's not working, I see the pictures scattered all over the place with lots of black space in-between, thus the front page looks really, really long with pics scattered randomly here and there. It could be my browser as I use the same at work and at home (Google Chrome), but then why would it pop in and out... if it was the browser wouldn't it always be screwed up?

I believe the software just grabs random recent pictures with a certain rating. It's definitely not all golden demon level stuff... a couple of my miniatures have made it in there

I guess that would explain it (i.e. only the very best stuff gets posted)... but it still seems to me that it's dominated by the super professional stuff... more-so than in the last iteration of dakka. I guess I don't find that caliber of work all that interesting or more importantly, helpful. (and your work is pretty damn good insaniak) I guess it would depend on how you view the gallery page. I always used it to point me to things that I'd like to try to learn or emulate... but with the pieces that dominate the gallery lately, it's not really useful for that. It's seems to me to be kind of a "gee-whiz, look at that" page as opposed to a functional part of the dakka "hobby learning package".

I would guess however... that since you're the only one who's responded to this post... I'm probably in the vast minority of opinion. Wouldn't be the first time.

Gitsplitta wrote: When it's not working, I see the pictures scattered all over the place with lots of black space in-between, thus the front page looks really, really long with pics scattered randomly here and there. It could be my browser as I use the same at work and at home (Google Chrome), but then why would it pop in and out... if it was the browser wouldn't it always be screwed up?

If I'm understanding what you mean, it happens sometimes if the images take a little longer than usual to load. It fixes itself once the page has finished loading.



The front page is really just supposed to be a bit of a showcase for some of the cool stuff that has been posted recently. There's still plenty of less over-the-top stuff to be found just through random browsing, or by searching for a particular rating range.

I've seen unpainted minis on the front page. I like the arrangement.

Must be the page loading slowly... that sounds likely, especially from home where my connectivity is not so good.

Thanks insaniak!

One thing I'd like to see is the ever-changing comments box moved up, it adds some motion to the page and highlights models that are noteworthy but not necessarly top scorers.

That... actually... would probably solve quite a bit.

That bug you saw is a known bug and might be fixed now (might not though!)

I've made a few tweaks to the image algorithm. Comments box will be made more prominent at some point in the future too, but will have the design tweaked first.

Thanks lego. I appreciate everyone's comments. I full well understand that my "view" of the gallery front page may be an unusual one and not the vision of the administration... but I've never regretted bringing up a comment on concern here as they're always treated with respect (even if I hold a minority opinion).

Look forward to more P&M goodness, however it comes!

You're a good egg, Lego.