I've been gone for quite some time now. My subscription expired, I missed deviantART's 6th birthday, and my activity has dropped to almost nothing around these parts. Life has been busy, my computer has been in for service (and will go back in for service soon), and I've been spending a lot of time at the dentist lately. But I digress.

So I return to deviantART today, and what do I find? v.5 of the site has launched, and I can tell you that I am more than disappointed with it. Let me tell you why.

1. If Looks Could Kill...

Does v.5 look better than v.4? Sure, I think so. At least in some regards. The problem is, I'm surfing around and finding all sorts of CSS problems.

2. Hidden Features

So there are more features in v.5? Really? Because I didn't notice right away, as they're hidden. See that dA logo next to your username at the top of every page? I wouldn't have known to click on it to find a nice dropdown of quick links if °liquisoft hadn't pointed it out. Why? Because there is no indication that it does anything.

After I figured that out, I realized I could also click on the little guy with the green ball (my status icon) and I'd get a list of my "friends." Again, hidden functionality that wasn't obvious to me.

3. Bad UI Kills Kittens

Well, not really. But if one were to get frustrated enough by a bad UI, he/she might kick a kitten. Might.

Why are the links in the message bar highlighted only when you mouseover them? That is the exact opposite of what users expect. On the web, links are underlined. They should be obvious to users, not disguised at regular text.

Those 2 dropdown options that I mentioned above are also bad UI. I should know without clicking or mousing over them that they do something.

And speaking of the user status button on the far right, why does it look like it's floating off in space by itself? It looks disconnected from the rest of the interface.

4. Consistency

The old tab-like subnavigation (such as the boxy links in the "Your Journal" section) look nothing like the new rounded tabs on a profile page. Choose a style and use it throughout the design.

And why are the links on the profile page blue while links elsewhere are the old grey color (which, by the way, need to be changed because they look almost identical to regular text and are hard to distinguish as such)?

5. The Front Page

I can't stand the new front page. Sorry, I just have to say it.

Where is the news? Poll? Partner links? Why does it look like someone hurled 20 images on the screen without any thought as to how to organize them or separate them? At a glance, I can't even tell that some are prints, some are Daily Deviations, etc.

Conclusion

I'll have more to say on this subject, along with suggested improvements (instead of just saying "this is crap"), but for now you can take all of this with a grain of salt. However, last time I checked, I was a User Interface Designer at Harvard University, so I tend to believe I know what I'm talking about.



What are your thoughts on the new version of deviantART?

deviantART Version 5 is...



`splat
Patrick Haney, not a sausage
Designer, developer, deviant.