Some thoughts on the new facilites.

The Picture Of The week, however it is chosen, should change out every week and should not dominate the entire page. There can be other picture slots added for other photos as other content is developed. For instance if some member did an article on photographing architecture, a photo could be slotted with the title and first paragraph of the article. Or when the Zoom is done, a composite of the admins could be posted with a wrap-up. Or when you link to other articles, a photo or graphic from somewhere else could be shown. Content can even be borrowed from posts on our own forums if it's interesting.

The point is to have a lively mix of original and linked content with a healthy dose of visuals, updated regularly.

I never go to the front page, just straight to the forum from the links in my drop down menu. But I do not think they have full screen displayed picture and change it every week. Also they are so well known that they do not need anything else to be remembered and/or identified.

Why should dprevived to have one then?

A landing page is for those new to a site. It needs to spell out what the site is about and engage so that those discovering it want to look further. We need new members. An appropriate name and landing site are not the complete answer but they are important steps on the way.

Looks great Alan.

Sorry being a bit slow to reply, it's been a bit hectic! Actually most of the work that's about to start is pipe renovation for the whole apartment building and it'll be largely off-limits for the occupants due to safety concerns during the project. We plan to do some renovation of our own once the pipe work is done (wallpapers, replacing wardrobe cabinets, stuf flike that), so maybe that'll be a good opportunity for some progress photos.

Dear all,

First of all, I'm not a frequent contributor, here or on dpreview, but still following and hoping to have more time for photography in the future. I almost deserted this site, despite liking very much the initiative and community spirit displayed by Bob, Alan and others, and the main reason was that the image related sections (such as the landscape one) never really took off. Posts were very limited in number from the start, and comments even more and often just saying "nice". The one series of threads that kept my attention was one about constructive comments and criticism, that is both active and interesting, but somewhat difficult to follow if you can't come and read every day.

To compare, the "landscape and travel" facebook group has a lot more pictures posted. (But also lacks constructive comments very much. And it's on Facebook...)

So I fully agree with some of you here stating that the most important now is to clarify the purpose of this place, and then how to promote it and make it attractive.

Regarding the home page :
- to the one who asked about the dpreview home page : yes I remember it, and the logo, quite well. And the gear reviews that keep coming often were the reason I came to the site at the beginning, then I became active in the forums for a while before I eventually had less time for photo. Yes, a front page is good to have, and it must be clean and attractive enough. It won't make people stay here, but it can make people leave...
- the front page on dprenewed looks like we are still in the 90's. Sorry Alan, but that's not exciting to me. Simplejoy's examples look better but do not show what make this place different and better.
- it's hard to design a front page when the type of content has not been chosen.

Other technicals :
- Great technical ideas in the first post, but make sure that they do not require overly powerful servers to work, and make sure the site remains comfortable to browse with poor Internet connections.
- DPRevived was a brilliant name in its time, but, dpreview being continued, it seems important to find a new one, in line with the purpose of this place.

Thanks all for your efforts !

Hi Alan,

Sorry that was not clear maybe. A picture is worth a thousand words as they say, so the dprenewed front page looks like this on my phone :

I see lots of sections (blue header with the menu, one picture with overlaid title, another picture touching it, a black footer), aggressive colors, a word-art style "forums" button...

The designs by simplejoy I was referring to are, for example:

This is much simpler and cleaner, the logo is plainly visible but not overcrowding, the menu is better integrated in the picture, the button style is more modern, and most of all I feel like the picture is more prominent. But, as said before, this is just another photography website.

And again, what I feel was the most attractive to me at dpreview, was some users (I remember one going by the name of Sabrina, sorry for forgetting the others), providing some of the best, most constructive comments I have seen about others' pictures. Something very hard to find in a local photo club for example. Having and featuring some users like that is extremely valuable, probably even more than editorial content (although I also love good lectures given by good photographers) or award winning photographers only using the site as a display/advertising place.

Best,
Benoit