Paradox Designs

Following my review of the new Facebook design (New Facebook design review), I am writing a review of the new DeviantArt design. The new design is quite pretty, it improves areas that needed improvement drastically over v5, such as the message center and other areas of the site still using the v4 theme.

Finally, updates

Some elements of the dA site have not seen an update in years, since version 4 or before. The most notible is the message center. While v5 brought ajax and a whole slew of other nice features to dA, the message center remained in the old technology of the internet. That is, you had to reload the page every time you wanted to do something. v6 changes that. Now, the message center has been completely redesigned to work like a desktop mail application. Folders are on the left, messages on the right. The new interface is fast and easy to use, and you can make replies to comments and other such things without having to leave the message center.
The notes pane still is as old as it always was, but you only have to use it to send notes, not to recieve them. You can read through unread notes on the new interface.

Browsing

The new browsing interface is much more useful than the one in v5. Instead of having the categories in a drop down list, they are prominently featured on the left sidebar. There is a vertical breadcrumb, so you can always go back to where you were. Popular and new are divided via a tab at the top of the site, and your preference is remembered.

Profiles

Profiles havn’t changed much since version 4, and v6 brings no new update. The layout is pretty much what it was from previous versions, and hopefully a new, more customizable layout will be coming soon.

User Galleries

The recient changes v5 brought to user galleries, featured deviations, groups, etc, are all here in the new version. Very little of the gallery interface has changed, but the updates are recient enough that it is still nice. Collections are still avalible throughout the site, so you can add information to your faves whenever you feel like it.

When your viewing a deviation, very little has changed.

Overall

Overall, the new interface brings in some nice new changes, but still leaves areas missing these changes. As such, the site still feels incomplete, like a hodgepodge of new and old. As such, i will not be buying a dA subscription till the site is fully updated. Some of the changes also have negative user interface effects. Sometimes you cannot use the back button, as the site appears to lag or get into an infinite loading button.