part 1:
I do love the trees at the top of the page. But as soon as I scroll below that, I fail to see the "elfwood feeling" - it’s just two flat colours. I keep thinking that the grey area should perhaps keep the old elfwood background to add more interest to the page... Or maybe, if you want something more discreet, you could use a bark texture? That’d be woodsy wouldn’t it?

I also agree with Alex Marsch about some things. I haven’t ever visited facebook, so I can’t comment on the comparison many people make, but I agree that some pages feel very cluttered and that the images seem to get less of the focus. While it’s a nice touch to see several other pictures to choose from, when you look at an image, I feel that the image is somewhat "crowded" and it’s also a bit confusing that the nine thumbs appear to be random. I think I preferred the "before and after" thumbs we used to have. (It was always confusing though, that the order differed from that of the thumbnails on the main gallery page.)

part 2:
On the main/front page, I think it’d be a better idea if the latest uploads were circled through, rather than the latest mods choices. That way all uploads would get a bit more attention, and if you miss an image you wanna look at it’s easy to go to the new additions list. When mod’s choices (and random images) circle and you see something interesting you often get to the wrong page for clicking too slowly. I’d prefer mods choices to be "permanently displayed" for the day, as they used to. (I know, there’s a list page for them too, but it’s not as long and doesn’t seem to contain all the images being "circled".)

Also, I’m not sure patrons should be on the first page. It was great when it was new and it changed daily, but now that it’s slowed a few people get exposed for weeks at a time... Maybe it’s time to remove that part from the front page, now?

Sorry for the length of this. And please do take this all as constructive critisism and not just whining I know it’s hard work to change the site and it may seem everyone has an opinion and they all differ from one another... Thanks for everything you do Thomas - I’m looking forward to seeing the end result when all changes have been implemented!

Thomas F Abrahamsson replies: "The reason the same items circle now is that uploads are closed. This will change once new material start flowing in, of course!

The reason Patrons are on the front page is because they help Elfwood more than you can imagine. Both in terms of funding, and morally."

.. the sceen image wont stay put .. keeps goin up , and down ,, is this to do with ongoing work ? may anyone help ?
for me the new front page would be better with textured background
like a fading of the beautiful sunlit trees at the top ,
or the old leafy page , twas much nicer than the flat new one ~ felt much more like being in the woods
i agree with other comments too about the cluttered look
detracting from the main art images
well done evryone for all your work though
must be a colossal task at code level
i like the new menu drops

Thomas F Abrahamsson replies: "I thought I had that jumping fixed. I need to know what browser (type, version, operating sys) you’re using to be able to simulate it - it doesn’t happen for me, nor have I heard of it happening to anyone else recently"

I apreciate your hard work on this site ,Thomas.

I perefered the old way. I have to click on every artist and then each individual picture for it show up.

Thomas F Abrahamsson replies: "How did you browse Elfwood before? I am not sure what you mean here.. Please explain"

screen still jumping etc
when the top left text changes to ’number of comments ..
yes Thomas , Im using
windows XP media cenre edition , version 2002 , service pack 3
and internet explorer 7

Thomas; it’s not the circling of the same images over and over I dislike - it’s having to wait for an age if you miss something, since not all those circling images are on a list somewhere, like the new uploads are. (I’m fully aware that we’re at a stand still while uploads are disabled.) Plus I feel new uploads in general are in greater need of exposure than the mods choices whom everyone seems to want to see anyway.

As for patrons, yes I understand their importance (er... our importance ) but if I had my face on there I wouldn’t want it displayed for a month when there’s a lull in donations. And if you want to be fair to all patrons, they should all get equal exposure... So either circle through them or just have a uhm "blänkare" about them (something like the patron logo and how many became patrons during the last week or month or what have you...)

Anyway, these are just ideas that I think I’d like better personally

i just changed my ’text size option’ in explorer ’page’ menu .. and this fixed the jumping top left ,
only 2, and then 2 lines needed for the text
instead of 2, and then 3
my usual setting was ’medium ’ text size
jumping stops when i change to ’smallest’ text size ,
which i find quite hard to view
could be to do with my chosen font too , i use COMIC SANS MS which i guess takes up more sideways space
ill play around awhile and try for the best
would upgrading explorer help ?
many thanks

I agree with Charlotte on the nine thumbs thing- it’s great when you’re on a shelf with many short stories or picture, but it really sucks to have to go back to the profile page to get to the next chapter of a long story- it would make more sense to have the thumbs display in alphanumerical order the way it used to be. But, I was thrilled to see the thumbs function- I have a very slow internet connection that doesn’t always agree with the amount of data Elfwood offers, so the thumbs make it quick and easy for me to move to the next story or picture compared with previously.
I see that internet explorer has the black background for comments (great change to the gray, which was also sometimes difficult to read), which makes it a lot easier to read, while Firefox hasn’t, which is a bit annoying, because the green background doesn’t really do it for me with some of the default colours...
Thanks for all your effort. You really did a lot of background work that few ever get to see, but it helps a lot with slow browsers.

Hi, I really appreciate Elfwood changing and evolving and i love the trees at the top of all the pages; they’re a really nice touch but i have a couple of bits and bobs i wanna pick out. Sorryy. Um. Yeah, i also really liked the little cartoony images that decorated the old Elfwood, even if i do like the trees and i also have to agree about showing the mods choices, where they run in a loop. I find myself having to sit for a very long time waiting for the loop to run back to the picture i wanted to see. And lastly, i wanted to ask if we still have the tours function running? because i’ve tried looking for it a couple of times and i can’t seem to see it anywhere. It might just be me not looking very hard but i’d loved to just have that confirmed.
But apart from those two things, i think you guys are doing an awesome job so thank you