Well, last night I decided I was really tired of all the brown on brown of Psdtuts+ and I chopped up and WordPress’d the new design and voila it’s live! … well mostly live. Still have some kinks to iron out …
Less Ads
One of the first things you may notice is that advertising on Psdtuts+ has all but disappeared. I’ve removed Adsense, stripped back the banner ads to a single spot (as of 1st December, it’ll be a rotating one through the new Miiingle), ditched the affiliate banners, and shuffled text-link-ads to the footer. Why you ask?
Well aside from the fact that it’s much cleaner, in the next month or two we’ll be moving the site to have a subscription section. Subscriptions will cost $8 a month and the sample PSD files that are at the end of every tutorial will only be available to subscribers. Additionally, I’m looking at putting together some video tutorials for subscribers as well (though that remains to be seen).
The reason for this is largely that bandwidth has become something of an issue. We use Amazon’s S3 service because the site gets Dugg so much and most cheap webhosts (and some expensive ones) would fall over serving that many images and zips at once. But even with S3′s cheap pricing, bandwidth for file downloads alone is over $400 a month. This is what you get when you give 20mb files away at the end of tutorials that see 15,000 visitors a day :-) So once I get a payment system running, the sample PSD files will only be available to paying subscribers. I think this will make for a good long-term solution for the site and will allow us to afford to pay for more tutorials on the site. And don’t forget the tutorials themselves will always remain free!
Legibility!
As you might remember, I began designing up a new version of Psdtuts+ after receiving lots of criticism about the brown on brown color scheme when I wrote a tutorial about Web design. It was a good excuse to start redesigning, and the new site is much cleaner and more readable. I think it looks better too, though I am bracing for people to disagree in the comments.
Gravatars & Flickr Stream & User Links (soon)
Additionally I’ve added Gravatars to the site so that when you comment you can have a little picture appear next to you. It’s really easy to get a gravatar, just sign up for a free account and it associates an image with your email address. Then when you comment here (or on other sites using Gravatar) your picture will appear!
There’s also now a Flickr group you can join to share images you’ve made using or inspired by Psdtuts+ tutorials.
And tomorrow I’ll finish off the user link feed so that anyone can submit links to tutorial sites, inspiration sites, and so on to appear in the sidebar. The links will be moderated for quality of course, but it’ll be an extra way for people to interact with the site.
We could also get some forums, I suppose, though there are probably lots of other Photoshop forums around. Does anyone think Psdtuts+ forums would be a good idea? If there’s demand I’ll install some!
Increased Payouts for Tutorial Writers
Finally we’re increasing payouts to tutorial writers from $75 to $125p/tutorial. The rules for submission and acceptance are the same, but I hope that this will provide more compensation for all those Photoshop stars out there as I realize it’s a lot of time you need to spend. ou can learn more about the rules and criteria on the Write a Tutorial page.
You may have guessed that we are slowly building a team of Photoshop stars to keep this site going in to the future long after I have run out of tutorial ideas! So if you’re interested in writing on a consistent basis for Psdtuts+, then please let us know when submitting! I’m very excited to expand the team and hopefully you’ll get some publicity out of writing for the site too as our audience is growing quickly.
Onwards and Upwards!
Anyhow so I hope everyone likes the new site. If there are any bugs or kinks you notice, please let me know in the comments and I’ll get them sorted out pronto!
Oh and you’ll be happy to know that I have no less than 7 tutorials waiting to be published. Now that the site is up, we can get back to posting!
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O come on, you should keep everything free, and the brown made everything easier to read. It is different but it added a nice touch and it defined PSDtuts. No other website has such a brown and i liked it
I like it better….other than the text box while typing this message (too light).
It’s ok…i did like the other version better, mainly because this one looks like most of it’s inspiration came from the http://freelanceswitch.com/ website…
Not trying to call you out or anything! I just liked the other version better!
must be honest, I’m not sure I like this design. Bit to plain imo
FYI…
There are some layout issues when you attempt to conduct a search (Win; FF2 and IE 6).
I too was a fan of the brown, but I’ll still come back here for the killer tutorials. Keep up the good work.
If bandwidth and money is the issue … there are a number (dozens) of online file upload sites. Megashare, Rapidshare, Filefactory, etc etc etc.
On the other hand, if this is just an excuse to have a paid subscription section then you will ignore my comment and claim otherwise.
Awesome, i really like this new design!
personally id rather a dark background with white text.. i read alot at night and it hurts my eyes :P
haha anyways i like the site now its clean and works well..
good job mate..
Actually, I liked the brown design better! A white background maybe seems pure, but causes less readability for me. However, I love your tutorials! So please don’t stop writing!
You promised a tutorial on redesigning the site, right?
Hey, Good job! Although I am missing the dark background but overall, the site identity and navigation look so much better now, but the comment is very hard to write because text color is so light. I think you are going to fix this soon, right?
Oh! One more thing. I always wonder if you can provide print friendly version for the tutorials.
Thanks
Good work! I actually am fond of both designs – both have their strong points but I do agree with most of the other comments on the contrast of the comments text. You can’t see it but I’m squinting while typing this! lol Keep up the great work – I love the tutorials on this site and will be one of your first paying members!
Hey there
i think you are very brave to have such a bold shift from dark to light. Maybe it’s just that I’m now using Firefox 3, but this VERY light gray text I’m typing right now is nigh on impossible to see.
I think your subscription service is AWESOME, and I really hope it works for you. I’ve sent many people to your site and now I’ll highly recommend they subscribe for you.
I might suggest a slightly higher contrast for your copy on the background, but all in all I like what you’ve done, and where you are taking this site.
Keep it up!!
I like the new design. Though the comment input box color is much too light.
I’m gonna look into submitting some tutorials. This site is great, and I’d love to help out.
I like this one.. Nice job!
Ok something negative. Some fonts are way too low contrast! … ;)
Hi Collis,
I am interested in writing tutorials.
I have some questions:
1- What kind of tutorials are you needing?
2- what level of complexity it is required? min/max?
3- what kind of tutorial will not be accepted? – supposing that the format is fine and the tutorial is original-
Thanks by your time an consideration.
Pablo.
The new design is great, except from the color of the text. A true black (#FFFFFF) would be preferable, instead of a dark grey. In my opinion, it’s much more legible.
you guys are too picky, this site is just as good
love the red / white / brown combination :mrgreen:
Boy, This site has suddenly changed from amazingly good one to just another site. The dark colors gave the site an identity of its own and it was definitely more soothing to the eye. I request.. no no plead to bring back the original. or modify it with some soothing colors, not this glaring white.
Seond, readability of fonts is all about contrast and not any particular color. so Grey on white is as difficult as brown on black, the point here seems to the point of alphabets (pun intended). Increase font size to satisfy everyone. However those really into photoshop shoud have a keen eye and shoud not try to create storm in a tes cup over wheather the site is fit for the visually impaired (sorry for my arrogance).
The grey in the comment box I think is a leftover from previous design and so it will be polished out in a few days. Our dear Collis too damn intelligent to make such mistakes.
I am completely in agrement with your decision to make .psd exclusive. Learning a ps tutorial is not about just making a copy, it is learning all the steps and exploring the hidden possibilities. Any good student should avoid downloading the finished product and try to make ones own. Using someone elses psd doesnt help much in the long run.
However I am against commercialization of creativity. I hope your site doesnt change to one of those “Premium tutorial learning site” like so many others on the net. Tutorials should remain free. I am a big fan of WIKI, DEVIANT ART, TERRAGEN, BLENDER etc. If your site changes I am pretty sure many people will shift to DEVIANT ART for inspiration.
The idea for providing video tutorials to premium subscribers sounds wrong. It also sounds like “Have money? get the best. Otherwise get the rest!”. I felt the motto of this site was”ONLY THE BEST”. and I sincerely wish u would keep it the same.
Enough said for a day. Its your site and you should have full creative control. So CHARGE AHEAD WITH ALL YOUR PLANS. Dont be angry over my words :) Its easier being a critic than a creator ;)
My sincerest wishes towards the success of this site. Best of luck. You have started something amazing, I dream it will turn only better.
You’ll have some tuts on the way!! :) Love the new look!
Morning guys! Yikes, didn’t realise how low contrast this comment box is :-D
Thanks for the comments all, yeah the brown did give some identity, I’ll see what I can do to characterize this place a bit more now. And damn I REALLY need to fix this comment box, it’s terrible!!
Since I just discovered your site this ast week, I was stunned by the gorgeous browns because it was different from all the white/grey/black everywhere and yet still cutting edge. This might be easier to read…but I could stare at the browns all day.
Nice! Maybe I’ll write a post abut this redesign.
Hey folks, well back by popular demand is the spoon in the header. Boy I never realised people liked that spoon!
Also fixing a few other bits and pieces, font contrast has been upped – you know I’ve never ever put up a design and not had someone tell me the contrast was too low. You’d think I would have learnt by now :-)
The new version is nice — it’s very, very clean and snappy. There’s a lot to be said for that. But in this context, I’m not sure it’s the best thing for the site. The commenters above who noted that it’s not as cool as the previous version are on the right track. The new design lacks almost all of the character that the previous one had. The previous design said something about who you are, and what the site does. The new version not so much. I like that the new version is cleaner, but bringing back some of the color would make it pop again.
Just wanted to add to the feedback that this new design is the bomb. Very 2.0ish and with a clean taste. Good job.
Much better with the spoon back and slogan. I’m sure you can spice up the rest of the site over time…
Keep posting those amazing tutorials, deffinately the best quality tutorials that i have seen to date!!
Man, I love the new design! I’m thinking about writing some tutorials now! (Even if I would prefer recording – you know: video tuts). Anyway, I would really like getting into the team! :) Keep it up!
I think you’ve lost you’re identity.
I loved the old site, because it was unique and clean.
This site is relatively clean, but it looks like every other amateur blog / tutorial site out there.
However, in saying that…i’m amoungst the people who absolutely love your work!!
When you change to the new payment system, will anything change with your tutorial content?! At the moment, you exclude screenshots and details of styles. This may become more frustrating, and free tutorials are pointless if we can only access this information by forking out more monthly fees.
Just something to think about.
I love the new layout.
I really wish you all the best for the future…you’re doing an awesome job!!
: )
I also hav a side comment about wordpress. with your image thumbnails on the homepage, how do you link them to the tutorial rather than the image file.
Congratulations :)
I love the new design! Keep it up!
free things are better than things you pay for.
I like this design and the last design. Though, this one is may be better for the lengthy reads. ¶ If you do a forum, I suggest BBpress. It complements WordPress and is lite and fast. ¶ Also, I am willing to pay for the occasional useful tutorial download. Thanks again!
I really miss the beautiful brown on brown! I found it much easier to look at, and i agree with the others- it certainly made the designs ‘pop!’ and was unique!
thanks for your dedication to the site- it is very helpful to so many people, and always inspires me in my own work!
love, lint_faery
Personally I preferred the old brown layout, it is also a shame that you have decided not to offer the psd files at the end of the tutorials unless you are a paid subscriber but I can see why you decided to do it.
This design looks great. Simple and readers can go through the content without much difficulties.
I think psdtuts offers the highest pay for tutorial writer on the net. Hope to see all quality work spring up. Your new design is cool. Well Done.
I have to agree with many of the others. I did like the old site better. I enjoyed the darker background because it made the images pop and the text was just as easy if not easier to read. However, it’s good to keep changing things up. I think you are doing the right thing by paying more for tuts. If you are wanting to be one of the best psd tut sites out there, this is a good move. One question… You said that the psd’s would only be available to the subscribers. However, what about the brushes and things that you lead us to additionally??? Will those be for subscribers only as well? Thanks again for the great resource.
Hey guys!
Just to clarify a couple of things about the subscriber thing I mentioned, the *only* thing that you will have to pay to get is the sample PSD download. And as someone mentioned I will make sure we change the tutorials so that they make sense even without the PSD (e.g. explaining layer styles).
Anyhow it’s probably still a little way off as I tried to install a payment plugin for wordpress and it didn’t work so well :-)
Well I liked the old design better, but thats just me. The new design isn’t bad though.
Incidentally somebody asked why we don’t switch to something like Rapidshare, actually if you look closely there are a lot of restrictions, for example a free account has a “Max parallel downloads” of 1, so obviously that won’t work (we get many thousands an hour when the site is being dugg), and even the premium accounts of a lot of limits (25gb p/5-day download limit for example).
But most importantly its worth remembering PSDTUTS is only 3 months old, and it has 15,000 visitors a day on average and up to triple that when something gets popular. Now think what the traffic might be in 6 months or a year… and you can quickly see it gets out of control.
Anyhow it’d be good to earn some money without ads here :-) And then we can pay even more for tutorial writers!! Also I think I’m going to hire an editor in a month or two so that the site is updated more often!
Damn dude, YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE LISTENED!!
Wish you stuck with the old design. It was different, it was easy on your eyes. The old site was nice and mellow.
Right now, on my screen the white is almost eye piercing. The red looks alarming, seem like someones blood got splattered. Maybe the person who stole the coffee cup?!
I liked the coffee mug!
No offense dude but at the moment I see the head, arms, feet. But no body. WHERES THE BODY?!
Also dude, subscription for the files. Hmm, I don’t know. I love the high quality tutorials but I have my medical insurance, car payments, game subscriptions, cbt subscriptions, and everything else to pay monthly. The extra $8 USD ad’s up.
Maybe consider a similar approach to what Deviantart has?
One webpage design with ads, queued downloads and one where people login to have the ad disappear, instant downloads?
Anyways, just wanted to say that I miss the old brown design. This current design is ehh. White is harsh.
- Marcin
Someone mentioned http://www.freelanceswitch.com.
I really thought that psdtuts was a part of freelanceswitch and that would have been cool but turns out it isn’t?
Alright then, the tutorials are still amazing and that’s what matters …
I’m sorry you recieved such criticism, because I LOVED the brown style ^_^
Anyway, you always Rock.
The old design was much better. Change for the sake of it I fear.
Hello Collis,
Receive my compliments for your new design. Your site is one of the best Photoshop sites around, not only because of its high quality content, but also in your commitment to offer a high quality design.
Enrique Flouret
The Photoshop Roadmap
Ouch, there you go uniqueness…
I don’t know man. I’m not sure if I would pay 8 bucks a month for tutorials. However good they are.
And I LOVED the brown and the cups of coffee. Too bad the cups weren’t enough to pay the bills.