Fellow deviants,

By now, you've certainly heard about our buy one, get one free offer for Premium Memberships.  AMIRITE?  But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and this special promotion closes on Monday, November 22nd at 11:59 PM Pacific.  (That's almost exactly 24 hours from the timestamp on this journal.)

It pleases me greatly to say that many deviants have taken advantage of the buy one, get one free promotion and are experiencing their first foray into the world of Premium Membership, while others have chosen to extend/renew their current Premium Member status.  However, some deviants are still debating whether or not to take the leap into Premium Member-land.  

Premium Membership isn't for everyone, as deviantART offers a fully functional site and second-to-none community to all deviants, but if you're looking for a little persuasion to enter Premium Member-ness, our #PremiumMembers group recently answered the question... "Why do you enjoy being a Premium Member?"  Read their comments for some insightful food for thought!

There you have it!  That's my pitch.  I won't even mention other Premium benefits, like...

  The ability to browse the site with no advertisements

  Access to exclusive Premium Member-only discounts and contests

  Use of custom JournalSKINS and special Profile Page widgets (like polls)

  Unlimited dates and romantic dinners with $pachunka and/or $LaurenKitsune***

Yea, I totally won't even mention those things.  Not at all.  Not even a little.

In all seriousness, this is an excellent deal for those who have the ability to take advantage of the promotion.  Buy one, get one free doesn't come around too often, so snatch it up while you can.  And remember, the offer expires on Monday, November 22nd at 11:59 PM Pacific.

So, what does it mean?  If you buy a 1-month Premium Membership at our normal price, you're given that month plus another month for free -- all for the regular price.  The same can be said for our 3-month and 12-month Premium Membership packages.  If you buy 3 months of Membership, you're given 6 months.  If you buy 12 months, you're given 24 months.  Get it?  It's BOGO!  Buy one, get one FREE!

If my spiel has been at all successful and you'd like to learn more details, simply click the snazzy orange header at the top of the page.  Yea, that's the one --  Premium Memberships, BUY 1 GET 1 FREE.  Click that and you'll be off to the races.

If my spiel has not at all be successful... well, then, I tried and sucks to be me.  Oh, but, watch Glee!  Tuesdays on Fox.  Then visit my Profile Page so we can girl chat about it.  Rachel is my favorite character.  She's just misunderstood and everyone else is jealous.

The end.  Good blog, no?  

All the best,
~$Heidi

*** This benefit may not be available in all areas.  Because it's not real.  LOLLERSKATES.  

  New and improved Profile Page galleries!

With the release of Groups, galleries on Profile Pages have been feeling a little out of date and missing some of the features and functionality of its newer Groups cousin.  Cousin Groups has been taking all the glory and fame, leaving your gallery out in the cold.  But no more!  It's time for your Profile Page to take back the spotlight!  



  Profile Page Galleries!

That's right, deviant galleries have been updated -- allowing you faster browsing and super editing powers with a much more user friendly interface.

What's new!

  Faster page loading for your gallery
  Slick new folder icons
  No more separate 'edit mode' -- pencil menus and drag and drop are always available
  Totally tidied up options

What does it look like?

To begin your gallery customization experience, head over to your gallery and click the 'New Folder' button.


Next, name your folders and add your deviations to them!  You'll find handy pencil icons for easy access.


Finally, after your gallery is organized and looking snazzy, you may choose where to display your folders and how they look in your gallery.  


  But don't take our word for it!

This feature, which was recently been released to Beta Testers, has garnered super positive responses over at #devBUG!

`SanguineEpitaph says, "Yesssss! I love it a lot! Good job! "

~squidlarkin says, "I love it! Honestly, after working with groups so much, I started trying to rearrange my own gallery as if it were a group gallery all the time. I was always disappointed, but not anymore! "

=SkittleBittle says, "HOLY MOTHER OF SKITTLES I LOVE THIS!  YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! "

  Test it out!

Customize your gallery and get it looking sleek!  You know you want to.


  

~$Heidi

  IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER DRAWING CONTEST!

Our last three contests featuring deviantART muro were quite popular -- we received many amazing and creative entries -- so we're back and at it again!  This time, we're asking you to choose your favorite emoticon from our Emoticon Legend and re-imagine it using deviantART muro!


DRAWING REQUIREMENTS!

Using deviantART muro, comment on this blog post with a drawing of your best interpretation an emoticon.

There are three categories we'll be judging from (one winner in each category):

  Weirdest: Show us the most bizarre, creepiest, or just plan weird version(s) of your favorite emote!

  Silliest:  Get a little crazy and show us how silly you can make your favorite emote!

  Realistic:  What would an emoticon look like in the real world?  We want to see!


  RULES!

Entries will be judged on creativity and visual impact.  Your contest judges are $Heidi, $danlev, and `megturney.

• Entries must be submitted before Sunday, November 21st at 11:59 PM Pacific.


• You may submit multiple entries.
• Membership to deviantART is free.


• deviantART volunteers and administrators are able to participate, but cannot win.


• The emoticon depicted must be included in deviantART's Emoticon Legend.

PRIZES!

Our three winners will each receive a 3-month Premium Membership, the Complete Emoticon Set, and a deviantART lanyard.  The winners' drawings will also be featured in a future #hq blog!


  NEED SOME INSPIRATION?


by $aunjuli



by $damphyr


Good luck to all!  

~$Heidi

  GREETINGS AGAIN, FELLOW DEVIANTS!

Two #hq blogs from me in one day!  How did you get so lucky?  AMIRITE?  

Way back in July, you may recall a blog titled Testing deviation pages! Which team are you on?!, that detailed the fact we were introducing A/B testing to certain areas of the site -- beginning with deviation pages.  During this time, some deviants were placed on Team A for testing, while other deviants were placed on Team B.

  SO, WHAT'S NEW?

Well, we're at it again!  We're making additional changes to deviation pages, specifically (and only for) deviants placed on Team A.

  Deviations will automatically open in 'wide view' or 'tall view' depending on which shows more of the image (as long as it doesn't push the title, artist, and ads off-screen).

  The fullview will touch the edge of the browser if it's wide enough, for a fullscreen-like effect.

  Deviations will show a slight-outline if they can be made larger.  (No outline means the largest possible is already on display, which hopefully will be most of the time!)


Click for full-view.

  WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!

We're simply working to ensure the best possible viewing experience for deviations and A/B testing allows us to easily measure the effects of our changes to the site.  And remember, during this testing period, there's no way to switch from Team A to Team B or vice versa!

~$Heidi

  FELLOW DEVIANTS!

The good people of Devious Technology (#dt) are doing a behind-the-scenes upgrade of the whole site -- at least the CSS -- which will mostly only affect Internet Explorer.

"How will it affect Internet Explorer?" you ask.  Well, if you're using version 8 (and most of you are!), or even version 7, you should get a nice speed boost when browsing the site, as your browser will be using the latest version of its rendering system!

However, if you're using version 6, then you'll most likely want to upgrade to a browser that isn't as old as deviantART itself.    Internet Explorer 8, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera will run deviantART with all features and tip-top speed!

Why the change?  Well, #dt makes a lot of system updates to keep things smooth and make features faster and less-risky-business to develop.  Not only will our developers be able to benefit from the newer browsers' new features, pretty soon the CSS skinning community on deviantART will be able to as well.  Stay tuned!

And... please join me in sending much love and many thanks to all the hard working members of #dt.  



~$Heidi