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`OtisBee

...skinning with elegance

+Watch Send a Note Give

Buenos Aires. So worth a Visit.

Tue Mar 20, 2012, 11:17 AM

yeah, unbelievable, right?

12 Comments

I'm cleaning up my Watchlist

Journal Entry: Sat Dec 10, 2011, 12:53 AM

hey guys

during my term as a ^CV i have added almost every #group to my watchlist that is in any way related to the subject of skins and/or themes. it was a nice decision and a great way to somehow stay in touch with you, but now that my ^CV term is over i feel that there's no need to be a member or watcher of almost 150 groups anymore.

too many deviations in my message center are coming in every day. so many, so that i am no longer able to keep track with all of them. if at all, i can switch to some sort of speed-viewing-technique in order to give each deviation a quick glance and eventually manage to have viewed them all, but then again that's not what i want to do.

not to mention that while i'm viewing those deviations that are already in my inbox, new deviations will be coming in, so that i'll have to view an approximate amount of 120 deviations each day, in order to even come close to keeping track.

Let's face it

viewing too many eventually means that you're not viewing at all. you're basically just rushing through. the patience and thoroughness is slowly fading away and in the end you don't even have fun in viewing new deviations anymore.

rushing through your works or just viewing the thumbs of those works isn't fair. they definitely deserve better than that.

Conclusion

right now, we're talking about well over 7000 deviations in my inbox and new ones are added to the pile as we speak.

i intend to put an end to that. that's why i'll spend my day today with cleaning up my watchlist.

PLEASE ... don't be disappointed or don't feel in any way personally offended if you'll read an "OtisBee has left the group" the next days. each of your groups is great and i've enjoyed being a member/watcher of them. otherwise i wouldn't have joined them in the first place. it's just my very own personal feeling that if i don't change something now, then it may likely spoil the fun entirely.

i hope you'll understand

deviously yours,
`OtisBee

58 Comments

Good Bye soon ... well, as a CV that is

Journal Entry: Thu Nov 10, 2011, 3:41 PM

Yeah, time is up and in little under 3 weeks (on Nov-30th) my term as the ^CV for the Skins & Themes will end.

i'll then step out of the cockpit and pass the steering wheel over to somebody else.

right now, i feel like the most part of the race is behind me and i'm slowly releasing my foot from the throttle.
some check-ins here, some chats with the crowd there...

...until i'll eventually cross the finish line.

nah, it's not a race. it's been more like a ride.
i travelled through different situations, events, conversations and occasions.
and starting out as an excited and nervous piece of fresh meat (as they called me) i slowly but surely became more and more relaxed and eventually even experienced (if i may say so for my darn self).

anyways... someone leaving also means someone new is coming.

well, maybe that's YOU

maybe you're interested in becoming a ^CV?

i can imagine that there are quite a few questions about being a CV.
well, if you like i can gladly try to answer your questions, so that in the end you might even more consider applying for the position. or not, for that matter.

and if you're interested and feel keen enough, you can click

HERE

to apply for the position.

your application will be read by $Moonbeam13 then, who will also decide who'll become the new ^CV.
maybe i can give you an idea of what she wants to find out about you through those questions in that application form. well, not in order to tell you what you should write, but to give you a better idea of what could be required for the job.

as i said... there's little under 3 weeks time before i'll leave. enough time to think and talk it over, don't you agree?

i might not be able to get you the job, but i offer to help you decide, wether you like to apply for the job or not.

okay, let's talk.

... and if you'd prefer a little more privacy, then you can of course send me a note as well.

66 Comments

DesktopShelves Contest - Win An iPod Shuffle

Journal Entry: Fri Oct 14, 2011, 2:03 AM

gallery

faves

prints

Oct 21

Hurry Up!! only little over two days left and only 3 entries so far. What better chances are there to win an iPod Shuffle?

today i'd like to present you with a contest that's hosted by KiteStack Softwares in association with iconpaper.org and in which you can easily win an

but before i'll fill you in with the details, please note that this contest is not just for mac users. anybody can participate. so, no matter whether your computer is driven by linux, windows or mac OSX, everybody has the same chances to win and there's no need to install anything on your computer.

WHAT?

DesktopShelves shelf design contest (think floating docks) with an iPod shuffle as main price.
DesktopShelves is a Mac OS X productivity app to organize files on your desktop on shelves.

WHERE?

find out about the contest details and about how to submit your entries here.
gallery with submissions on iconpaper.org and updated daily here.

WHEN?

This Friday (Oct. 14th) until Sunday Oct. 23rd 12 PM Pacific Time
see a countdown of the exact time left here

PRIZES

1 main prize for the best design: iPod Shuffle
10 DesktopShelves licenses given away to randomly selected participants

Jury to select the winners:
~ricoks (of kitestack.com) *Gor0n (of iconpaper.org) and `OtisBee (yours truly)

HOW?

Designs must be valid 3-tile DesktopShelves designs uploaded using the design workbench: [link]

A MAC IS NOT REQUIRED

(designs can be tested using the design workbench).

GOOD LUCK

21 Comments

Listening to: the silence
Watching: Spooks

Say It's Possible

Journal Entry: Fri Sep 16, 2011, 4:23 PM

Terra Naomi

"wow, terra! so many people and all quietly listening!"

_{someone said}

I see the lights are turning
And i look outside the stars are burning
Through this changing time
It could have been anything we want
It's fine salvation was just a passing thought.

Don't wait act now
This amazing offer won't last long
It's only a chance to save the path we're on
I know there are more exciting things to talk about
And in time we'll sort it out

And though they say it's possible to me
I don't see how it's probable
I see the course we're on
Spinning farther from what i know
I'll hold on
Tell me that you won't let go
Tell me that you won't let go

And truth is such a funny thing
With all these people
Keep on telling me
They know what's best
And what to be frightened of
And all the rest are wrong
They know nothing about us

And though they say it's possible to me
I don't see how it's probable
I see the course we're on
Spinning farther from what i know
I'll hold on
Tell me that you won't let go
Tell me that you won't let go

I'm not alright...

This could be something beautiful
Combine our love into something wonderful
But times are tough i know
And the pull of what we can't give up takes hold

if you (like me) fell in love with her right after you saw her, then you will also love her "Bridge Over Troubled Water" or her "Santeria". ..or so many other of Terra Naomi's performances.

23 Comments

Catch me off the deviantART paths

Fri Sep 9, 2011, 8:22 AM

Just recently i got an invite from the awesome ~LeMex to join at dribbble.com. I haven't uploaded much yet, but i'm looking forward to change that soon.

Shoot me your player name there and i will gladly see to follow you.

And also rather recently i re-discovered my last.fm account, which i have registered back in 2006 but then soon forgot about it.

Well, time to re-activate it again. Drop me a line in my last.fm shoutbox and i'll see what sounds you're up to.

37 Comments

Embed Video into Journals

Sun Aug 14, 2011, 3:18 PM

hey everybody,

here's a feature that is currently enabled for deviantART beta testers only, but will certainly become available for everybody else soon. (tho i'm not sure if this means just the subscribers or really everybody)

it's the ability to embed YouTube, Vimeo and/or deviantFILM videos into our journals!!

read "how" and everything else about it here.

as a test, here's a fine track from Rupa & The April Fishes called

Este Mundo

TIP: if you want to prevent the embeded video from displaying larger than there's space in your journal, then add this to the journal's CSS code:

iframe {
max-width: 100%;
}

also, here are some code examples:

a rocking great new feature, isn't it?

38 Comments

It's over. Here are the winners.

Mon Aug 8, 2011, 5:56 AM

okay, time's up and your chances to win are over.

it seems that unfortunately i wasn't able to find all 11 people who were interested in winning a sub and so i have now only 9 names. for the other two remaining subs i decided to give one to ~kAtz93, because he was so terribly close to winning the CHANCE #3 yesterday, and the other sub goes to ~Saiyuki989 who presented me a pretty great idea in CHANCE #5 (also yesterday) but which i didn't choose, because i thought that it'd too much resemble an idea i already had for today's CHANCE #10 & #11.

given the fact that nobody -i repeat- NOBODY took his/her chances on winning today's CHANCE #8 & #9, i kind of regret that i haven't used ~Saiyuki989's idea from yesterday.

oh my, i asked you to be selfless and generous in that CHANCE #8 & #9 and now see what ugly light this shines on you. nobody was able to think of a single fellow deviant who might feel happy to be given a 3 months sub. guys, i hate to say it, but that's really sad.

but wait, there's one particular guy, who can indeed be called selfless. and that's no other than the winner of the CHANCE #10. his name is ~Bayushi-Tai and look what he has promised to do, if he would just get a 3 months sub: [link] if that's not selfless then i don't know what.

right... so together with all of yesterday's winners, there's only one person missing on my list and that's the winner of CHANCE #7. the goal was to create a desktop screenshot with 11 candles in it. the winner has sent his entry almost immediately after i have announced that challenge and believe it or not, it remained to be the only entry eversince. and that's for almost 8 long hours.

but that doesn't change the fact that !iResult's entry was indeed a fine one. so, with his fabulous screenshot i would like to end this year's subs giveaway by saying:

Thank you everybody for the wonderful fun and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEVIANTART

:thumb251683029:
_{by !iResult}

Wow.. what an amazing ride that was yesterday.

But behold, the party isn't over yet. Those of you who have watched and participated in the Yesterday Challenges [link] are well aware of the fact that there are still

5 More 3 Months Subs

to be given away. Or wait.... that also the winner of your CHANCE #6 has yet to be announced.

well, before i'll get to that, i want you to know that today all your remaining 5 chances to win a sub will all start and end at the same time.

so, since you're obviously already reading this now, i am glad to tell you that the race is on and the last 5 challenges have already started.

the time at which the challenges end is at

11PM my Time

CLICK HERE TO TRANSLATE 11PM TO YOUR TIMEZONE

okay, so before i confront you with your next chances to win one of the subs, here are yesterdays winners of CHANCE #6. the goal was to "write a poem/limerick/etc - starting each line with the letters of the name deviantART." i have to admit that i was soooo very amazed by each of the two entries, so that i decided to let them both win a 3 months sub. here are the winning entries:

"Karma"

by ~Judiette

_{Dizzy, all people jump to their beds and fall asleep at midnight
Everybody's picking his flower in their green garden of their dream,
Victim of my frightening, I wasn't capable to open my eyes or scream,
I was the only one unable to rest, incapable of turning off the light,
And the dark sky seemed to be shined only by my lamp's beam.
Nobody nevertheless cared about my howl, my bites' and cries' mark
Tainted by my remorses, the cell of sadness condensed at me
And all the colours seemed to merge and steam in the dark
Reopening my eyes, I found myself infront of hell portal, opened up to me,
"This is Karma" said a devil, pushing me inside the flames of torturing eternity}

"Thank You"

by ~Yondita

_{DeviantArt
Etched in my head
Variations of arts in your page
I know, I choose the right way
A way that leads to arts making
No wonder if my skill improves
To you, DeviantArt
And to all moderators that read this
Realized that I must to say thank you
THANK YOU for DeviantArt community
and all amazing moderators!}

CHANCE #7 (over. won by !iResult)

okay, for this challenge i want you to create a screenshot of your desktop with 11 candles in/on it. you can do it as you like. you can create an entireely new wallpaper and then have that as your desktop background. or you can place various thumb images of candles you found here on deviantART on your desktop and then screenshoot that. be creative. 11 candles is what i'd like to see in your screenshot.

the creator of the best screenshot wins a 3 months sub.

CHANCE #8 and #9 (over. won by nobody .. shame on you guys)

yes, i'll have 2 winners for this, because i can already anticipate how hard it will be for me to select only one winner for this.

this one appeals to your selflessness, your generosity and your community spirit. what i want you to do, is to tell me about a person who is in real need for a 3 months sub. in other words, i want you to persuade me that i have no other choice than to give the person you're suggesting a sub. make me cry or make me laugh, but by all means.... make me really want to give away a 3 months sub to a person who i then feel really needs and deserves it.

"But wait..." you might say "if you give the person i am suggesting a sub, how come that i am to get one too??? doesn't this mean that you'll have to give away a total of 4 subs in this challenge then?"

good question and you're absolutely right. i will give away 2 subs for the 2 most selfless suggestions and 2 subs to the people you're suggesting. but don't worry, there'll still be 2 subs left for the next and final challenge(s).

CHANCE #10 and #11 (over. won by ~Bayushi-Tai)

again there'll be 2 winners for the same reason i mentioned for the previous challenge.

but this time i want to see all the vicious and relentless parts of your innermost selves. i want you to sell me a story about why it is you and only you who deserves a 3 months sub. show me your desperation or your sadness. show me your greatness or your awesomeness. betray me, fool me, deceive me, lie to me or be as honest as you can possibly be. i don't mind actually, as long as you sell me a story that leaves me no other option than to give YOU a 3 months sub.

i'm looking for really really mad or hillarious or inventive stories here. be crazy, be egoistic or maybe make others shake their heads over you. truth or lie... it's up to you. tell me your story and the 2 best ones win a 3 months sub.

some final words: please note that i can't and won't give a sub to anyone who has already won one of the previous challenges. i'm sure you understand.

those who have won or those who will be announced to be the winner of the currently open challenges will get their 3 months subs within the next 7 days. i'll have to send my list of winners to $Moonbeam13 and she will take it from there. since she is quite busy with a lot of other things, this is basically the reason why i now ask you to allow at least a weeks time before you will eventually receive your subs.

if for whatever reason you still haven't received your legitimately won subs after those 7 days, then please contact me again and i will take care of it asap.

92 Comments

here's your 6th chance to win a sub.

Sun Aug 7, 2011, 3:30 AM

Jahahahaaa...

...it's that time of the year where everybody jumps the bandwagon of celebrations to praise what has been the home for all our creative ideas over the past 11 years.

Yes, that's right, deviantART turns 11 today.

..and just see what has become of it.
despised by some and loved by millions, deviantART has evolved to the one and second to none network of awesome over the years. but it would be nothing without you -the community- having all contributed to what it is today.

..and that is exactly the reason why we CVs (as in Community Volunteers. formerly known as GMs and MNs) are now given the great opportunity to give you something back in return as a sign of gratitude for all your time spent and your love shared during more than a decade here on deviantART.

that being said, i will constantly update this journal today and provide you with lots of and hopefully fun stuff that will give you the chance to win one of eleven 3 month premium membership subscriptions.

edit |
please note that i can't give anybody, who has already won a sub from me, a 2nd chance to win again. i hope you'll understand.

okay, so let's start right away:

CHANCE #6 (over. won by ~Judiette and ~Yondita

see both winning entries in my journal here.

so, having won the previous challenge, here's what ~liquidborn wants you to do next:

"For Chance #6, people should write a poem/limerick/etc - starting each line with the letters of the name deviantART."

so the text you have to write will start with the letter D, and then the next sentence/line starts with the letter E, the one afterwards with the letter V, then the letter I etc and so on.

to sum it up, i am now waiting for any text you like (the funnier or thoughtful the better) that is made of exactly 10 textlines, while the first letters of all sentences -if read from top to bottom- should mark the word deviantART. i will be the only one who decides which story/poem/limerick wins. good luck.

CHANCE #5 (over. won by ~liquidborn)

now it's your turn to decide in which direction this challenge will go.
send me a note (titled "CHANCE #5") and tell me your idea for the next round (CHANCE #6).
the person whose idea i like best will win a 3 months sub and i will present your idea in CHANCE #6.

so, tell me what the people should do to win the next sub.

CHANCE #4 (over. won by `Arichy and ~burnsplayguitar)

alright, time to re-activate the old and forgotten #SkinsNThemes chatroom again.
your job is to get as many people inside of that chatroom as possible. go and tell your friends, buddies, watchers or even complete strangers to join the chatroom [link] and make them say your name when they enter. something like "hey Otis, ~yournamehere has sent me." will do it. the first person who manages to get 11 people to say your name in that chatroom will win a 3 months sub. if nobody will get close to the amount of 11, then i will select the person that's nearest. i don't know how much time i should allow for this. let's just start and i will see when i had enough of it.

one more thing tho... please don't just create 11 new deviantART accounts and then go to that chatroom with those fake accounts. deviants who have only joined deviantART today won't make you win this.

both winners were able to invite the same amount of people to that chatroom, so i call it even, hence they each won a 3 months sub.

CHANCE #3 (over. won by ~ShaolinAssassin)

here's a quick tho maybe also a tricky one.
if you look at my skins' preview images [link] what is it that most (not all) of them have in common? i'm looking for 3 particular items and/or characteristics in the majority of my preview images. the first who names the right combination of these three items wins a 3 months sub.

solution:

many of my skin previews show my otisbee@cdartdisplay.com email address
many of my preview images are created to have a square shape
in many of my skin previews the music is at 2 mins 47 seconds.

CHANCE #2 (cancelled)

okay, since the last one was done in what seemed to be a breeze, here's something even more challenging (i hope).

for the next task i would like you to use deviantART's Search function. type in an eleven letter word and then see how many search results are showing up. the person who will post the largest amount of search query results plus the word/name that was searched for, will win the next 3 months sub.

since this isn't something that requires any of you to be the first, and since i can anticipate a pletora of different eleven letter words to be searched for, i decided to announce a time limit for this. you'll have exactly 4 hours starting now.

_{edit1 |
i decided to take the word "photography" off the list of possible search queries. the deviant who named it was most likely right about it achieving the largest amount of search results, but then again he made a mistake in posting the wrong and inappropriate amount of search results. however, i will now head on over to ~matthiasmuth' account and give him a 3 months sub. for the rest of you this means that the challenge is not over and you can proceed sending in your search queries.}

_{edit2 |
okay, it seems that with this challenge we have exposed a glitch in deviantART's search functionality, as it tends to show various amounts of search results for the same word that was searched for. we're talking about amounts that differ by millions and not just about the amount of newly submitted deviations that'd alter the overall search results amount the natural way here. i have no idea why this is happening, but i'm sure that you'll all agree that we can't have a fair challenge this way.

that's why i have now cancelled this round and i will soon update the journal with your 3rd chance to win a sub.
please apologize for the inconveniences and stay tuned for more to come soon.}

check out this comment reading: "CHANCE #2 has started right now!" and see when that comment was made. that should give you an indicator of how much time you have left accross all timezones. if it reads "5 hours ago" your chance is over and i will then see who found the most search results.

good luck again!

CHANCE #1 (over. won by =Kishan-Bagaria)

well, this might be a tuff and probably time consuming one, but the first person who will link me to 11 deviants with an overall pageview amount that's currently between 11.000 and 11.995 will be the first winner of a 3 months sub. to make things a tad easier for you, you should consider using the "random deviant" link that's located somewhere at the very bottom of your message center, or simply click the button below. good luck.

Random Deviant

=Kishan-Bagaria named these 11 deviants: =Ms-Cake-Bandit ~Chio-san ~craneHARDCORE ~ConchaPunani *rensuchan *NeroUrsus ~ladyjessien ~blasteg ~lari-elassea *Bear54 ~this-is-an-outrage

Links to other CVs and their Contests and Events

Birthday Scuzzle

Hat and Stache Contest

22 Premium Memberships Giveaway!

Draw Anna something weird because she is also weird.

Nominate a friend for a sub

Birthday Celebrations on dAmn

Premium Memberships for Grabs!

Avatar Contest!

Kaz-D's Subscription Giveaways!

Write a poem, win a sub!

Write a story, win a sub!

Literatre: If it's nifty, you can win!

The Guessing Game - Muro Style (Will be updated on Sunday

)

Leave a Comment as to Why You Want or Wish Another to Have a Three-Month Premium Subscription ~ held by `WDWParksGal

171 Comments

Bomba Estéreo

Thu Jul 28, 2011, 5:13 PM

...that's the name of a tremendous band that's coming from colombia.
you haven't heard of them before? well, neither did i, but boy are they great musicians.

here are a few links where you can watch them perform live in the KEXP studio (kexp.org - 90.3 FM - Seattle). recorded 11/10/09.

FEELIN'
LA BOQUILLA
HUEPAJE
FUEGO

if "Huepaje" didn't manage to blow you away already, then "Fuego" definittely will. i'm telling you.

BigUp

_{Bomba Estéreo on YouTube - MySpace - FaceBook - Twitter}

37 Comments

Devious Journal Entry

Journal Entry: Wed Jul 6, 2011, 2:50 AM

A Summer/Holiday Wallpaper Contest

well, due to the prizes you can win, this might be of more interest for those working on a mac, but if you couldn't care less about prizes and are just interested in winning a very cool contest, then this one might tickle your ego.

uhm... skip that last sentence.
there are now some exclusive prizes for deviantART members as well.

the contest is meant to celebrate the 2nd and all new version of the iconpaper.org website. if you haven't had a chance to see it yet, then go there immediately. it's awesome!!

The theme is Summer/Holiday (photos are permitted). To enter, you have to submit a wallpaper via submit@iconpaper.org (of course, you need to be the author) before Monday 25th July.

You'll have a chance to win one of the following licenses :

3 licenses for LittleSnapper
2 licenses for Pixelmator (Design Award 2011)
1 license for CleanMyMac
2 licenses for 1Password
1 license for Sparrow
2 licenses for Ecoute
3 licenses for Textastic (for iPad)

Plus, we offer 3 exclusive prizes for the 3 best deviantArt members.

1 year premium membership (or 2400 deviantArt points)
6 months premium membership (or 1280 deviantArt points)
3 months premium membership (or 640 deviantArt points)

Best of luck to all! Have a nice holiday! .... *Gor0n

in case you have any more questions, then please head on over to this blog at #Iconpaper and ask away.

Recent Features on Iconpaper

+ Links

iconpaper.org
#Iconpaper
The Contest

+ Featured by

+ Stamps

Journal CSS by `synthes, you can download it here.

27 Comments

Become a World Champion (Stage 1)

Journal Entry: Sun Jul 3, 2011, 6:25 AM

DitchDefault • WSC Sign In • WSC Last Year

...And Participate In The WSC-2011

WSC .. that's short for World Screenshot Championship and it's a desktop screenshot contest that will be hosted by the #DitchDefault group.

the champion will be determined in tournament style, so there will be different rounds in which the contestants will have to battle against one another to make it to the next round. the further you'd get, the trickier it gets. until it all comes down to one great and spectacular finale.

Update (July 3rd, 2011)

53 people have signed in so far, while only 32 of them will be taken to the next round. but no worries. none of them will be picked just randomly. in fact, all 53 contestants are now asked to send in their first desktop screenshot via note, so that the best 32 entries will determine the participants for the next championship stage.

OK, it's very simple,

those who signed in will send in one unique screenshot that's consistent of only one frame.
It is mandatory to give full details for the resources used, with special attention to any changes or modifications. the original authors must be credited.
the screenshots should be posted on deviantART and the author must send a note to the #DitchDefault group, which has to include a thumb of the screenshot.
only new screenshots will be accepted. old postings will automatically lead to a disqualification from the championship.

deadline to send in the screenshots is
next saturday (July 9th) at 11:59 PM (GMT 0)

Great Prizes To Win

well, apart from the possibility to become and be called a World Champion, you can also win some of these nice enticing prizes:

A deviantART t-shirt of choice [link]
A set of Emoticon Stress Balls [link] or [link]
A deviantART Lanyard [link]
A set of Emoticon Buttons [link]

as well as

probably points and journal features at #DitchDefault

for further informations

go and check the official WSC blog.
as well as all details about the current preliminary stage.

Last Year's Championship Results

26 Comments

Face Your Avatar & A Serious Job Offer

Tue Apr 19, 2011, 1:19 AM

Face Your Avatar

...that's the name of an experiment as it is decribed more detailed here.

but to already give you an idea, here's the main hypothesis:

The deviantART community will be more personable, friendly, and healthy if we can increase the amount of members who represent themselves with their photo.

and that's exactly why i have recently changed my avatar to somewhat "look you in the eye" when we'd talk to eachother.

Attention UI Designers

the great `manicho has recently posted this:

Full time UI designer, location: Shanghai, China. We'll provide relocation.

so, all those who are interested in a serious job offer should head on over to either `manicho's journal here or to the more detailed forum thread here.

47 Comments

Call for Help - Skins & Themes

Fri Apr 8, 2011, 10:01 AM

hey guys.. here's some words from $Moonbeam13:

"...Did you know that every category on deviantART has an ID number associated with it?

Did you know that category #1 - the very first one created on deviantART - is Skins & Themes? Maybe that isn't surprising considering our roots! However, did you also know that there are over 250 sub-categories within Skins & Themes???

Skins & Themes is in need of a major overhaul and some serious love. We have many categories within it that are out of date, for programs that aren't even in existence anymore!! To add to the pain, there are obviously categories that need to be created that we haven't yet, mostly because navigating through it has caused more than one person to throw up their hands in surrender and curl into the fetal position .

This is where we need your help! The category has conquered many of our best and bravest, some whom have never been heard from again (don't worry, that won't be you ). Therefore, it's obvious that we need the help of a small army to take it on!!

The mission, should you accept, would be to take a trip through the vast Skins & Themes gallery and take note of any categories for out of date programs and/or categories that are missing and then leave those findings in the comments to this blog entry at #hq.

So.. do you accept the mission?"

whoohoa.. those are some great news.
so, come on guys and girls.. head on over to here and see if you can help overhauling the Skins & Themes gallery.

29 Comments

Sole Images No Longer Possible In S&T

Journal Entry: Tue Mar 1, 2011, 3:37 PM

UPDATE on March 2nd

eversince i announced this new feature, i got constant reports that people are still capable of submitting sole images to various categories inside the Skins & Themes gallery and i have sent a report to $Moonbeam13 accordingly, so that this would be fixed.

well, i'm glad to tell you that just minutes ago i was told by Danie, that the restriction should be fully functioning now.
so, please keep an eye out on screenshots and other image submissions to the S&T and please report to me, in case you find any.

thanks and all my apologies for any previous inconveniences this may have caused you.

(end of update)

That's right, i just received confirmed information from $Moonbeam13 that "Once a site sync has occurred, image files will not be allowed to be submitted to Skins & Themes (except for preview images of course)" anymore.

But... What does that mean?

In short: it's no longer possible to submit only an image file (i.e. jpg or png) to any category inside the gallery of Skins & Themes, unless -and that's the important part- ...unless you have uploaded an archive (zip, rar, 7z etc.) or a supported skin file (rmskin, cskin etc.) to go with that image first.

Hmm... and that's good?

By all means, YES!

I mean, just think about it.... What is the gallery of Skins & Themes all about?
If we browse through all the various categories of that gallery, we would expect to find Skins and/or Themes, which we can download and apply to our desktops, right?. What we do not expect are images and concept shots of said Skins & Themes or even screenshots of an entire desktop. Not to mention the ever increasing amount of miscategorized photos, muro doodles or whatsoever.

So, this new restriction, of being no longer allowed to submit sole and mere image files to the gallery of Skins & Themes, is a great way to almost automatically avoid miscats from being submitted to the Skins & Themes gallery.

Of course, this won't totally prevent miscats from happening in this gallery, but i think this is actually a great step to get back to what the Skins & Themes gallery once used to be: a place to discover, find and download Skins & Themes, without a lot of non-relevant images to interfere with that.

And there's another thing that's really good about it. You might have seen them before: those deviations that show an image and in the "Artist's Comments" there's a link to some dubious off-deviantART location, where you're supposed to download something, which isn't even sure that this will be the skin/theme you opted for.

If uploading your file doesn't work and if that's the reason why you're providing a link to some off-deviantART location, then you should first check your computer settings and possible softwares that might be preventing you from uploading things to deviantART (most likely AdBlockers). deviantART doesn't restrict uploading files in any way. Neither for certain members, nor countries.

And just in case you have your own website with your Skins/Themes being hosted there, and you just want to link to your site, rather than uploading them to deviantART again, then please take a look at for example the WindowBlinds themes from ~vStyler or the Hyperdesk themes from the *skinsfactory and see how they have done it.

Uhm... What's with the older (Image-)deviations?

Don't worry, this restriction will have no influence on deviations that have already been submitted to the Skins & Themes gallery.

But... Where to put the Skin-/Theme Concept Shots?

Well, some of you have already mentioned their concern, that the feedback you'd get on your work from other deviants won't be the same, if you'd submit a concept shot of a skin or theme to the "Application Interfaces" or "Desktop Screenshots", rather than to the "Skins & Themes".

While this might be true, i however like to remind you once again that the gallery of Skins & Themes is meant for deviations that you can actually download and apply to a software or application on your desktop (or to an entire operating systems). The Gallery of Skins & Themes is not meant for only images of said Skins & Themes.

But, since this is a restriction for everybody, i think it'll be only temporary before many will have realized that the cool and new Skin-/Theme concept shots can be found in either the "Application Interfaces" or the "Desktop Screenshots".

And if you insist on submitting your concept shots (with a bogus-, empty- or fake- zip/rar file) to the Skins & Themes gallery, then i'd like you to ask yourself, if it's really worth breaking the rules, just to get more (not necessarily better) feedback.

In Resume..

I am personally very very excited about this new restriction. It totally makes sense and it's a great chance for the Skins & Themes gallery to become more clean of miscats and non-relevant images.

Now, .. Tell me what you think.

133 Comments

Welcome Alexander-GG .. The New Linux GM

Journal Entry: Sun Jan 23, 2011, 5:50 AM

AHH YEAH..

..The search has finally come to an end and from now on `Alexander-GG will be our new gallery moderator for Skins & Themes (Linux) for the next 12 months.

Words can barely describe how excited i personally am about this. Not only because the ever so underappreciated gallery of Linux Skins & Themes has a highly qualified GM now, but also because it's `Alexander-GG who got selected for this job and whom i value so much as both a great person and a friend.

Many of us know him from his role of being the founder of the largest and most popular desktop customization group here on deviantART.

Others may know him from his tastefull, elegant and often minimalistic wallpaper creations.

But... those who had the fortune of talking to Alexander, will surely know him for his calm, considerate and caring nature. He's not the least bit of pretentious nor arrogant. Alexander doesn't promise what he can't keep and what he does, he does thoroughly.

`Alexander-GG knows a great deal about many things related to the very wide field of linux. he has taken the GM position to cater to the very needs of the artistic part of deviantART's linux community and i'm sure we'll see the impact he'll make, very soon. for example, there will certainly be several more new categories added to the linux gallery, which currently is consistant of only a few random categories, of which i'm told that some don't even make sense or are misleading.

Of course you can also contact him about anything about Skins & Themes in general and about Linux in particular. If it's more Windows- or Mac related, i suggest to contact me. Although Alexander knows a great deal about windows' Skins & Themes as well.

Enough said. Please give a big and warm round of applause to our new GM for Skins & Themes (Linux). Head on over to `Alexander-GG and fill his profile with your words of love, support and appreciation.

And even if you're not a linux user...
...just give him a hug and tell him Otis sent you.

FAQ #61: What is a Daily Deviation?
FAQ #18: Who selects Daily Deviations and how are they chosen?
FAQ #873: What do I do when I disapprove of a Daily Deviation feature?

45 Comments

Christmas News and a new GM

Journal Entry: Sat Dec 25, 2010, 6:33 AM

thank you all so very much for your tremendous support and feedback over the years and in my time of being your gallery moderator for Skins & Themes so far. i hope that you're all doing just great and that everything is just as you like in both your private and artistic lifes. i wish you all a wonderful and merry merry christmas. may all your wishes come true and may you be surrounded by family, friends and all the people you love and who love you. you people rock and really make being a part of the community worthwhile!!

Christmas Screenshot Contest

_{(for  mac users only)}

now that many of you have probably set up your desktop to get you in the right mood for christmas or the upcoming new year, why don't you capture that mood in a screenshot and then post it in the comments to this blog entry over at #Iconpaper?

the contest is still open for your submissions until the 5th of january 2011 and who knows, maybe you'll win and infect others with your way of customizing your desktop for this special time of the year.

Feeling enticed?

..then head on over to #Iconpaper and read about all the details here.

"Santa's Here" Contest

_{(for sony-ericsson themers only)}

if you're familiar with skinning and/or creating themes for sony-ericsson cellphones, then this contest hosted by #SEGMT is meant for you.

the contest is still open for your submissions until the 7th of january 2011 and you can win some points by showing that "Santa is Here".

Sounds interesting?

..then head on over to #SEGMT and read about all the details here.

deviantART needs a new GM for Skins&Themes

..more precisely, a gallery moderator to take care of anything Linux related.

How come..

..and why is it, that the current GM for Skins & Themes can't take care of everything and all there is in this particular part of deviantART?

well, as many of you might already know, i've been a windows customizer by heart for a long time and since last august i'm also making my first steps in the world of macintosh, so i'm capable of trying out and of actually using most of the deviations you're submitting for those operating systems, but i know little to nothing when it comes to anything linux related.

there have been reports that the linux community feels somewhat mis-represented or even neglected by me and frankly, i can't even blame them to say this. there have been requests for new linux gallery categories and i can't even evaluate the importance and necessity of those requests, due to my ignorance on the entire subject of Linux.

that's not the way it should be and the large and still growing linux community deserves better than that. and that's exactly why i've filed a request to $Moonbeam13, that deviantART by all means needs another GM who'd take care of the linux gallery and of the wishes and needs of the linux community in general. as a result from this request, there's now an open Skins & Themes GM position for anything linux related.

How to apply for the Job

"The Volunteer Gallery Moderator (GM) forms a relationship with the artistic community and serves as a communication bridge between the artists and the administration. The GM also helps motivate and encourage artists through activities such as events, news features, contests and daily deviations."

if you're interested, you should go to #communityrelations and then check out this blog entry.

also make sure to read the following helpdesk entries:

FAQ #85: Can I be a volunteer on deviantART?
:faq82:
FAQ #84: What are the Core Values of the Community Relations and Operations Departments?

if you have read that and if you still think that you got what it takes to become the new Skins & Themes GM for anything linux related, then all you'd eventually have to do is filling out this application form. good luck!!

feel free to ask me anything you'd like to know about being a GM and i'll gladly explain.

Features

CSS created by `NyssaB

86 Comments

Skins & Themes Category Descriptions (a WIP)

Journal Entry: Wed Nov 24, 2010, 7:24 AM

this will probably be the most complex and most challenging project that i will ever touch as a GM. in the list below you can see ALL categories and sub-categories we currently have in the gallery of Customization/Skins & Themes (sub-sub-categories like for example "Winamp Modern" or "Winamp Classic" not included) and i now intend to put a description to each and every one of these (sub-)categories, but..... I SOOO MUCH NEED YOUR HELP ON THIS!! that's why i'm going to give you

10 POINTS FOR EACH OF YOUR DESCRIPTIONS

for any (sub-)category that hasn't yet been listed. in other words, you can earn almost 3000 points for descriptions to almost 300 (sub-)categories. you can easily find out whether there already is a description or not, if you simply hover your mouse over one of the listed items. by doing so a tooltip will show up and then it would either read "no description yet" or an according description of the item of course. besides, already filled items will be shown in bold letters.

SO, WHAT I NEED...

..is that you put yourself in the shoes of someone who has never heard of a category before. try to be as simple yet concise as possible. maybe name one or two examples for what belongs into a category and what not. also try to make your descriptions as short as you can, without cutting off the most important infos. the descriptions are meant to be a guide for those who don't know where to put their deviations (maybe avoiding miscats this way a bit) and also for those who are browsing the Skins & Themes gallery without knowing what some categories actually are. chances are, that your descriptions might even be added to the categories themselves one day. who knows?

ALSO .. AND JUST AS IMPORTANT (MAYBE EVEN MORE)

if you look at the list of categories and subcategories, please let me know if you think there's something missing. please check for useless, redundant, obsolete and potentially misleading areas of our gallery. do you think we should merge, restructure, delete or add something? please let me know and i will see what i can do about it. don't be shy. i can imagine the linux- and mac-community to be quite unhappy with the currently existing categories. just give me a nudge and i'll see into your concerns.

SO, FIRE UP YOUR SEARCH ENGINES..

..and see what you can find out about apps like Inedita, Bookem, Eppie, Drempels and what they're all called and of which the majority of us has (likely) never heard of before. shoot me your descriptions and points will be transmitted to you asap.

thanks for helping me out on this, guys!!

^{Application Launchers} ^[link]

8start

ControlBar ⊗

Infraview ⏏

LAUNCHkaos

Launchy

ObjectDock

PKMenu ⊗

QuickBars ⊗

QuickLAUNCH

RKLauncher

RocketDock

XWindows Dock

quickmenu

^{Audio Utilities} ^[link]

^Calculators ^[link]

^Calendars ^[link]

Miscellaneous

Rainlendar

^{Cell Phone Themes} ^[link]

Motorola

Nokia

Other Brands

Siemens

Sony Ericsson

iPhone

^Clocks ^[link]

Beatnik

Miscellaneous

^Email ^[link]

3D Mail Effects

BoxIP

EzPop ⊗

Mozilla Thunderbird

Poco

neoMail

^{File Sharing} ^[link]

Gnotella ⊗

KaZaA Media Desktop

Shareaza

eDonkey2000 ⊗

iMesh

^Games ^[link]

BoxChess ↩

GameBind Pro ⏏

^{Graphics Utilities} ^[link]

ActiveDimensions

Alteros3D

BoxFonts

BoxSpectra

BoxZoom ↩

ColorPad

CoordPad ↩

Lens ⏏

Screen Calipers ⏏

Switch ⊗

Vista

Zoomer

^{Instant Messengers} ^[link]

AIM

AIM Expressions

AIMutation

Aimster

EGN

Easy Message

Google Talk

ICQ Plus

MSN Messenger

Miranda IM

MyCQ

Trillian

X-Fire

Yahoo! Messenger

Yahoo! Player

^{Internet Utilities} ^[link]

3D-FTP

ActivatorDesk

Argus

Blog Skins

BuddyPhone

Copernic 2000

deviantART.com Skins

GetRight

HoverWeather

Ikonboard

Konex

Swoop

pSpy2

^{Linux and Unix Utilities} ^[link]

Gnome

KDE

Miscellaneous

Window Managers

X11 Cursors

XFce

XMMS

^{Macintosh Utilities} ^[link]

Adium

Bowtie

Dashboard Widgets

Docks

Installers

Misc. Utilities

ShapeShifter GuiKits

iPulse

^{Media Players} ^[link]

A2 Media Player ↩

Aimp2

Ashampoo ↩

Audion ⊗

BSPlayer

BlazeMedia Pro

C-4 ↩

CD Art Display

CD Stomper ↩

CDrun ↩

CL-AMP ⏏

CoolPlayer

DJ2000 ↩

DigiDeck ⏏

DigitalCD ⏏

Domino Player ⏏

FlashDesk ↩

Foobar2000

FreeAMP ↩

GOM player

J. River Media Center ↩

JetAudio

K-Jofol ⊗

MP3Studio ↩

MPFree ↩

Media Jukebox

MusicMatch Jukebox 6

Pocket DivX Player

PowerDVD

QCD3 (aka QMP)

Real One

RealJukebox

Sonique

SysTrayPlayer ↩

The Playa

UltraPlayer ↩

VLC Media Player

Velocity ↩

Winamp

Windows Media Player

XMMS ↩

XMPlay

Xbox Media Center

Xion

Zinf Audio Player ⏏

Zoom Player

coverXP ↩

iTunes

n.player ↩

neoPlayer ⏏

yerTV ⏏

^News ^[link]

AmiNews

HoverNews

klipFolio

^{Notes & Notepads} ^[link]

A-Pad

Aversoft Sticker

BoxNote

BoxPad

IC3

Inedita

Millennium Notepad

MyPad

Notepad Pro

QuickNotes

Scribbles

SkinPad

Sticky

Xtreme Notes

Y.A.W.N.

eNotes

kewlpAd

^{Personal Organizers} ^[link]

Bookem

BoxBar ↩

BoxCard

BoxContact

BoxKeeper

GreyBook

Lexa Organizer

Password Reminder

XXlog

^{Shell Themes} ^[link]

Aston

BlackBox

Chroma

Cloud9ine

DarkStep

DesktopX

Enlightenment

Fluxbox ↩

HoverDesk

IceSphere

Litestep

Reveal

Sawfish

Serenade

Talisman

Talisman II

VDE

WinSTEP

WindowMaker

evwm

geOShell

phpBB

xion

^{System Monitoring} ^[link]

AXE ⏏

BoxSys

ConWatch

Consolable

Inhotus

Oxygenator

QX

Rainmeter

Samurize

SkinMem

StealthDisk

SysMeter

SysMetrix

iPanel

^{Virtual Desktop Managers} ^[link]

AltDesk

CoolDesk

Dream Render

Drempels

Verve

dvwm

xtract

^{Web Browsers} ^[link]

BrowserBob ⊗

Camino (for  ?)

Firefox

Google Chrome

HotBar ∇

K-Melon

MadCow ⊗

Mozilla ⊗

NeoPlanet ⊗

Netscape 6 ⊗ ⏏

Oligo ⊗

Opera

SlimBrowser

WebBlinds ⊗

^{Windows 7 Utilities} ^[link]

Miscellaneous

Start Orbs

Visual Styles 7

Windowblinds 7

^{Windows Utilities} ^[link]

Applications

Avedesk

BootSkin

Codename2

CursorFX

Eppie

LogonXP

Miscellaneous

ObjectBar

QuickChanger

ShellWM

Styler Toolbar

ThemeBar

Trans2k

Trigger

Visual Styles

WinStyles ⊗

WindowBlinds Multi

WindowBlinds Vista

WindowBlinds XP

Windows 7

Windows Cursors

Windows Startup

Windows WebView

Windows XP Logon

eFX

eLOL

^{Windows Vista Utilities} ^[link]

Bootskin

DeskScapes

Misc. Utilities

Sidebar Gadgets

Vista Logons

Visual Styles

WindowBlinds for Vista

⊗ = application no longer supported/developed
⏏ = category removal/deletion in consideration
↩ = category relocation/merge in consideration
∇ = considered as or suspicious for being malware

This Journal Skin was designed by ~Night-Beast

347 Comments

An Interview with `mrrste

Journal Entry: Mon Nov 15, 2010, 9:52 AM

Read Damnit! ........ sounds familiar?

if you haven't done already, then i urge you to quickly hop on over to the #Customizers group and to check out ~barberioX' interview he had with no other than our friend, mate, master, former GM and fellow deviant `mrrste.

i promise, it's a wonderfully hillarious and funny read and you'll totally love it.

click here for the whole fun.