With the old restraints which restricted uploads to wallpaper size now a thing of the past, does this represent a shift in what the site is about? Will it still remain a wallpaper site? Will you still be uploading the majority of your images in wallpaper format or do you see caedes as becoming simply a place to display art?? Are you worried about the disappearance of the opportunity to download wallpaper for your desktop or excited about seeing a new wave of creativity?

Personally I think the site is in for a great change for the better... interested in your opinions!

Side note: Wow, I had to look up what an Orton is...(for those who are clueless, like i was 5 minutes ago, it's the "orton effect". Basically that 'soft look' when you stack an infocus image and an outof focus one.

One more side note: Since webpages and documents read top to bottom usually at 800px wide, why not tilt the computers on their ears and make 3:4 or 9:16 wallpapers instead?

Personally i have never really used this site as a wallpaper site. So i am very happy that we are now able to upload every ratio. I've been looking forward to that for along time. It seems my opinion is rare, but i do hope we move toward being more of an art site.

If that happens forget the wallpapers...they will be lost in the shuffle. I checked out artuproar... feels like a circus...one without a Ringmaster.

Well, as Jac put it earlier...
"Maybe its just me.. but every image can be used as a desktop.. whether its a full screen fractal or scene or a vertical image.. just depends on what you like on your computer... I have all shapes, sizes and genre on mine.. If I like something I put it on regardless if its horizontal or vertical.. so to me everything on here can be used as wallpaper.... but... thats just me.. ;)"

Which I am in agreement with, any image you choose to put up on your desktop becomes a wallpaper.

"any image you choose to put up on your desktop becomes a wallpaper"
Yes, but for those of us with 'unwide' screens Wide Screen images require either cropping or resizing. Used "stretched" they are distorted and totally useless, and if used 'centered' only a small portion of the picture shows.
The WS uploads I have seen so far all suit the size and look great- just a shame what I think are the majority can not use them as wallpaper.
I assume that in the past the standard sizes were able to be used successfully on WS monitors.
I am not knocking the new sizing allowances - I think it is good,and allows a lot more freedom to present an image in the best possible way, but if numerous sizes and shapes become the norm I guess the site will be moving away from wallpaper orientation, the member base will shift towards more specialised artists and the members who are here only for the wallpapers will drift away.
Time will tell:)

very well put Lyn. :o)

Very well put Curt.....I be sorry....I couldna hep mysef.

Get a grip Jerry :) Go and take some photos :)

If not... Can I have your stuff? :oP

Wow... I got quoted... =D I feel so special.... hehehehehehehe

You did? Where is he.. I'll moiderize him. :oP

Jerry - thats right - I wasnt referring to reworks where images are physically altered to improve them or alter their dynamic which is all fine - I just meant images that have had no changes at all but get reposted in a different size or aspect ratio. as you pointed out - it is upto the artist posting the image to decide for themselves how best to present it.

While it may be true that any image _can_ be used as a desktop, surely LynEve is correct in pointing out the slightly misleading character of this claim. All kinds of images _can_ be used, but they do not necessarily look _good_ on the desktop. If the ratio isn't right, you have to choose between, say, leaving blank areas on the desktop, stretching it, cropping it etc. The image will obviously look distorted in these cases.

I'm not sure the same problem doesn't exist for widescreen desktops with standard sized images, though. Anybody got a widescreen and care to comment?

I think it would be nice to allow artists to upload both a standard and a widescreen size of an image if they wish. Some images may lend themselves to this rather well and I've certainly seen wallpaper sites that facilitate this. I'm thinking that some abstracts might be especially suitable for this.

- cfr

Personally I'm not wild about the widescreen format...yet. I may change my mind if and when I get a widescreen monitor. The pictures do distort upon sizing but I haven't tried sizing from the RAW imgage sizes yet but do doubt that I can resize and retain aspect ratio. If anyone has any tips/tricks to retain aspect ratio in wide formats I am listening.

what is your original image dimensions? ... maybe there are images where you could crop a 1600x1024 (or other size) out of the scene you shot

I imagine that the only people who will upload widescreen images will be those that have widescreen monitors. Therefore the proportion of widescreen to normal res desktops should correlate to the number of people who have them. If that were the case I see no justification as to why either party could complain? After all those of us who have had widescreen res's for years have been forced to adapt our desktops up until now...

I don't have a widescreen monitor, yet I will occasionally upload a widescreen image when it works best for certain images.

"If that were the case I see no justification as to why either party could complain?" There will ALWAYS be some who will never be happy with what happens on here and I can see there will be a lot more threads on it saying exactly the same things over and over again...

I certainly was not complaining, just pointing out that as the (I imagine) mainstream of members and visitors to the site initially come here for wallpapers,having to sift through all sorts of odd sizes to find suitable resolutions may be a deterrent, and the Caedes well-deserved reputation for being the best place on the net for wallpapers may change to it being the best place on the net for images.
I repeat 'time will tell' :)

You DID ask for opinions Sam :) :)

As I mentioned above, caedes is working on a system to label wallpaper sized images so that they can be identified easily, so hopefully no one will have to sift...

Sorry Sam. . . . .missed that bit
So many words . . .so little time . . . .
Interesting to see in the other thread about 'how did you get here' most answers said for wallpaper

i think, if the same stringent standards which are (ahem) supposed to be applied to uploads, (mumble mumble snapshots mumble)the concerns regarding the 'downfall' or unravelling of the site will be groundless, regardless of size or proportion of the image.

In reference to the previous comment about image being used as a wallpaper i would like to say this. I don't remember the last time i had a wallpaper that filled the screen. I find it much nicer to resize it so it is much smaller than my screen and then but a nice 10px width white border around it and then centre the image with a black background. It makes my icons on the side stand out and often the picture looks nicer that way i think. If i were to download one off here even though my screen is 1440x900 i would probably download the smallest one and centre it.

I run a clean screen...no icons. You can put them all on the task bar...the main ones anyway. No one should have 500 icons on their screen.

In reply to Keith: A typical RAW image would run around 3172x2213 and I tried to resize most of the wide screen sizes from that but can't maintain aspect ratio on any of them. The cropping may work but would get burdensome if you were doing a lot of photos. I'll try one in the RAW editor and see how it works. I'm sure down the line someone will come out with a resizing program that will take care of this problem.

I've got three consistent icons, and often have 2 or 3 files stored on my desktop temporally, so i would say i don't run a a messy desktop. I think the need for a clean screen increases the reason to have an image centred. I think it looks much cleaner to have the solid black around the sides. Personal preference of course.

No problem with that. I used to have my desktop like that. Just a matter of taste. That's what's so great about this site, it has many options and appeals to a large audience.

Well, for what it's worth, I like the expanded size and shape options and, while I love this site as a source of wonderful wallpapers, I've always viewed it as a source of great ART as well and have never been comfortable rating images primarily based on whether they make good "DESKTOP" material or not. Good "DESKTOP" images are not necessarily the best "ART" and the best "ART" is not necessarily very good as Desktop Wallpaper.

So, we've got new options with respect to size of uploads. Does this also indicate a shift with respect to criteria for evaluating image quality? Wen

We might as well become a direct dA competitor (Minus the gore, animae, and devil stuff...of course!)...We're getting more and more members from over there anyway...

Excuse me for caring, but why can't we leave the wallpaper site alone and and create a category for the odd ball sizes. I now go to new images and it's DA all over again. chaos. As a matter of fact i think of DA as chaos pro, even tho i have images there, when i upload one there it's like throwing the image down a deep dark hole. Every one should have an outlet for their art, but to group them all together well, in my opinion there goes the neighborhood. Best wishes to all. Dwight.

Mmmh... "Chaos" is not the right word. On the last page (36 images), I found 33 x 4/3, 1 x 3/2 and 2 verticals... This is not a cataclysm... ;-)

Yes it is Pierre...two verticals is way too much.

IMO the reason that DA is different from caedes is due to the number of images uploaded, not the format. I agree that putting an image up on DA is like throwing it down a deep dark hole, but that's only because it's on page ten in the time it takes you to refresh the page...

All the selling sites are the same way. No one ever sees the pics. I have photos up since October with 0 views. And stupid me pays for this privilege.

Agreed that images are easily lost on DA, but I don't think that allowing odd ball size images here makes it like DA. IMHO, Caedes.net is just much easier to navigate than DA. It's easy to look at NEW IMAGES in general or to flip back and forth to specific categories. I just feel more "oriented" when I'm looking at images here as opposed to DA, where I easily start to feel lost.

I think Dwight's idea of a specific gallery for non-wallpaper sized images is a good one. Wen

I don't think the pic sizes are the problem...it's the 'maybe' move to a more art orientated site such as DA. A lot of us who do wallpapers (photo) feel that we will be lost in the shuffle. Uploads would increase and mayhem not far behind. I don't mind doing the widescreens but won't do many because of distortion problems in the widescreen formats. artuproar allows you to upload every hour...you can imagine the mayhem that can ensue. Then the wallpapers are 640x480 a mere postage stamp on your screen. Who wants that?

just did a test on how small an image system would accept. message I got was 600x600 image. Of course I tried to do a 60x60 avatar. :oP

For Samatar: you had asked does one intend to see Caedes as for Wallpaper or for art.I think it can be for both...I do think the quality has been lacking with many very amateurish works being shown

On the question of snapshots and amateurs... a picture I was looking at recently gave me food for thought. Most of us would have weeded it straight into the bin, but the person who posted it said there was something good about the lighting.

I stopped and looked again at the lighting, and would still have weeded it straight out, but the comment also made me think. It depends on how far along you are on that ladder, so if you see something in a picture that's good in your own eyes, that signifies progress, or a realization of expanding boundaries... It's better than the pictures you made before in some way.

I don't really know where I'm going with this - just saying it's natural, I suppose. The beauty of a site like this (to me as a member) is that I am learning. The beauty of it to a casual surfer is that many of the most eye-catching pictures are immediately accessible in the Permanent Galleries. And if a non-member browses here a bit longer than just a few turns of the page, none of it gets old - there's always something new. On many wallpaper sites (collections rather than art sites) I was seeing all of their best wallpapers and then moving on - there was nothing more to be had. Here it's impossible to say 'yep - seen them all!'

Thus it seems to me that the Caedes site caters to both casual surfers and members.

As for the original question - I appreciate the art as well as the wallpaper, but wouldn't always use the pictures on my desktop. It's amazing what I do use: some very strongly coloured and marked images, as well as very soft and subtle ones, but I draw the line against some when I find myself peering to make out my desktop icons. That doesn't mean I wouldn't want to see those images posted, as I still enjoy them for what they are.

I wouldn't want the 'wallpaper' aspect of it to be lost, though, as that is what drew me here. I have a widescreen monitor myself and am happy that some are now appearing that actually fit my monitor - I think it's a change that needed to be made. Thanks and hooray. :-).

Tootles is my new hero. :o)

Well said.

Wait for it ... goofy coming up ...

*stands up to applaud ... trips over chair*

Uh ... lil' help please? :oP

OK Les... I agree with ya, Tootles said it quite well.

What? You mean you wanted help getting up?

Oh... OK. :o)

LOLOL.

Help getting up? *censors self* goes off to do something resembling usefulness. in other arenas. 8•P

O,o

And I thought my mind could do the backstroke down the gutter... LMAO

*snickers* clearly you haven't spent nearly enough time in my company. 8•P

don't you feel bad for A1 now?

Please, use PMs for personal messages...
Is it possible to return to the real Samatar's topic? Thanks!

You tell 'em, Pierre...

*hangs head in shame*

Tootles said, "..On the question of snapshots and amateurs...
"... It depends on how far along you are on that ladder, so if you see something in a picture that's good in your own eyes, that signifies progress, or a realization of expanding boundaries...
".... The beauty of a site like this (to me as a member) is that I am learning..."
~~~~~~
Very well said. I find the comments chastizing other work as "amateurish" somewhat offensive. Those who post work that some might consider "amateurish" do not view them as such and such labels do little to encourage artistic growth. I've found the vast majority of images here reflective of high artistic merit /talent and yet this site provides a way for new artists to share and grow. It's one of the things that drew me to this site in the first place. Wen

I'm w/Wendy here. I was originally quite offended when i read that comment about amateurish work. Thus in my own defense, I helped Les and Curt lighten the mood… well that and Sam doesn't get to be bothered by our joking around considering the number of times HE's poked fun @ me 8•P

Truth is very few people on here are professionals, most are talented amateurs, or developing amateurs, and the respect and encouragement received is one of the reasons to develop here.

animaniactoo said = "Truth is very few people on here are professionals, most are talented amateurs, or developing amateurs, and the respect and encouragement received is one of the reasons to develop here."

And that is a quote worth remembering also. Very well said hun. :hugs:

This image was uploaded in november 2005. Was the 3/2 ratio already available?
Or did the new system adapt the sizes?

Ohhh, I had no idea what I was getting into here. I was checking to see if this issue had been addressed before I posted a new thread. Frankly, today is the first day I noticed that other formats were being used (daaaahhh) and I was about to ask about it. Personally, I'm thrilled that one can post in any number of ratios and orientations. I had no idea I took most of my photos in the portrait mode till I started posting on this site and had to add those awful extra edges for the landscape. I found the added edges useful because of the way I arrange my icons and I don't want them lost on a busy wallpaper. Ironically, I didn't realize this was a "wallpaper" site and I thought it was just a way to share images and get to know other members (like I said, I'm a little slow LOL) I have only used one image for a wallpaper and just enjoy looking at all the others. I may be way behind things but I can't figure why someone needs all that wallpaper anyway. For years I just used a plain teal background. Anyway, getting back to the subject, I am glad we can start posting images outside the confines of the rectanglar format.

hudakore said, "... I can't figure why someone needs all that wallpaper anyway."

Obviously not somebody with 100 virtual desktops to decorate...

- cfr

some people like to keep the same image on their screens for a while, while others... change them constantly. also, i've used downloaded images as a slideshow for my screensaver. hopefully that clears up any misunderstanding, and will avoid a whole new 'substring' on the matter.

Same here, my computer changes my backdrop every 12 hours. My screen saver also makes use of the same wallpaper folders. Depending on what catagories I specify, you never really know what treasure to find roaming across my screen.

actually, curt..perhaps it's best we dont know >:)

On the snapshot issue: I don't believe that people who post photos of their dogs/cats/grandchildren/cars etc are always under the impression that their phots are good, or are after feedback on how to improve, they are more interested in sharing personal snapshots with friends. This is the kind of thing that the snapshot policy is trying to discourage as the site was not designed for that sort of thing.

I'm hating myself for it, but I'll have to second that. I've seen a few fragile egos run rampant here, and therein lies the difference between not knowing, and not giving a damn. if you'd like to share your cutesy pet/family/etc pics..do it in email...just a thought.

Most doting grandparents see something special in any photo of their darlings! perhaps they are trying to convey a mood or a feeling by posting them - that is something I am not sure of. I do know I have what I consider to be one of my better pictures of a child (who just so happens to be my grandson) on a trampoline - it conveys the exuberance of youth. At first I was unsure which category to put it is - people, action, sport? To my mind it is MUCH more than a snapshot but of course I will not now upload it as it could well be seen as a snapshot. Anyone interested, let me know - I will be happy to email it to you.


Gosh . . . . no requests? lol :) :) :)

I agree with Dwight...whatever it is he didn't say.

Silence is golden :)

Shhhhhhh.

A man of few words, our Dwight.

there are too many entries to read here so i may be repeating what someone else has said. anytime that i upload anything at 1600X1067 and someone would like me to personally send them in the other format i would be delighted to accomodate them. all they'd have to do is ask.

Idlibtimo. Best wishes, Dwight.

What he said.

Uh .... what's with the dates kids ? 14/3/00 ??? Did we lose 7 years ? Cuz if I'm 7 years younger believe you me I so wanna know !!

And are we now on Military time ? Because I really really really hope not, I can never figure that stuff out & always have to sit here like an idiot & count.

that will be the adjustments to the timings system that works it out based on your system settings - have you checked your puter's date? seams fine at the moment.

Nope, my puter is set for AM/PM not Military time, but the site is giving me Military time throughout.

However… Ms. Corn Queen… go to "Edit Profile" and you can change your date format back to the one you're used to 8•)

Okay, I did that, thanks for the push Cat. However I'm still seeing 3/14/00 as the date & though my time is right it's now 14:15 ....

Is this a new feature ? The military time ? Cuz if anyone's taking a poll, then I vote "no".

I'd still like to know if it's really 2000 because I weighed less then & believe you me, that would make me soooo happy !!

is the time and date on your system set correctly?

I switched the time like Cat suggested but I'm assuming the date is set correctly. Though I'm not the only one seeing 2000, Charlie, spoton, is seeing the same thing because he commented on it on the news update on the front page.

not too sure then - i've lost a couple of days in a post binge blackout before but never gained seven years back :-)

Is this just me or has anybody else found the sub-galleries of the New Images gallery entirely empty (e.g. New Images -> abstract is empty for me)?

- cfr

It's empty on my end also. :o/

And it isn't just the new ones, is it? The main sub-galleries are similar. I can see stuff under Contests, say, but not in Contests -> Fantasy Landscapes, for example.

Weird. Hope it gets sorted soon.

- cfr

Caedes has been notified of the problems with the sub-galleries.

I really like the military time. No confusion over Am versus PM.. Pretty easy to learn Lauren. Honest ;=)

I didn't check the reg sub galleries but yup, the New Images sub galleries are empty for me too.

2007 is back but I guess the Military Time is staying too. Yuck.

The time doesn't worry me because I have to work it out ALL the time being so many hours ahead is a pain always having to add hours on or take them off....

I just set my phone to tell me what time it is there for you in aussieland. 8•P

Who even looks at the date or time anywway?? I didn't even notice until people started bringing it up...

The time displays fine for me. I rarely look at the time but the date is useful to see the age of your own pictures.

Me, apparently I look at the time.

*pffffff* Since when do you count?!?

Not today, boy that's for sure. I'm getting shot down left & right around here. Man ! You guys are so going to give me a complex !

I'd ask for a sports complex than, if I were in your position.

Much rather have a shopping complex ! *bats eyelashes*

Nah Lauren, go for a complete Spa complex and invite "the girls"........;=)

Thats more like it Mimi.... i'll definately be there for that

Can I go to your spa? I'm tired of being sick and need some pampering. :o/

I'm with you there Curt!...
I wanna foller too!....a 'spa' makeover make make me look good eh?....

I guess I'm another one who just wiles away the time without paying any attention to the time or date but I do like the sound of that spa, though shopping would be a close second.:Pat.

The best of both worlds people ! A Spa / Shopping Complex !! Woo~hoo !!

Looks like the issue of finding images in the size you want is fixed now. A major plus to the site I think!

Jeez! I had something to say when I started reading this thread, but about 1/4 of the way down I forgot what it was, then I had to wash the dishes, and now I can't even remember where I was. ;o)