CSS for subscribers is finally here!! Your local neighbourhood zilla is here to give a few pointers to the novice CSSers who want to give their journals a make over with a few pointers and a list of handy resources.

As a general rule it is better to keep things simple, not just if you are a beginner. Remember the following points when you design your page:

1. Mock it up Try your design in Photoshop first (or which ever app you have) that way you can play with colours and styles without needing to refresh your journal too much.

2. Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should... try to avoid making things like the text size too small. The current journal style works well, so just start simply by changing colours.

3. Contrast is good. Making the colours of your text and links the same, or very close is bad m'kay. Make it easy for people to differentiate between things. Also, making your journal text too dark on a black background or too light on a bright background can be tiring on the eyes of the reader, resulting in them just not reading your journal!

4. Complexity-schmexity Complex backgrounds are all very well, but if they interfere with the journal text then again like point 3, you have lost your reader. Plain colours or simple gradients are fine. Remember that the text is the most important part!

5. K.I.S.S - Keep it simply sexy! You are not reinventing the wheel here, there is no point in trying to be too clever at first. The journal CSS is limited anyway so likely as not you will find you cannot do the complex overlays you are trying for.

6. It's not a competition. The initial flurry of activity over this will generate some friendly competition as people try to push boundaries. This is all well and good, but leave this to the 1337 h4x0r5 and try and do a journal which reflects your personality and style more. The journal is about you and a good journal design will help to enhance that. (unless you are me and have wierd freaky fingers and stuff and everyone thinks you are a wierdo)


For those of you who want to have a crack at it, I've collated a list of some of the more usefull articles and features floating around so you don't have to go searching.

journal stylesheet generator - by `tobyf
This is the ultimate one stop shop for your journal. A great template generator for anyone that needs something simple and doesn't really want to learn the complexities of CSS.

Basic Journal Template by ~ghostlove
Not-So-Basic Journal Template by ~ghostlove
Both do what they say on the tin

dA v4 template by `zacthetoad - A neat little template to make your journal look like Version 4 of dA. How very retro...

Journal Structure: a reference by `thespook - A great visual reference of what the different classes represent on the page. Essential if you are new to CSS.

The BasiCSS by `zikes - A good starting point for those that want simplicity.

CSS Rundown + Template by `NyssaB - contains a tutorial to help you through the basics and on to more complex stuff.


For those that don't want to have to struggle, why not try entering the following competition:

Get Yourself a CSS Journal - Contest
being run by `duhcoolies - head over to his journal to see more info.

Plug in the colors and styles you want into this web form and it will spit out the exact code you need for your DA Journal. No CSS knowledge necessary!

[link]

We would like to thank all of you who enjoyed our April Fools Joke, apologize to those of you who thought it was mean and evil, and wish the rest of you a Merry Christmas!  APRIL FOOLS

Due to increasing expenditures and staff requirements deviantART Inc will now be implementing a service charge and terms of service contract to govern use of the official deviantART Help Desk.

EFFECTIVE TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2007

The HELP DESK will now be a subscriber based service and a  'HELP SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGE' will need to be purchased to obtain further use of the HELP SERVICES. **Please be advised however if you already have an existing subscription to deviantART a separate 'HELP SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGE' will not be needed to access the desk.**  



We would like to thank all of you who enjoyed our April Fools Joke, apologize to those of you who thought it was mean and evil, and wish the rest of you a Merry Christmas!  APRIL FOOLS

The 'HELP SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGE' will  be a yearly cost of $29.95 and will automatically renew until you terminate your account through the 'ACCOUNT CLOSURE' procedure.

If you would like LIVE HELP only we will be offering a reduced fee for this service for only $19.95 per year.

The e-mail based HELP SERVICE will be phased out on the effective date.

We would like to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, however to keep up with ever growing demand for assistance we had but no choice left.


HELPDESK TERMS OF SERVICE

“deviantART” or “we, “us” or “our” refers to deviantART Inc. “Service” refers to the deviantART Community Help Desk. “You” or “your” refers to the person or entity who is accessing the Service. PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY TO ENSURE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND EACH PROVISION. This Agreement may require the use of arbitration to resolve disputes and may therefore limit the remedies available to you in the event of a dispute.

CHARGES AND DISPUTES

You are responsible for paying all charges for or resulting from the use of the Service. You will be charged on a per access basis. You will receive monthly bills that are due in full as shown thereon. YOU MUST, WITHIN 100 DAYS OF THE DATE OF THE BILL, NOTIFY US IN WRITING OF ANY DISPUTE YOU HAVE WITH RESPECT TO THE BILL, INCLUDING ANY CHARGES ON THE BILL AND ANY SERVICE WE PROVIDED FOR WHICH YOU WERE BILLED, OR YOU WILL HAVE WAIVED YOUR RIGHT TO DISPUTE THE BILL OR SUCH SERVICES AND TO BRING, OR PARTICIPATE IN, ANY LEGAL ACTION RAISING ANY SUCH DISPUTE. Charges include, without limitation, initial access, follow-up contact, research, administrative and late payment charges; cost recovery and other surcharges; and applicable taxes and governmental fees, whether assessed directly to you or upon deviantART. To determine which jurisdiction’s taxes and assessments to collect you are required to provide us with your residential or business street address. If you do not provide us with such address we may reasonably designate a primary place of use for you. Except as provided below, monthly service and certain other charges are billed one month in advance, and there is no proration of such charges in the event that your account is terminated. We may bill you in a format as we determine from time to time. Additional charges may apply for additional copies of your bill, or for detailed information about your usage of the Service.You also remain responsible for paying your monthly service fee if your access to the Service has been suspended or terminated for any reason. We may require payment by money order, cashier’s check or a similarly secure form of payment at our discretion. We will charge you $30.00 or the highest amount allowed by law, whichever is less, for any check or other instrument (including credit card charge backs) tendered by you and returned unpaid by a financial institution for any reason. You agree to reimburse us the fees of any collection agency, which may be based on a percentage at a maximum of 33% of the debt and all costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, we incur in such collection efforts.

CHANGES TO TERMS AND RATES

We may change any terms, conditions, rates, fees, expenses, or charges regarding the Service at any time. We will provide you with notice of such changes (other than changes to governmental fees, proportional changes for government mandates or administrative charges) either in your monthly bill or separately. You understand and agree that any State and Federal Fees and other applicable governmentally imposed fees, whether directly assessed directly upon you, may be increased based upon the government’s or our calculations. IF WE INCREASE THE PRICE OR RATE OF ANY PORTION OF THE SERVICE WE WILL DISCLOSE THE CHANGE AT LEAST ONE BILLING CYCLE IN ADVANCE (EITHER THROUGH A NOTICE WITH YOUR BILL OR THROUGH A TEXT MESSAGE DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE DEVIANTART WEBSITE OR OTHERWISE).

ADVANCE PAYMENTS AND/OR DEPOSITS

We may require you to make deposits or advance payments for access to the Service, which we may offset against any unpaid balance on your account. Interest will not be paid on advance payments or deposits unless required by law. We may require additional advance payments or deposits if we determine that the initial payment was inadequate based upon your logged access to the Service. Based upon your creditworthiness as we determine it, we may establish a credit limit and restrict your access to the Service. If your account balance goes beyond the limit which we set for you, we may immediately interrupt or suspend your access to the Service until your balance is brought below the limit. Any charges which you incur in excess of your limit become immediately due. If you have more than one account with us you must keep all accounts in good standing to maintain access to the Service. If one account is past due or over its limit, all accounts in your name are subject to interruption or termination and all other available collection remedies.

LATE PAYMENT CHARGES

Late payment charges are based on the jurisdiction provided by you to us in the form of your residential or business address, or the jurisdiction assigned to you in the absence of this information. You agree that for amounts not paid by you by the due date,  deviantART may charge, as a part of it’s rate and charges for access to the Service, and you agree to pay, a late payment fee of $5.00 in CT, D.C., DE, IL, KS, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, NH, NJ, NY, PA, OK, OH, RI, VA, VT, WI, WV; in all other jurisdictions the late payment charge will be 1.5% of the balance carried forward to the next billing cycle.

TERMINATION

Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time providing that your account is current and not past due. We may terminate this Agreement at any time without notice if we cease to allow access to the Service from your area. We may interrupt or terminate your access to the Service without notice for any conduct that we believe is abusive, derogatory, or similarly unreasonable or if we discover you are under-age or if you fail to make all required payments when due, if you attempt to use the deviantART website for any unlawful purpose, or if you provided inaccurate credit information or we believe your credit has deteriorated and you refuse to pay any requested advance payment or deposit.

SERVICE LIMITATIONS; LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

Your access to the Service may be interrupted, delayed or otherwise limited for a variety of reasons. This Service is provided by deviantART on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis and deviantART reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Service, in its sole discretion, at any time and without notice. You agree that deviantART is and will not be liable to you for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.


We would like to thank all of you who enjoyed our April Fools Joke, apologize to those of you who thought it was mean and evil, and wish the rest of you a Merry Christmas!  APRIL FOOLS

Synopsis

Due to the overwhelming response in totally awesome submissions to our previous Help & FAQ Awareness Contest we have decided to make this a user based project once again.

The idea behind this project is to create catchy combined ads advertising the Help Desk & FAQ. These ads will be rotated in the deviantART Notices panel on deviantART user pages and other areas of the site.

In the end 9, yes 9 ads will be selected for rotation by our panel of judges!!

Sample Ad

This image is meant as an example only, it is not required that you use the exact same words in your ad. But you do however need to have the words "Help & FAQ" someplace in your ad.

Rules

To enter simply upload your entry to the 'Contests & Projects, Contests, 2007, Help & FAQ Advertising Project' category (You can browse your submissions here, once uploaded)

Submissions must be either 300 pixels in width and 250 pixels in height , 728 pixels in width and 90 pixels in height or 160 pixels in width and 600 pixels in height and be in the following format only; .JPG, .PNG or .GIF

Submissions must be static and not animated

You may submit more than one entry

You may submit an entry that was previously submitted to the Help & FAQ Awareness Contest that did not win in that round, but you must upload it to the new contest category.

Ad text must be legible

Submissions must contain artwork owned or made by yourself, please do not submit copyrighted or trademarked icons/logos belonging to companies outside of deviantART

Your Ad must contain the words "Help & FAQ" someplace in your ad

Prizes

First Tier - 728 (W) x 90 (H)

1st Place -  $50 deviantDOLLARS + 1 Year subscription to deviantART

2nd Place -  $25 deviantDOLLARS + 6  Month subscription to deviantART

3rd Place -  3 Month subscription to deviantART


Second Tier - 160 (W) x 600 (H)

1st Place -  $50 deviantDOLLARS + 1 Year subscription to deviantART

2nd Place - $25 deviantDOLLARS + 6  Month subscription to deviantART

3rd Place -  3 Month subscription to deviantART


Third Tier - 300 (W) x  250 (H)

1st Place -  $50 deviantDOLLARS + 1 Year subscription to deviantART

2nd Place - $25 deviantDOLLARS + 6  Month subscription to deviantART

3rd Place -  3 Month subscription to deviantART


(Keyterms: W = Width , H = Height)

Judges

`hexentanz, $y2jenn, $ewm and lolly

Deadline

All entries must be uploaded by October 23rd (12:00am GMT) November 6th (12:00am GMT) to be eligible to win.

In Closing

Winners will be announced on October 26th November 9th!

Good luck to all!

Welcome back! If you haven't done so already, have a read of Getting the most out of your CSS Journals Part One. Part two deals with Dressing up your mood boxes, adding extra lines to your Journal title, and will touch upon dynamic images in your journal, amongst other things. So without further delay, let's begin!

Mood boxes

"Mood boxes", or the little box that shows what you're listening to etc, is now available to everyone. Subscribers and non subscribers alike. It would seem that there's not a whole lot you can do with these, asides from change the colours and such. But something a few people don't know, is that you can move your mood box anywhere you like, and do so much more than just colourising it. In this example, we'll show you how to shift your mood box to the right, just like in This example.

CSS:

.journalbox .list {
position:absolute;
right:0px;
bottom:0px;
width:25%;
}

And that's all you need! When you look at your mood box, it will be 25% wide, and sitting on the bottom-right hand corner of your journal! Please note that this will look shocking on smaller journal entries, or some journal views (ie. on the userpage, full-view etc.). Now you can stretch out your box to wherever you wish, put half on one side, half on the other, hide bits of your mood box. It's all up to your imagination!

(A tip: If you find you can't rid of the mood box, because there is no "remove mood" feature, try this code:

.journalbox .list {
display:none;
}

to rid of the mood box altogether)

Journal Taglines

Ever wish you could add a small bit of text underneath your journal title, like you can on the major blogging systems out there (Think Wordpress and such)? It's really easy with CSS. Just add the following to your "Header" section of your journal, and your CSS section:

HTML:

It's all in a day's work!

CSS:

.journal-subtext {
top:30px;
position:absolute;
}

.journalbox .journaltop {
font-size: 0px;
}

Just remember to tweak "30" to whatever value you wish, depending on where your .journaltop h2 header is placed, and if you want to keep the date / time, leave out the font-size:0px; And there you have it! It'll now show your sub-text (or personal message) below your journal title. This can be done with images, CSS menus (as per last week's example) or anything else dA supports. It's only limited by your imagination!

Dynamic Images

Imagine if you could use your dA journal to tell people what TV show you were watching at that very second, or if you could display your computer's uptime, temperature and the last program you ran, or even display news headlines, images from your gallery, new posts on your forums, or so much more. Impossible you say? No way! Thanks to the magic of GD

For those in the know, or people who have used Last.fm, AudioScrobbler, or any other services like that, GD / Dynamic Images should be nothing new. For the rest of you, GD is a PHP library that lets us draw text on a picture, or draw a completely new picture from scratch. The output, can be a standard JPG, GIF or PNG file, which dA is more than happy to support. The trick comes from writing a PHP script that returns an image instead of text. Now I won't go into PHP and GD and the like. That's wayyyy beyond the scope of our article. Instead I'll give you an example. Check out my Userpage, and look at my webcam. That is a dynamically created image. Every time it's viewed, it grabs my base image (the green), adds text to it, depending on what's in the database, and shoots it off as a JPG picture. Our browser sees the JPG data, and displays it as such.

With a bit of manipulation, you can write a script that reads your computer's uptime, shows off some images, even parse a website to get images for displaying. It's limited by PHP's engine, and your imagination!

Have a read of PHPFreak's GD Tutorial for a starter on GD. Some PHP knowledge is required here ;D


That's all for this week. Remember, if you have any suggestions, note them to ~Grayda for inclusion in the next part of Getting the most out of your CSS Journals. Thanks for reading, if you get some use out of this, and keep watching the skies!

Previous Weeks
Getting the most out of your CSS Journals Part One

Introduction

Hello and welcome to the newly revised Help Desk Guides. Today we're actually going to cover a topic never covered before in previous guides. That topic is "How to: Submit a Ban Inquiry".  

What is a Ban Inquiry?

When you have a question concerning a site ban you have received, 'Ban Inquiry' is the category you would need to select for your type of inquiry. Be it for example you would like to inquire further about the reason or time length stated on your page, etc, this is the category you need to select to make sure your inquiry is seen by the correct parties.

Information in regards to bans can only be discussed between the banned deviant and the Policy Team. This information will not be given out to 'friends' or anyone else requesting it.

What should not be submitted as a Ban Inquiry?

1.) Inquiries concerning a ban you have received on the dAMN Messaging Network. These types of inquiries should instead be submitted under the contact category "Chat Inquiry".

2.) You're being harassed by another member on the site and wish to see offending party banned. Inquiries of this nature should be filed under the contact category "Harassment Report". (Bans will not be handed out simply because users request them, a user will only receive a ban when the reviewer of the case finds it necessary.)  

3.) Your friend has been banned and you would like to inquire as to why. Information in regards to bans can only be discussed between the banned deviant and the Policy Team. This information will not be given out to 'friends' or anyone else requesting it.

4.) Your deviation has been relocated or removed. Inquiries of this nature should be submitted as a "Policy Inquiry" only.

5.) This section should not be used to request your account be closed. Please instead refer to FAQ #113: Can I delete my deviantART account?.

6.) You believe a user is evading a ban and you wish to report this. Inquiries of this nature should be submitted as a "Policy Inquiry" only.

Disclaimer

When submitting your Ban Inquiry there are a three rules you should follow. The first rule is that you should try and remain as civilized as possible. While we understand that bans can be very frustrating, yelling or cursing at us will not get us to respond to your inquiry any faster if at all. The second rule that should be followed is that only one inquiry should be submitted concerning your ban. There have been times where we have had users send in one inquiry for every hour that they did not receive a reply. You can imagine that does not look so well to the people you want to hear your case. The third and final rule you should file is that you do not lie to us when submitting your inquiry as all bans are logged with an array of associated evidence so all facts can be verified by management.

If you have submitted a Ban Inquiry and did not receive a response within a weeks time and you have remained civilized in your inquiry, you may feel free to resubmit your inquiry as it is possible we did not receive it.

Contacting the Help Desk

  

Assuming you already know how to contact the Help Desk, this next step will be easy. Once on the Help Desk contact page you will need to select 'Ban Inquiry' from the 'Category' drop down menu. After you have selected the category for your inquiry, proceed by typing up your inquiry.   

After you have typed up your inquiry, you may wish to review your message to make sure you have included everything. Do so by clicking on the button entitled "Preview Help Request". Once satisfied with your message you will next need to click on "Submit Help Request". If your message has been sent to us successfully you will next be presented with a message of thanks.


--


That's it, you're done! You should now receive a response to your request from the Policy Team within 72 hours or less, during the normal Help Desk hours.


Pstttt Hexe! This Guide is great and all but I have one problem! I cannot login to the Help Desk to contact the Policy Team because the site will not let me login at this time. Can I still contact the Policy Team? Yes you can, you may do so by emailing them @ violations@deviantart.com.

We hope you have found the above information helpful.


-----
Much ,
The Help Desk Team
`hexentanz , $ewm and $y2jenn

Introduction

As web services evolve, users tend to require the ability to customize the web pages that they see, as if they were applications themselves. We have, therefore, arrived at a time where once famous web sites have grown to become so-called web applications, where they don't only serve the purpose of online documents, but allow users to modify them according to their needs.

Especially in a website related to art, this is more true, as users tend to have very specific tastes and likes; not only that, but when it also involves a large community, this tends to be an absolute requirement, since it is the only way to allow people to explore a wider range of art and artists. Hence, deviantART could not exist without such as feature.

This user guide aims at explaining how to use the Customizable Frontpage of deviantART, which can range from a very simple customization to a very complex one, if one decides to use the extensive abilities and stretch it to its limits.

Getting Started

To begin, you need a deviantART account. It is unfortunately not possible for a logged out user to have a customizable frontpage, as the customization needs to be attached to a user account and saved for that specific person, in order for them to be able to see it when they later log in again. For this reason, anonymous users only see the default frontpage. You might actually be familiar with it:



The same frontpage will be displayed as soon as you create an account and before you apply any modifications. That frontpage contains four channels:

• Newest


• Popular


• Prints


• Daily Deviations

To start customizing, click on the "Customize" button on the top right corner of your frontpage, as shown in the screenshot below:



After your click on the button shown, the customization dialog will appear, allowing you to modify your frontpage as you wish.

You can only modify your frontpage while in customization mode. You can get out of customization mode at any time by clicking the "Cancel" button. Keep in mind that this will discard any changes you have made from the moment you clicked on the "Customize" button:



...or you can click the close button on the top right corner of the box...



If you want to save your changes and get out of customization mode, you can always do that using the "OK" button. This will save your changes and reload your frontpage to display the new channels:



If you screw up at any time, you can use the reset button. Clicking it will clear all the modifications ever made to your frontpage and restore the four defaults (Newest, Popular, Prints and Daily Deviations):

Channels

A channel is a stream of deviations that are relevant to specific criteria. There are four types of channels:

• Basic Channels


• Category Channels


• Deviant Channels


• Advanced Channels

A channel can be technically anything; here are some examples:

• Popular deviations today


• Newest deviations


• Favourites of a specific user


• Popular deviations from a specific category


• Deviations by a specific artist

Your frontpage consists of several channels; when you start, you get the four default channels, which you can remove or replace.

Slots

A slot is a space where a channel can be put into. If you are a subscriber, you are allowed to have up to twenty different channels, which means that your frontpage has twenty slots; else, you are only allowed to have up to four different channels, which means that your frontpage has four slots. A slot can either be empty or occupied with a channel.

Empty slots are not being shown on your frontpage. If, for example, you have four slots and one of them is empty, you will only see three channels when you open up your frontpage. Empty slots are only visible during customization. An empty slot is denoted during customization as "(empty)" and is semi-transparent to illustrate that no channel has been assigned to it:



Occupied slots, on the other hand are opaque and are entitled after the channel they contain.

You can see the number of available slots at the top of the customization dialog:



If you are a non-subscriber, your 16 non-available slots will be denoted as "(reserved)" and shown in red, to illustrate that no channels can be assigned to them, while they are again semi-transparent to illustrate that no channel has been assigned to them.

Empty slots are collapsed when you save your frontpage. This means that your empty slots will always fall through to the end of the list when you save, keeping all the occupied slots at the top. You can have empty slots between occupied slots during editing, to help you manage your frontpage, but they will be moved to the bottom as soon as you save.

Modifying a Slot

To modify a slot, first click on the slot that you want to change. The slot will turn blue, illustrating that it is currently being edited. A yellow bubble will appear letting you edit the specific slot, as shown in the screenshot below:



To save your modifications, you will need to click on the "OK" button of the bubble. Keep in mind that this is different from the "OK" button of the dialog!



You might notice that the slot title might occasionally change to "..." while you are modifying the slot. This is nothing to be worried about, as it means that the slot's title is yet to be determined, since you have to save your changes for that slot first.

Deleting a Channel

The easiest task you can perform when modifying a slot is simply delete the channel it contains and leave it empty. To do that, start modifying the slot as described above, and click on the "Delete" button:



The slots below will replace the deleted slot, if any. Keep in mind that deleting an empty slot does not affect it in any way.

Moving a Slot

You can reorder the slots by dragging them around. Click and drag a slot above or below another slot to reposition it to the position you want.



Keep in mind that empty slots (or reserved ones) cannot be dragged around. You can, however, drag an occupied slot in the middle of a bunch of empty slots.

Adding a Channel

To add a new channel, select an empty slot. It will turn blue, illustrating that you're editing the selected empty slot, and a yellow bubble will appear. You can select details for the selected slot inside the bubble. After you have finished making your selections, click on the "OK" button of the bubble to save your changes for the specific slot.

Choosing a Channel Type

When the yellow bubble is visible, whether you're about to edit an existing slot or create a new one, you first get to pick the channel type. As mentioned above, you can choose between four different types of channels: "Basic", "Category", "Deviant", and "Search". When you choose any channel type, it's highlighted and more options are displayed regarding it inside the bubble. Try, for example, modifying a slot and picking the "Category" channel type. Here's how this would look like:

Basic

The Basic channel type allows you to use one of the following channels. Just click on one of them to use it.

Newest

This basic channel displays newest deviations as they are submitted! If you like new and infamous art, this is definitely a must-have.

Popular

This basic channel shows popular deviations from the last 24 hours. It's really interesting what you can find here, as art from all categories gets mixed up to form this beautiful channel.

Prints

This basic channel displays today's prints. As prints go through quality assurance processes, this also most probably will show good pieces of art, that are also available as prints. If you're looking to decorate your room, be sure to have this on your frontpage until you find something cool.

Daily Deviations

This basic channel displays staff picks for today. These pieces are chosen by deviantART staff, between lots of others, because of their good quality.

(empty)

Selecting this basic channel is equivalent with deleting the selected slot. It clears the slot and moves it to the bottom so that other occupied slots can be shown at the top.

deviantWATCH

This basic channel displays the latest submissions from people in your deviantWATCH. This channel is only available to subscribers.

Category

The Category channel type allows you to use a category as your channel. From the "Show" box select either "Newest" or "Popular". "Newest" will show the latest submissions in the category. "Popular" will show more popular pieces of the category. To pick a category, click on the "All Categories" link next to the "In:" label, as shown in the screenshot below:



Navigate through the menu to pick the category you'd like, then click on it. The text "All Categories" will change to depict your choice.

Deviant

The Deviant channel type allows you to show art related to a specific deviant. Start by typing the name of the deviant you are interested in, in the "Who" textbox. If the user is in your friends, you can either type their name or pick them from the Friends box. To open the Friends box, click on the "Friends..." link inside the bubble. You will then be able to pick one of your friends to use as the target of the deviant-type channel:



After you decide which deviant you want the channel to be about, you will have to pick what you want to see from that user. Possible options are "Newest" and "Favourites", which you can pick from the menu appearing right below the "Who" textbox. Picking "Newest" will display the latest submissions by that specific user, while "Favourites" will display the latest deviations added to the user's favourites.

Search

The search channel, sometimes referred-to as the "advanced channel", allows you to create any type of channel you want, with practically no limitations. You can use the "Keywords" textbox to create a channel out of anything you can think of. The option box on the right allows you to choose between "Newest" and "Popular" deviations. "Newest" will display latest submissions that match your search criteria, while "Popular" shows most popular deviations according to your search criteria.

The "Just Prints" checkbox can be used to filter out prints only. When checked, non-prints deviations matching your search criteria will not be displayed. When unchecked, all deviations matching your search criteria will be displayed:



You can use the "Categories" link below the "Keywords" textbox to add a criterion that will only show deviations from a specific category. You can use the "Friends" link below the "Keywords" textbox to only show deviations from a specific deviant. Both these utilities will add a keyword to the existing keywords typed in the "Keywords" textbox.

Keywords can contain anything really. For example, you can use the word "fish" to only show deviations related to fishes. Or the word "cat". Or "love". You can separate multiple terms by spaces; if you do, only deviations matching all your terms will be displayed. This functionality is really similar to the search feature of deviantART. You might be interested in more details about stuff you can search for.

+frontpage

On certain deviantART browse pages, such as the pages in which you can browse for a specific category, a certain artist's art, or a user's favourites, you will see the +frontpage button:

<img src="[link]"  alt="The +frontpage Button" />

This button can be used to add the channel you are currently browsing to your frontpage. To do so, click on it. A dialog similar to the frontpage customization dialog will appear:



The functionality of this dialog is similar to the one of the frontpage customization dialog -- only with certain limitations. It will create a new channel in one of your empty slots (if any) and let you move it to the position you want by dragging the slot around. The "OK", "Cancel" and closing buttons work similarly. You can modify the slots added using the +frontpage method by customizing your frontpage as described above.

In case your frontpage does not have an empty slot, the following dialog will appear, allowing you to choose which slot's channel you want to replace with your new channel:



To do so, simply pick a slot to empty by clicking on the selection button next to it. The channel of the slot you pick will be replaced by your new channel after you confirm by clicking the OK button.

Epilogue

So, play with customization; now you can have any type of art you want, right on your frontpage:

Update: Please leave me a message on thisJournal Posting. I can answer questions much faster that way. -Thank You

As of right now the help desk is currently being delayed. Much of this is due to an increase in duplicate bug reports relating to version 6.

To help our Help Desk Staff please do the following before reporting a potential bug:

1. check the status forum to ensure it hasn't already been reported

2. Check your personal browser extensions! sometimes it's something completely unrelated that is causing deviantART to go haywire for you and has often been related to extensions you guys have plugged into your browser.  Disable them and ensure the bug can be reproduced.

3. If your bug still exists and to your knowledge has not been reported yet, send a report to the help desk that tells them succinctly what the bug is, how it's happening, what you are doing that is causing it to happen, what operating system and browser you are using and if applicable, attach links to screen shots (you can upload them to your scraps for this purpose)

4.  Then please be patient.  Sending a new query to the help desk every day doesn't make them work faster, it's demoralizing and time consuming and they deserve your respect and understanding, please give them time to do their job.


If we can work together on this, we will clean up this backlog and get our Help Desk team back to running at premium levels!

lolly help's explain Subscriber Features and Version 6. Please give it a read through. deviantART needs to hear from it's community in order to make an informed decision.

Also check out the Weekly Help Desk Updates - July 18th, 2008. V6 issues are known and have been taken care of. If for some reason you are still experiencing some mishap please contact the Help Desk. They will be able to get to you as soon as they humanly can.

Apparently this needs to have it's very own section. I can understand the confusion but please know that deviantART has not over looked it's actual paying members. You are in fact the people that helped pay for the upgrade. The powers that be have upgrades to these upgrades, and they will be subscriber only. I cannot say what these new features are or when these extra features will start to roll out (I'm assuming sometime after all deviants are migrated to the new system) However, if you thought thumbs in your inbox was the best it could get... Think Again.

Check out the video Tutorial

The Staff is asking if you have a suggestion that you would like to see implemented on the site that you leave a comment on the Orginal V6 Launch Article. This is not a guarantee that it will happen, but at least they can keep track of all the wishes you guys have.

`TheRyanFord has posted a journal explaining Why We Did Things in V6. It is a great read, please give it a go over

The Help desk is asking that you please hold off with your help desk tickets until Monday. The IT department is aware of most (if not all) issues plaguing users and are working hard though the weekend to rectify things. Please be patcient and if the issue still persists into the new week contact the Help Desk for further help.

Okay so if you haven't noticed V6 was launched late last night/early morning (depending on your time zone) to mixed reviews.

We as admins have had a little more time with it than the rest of the masses and as such I thought I would volunteer my knowledge with whomever is interested. Rather than complain that everything is different perhaps I can help show you how much more user friendly and easier the site is to navigate.

So... if you have a question concerning V6 please ask it. If you know of someone who is having troubles, please link them here. I will be updating this journal with your questions and hopefully answers to said questions.

• Q. Why is dA so Slow? (or another variation containing obscene language)
  A. deviantART is currently in the process of moving over Billions (yes that's right with a b) to the new message center. Please be patient, I know this is a lot to ask but if it is bugging you that much, trying blogging, reading some RSS poke your friends on face book or try stepping away from the computer for a bit. The fresh air is good for you and a walk around your block can help energize your creative juices


• Q. Is there an option to Switch back to V5?
  A. No there is not. Believe it or not dA isn't out to get you. The deviantART staff only has your best interest at hearts, and seeing everyone upset about this change is really not aura positive. Yes you are allowed your opinion, but please take a moment to look things over before you decide you hate it. This version has only been out a few hours, the least you could do is play around with it for a day or two.


• Q. What is the point of a paid subscription anymore? Every deviant has the same features!
  A. deviantART has not over looked it's actual paying members. You are in fact the people that helped pay for the upgrade. The powers that be have upgrades to these upgrades, and they will be subscriber only. I cannot say what these new features are or when these extra features will start to roll out (I'm assuming sometime after all deviants are migrated to the new system) However, if you thought thumbs in your inbox was the best it could get... Think Again.


• Q. Why is my message centre all grouped into one window  and only see a few messages at a time?
  A. dA has slimmed down the message centre, yes. But is it the end of the world?... I hardly think so. If you look to the left in your new centres there lies the snazzy new side bar. This sidebar gives you access to every different type of message you can receive though dA. You can choose to view just your deviations/news/polls etc. and now your inbox recognizes the difference between brand new
  comments and replies to previous comments you have left. And to top it all off... If the preset dA pages aren't enough, you can make your own folders and store your messages for all eternity! It's like collections for your inbox... can I getta w00t w00t?!


• Q. Why wasn't I warned that dA was updating it's look?
  A. This question baffles me... deviantART staff members have been pushing out journals and news articles and the head honcho himself had even started to post deviations showing off dA's sleek new look from way back in april. This update isn't something they just cooked up yesterday and threw at you today. It has been building for years.


• Q. Where are my channels?
  A. You are not able to set your channels as your homepage any longer unless you redo your browsers bookmark to the new channels page. That being said, your channels have not left you. They have just been moved to a new (sexy) location. If you are having trouble finding it, try exploring the new top bar navigations system. Click on the button labeled "More" (next to the search box) to get a nifty new drop down. Your channels should be located on the first window that shows. And best of all, if you don't like the links that are in the top nav, you can change them! Go ahead, drag and drop as many as you wish, in any order that you please.


• Q. Why can't I view more than 4 deviations?
  A. The new message centres are just that... New. New things take some time to get all the bugs out. The help desk is aware of the issue so rest assured it will be taken care of.


• Q. Why am I missing messages?
  A.The new system is migrating billions of messages over to the new system. It is asked of you to give them some time over the weekend to sift through all the stragglers. Your patience is greatly appreciated.


• Q. Why is the new theme so hard to read?
  A.deviantART has always had a green color scheme. Nothing new there. What is new however is that a few colorblind users are experiencing troubles reading the text through out the site. unfortunately there is no readily available fix for this issue. If you are having an issue try adjusting your monitors contrast. The only other information I can give you is that you must wait until the skinners and themes get their hands on the base code and can write a theme that can help rectify the situation.


• Q. Why am I sporadically being logged out?
  A.There was an outbreak of this happening before V6. However there have been reports about people being signed out unexpectedly since the migration. The help desk is now aware so no need to bug them again unless the problem persists over a few days. I understand it can be very annoying but your patience in this matter would be greatly appreciated.


• Q. Which existing features are still "Subscribed Users Only"?
  A. The current paying member features are:
       
  * Get up to 120 Deviations per page when browsing
       * Browse with No Ads
       * Browse Way Back all the way to 2000
       * Customize 20 slots on your channels page
       * Download art to your Mobile Phone with deviantMOBILE
  
       * Make journals with Polls, Forum, Shoutbox, and CSS


• Q. What happened to the "Update Message Center" button?
  A. The update messages button has become obsolete. The only reason for it was to refresh the page so that older messages would show on the same page. Currently the new centre automatically pushes your older messages forward ever time you delete one until there are no more.


• Q. Why am I unable to purchase/renew a subscription?
  A. There are more and more instances of this popping up. It is a known issue and the IT team is working hard to fix it. If the problem persists into the the new week then you are asked to contact the help desk.


• Q. How do I manage my friends list?
  A. On the nav bar (up top), if you go into "more" and then "account tools" you'll see the manage friends button. You can customize your top bar with the things you use the most! So feel free to drag and drop.


• Q. When I click the view as thumbs or list in the message centre it changes to the default every time I come to the new centre... why?
  A. Again, the new message centre is one of the biggest deals of this migration. Things will eventually be able to save as you last saw them. Time is all we ask for.


• Q. How can I search under a specific gallery?
  A. If you type in a what you are looking for in the search box and hit search then use the side bar on the left to navigate into the gallery of your choosing you will be able to search just that gallery. You can also switch the gallery at any time. In order to cancel the search you will see a blue [x] up top under the gallery description. Clicking that will return you to normal viewing mode. The new search engine is really intuitive. But you first must give it all the information it needs to search correctly.


• Q. Where are all of my messages?
  A. There have been some issues with the migration and some deviants are experiencing phantom messages. Do not worry about your Message Center messages being lost! Even if something goes wrong, all Message Center messages have been backed up for you on multiple redundant clusters of servers. So once bugs are dealt with you will be sure to get everything.


• Q. Why am I unable to submit a deviation/print?
  A. The deviant art gallery has had a face lift. Some people are unable to post new deviations/prints. We apologize greatly for this inconvenience and will try to have things sorted out as soon as possible. The IT depart is aware of this issue and is working hard to rectify the situation. Please hold off on contacting the help desk unless the problem continues into the new week.


• Q. What happened to right clicking in my inbox?
  A. The right click feature has not been disabled. However, there are a few deviants experiencing this problem. If you are unable to right click and "open in a new tab" try ctrl+click ing (mac = command+click) to open it in a new tab? If this doesn't work then give it a few hours. I'm sure it will be worked through


• Q. Why can't I view past the first page of thumbs in any gallery (including users)?
  A. This has started to pop up for a few users now. The problem is being looked at I'm sure, and will be rectified as soon as possible. You are still able to browse though a users gallery using the "back" and "forward" button above every deviation. It does take a while longer but it is a way around the issue for the moment.


• Q. Why does my browser crash when I try to delete from my inbox?
  A. There are gremlins in the code o.O  no really... there are. They are small though so you can't see them... Not to worry, we just recently acquired a large shipment from Guatemala of Code Monkey's that are genetically engineered to only eat the code gremlins. But what about when they have eaten all the gremlins you say? Will they turn on us? Fear not good citizens once the Monkey's have depleted their food source they are programmed to turn cannibalistic so no messy clean up... well no cleanup at least.


• Q. Why can't I check my inbox from my mobile phone?
  A. There is an issue with the new message center and Windows Mobile Browser. There has been a request put into the Help Desk regarding this situation and as soon as something is known I will put it up here. I do know that there were talks of upgrading the iPhone version of dA so that users will be able to check their messages, so if this comes into effect I see no reason a fix for other mobile browsers wouldn't be on the horizon.

That's all I could muster for now. Please also see the Journal Posting. Also please, please,Please if you have a question about where a feature is "hidden" or are just lost in general, please ask away. I'll be happy to help in any way I can, and who knows... maybe you're asking something someone else needs the answer too. You'll be doing the community a great service. Also if you found something you think is helpful I'll be happy to post it. The best weapon against confusion is information. Help me Help you.

Valid questions only please. I do not need to be spammed with "OMG I hate it! turnz it backorz plz!" If you need to vent you are most certainly welcome to do so. However there are special venues dedicated to this. Your opinions are all valid and very much respected, we just ask that you take all of your complaints to either your personal journals or to the Dedicated Forum

~Chris

Introduction

Hello and welcome to the newly revised Help Desk Guide entitled "How to: Submit a Help Desk Inquiry". A lot has changed since the last time this guide was released and rather then refresh the old guide via an edit we have decided it's best to deliver this and each and every other 'How to' guide as new guides.

Before Submitting your Inquiry

There are a three main areas you should always check before submitting an inquiry, as your question or questions may already be covered there. These three areas are the deviantART Status Forum, the deviantART Inc. News section and the +faq.

If you have checked these locations and you still have not found your answer, or the answer you have found is not clear enough, you may follow the steps listed below to help guide you in successfully sending a Help Desk inquiry.

Submitting your Inquiry

Step 1 - The first thing you will need to do is make sure you're logged in, once you're certain you are logged in you will need to click on the 'Help & FAQ' link, located in the footer of most deviantART pages. (Please also see FAQ:860 to learn other contact points)




Step 2 - Once you have clicked the 'Help & FAQ' link you will be taken to the help page, otherwise known as the FAQ. Once on the help page you will need to click on 'Contact the Help Desk' from the left hand side menu.




Step 3 - You will next be presented with the Help Desk contact form, from here you will need to the select the 'Category' from the 'Category' drop down menu, that best suits your inquiry. In this guide we will select "Bug Report".




Step 4 - Once you have selected your Category you will need to type your message up in the field entitled "Help Request".


Example Message

---

Hello Ladies,

I cannot submit any art at this time as the category picker will not allow me to select any category!  

----






Step 5 - After you have typed up your inquiry, you may wish to review your message to make sure you have included everything. Do so by clicking on the button entitled "Preview Help Request". Once satisfied with your message you will next need to click on "Submit Help Request". If your message has been sent to us successfully you will next be presented with a message of thanks.



--

That's it, you're done! You should now receive a response to your request from the Help Desk Staff within 48 hours or less, during the normal Help Desk hours.

Wait Hexe! I have not received a reply to an inquiry I have submitted some weeks or a month ago. What could cause this? It is very rare we will not answer an inquiry submitted to us but in the rare instance you have not received a response, please see FAQ #215: I have not received a response to my Help Desk Inquiry? What could be the reason or reasons for this?  

Pstttt Hexe! This Guide is great and all but I have a problem not covered yet! I cannot login to the Help Desk because I have forgotten my password. Can I still contact the Help Desk? Yes you can, you may do so by emailing us @ help@deviantart.com .

We hope you have found the above information helpful.

-----
Much ,
The Help Desk Team
`hexentanz , $ewm and $y2jenn

Hello yet again! Welcome to part 3 of Getting the most out of your CSS Journals. If you haven't done so already, check out parts One and Two. In this edition, we'll be dealing with custom journal icon images, using Pasties in your journals, journal features (showcasing some of the top journals around dA) and as an added bonus, a really nifty PHP script you can download to compliment the use of pasties in journals. Onwards we go!

Custom Journal Images

Sure, the little blue book works well with some themes, but it's not always the most gorgeous thing to see. Hiding it isn't always an option. Sometimes you just want to use your own journal icons. Unfortunately dA doesn't have a way to let you take care of this. But CSS does!

HTML:



CSS:

.journalbox .journaltop img {
display:none;

}

.journalicon {
top:12px;
left:5px;
position:absolute;
}

.journaltop h2 {
padding-left:20px;
}

This works well with the default dA journal layout. Of course you'll need to change the values a bit for your journal if it doesn't look right.

Pasties-Like images in your journal!

This is an extension on Last week's GD / PHP write-up. Recently, dA introduced Pasties. Little javascript snippets that allow you to display images on your website, from dA. Using GD and PHP, you can harness the power of pasties, in your journal. However pasties are slow on the update. The latest image on dA isn't always the latest. What if you could have up to the second images on dA, or anywhere you so desire? Included in my gallery, is a PHP script that lets you grab pictures from dA, much in the same way as pasties, but a lot more flexible. It's free to use in your gallery.

You can download the script from here. Make sure you read everything carefully!

Journal features

This is the place to showcase journals that show an exceptional amount of design work, and a unique sense of style. This week's showcased journals are:

`mynti

This deviant's journal is a showcase of what one can do with a simple layout and some colourful images. She also does templates for use on dA. A nice clean layout, with variation in colour and style, equals one awesome layout!

`janvanlysebettens

`janvanlysebettens knows his CSS, and isn't afraid to use it. His collaboration with `lonelyarethebrave to bring you a vista-style journal skin is certainly one to check out.

:silverspider2005:

A superb use of Z-Ordering, and breaking out of the traditional square journal mould, silverspider2005 has crafted a journal both easy on the eyes, and a footer to die for



And that concludes week three. Stay tuned for next time, when we reveal more tips, tricks and hacks for journals. If you have a hack, or want to suggest an awesome journal layout, feel free to Note me and we'll work something out. See you all around!