Site Update: Group Comment Messages, Group Widgets

May 24, 201215 min read

Deviation Actions

Published: May 24, 2012

63.3K Views

In our continuous effort to improve the deviantART experience, we're publishing Site Updates to keep members informed and to gather feedback. Below is a list of recent changes to the site, bug fixes, and feedback that was brought up by members in the last Site Update.

What's New

Group Journal Comment Messages for Admins

Screenshot of Groups Message Center Notifications by danlev

Over the past few months, many members have been asking to bring back the feature where Group admins receive Message Center notifications when members comment on their Groups' journals. This week, we brought back this functionality and messages will now be appearing for all new comments.

Group journal messages will appear for all users who have administrative powers over that Group's journal. For example, if the "Contributors" admin class is set to 'Can add/edit most content rights' on Journals, then Journal comments will show up in the Group Message Center for all Contributors in that group.

Improved Groups Widget

The Groups widget on your profile has been improved, so that the distinction between being a member of a Group and being an admin of a Group is more clear.

The widget will now display on your page with two subheadings, so that any visitor to your page will be able to distinguish between the Groups you admin and the Groups you take part in as a member.

Justified Big Thumbnails (Beta Testers Only)

Based on feedback received, we've updated the new thumbnails to be justified. Thumbnails are now spaced out across the rows, making them flush against the left and right sides of the page.

When a browser's window is too small, justification cannot happen without leaving larger awkward spaces. In these cases, justification is turned off and thumbnails become left aligned. We think these changes present the most appealing interface for both cases.

Want to try this feature? Upgrade to a Premium Membership and enable Beta Testing in your Account Settings.

Bug Fixes

General

Literature tags did not migrate with username changes. Fixed by ZombieCoder
While browsing past the first page of a member's journal, there were some issues switching between pages of the journal history widget. Fixed by allixsenos
There was a bug with gifting Premium Memberships anonymously. Fixed by ZombieCoder
Improvements to customizations of the journal widget had side effects on featured deviation widgets for literature. Fixed by ZombieCoder
The "Send Note" button was missing from the "Send Note" modal on profile pages. Fixed by KnightAR
Names of closed groups were not available for new group creation. Fixed by muteor
Fixed drag and drop issues when selecting a literature thumbnail's author tag. Fixed by drommk
The Browser Scripts and Extensions category did not allow .CRX file types. Fixed by shadowhand
Found several bugs related to mixed Message Center stacks of journals and news messages. Fixed by kemayo

deviantART muro

Made deviantART muro faster to load. Fixed by mudimba
Found a case where immediately after using the "save as" function, the file could be corrupted. Fixed by mudimba
Found a problem in the webink and basic brushes. Fixed by Nodren
Discovered that drawn comments were failing to save for a period of time. Fixed by Nodren

Sta.sh

A small number of Sta.sh items were orphaned from stacks. Fixed by shadowhand
Wrong styling existed on literature deviations. Fixed by samshull
The Sta.sh logo was unclickable on public URLs. Fixed by samshull
Deleting items from stacks broke the ability to browse using the "next" and "previous" buttons. Fixed by samshull

Sta.sh Writer

Writer and its toolbar could overlap in certain situations. Fixed by inazar
Clicking a deviantART muro recording in the sidebar did not look nice. We made it look nice. Fixed by Alisey
The "edit draft" command from pencil menus has been removed. Fixed by Alisey

Your Feedback

In last week's discussion, feedback included:

The responses to implementing Group Forums were universally positive.
Many users liked the idea of differentiating signatures from the comments they're attached to, but some were opposed to changing colors to do so.
It was suggested that opening a new Sta.sh Writer document should automatically load the last skin you used.

Bugs, issues, and feedback from previous Site Updates

Discuss!

Last week we received fantastic feedback on Group Forums, something that has been requested for quite some time from deviants. This week, we'd like to continue our Groups-related discussions:

Super Groups are deviantART's premium Groups platform, allowing for extra customization, including renaming Admin classes, changing your group's layout, using group journal skins, and more.

Are you in any Super Groups? Do you find them useful? What features do you enjoy about Super Groups? What features would you like to see in Super Groups? How do you feel about the differences between Groups and Super Groups?

We'd like to get an idea of how you utilize the Super Groups features, if you do. If you don't, why not?

Have a suggestion, idea, or feedback? Leave a comment on this article!
Find a bug? Report it to the Help Desk! (Be as detailed as possible!)