Inkbunny breaks even on hosting, while ArtSpots revamps
Furry art gallery Inkbunny says it is covering hosting costs from sales after three months of operation. The maximum file size of free works has also doubled to 20Mb. The site, launched in June, sells artists' prints and downloads for a 20% cut, and hosts over 15,000 works.
Meanwhile, all-ages art site ArtSpots has undergone a complete redesign – much to the surprise of users. While many praised the new layout, not all like the "blog-like" artist homepages, and some feel the new site lacks useful features like sketch chat.
The changes come not long after Fur Affinity updated its own menu style. The new design provides slightly cleaner visuals and more horizontal space, but also more prominent ads.
About the author
GreenReaper (Laurence Parry) — read stories — contact (login required)a developer, editor and Kai Norn from London, United Kingdom, interested in wikis and computers
Small fuzzy creature who likes cheese & carrots. Founder of WikiFur, lead admin of Inkbunny, and Editor-in-Chief of Flayrah.
Comments
I don't like it. I like the old layout of artspots a lot more.
I agree. I like some of the new redesign, but favor more of the old. However, it's still in transition, and I'm waiting to see how the final product looks. Maybe when they've finished, the good changes will outweigh the bad changes.
Well could be worse, at least they didn't do what digg.com did.
Yuck on a stick it was the ugliest layout change... to many people trying to look like facebook these days.
Then again having witnessed many website revamps, it's always difficult to make most people happy, often it's a matter of people accepting and only appreciating the virtues of the new design when it's someday replaced once again. Oh people hehe, how they make me titter.
The only approach to take is to change it regardless of the backlash, else you end up like FurAffinity, too scared to change (and I mean proper change, not move some bits around) because there's a strange contradiction. Many don't like the layout and interface, yet they equally appreciate its familiarity and will not appreciate a radical new look. Ah the trouble of being a web designer.
It's good to see InkBunny's model of financial sustainability coming to fruitation and further strengthening my view that a well thought out funding model is the way forward for large furry community sites rather than the old noughties model of holding out a begging bowl.
It's fine to run on donations if you want to be a non-profit, and are willing to run like one. Inkbunny is trying to be a business, and that's probably a better model for a site where you pay for art.
I take it everyone is preparing to the inevitable influx like last year?
I think a lot of it depends on site growth. A story I wrote that has over 400 views on FA has only 12 on Inkbunny. Breaking even in the short run is okay, but costs ramp with traffic and users.
I hope the former softpaw guys can do well with Inkbunny. It's a good site , well coded, and has a nice sales engine. Just hope it can scale.
Costs do increase, but economies of scale can also be realized. You can do a lot with caching.
Starling's has experience in this area, so I think it'll be fine as long as he has time for the site.
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