- Yea, that's right. Another Gallery? Engraved on April 29, 2008 by Michael Dick; Comments (23)
I really don't have to say it. The industry for showcasing designs in galleries is heavily crowded -- much like web hosting...if not worse. Amongst the crowed are key galleries that you may consider the best for showcasing websites. For example, I may consider CSSBeauty.com for only showcasing top notch designs. However, another person's opinion may consider CSSMania.com for showcasing just about anything.No matter the difference, there are still two similarities that every gallery in existence has in common. 1) They showcase websites. 2) They (indirectly or directly) market themselves as the best gallery. For the latter reason, is why I have launched Another-Gallery.com, which is just as it sounds...another website gallery added to the overcrowded market.
Two types of users.
There are two types of users who participate in galleries. The first is the user whom knows that the industry is crowded and has an "Oh gosh, another gallery I have to subscribe to" attitude. The next are users whom do not know better (no offense to those) and simply accept the gallery and continue on their pretty way.
Either way, if you launch a new gallery -- assuming it gets adopted by the masses -- you are more than likely only going to get the latter half of the user base to participate. The first set of users is going to (maybe) laugh at you for even attempting to launch a gallery in this overcrowded market. Then, the second set of users is going to do what I mentioned a minute ago and adopt it without knowing any better.
Same design showcased everywhere.
Another reason why you are probably going to have problems getting users to adopt your site is the fact that if you follow two or three galleries these days, it's a very small chance that a "trend changing design" is going to slip through your fingers , simply because every gallery showcases the same designs.Maybe you're marketing scheme is that your new gallery is going to only showcase unique designs. But, let's think about this...it's going to be a bit tricky trying to hide your designs from other galleries.
Too much bulk to "Get Real?"
There are some galleries that I have seen around the web which really take browsing a gallery to the next level. They have integrated some of the coolest features that I would have never thought of. But, the point is...are they needed? Are all these added features just too much?Anyone who follows my work knows that I am all about Getting Real. So, let's get real. There's no need for comments. No need for votes. No need for the ability to switch screenshot views. There's just no need for any of that stuff.
Is it cool? Sure. But, let's get real...strip it all away and just get the job done. Users just want the ability to browse through the sites to get enough of a glimpse to be able to decide whether it's worth clicking or not.
Do something different.
Sure, Another-Gallery.com is just another gallery...but the main catch is how I have decided to market it. Instead of the typical "Oh, we have the best showcase!" -- I decided to go at it from a different angle, such as, "Yea, get over it...it's another gallery...subscribe to it and move on."
Unlike newer galleries that have been popping up, I haven't developed a mind blowing feature that is going to make your browsing experience any easier. I went ahead and did away with all the bulk that you think you need.
An idea is one thing, innovation is another.
Entering an overcrowded market is one thing, but it to innovate is another. I haven't seen such an attitude in this industry yet, so I thought that there was room for change. Whether it's big enough to be called "Innovating a Market" or not, I could care less. The fact of the matter is that I saw an opportunity for change and executed it.
Regardless of the outcome for Another-Gallery.com, it's going to be my place to showcase designs that have inspired me in one way or another.
Comments
- Engraved by Brandon on 04/29/2008
- Great marketing idea!! I like how its got that sort of "ya, just another gallery, who cares, lets look and move out" idea going on.
Keep up the good work Michael!
- Engraved by Matt Sanders on 04/29/2008
- Very well said. I like the gallery. You've done a good job of making it simple and straight forward.
- Engraved by Jared on 04/29/2008
- Very nice Michael. Love the clean and simple design! All the best to your endeavors.
- Engraved by Jonic on 04/29/2008
- Nice work Mike :)
I'm just uploading a new version of my site right now as it happens, so I'll add it to the gallery!
BTW: The site's title tag is empty... Just in case you're bothered, or have you gotten so real about it that you're not even bothering with a document title? :P
- Engraved by Geoff on 04/30/2008
- Congratulations Mike,
I have to admit my initial thought was "another showcase gallery" however, this soon changed when I saw just how clean and simple your showcase was. Truly refreshing.
Keep up the great work.
Geoff
- Engraved by Brian Purkiss on 04/30/2008
- Well, I like it!
Nice design and good submissions.
I hadn't seen some of them!
- Engraved by Paul on 05/01/2008
- Loving the contemporary grunge style Michael!
- Engraved by Joshua Goodwin on 05/06/2008
- Interesting article. I find that the danger of following web design galleries is that you may end up wanting to design websites that look near-identical to loads of others.
(An additional point: casting my eyes over your Another-Gallery.com site, I notice that some text is for me overly illegible, and also you might want to pop atitletag in there.)
- Engraved by Cody on 05/07/2008
- Great update man.
- Engraved by brandy on 05/12/2008
- hmm.. did you get bored with developing pureedit? :(
honestly, i don't have much to say about this website. i find it hard to appreciate these galleries when they don't bother to say *why* the websites are so great. there's nothing *bad* about this new website, but i'd be curious to hear why you decided to create it, since it really doesn't offer anything that isn't already out there (except that these sites are "on top of their A-game," which means nothing to me when you don't express why that is).
also, it wouldn't kill you to validate your code once in awhile. ;)
sorry to be a negative ned.
- Engraved by brandy on 05/13/2008
- just to clarify, i'm not the sort who thinks any website that doesn't validate is broken. but i do think that web developers should at least check their code for silly mistakes (like closing li tags properly, *ahem*) before putting them online for the world to see. yup, typos happen, but there's really no excuse for letting them get by you with all the tools available (the validator being one of them).
okay, i'm done. good luck with the move!
- Engraved by Adi on 05/21/2008
- Hi i visited pureedit and its amazing, such a simple idea but its applications can be so huge.
Keep working man this will be big!
- Engraved by Chris Rowe on 05/29/2008
- Hi Michael,
I've been using PureEdit for some work too, just a thankyou for all your hard work on it. Also, are you aware another-gallery has hit a bandwidth limit. I needed a site URL off it and can't get to it :(
Cheers
Chris
- Engraved by brandy on 07/21/2008
- hmm, your database seems to be a little wonky. it says "my search" (what search?) returned 0 results, and there's some mysql error. also noticed that even with 0 results, i can continue moving forward in pages via the next/previous buttons.
Give your word.
HTML is allowed...line breaks are converted to <br />'s. You need to be somewhat friendly, at least to me or you'll get deleted. Now off, go post!