Desktop Nexus Wallpapers
June 11, 2008 10:03 PM Subscribe
Desktop Nexus Wallpapers
I started Desktop Nexus about two years ago as a simple wallpaper gallery. We grew quickly and developed a strong community of over 6,000 members, but we weren’t quite where I wanted to be in the market, so about a 8 months ago I started over. Every line of code in Desktop Nexus was rewritten, and every internal process was reworked and optimized. The entire site was redeveloped with a slew of new features (tags, popular wallpapers, etc), and a much improved user interface. I worked night and day for the better part of a year on this version, and we just recently launched it publicly. I’m very curious what MeFi thinks of this relaunch, so please leave me your thoughts below.
Taking a step back, why wallpapers? The wallpaper market is a billion dollar industry, but it’s one with no industry leader. If you want to buy a book, you immediately go to Amazon. If you want to buy a plane ticket, you go to Travelocity or Expedia. But if you get bored of your computer background, where can you go? Sure the geekiest of us know a handful of sites, but my point is there’s no household name brand. There’s no clear industry leader. I’ve devoted countless amounts of time, energy, and money into Desktop Nexus, and hopefully with this new version we’ll grow to the next level.
So, what are some of the cool, new features of Desktop Nexus? Well for one, we have a server that’s dedicated job 24 hours a day is to collect information on the wallpapers and compare them against each other. You’ll notice on most wallpaper pages, there’s a box in the bottom-right corner titled “Related Wallpapers”. The server calculates what it believes (algorithmically) are the most similar background images on the site to the one you’re currently viewing and displays them.
Additionally, most wallpaper sites require you to sift through a plethora of resolutions and choices to download your wallpaper…. or they give you no choices and always show the wallpaper in the same static size. Desktop Nexus has technology behind the site that eliminates the computer savvy requirement that most wallpaper sites impose. We want a grandmother with absolutely no computer experience to be able to use our site… so we replaced all those options with a big blue “Download Now” button on each wallpaper page. Click that button and our system will automatically detect your aspect ratio and monitor resolution, and then deliver the wallpaper to you in the size you need to fit your screen perfectly. However, if you’d prefer to force a resolution, or if you want to download the wallpaper in another size, such as for your iPhone, you can click the Options button in the top right corner of the download page, and select another resolution.
Anyway, there’s a lot more to the site than just this, but hopefully this will entice you guys to check it out and leave some feedback with your thoughts. Thanks!
I started Desktop Nexus about two years ago as a simple wallpaper gallery. We grew quickly and developed a strong community of over 6,000 members, but we weren’t quite where I wanted to be in the market, so about a 8 months ago I started over. Every line of code in Desktop Nexus was rewritten, and every internal process was reworked and optimized. The entire site was redeveloped with a slew of new features (tags, popular wallpapers, etc), and a much improved user interface. I worked night and day for the better part of a year on this version, and we just recently launched it publicly. I’m very curious what MeFi thinks of this relaunch, so please leave me your thoughts below.
Taking a step back, why wallpapers? The wallpaper market is a billion dollar industry, but it’s one with no industry leader. If you want to buy a book, you immediately go to Amazon. If you want to buy a plane ticket, you go to Travelocity or Expedia. But if you get bored of your computer background, where can you go? Sure the geekiest of us know a handful of sites, but my point is there’s no household name brand. There’s no clear industry leader. I’ve devoted countless amounts of time, energy, and money into Desktop Nexus, and hopefully with this new version we’ll grow to the next level.
So, what are some of the cool, new features of Desktop Nexus? Well for one, we have a server that’s dedicated job 24 hours a day is to collect information on the wallpapers and compare them against each other. You’ll notice on most wallpaper pages, there’s a box in the bottom-right corner titled “Related Wallpapers”. The server calculates what it believes (algorithmically) are the most similar background images on the site to the one you’re currently viewing and displays them.
Additionally, most wallpaper sites require you to sift through a plethora of resolutions and choices to download your wallpaper…. or they give you no choices and always show the wallpaper in the same static size. Desktop Nexus has technology behind the site that eliminates the computer savvy requirement that most wallpaper sites impose. We want a grandmother with absolutely no computer experience to be able to use our site… so we replaced all those options with a big blue “Download Now” button on each wallpaper page. Click that button and our system will automatically detect your aspect ratio and monitor resolution, and then deliver the wallpaper to you in the size you need to fit your screen perfectly. However, if you’d prefer to force a resolution, or if you want to download the wallpaper in another size, such as for your iPhone, you can click the Options button in the top right corner of the download page, and select another resolution.
Anyway, there’s a lot more to the site than just this, but hopefully this will entice you guys to check it out and leave some feedback with your thoughts. Thanks!
What cowbello said. Your site offers top notch quality and I don't feel like my computer is being raped with a billion pop-up's and gigs of adware while browsing it. A job well done!
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:16 PM on June 12, 2008
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:16 PM on June 12, 2008
I have absolutely no interest in desktop wallpapers, but I was intrigued by the amount of effort you claim to have put in to your site. So, I visited your site, and it is indeed, a well organized, fast, clean site, offering a large selection of images for those who do have an interest in such things.
posted by paulsc at 7:05 PM on June 12, 2008
posted by paulsc at 7:05 PM on June 12, 2008
Wow, great job. Very clean, easy to use, amazing selection. Like paulsc, I'm not a big wallpaper collector but if I were this seems like the place to be. Good luck -- I'm sure it will be a success.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 8:54 PM on June 15, 2008
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 8:54 PM on June 15, 2008
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You mention Expedia, but even Expedia is downright intrusive in serving up ads and 'services'. Maybe I have a low threshold for this, but having top-notch content and not exploiting every pixel for 'monetization' spam is what impresses me most.
Best of luck!
posted by cowbellemoo at 10:27 PM on June 11, 2008