The Desktops Conundrum
Posted December 31st, 2008 @ 10:27am by Erik J. Barzeski
Though the Desktops I offer were initially well-received, they've not exactly been downloaded at a steady clip. Some aren't downloaded at all, and even the "popular" ones have tailed off dramatically.
I haven't been promoting them much, and after the initial batch, I only refreshed the listing once. That, no doubt, led to some of the stagnation.
Thing is, I don't really want to close it up. The script is still probably valuable to someone and I still like showing off a few photos. Though I can (and do) also do that at my photoblog, those images are capped at 950 pixels in width and are unsuitable as desktop pictures.
So what should I do? The way I see it, I've got a few options.
- Close it down. Gosh I hate dead links, though.
- Re-commit to adding a few photos every few weeks and removing poorly performing ones. Post when I make a change.
- Drastically cut down on the functionality of the site: release three to six photos every month (perhaps even on the first of each month) in a "limited edition" sort of fashion.
To be honest, the last one seems most appealing to me, but maybe it's not good for other people or there's a better idea I've not yet come up with.
Donate Life
Posted 31 Dec 2008 at 11:19am #
I'd vote for option 2 or 3. You have some pretty cool stuff out there, and it would be nice to see some new stuff.
Just my $.02.
Posted 31 Dec 2008 at 11:23am #
I'd go for option 3.
Posted 01 Jan 2009 at 11:10am #
Thanks. I've gone with the third option.
Posted 01 Jan 2009 at 11:20am #
[...] yesterday's post, I've resolved to do the third option: "limited edition" type releases in very small number. I'll [...]
Posted 01 Jan 2009 at 9:31pm #
I'd post the images to flickr, myself. A blog for only the photos seems like too much of a hassle and it'd take too much time.
Posted 01 Jan 2009 at 9:51pm #
[quote comment="51940"]A blog for only the photos seems like too much of a hassle and it'd take too much time.[/quote]
It's really not much of a hassle. I just have to remember to do it, and I now have an iCal reminder. Gonna be lot easier to do with only three images.
The workflow is rather simple. I delete all the existing images. I export new images at the proper resolution (pre-set in Aperture). Two Automator scripts generate thumbnails and previews. I upload.
The Desktops page has a script that handles everything else via some PHP.
Among the things flickr can't do here:
I like flickr a lot, but it'd be a total failure for this.