steezyjibberThis is a conversation that comes up occasionally, but in my opinion the login page looks way outdated. So I made this thread to bounce new ideas around.

I think since this site has such a focus on high quality visual content, the login page should show it. When there's a video of the day , I say we should do something like this (without music):

grantsinger.com

For most images, something like this (I know that's not a great photo):

nowiamheredoingthis.com

And for vertical images, something like this:

rodolfotortima.com

Most of these aren't possible without doing the splash page manually every day. That sort of defeats (at least the current) purpose of it.

To be honest, especially since so much of the traffic is mobile these days there's an argument against even having a splash page anymore.

You may also remember we tried a full version of the splash page like the first and last you suggested, but it wasn't popular at all. Blending vertical and horizontal images with different aspect ratios simply doesn't work. Generating videos like you showed doesn't work.

It doesn't work because we accept user uploads. In order to design these stunningly beautiful landing pages, you have to match them to a totally specific image. That image is made for that spot. That video clip is designed to fit with a user expecting that.

This is why a lot of stuff we do on NS isn't able to use the crazy awesome new design principles that have come out. We have to make dramatic changes to either the policies of what we accept, or move to a drastically more editorialized experience.

I'm all for discussion around it, but many of the ideas you dig up which have been specifically graphically designed/coded around that image will not ever work for our current setup.