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Deviant Art (or deviantART as it's spelt on the website) is huge. As I write this there are 21,805,001 submissions to this online art community and the number goes up faster than the seconds. It's true, on the front page of deviantART, it has the number which you can watch tick over each time a deviation is submitted (on deviantART, submissions are referred to as 'deviations').
The front page of deviantART is wonderful. From top to bottom we have the title (and also a link to the front page) and a search bar. If you use the search bar it will give you pages of thumbnails of deviations that have something to do with the keywords you enter. Under that there is a small bar with your user name, or if you aren't registered a link that says 'become a deviant'. This bar also includes much useful information such as how many messages you have as well as the type of message denoted with a letter beside the number. And aligned to the right you can create a journal entry or change your profile and account settings. Under that there is the main navigation bar with clear links with icons to make them easier to understand (I love that). Included in this navigation bar is a help link which takes you to a page with topics on the left and a search bar and content area on the right. If you use the search, the content page will refresh as you type! Before you've even finished your work a list of topics will appear in the content area and change as you continue to type. Here you can find basically anything you need to know about deviantART. Wonderful.
Underneath the main navigation bar is the rest of the site. The main bar that I have just described always stays there wherever you are in the community, making it very easy to keep your bearings and be updated on your messages (comments can roll in fast if your having a conversation with someone).
As I said before, the front page is wonderful, because there are no annoying ads and the page is so well laid out. There is one ad by google that is tucked neatly on the side, further down the page. At the top there are tabs. The first one is welcome and it includes 5 of the latest submissions. Every time you refresh the page the pictures will be different. Underneath the latest deviations there are today's favourite prints and todays favourites. These are the best deviations on the site as rated by the users. To the right of this, there is a daily deviation which is part of the daily deviations under the features tab that is next to the welcome tab and the today tab. All these tabs provide the user with the most recent and best deviations. As you move down the page things become more specific with links to different categories and lastly, the news and links to deviantART's partners, which is so nice...that annoying news is kept out of the way and it's the art that takes priority here.
I've just spent the better part of this article describing the front page, but there is so much more that is great about deviantART. I may have a biased view because it is the community that I am most active in and am also subscribed to. I would recommend subscribing to anyone who loves art.
Browsing deviantART is so much much. Just click on the browse button and you will be taken to a page of the most recent deviations, probably 24 thumbnails per page. That's the maximum for regular members, but subscribed members can choose to show up to 120 (that's what I do). You can choose a category and then a subcategory (makes things so easy to find) and then you can sort by date or by popularity.
The member pages are very well laid out with summarised relevant information about the artist and their gallery stats at the top and then links to different parts of the member's site such as their gallery, their scraps, their journal, etc. Lower down there is a preview of their featured deviation and then their most recent one on the left. On the right, their latest journal entry. Journals are very customizable if you are subscribed. Under the journal, an ID picture which the artist can upload followed by more details that the artist can fill in from their profile settings. To the left of that, there are a short list of some of your favourites including a preview of one of them. On the right under the user details there is a space for people to leave comments/messages on the artist's page.
DeviantART is a true community, where finding one artist's site will lead you to more of the same art by other artists by just looking at their favourites or clicking on links to other artists' pages from the artist's journal. There is a favourite system where artworks can be given favour and you can even see a list of all the people who have favourited a particular piece. The site gives support to artists of all kinds, traditional artists, digital artists, photographers, web designers, skinners, programmers and more. There is a watch system so that the latest arworks of artists you are watching are sent to your message centre. There is a note system to send notes to people and a great comment system too.
DeviantART also have a forum. However, if deviantART has a bad side, it's probably it's forums. Things are hard to find and there aren't many subforums. However, it still makes use of the great message system, and whenever a comment of yours is replied to it will go straight to your message centre making things real easy to keep track of.
DeviantART is a great art community, probably the largest one out there and growing every second (just watch the deviation count on the front page). This is the community I personally recommend if you are looking to get involved or even to just find some awesome pictures to put on your desktop. There are many more features than I can cover here (it was hard for me to stop), so go check it out for yourself!.
Overall Community Score: 9.5/10