My goal with Nature Desktop Wallpapers is to help people find quality wallpapers. So I’m quite happy to direct  visitors to other quality wallpaper sites. I chose the sites for this “Best Of” list based on the following criteria:

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• Usability: Simplicity and usability of the website. Sites that are too cluttered, offer too many confusing options, have bad navigation or are full of ads simply won’t make this list.
• Careful Selection: Are wallpapers carefully selected? When we set the images as wallpapers, can we still see the icons on the left? Are the images still clear? Not all images make good wallpapers and the top sites should know this.
• Formats: Are wallpapers available in wide and standard screen format? Are they available in large and extra large dimensions?
• Credit: All sites should give credit to the artists. Many wallpaper sites steal images or assume they are in the public domain; such sites will not make this list.
• Popularity: I checked the Alexa Traffic Rank for this criteria. I added or subtracted up to .3 depending on traffic rank.

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1. Vladstudio: 8.7/10
   This weekly updated site features around 650 wallpapers created by Russian illustrator Vlad Gerasimov.
   • Usability: 9/10 – This site is easy to use, it is clutter and ad-free. It also includes various filter options.
   • Careful selection: 9 /10 – Almost all wallpapers are clear and leave space on the left for the icons.
   • Formats: 7/10 – The site always offers a standard screen and large version, as well as iPhone and cell phone versions but wallpapers for high resolution wide screens are not free. No extra large wallpapers.
   • Credit: 10/10 – All wallpapers are originals created by Vlad himself.
   • Alexa Traffic Rank: 17,028
2. Blurburger, the art of Pete Joison:  8.4/10
   This site features around 80 cartoon-related wallpapers, in standard and wide screen format.
   • Usability: 8/10 – This site is easy to use, it is clutter and ad-free, but there are no categories or search options.
   • Careful selection: 8 /10 – Almost all wallpapers are clear and leave space on the left for the icons.
   • Formats: 8/10 – All wallpapers are in wide and standard screen format. Large but no extra large wallpapers.
   • Credit: 10/10 – All wallpapers are originals created by Pete himself.
   • Alexa Traffic Rank: 709,845
     
     
3. Mike Swanson’s Wallpapers: 8.2/10
   Swanson’s wallpaper portfolio features 110 nature-related wallpapers.
   • Usability: 8/10 – This site is easy to use, it is clutter and ad-free. The search does not work so the only option is to browse thumbnails.
   • Careful selection: 9/10 – Almost all wallpapers are clear and leave space on the left for the icons.
   • Formats: 6/10 – Wallpapers are only offered in wide screen format. Large wallpapers, but no extra large versions.
   • Credit: 10/10 – credit is given, but it is unknown if all images are in the public domain.
   • Alexa Traffic Rank: 538,107
4. Desktopography: 7.7/10
   This site offers nature and topological themed wallpapers with edits from selected designers.
   • Usability: 7/10 – This site is easy enough to use, but you cannot browse by topic and there is no search feature. You can only browse by exhibition year.  Thumbnails are always present.
   • Careful selection: 7/10 – Wallpapers are generally desktop-friendly, but in some cases, icons on the left are hard to see.
   • Formats: 7/10 – Quite a few wallpapers are offered in standard and wide screen format but sometimes it is one or the other. Small, medium and large wallpapers.
   • Credit: 10/10 – credit is always given to the artists.
   • Alexa Traffic Rank: 12,000 (they don’t have their own domain, hosted by customized.org)
5. Socksoff: 7.2/10
   Socksoff offers around 111 nature-related wallpapers.
   • Usability: 8/10 – This site is easy to use, it is clutter and ad-free, but there are no categories or search options.
   • Careful selection: 8/10 – Almost all wallpapers are clear and leave space on the left for the icons.
   • Formats: 6/10 – Many wallpapers are only offered in standard screen format. Large wallpapers, but no extra large ones.
   • Credit: 7/10 – credit is given, but it is unknown if all images are in the public domain.
   • Alexa Traffic Rank: 140,360
6. Hamad’s Vista Wallpaper Pack: 7.1/10
   Hamad Darwish’s wallpaper pack features 21 nature-related photos he took for Microsoft’s Windows Vista.
   • Usability: 6/10 – This is not a wallpaper site. It’s just a download link to a zip file containing his wallpapers. There are no thumbnails and you can’t download wallpapers individually. The font might be a bit small for some people.
   • Careful selection: 7/10 – Most wallpapers are  desktop-friendly but most of them are.
   • Formats: 6/10 – Wallpapers are offered in either standard or wide screen format, but none are offered in both formats. Large wallpapers.
   • Credit: 10/10 – All wallpapers are originals photos by Hamad himself.
   • Alexa Traffic Rank: 757,276
7. National Geographic Wallpapers: 7/10
   National Geographic offers wallpapers covering categories such as animals, history, landscapes, travel, underwater, people and culture.
   • Usability: 6/10 – This site is easy enough to use, but is a bit cluttered and does include ads. You can browse by category but there is no search options for the wallpapers. Not all wallpapers have a thumbnail for a quick view.
   • Careful selection: 6/10 – There are some really nice wallpapers, but some were not selected thinking of how it would look on a desktop.
   • Formats: 6/10 – Wallpapers are only offered in standard screen format. Small, medium and large wallpapers.
   • Credit: 10/10 – credit is always given to the photographer.
   • Alexa Traffic Rank: 1,006

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