This turned out longer than I planned. TLDR at the bottom.
I like the updated 3D Warehouse very much. The interface looks much cleaner and more professional compared to the old version. However I keep bumping on the same UX related issue every single time I’m on the website. Would appreciate it immensely if the team behind the new design of the website took this into consideration because this is important.
There is a UX related mistake in the workflow of opening thumbnails in a new tab. The search results page needs a slight rework. I held a short workshop several years ago at one of my previous workplaces, where I talked about Applied Psychology in Design concepts of graphic, environmental or UX/UI designs. I addressed this exact same oversight back then, which is why it caught my attention in the 3D Warehouse.
The idea is, that humans are biologically and subconsciously more drawn towards pictures, symbols and images rather than text. The first intuitive instinct a person develops when deciding to interact (read: click) on something, is to interact with the image itself first.
I use Open link in a new tab feature extensively while in a browser and as you know middle-clicking or Ctrl+clicking does the job quicker than Right Click > choose ‘Open link in a new tab’. Instinctively middle-clicking on the thumbnail of a 3D model in the search results page doesn’t open the said 3D model’s dedicated page in a new tab. In fact it triggers the mouse-scroll feature instead. Alternatively, right clicking and instinctively choosing the first option on the top (which is ‘Open link in a new tab’ everywhere else) opens the thumbnail picture of the 3D model in a new tab.
This intuitive workflow that’s present in most websites is absent from the 3D Warehouse. Interestingly the Extension Warehouse doesn’t have this slip up and works effortlessly.
Thank you for reading.
TLDR: The thumbnails of 3D models in the search results page should be hyperlinked, just like the title below them. Middle-clicking on the thumbnails should open the 3D model in a new tab and right-clicking should offer the said option in the popup list.
Glad to be of assistance.