Suggestion New Site Colours

I've always found it easier to read when it was white letters against a dark background. No matter what the study says.:)
 
Well said, Alan.

Oh, and we all owe you a big vote of thanks for the Nosquint suggestion.

darnkids.png


lol.gif
 
No need to go learn HTML/CSS, when you can get the code from me :D

This will take care of the vertical ad-section

#sidebar_container {
display: none !important;
height: 0 !important;
overflow: hidden !important:
float: none !important;
}



#content, #content_container {
margin-right: 0 !important;
}
 
So far I like the way the site looks for browsing at home, however - I was one of the few (it seems) that utilized the "work-safe" mode while browsing at work.

The biggest issue with the darker color scheme has nothing to do with my eyes, but the eyes of all the people around me - who can easily tell I'm not doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. The work-safe color scheme blended in well with the other work I do, and was great for browsing a bit to get some de-saturation from work stress. I'd really like to see a return of the stripped down, no frills theme.

Understood, of course, that these things take time to implement. Is there a plan to have such a theme in the (hopefully not too distant) future?
 
The black text and lighter gray background in posts is better today than yesterday (though it may be because I'm on a different monitor). I still feel like there could be a bit more contrast, and this is coming from someone who used the legacy Star Wars theme to the bitter end.

Also, can you make the new private message indicator a brighter (NOT grey) color? It blends in as is, and is easy to miss since it's at the very top edge now.
 
The black text and lighter gray background in posts is better today than yesterday (though it may be because I'm on a different monitor). I still feel like there could be a bit more contrast, and this is coming from someone who used the legacy Star Wars theme to the bitter end.

Also, can you make the new private message indicator a brighter (NOT grey) color? It blends in as is, and is easy to miss since it's at the very top edge now.

It isn't the different monitor. We spent all of yesterday and all of last night working on the contrast.

And, yes, I think we can do something to improve the private message indicator.
 
For anyone who's interested and using the "Stylish" add-on. I finally got rid of that feature box between the menu and and the forum/thread list.

Code:
..body_wrapper div[style='float: left; width: 700px; height: 270px; margin-top:5px; margin-bottom:10px;'] {
display:none;}

div[style='float: left; width: 700px; height:250px; margin-top:5px; margin-bottom:10px;'] {
display:none;}

div[style="background: url('/images/styles/prometheus/black-30.png'); border:1px solid #333333; border-radius: 10px; float: right; margin-top:5px; margin-right: 2px; padding:10px 12px;width: 300px; height: 250px;"] {
display:none;
}
div[style="background: url('/images/styles/prometheus/black-30.png'); border:1px solid #333333; border-radius: 10px; float: right; margin-top:5px; margin-right: 2px; padding:10px 12px; width:300px; height: 250px;"] {
display:none;
}

I know it's not the nice way to get rid of those things and ignore a lot of the work that Art and the RPF team put into it but I can't say it too often: I don't understand the purpose of those things in a message board. This place is all about the user submitted content and that's what I'm interested in. Sure those animated feature boxes look nice but I really don't need them in a message board. I need space for the topics and a good contrast to read it and as sad as it is: after the big update I had to care about it myself :/
 
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It takes literally two rolls of the mouse wheel to scroll to the very bottom of the page. This is another issue I am just not understanding; is it that there are a lot of people using laptops without mice? I couldn't work without one so that's just not me, I guess.
 
The amount of rolls depends on the adjustment of the mouse. And I'm spending a lot of time here reading and I really don't want to scroll like a maniac on like 70% of the website's subsites.
 
It takes literally two rolls of the mouse wheel to scroll to the very bottom of the page. This is another issue I am just not understanding; is it that there are a lot of people using laptops without mice? I couldn't work without one so that's just not me, I guess.

It takes me around 25 rolls per thread.

........ but I'm lazy, so my settings are pegged at 100 posts per page
lol.gif
 
Two rolls. Doesn't seem maniacal to me. Just saying. <shrug>

Alan - threads are different, being far longer than the front pages of the sections. I'm at 25 posts per page but will probably up that to 100 myself when I get around to it.

The hatred for the 'featured' window would make more sense if it appeared within threads, but it doesn't...so I'm just sort of reading it as 'I have to scroll more BAAWWWWWWWW'. I don't want to think that is the correct reading; may well be unfair of me and perhaps there's a more rational explanation.
 
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The thing is: the featured window just isn't necessary. I'm a web engineer myself and with every new project I've to discuss with the web designers. Sure those things look nice but nowadays web engineering isn't all about the looks anymore like it used to be a couple of years ago. It's about making the content as accessible as possible and then it's about making it look nice. In my eyes the featured window just doesn't surve the main purpose of a message board and therefor is taking up way to much space. When I'm going to a message board I wanna see what has been going on in the different categories right away. It's just what a message board is all about. Call it "lazy" or whatever you feel like calling it. I call it simply impractical ;)
 
The thing is: the featured window just isn't necessary.

Er, so what, really? I mean, it's there, so you scroll past it. You have to scroll anyway to read the whole threadlist. This adds maybe a half-millisecond to your mouse roller time per view. Let's extend the argument backwards - we all know where we are, right? So why not get rid of the site banner altogether? Or we could have it in the fixed vertical sidebars, as a tiled image on the background or whatever. That would really open up a lot of usable space for threads.

Which still wouldn't matter, because you'd still have to scroll.
 
The whole argument of what's easier to read, light on dark or dark on light, isn't the issue for me. It's how much brightness is being projected at your face over the course of hours and hours in front of a screen.

For me, I have issues with my eyes (when I was five I got blasted in the eyes with red spray paint eroding several layers of my cornea, this leaves me VERY sensitive to computer monitors) so having the bulk of the site be dark means I can have it up all the time whether I'm reading it or not because it's easy on the eyes.

That's actually, I'm realizing, the primary reason I was on here so much (aside from all you great people of course). It's my "default" website because it's always there as my screen dimmer at home. I've been on less the last few days because for the first time I'm actually closing my browser window instead of leaving it up. I'm still sincerely hoping that there will be an inverted style, wouldn't have to be much and it shouldn't take much if anything to maintain, just swap the font colour and the background colour. Presto, light on dark but still the nice grey chrome look you want.

I know it has been said no styles. I can dream though. ;)
 
The whole argument of what's easier to read, light on dark or dark on light, isn't the issue for me. It's how much brightness is being projected at your face over the course of hours and hours in front of a screen.

For me, I have issues with my eyes (when I was five I got blasted in the eyes with red spray paint eroding several layers of my cornea, this leaves me VERY sensitive to computer monitors) so having the bulk of the site be dark means I can have it up all the time whether I'm reading it or not because it's easy on the eyes.

That's actually, I'm realizing, the primary reason I was on here so much (aside from all you great people of course). It's my "default" website because it's always there as my screen dimmer at home. I've been on less the last few days because for the first time I'm actually closing my browser window instead of leaving it up. I'm still sincerely hoping that there will be an inverted style, wouldn't have to be much and it shouldn't take much if anything to maintain, just swap the font colour and the background colour. Presto, light on dark but still the nice grey chrome look you want.

I know it has been said no styles. I can dream though. ;)

Just use StyleBot and change the colors... or do a search in the Chrome Extensions for "color change"
 
The whole argument of what's easier to read, light on dark or dark on light, isn't the issue for me. It's how much brightness is being projected at your face over the course of hours and hours in front of a screen.

For me, I have issues with my eyes (when I was five I got blasted in the eyes with red spray paint eroding several layers of my cornea, this leaves me VERY sensitive to computer monitors) so having the bulk of the site be dark means I can have it up all the time whether I'm reading it or not because it's easy on the eyes.

That's actually, I'm realizing, the primary reason I was on here so much (aside from all you great people of course). It's my "default" website because it's always there as my screen dimmer at home. I've been on less the last few days because for the first time I'm actually closing my browser window instead of leaving it up. I'm still sincerely hoping that there will be an inverted style, wouldn't have to be much and it shouldn't take much if anything to maintain, just swap the font colour and the background colour. Presto, light on dark but still the nice grey chrome look you want.

Michael, while your case is extreme due to your injury, we keep seeing people say that white text on a black background is more soothing to them. It may be a personal preference, but the science simply doesn't stand behind it. While you can find some incredibly in-depth discussions on it, here is a very brief article that glosses over the most simplistic reasons of why white text on a dark background isn't as good as you think for reading (again, your injury may put you in a slightly different category), and that dark text on a light grey background (sound familiar?) is actually the easiest to read and causes the least eye strain.

When to Use White Text on a Dark Background - UX Movement

For those who are arguing for light text on a dark background, I would also encourage you to look at your monitor contrast and brightness. I have always been a full brightness, full contrast kind of guy. Recently, some very compelling evidence was presented to me that showed I needed to turn that down and while I initially fought it because I felt everything was desaturated and overly dark, I have found that I can look at the monitor for much longer periods of time now.
 
Er, so what, really? I mean, it's there, so you scroll past it. You have to scroll anyway to read the whole threadlist. This adds maybe a half-millisecond to your mouse roller time per view. Let's extend the argument backwards - we all know where we are, right? So why not get rid of the site banner altogether? Or we could have it in the fixed vertical sidebars, as a tiled image on the background or whatever. That would really open up a lot of usable space for threads.

Which still wouldn't matter, because you'd still have to scroll.

So here's another example: Just pretend you'd have a huge second couch in your living room that you don't really like sitting on, but that looks nice and that takes up a lot of space in the room. You always have to walk past it in order to not trip and your other couch and table and armchair just don't have as much space as they need to be comfortable. Sure. You can still use them, you can still get to them but it's just annonying and unecessary 'cause all you'd have to do is getting rid of the thing you don't need. That's all I'm saying ;)
 
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