Color Scheme On This Website

johnb · 11th January 2009, 04:32 AM

The color scheme of this site really irritates me. I can hardly focus. Is anyone other than me having a problem with viewing this site?

iPhillip · 11th January 2009, 06:22 AM

See your local optomitrist?

No I think the colour scheme is quite decent, the colours have decent contrast and the set-up of the forums is probably one of the best I've seen.

I've seen much worse: Purple, yellow and grey do NOT make for an easy to read site.

Davey · 11th January 2009, 07:00 AM

I find it easier on the eyes than most. However I'm biased as it's almost identical to my kde theme. Light fonts on dark background can be harder to read than dark font on light background though hence in white on black printing the font is moved up a weight.

If you use a decent browser you can just zoom in (like ctrl mouse wheel in ff, epiphany and others do same thing) or change display fonts.

Failing that may be greasemonkey (plugin for firefox) would be helpful, you could just write a simple script to render the site in the colours of your choice.

Colin Southern · 11th January 2009, 07:17 AM

To be honest, if there was an option of black writing on a white background then that's what I would go for -- for some reason I just find that easier on my brain.

I find it interesting that on the net, white writing on a black background is relatively common - and yet if someone produced a book with white writing on black pages I'll bet it wouldn't see anywhere nearly as well as one done the conventional way.

Cheers,

Colin

crisscross · 11th January 2009, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnb

The color scheme of this site really irritates me. I can hardly focus. Is anyone other than me having a problem with viewing this site?

This is one of the best looking photoforum sites in existence, an excellent neutral background against which to view images. What is more McQ the admin-owner keeps it that way pouncing on any potential sabotage.

Worth considering, it also absolutely free of irritating and irrelevent advertising; I got thrown out of WPF for campaigning against the banner ads that were spoiling an otherwise rather similar set-up

Colin Southern · 11th January 2009, 10:02 AM

"I got thrown out of WPF for campaigning against the banner ads that were spoiling an otherwise rather similar set-up "

LOL - small world. I'm probably about to get thrown out of photo.net for trying to get them to stop their system from picking 3 images from folders marked hidden, for their member community pages (as we speak, of the 3 images chosen 1 is a test shot I did of my daughter and the other 2 are post-processing examples I've done of other peoples work from here! (Apparantly "this isn't a security issue" because "it's a learning site, not a hosting site" and "they don't have any way to prevent images being displayed" (I would have thought that the fact we put them in a private folder would be a good start!). I think that when a site starts to favour politics, job security, and sheer lazyness over the genuine desire to help people, then it's time to move on. Thanks goodness for sites like CiC where we can just get on with the "busines" of sharing, learning, and helping - whatever the colour scheme!

Cheers,

Colin - pbase.com/cjsouthern

shreds · 11th January 2009, 10:15 AM

From a photographic perspective, having a black background keep a focus on the subject matter of the board, whether that be photos or words, whilst the neutral grey is easier going on the eye, than using a high contrast solution, which although perhaps easier to read for those with eyesight difficulties, is very tiring for the rest of us.

Multicoloured sites are equally tiring and difficult to read with a constantly changing emphasis.

They also tend to look amateurish.

CiC is not that thank goodness

Dave Humphries · 11th January 2009, 10:34 AM

I too, prefer the site with the current colour scheme.

I find it quite difficult to assess a picture over a white background, so I usually end up zoom in to lose as much of that as possible, mostly on other sites, or for attachments that result in just the jpg image viewed on the browsers default white background.

Davey · 11th January 2009, 08:49 PM

I think more people are probably happy with it than not since this is the first complaint I've seen. Like I say if you get firefox and grease monkey you can make the site display in whatever colours you want by typing a few lines once, set it to load the script each time you visit and you've got a fully personalised forum to your tastes.

The content here is great (well unless I've posted it in which case it's an off on a wild tangent caffeine fueled rant hehehe) so I think if it really does bother you enough to keep you away then just change it. If you're using IE then the biggest change is moving to firefox (which you should be using anyway because it's better than IE at least, no disputing this allowed

). Side benefits are as well as greasemonkey you get benefit of no script, disabling ad banners, using none sRGB colour spaces, reading exif data etc etc and that's just photo related.

Chelseablue · 11th January 2009, 09:23 PM

@nocturne; Agreed. I've only just recently had my eyes opened to Firefox and the Greasemonkey from fellow flickrites. Although I'd like to know how you'd change the colour scheme of a site!

McQ · 11th January 2009, 09:28 PM

I am in the process of adding an option for a light color scheme. Selection of this scheme will only be available when logged into your account. The intent is to provide an alternative for those who might have trouble reading the dark color scheme. It will therefore likely never be as polished or as frequently updated as the dark scheme, but should at least be a *functional* alternative. Expect for this option to be added within the existing bottom left menu very soon...

Davey · 11th January 2009, 11:01 PM

it's a bit of messing round to get to your taste but once done it's done. For example my themes are dark so I have dark background in google or the high contrast on common visited page is nasty on eye, just "BODY {background:#000 none !important; color:#fff;}" + to give me plain background in black. You can of course use gradients or background image but it can be slower (I like simplicity and speed) and depending where you put it it might not be easy to access of might be lost (like photohosts that delete free account uploads after so many days etc).

Might want to check stylish addon out too, it allows you to change the CSS. If you copy the code for the CiC forum and then tweak to your colour choices and save and load up relevant .js it should be simple enough. Saying that I've not bothered for a long time as most sites I visit are not that bad even if some aren't great.

Davey · 11th January 2009, 11:13 PM

There are ready done ones for most places and I tend to use them and tweak to my taste to save time.

NOTE ! Word of warning, goes without saying but just in case it's always worth checking what the script actually contains before you use another persons script because some are not too safe, some even get linked on various official userscripts support forums but usually reported and removed after a few days max (but you never know what slips through the net).

Also firebug might be handy since you can view the page source in an expandable tree and just find the bits you need. It's easier than sifting through an entire text file in wordpad or kwrite for a few tiny line changes. Also intelligent text editors that recognise html are handy, I use geany but there are tons out there. I don't actual have a clue with web page stuff so it must be easy if I can figure it out, just familiarity. (sorry for the double post mcq, I did realise but thought people might miss the warning bit about unchecked scripts. I know everyone realises this but sometimes if you're like me it's easy to forget to check them).

McQ · 12th January 2009, 04:38 AM

Ok, the "quick go" at a light color scheme is now accessible. It's marked as "BETA" for a reason...it still needs a lot of work. For the time being though, it should at least serve its purpose as a functional alternative to the dark color scheme, for those who have eye strain using this dark scheme.

Just use the style menu at the bottom left when logged in...

Colin Southern · 12th January 2009, 04:42 AM

WOW - what a difference!

Yes please - definately for me!

Thanks Sean.

Bill44 · 12th January 2009, 10:16 PM

I just tried the Light Beta style, not for me thanks, couldn't wait to get back to the grey background, much easier on the eyes.
regards
Bill

McQ · 12th January 2009, 10:22 PM

Yes, I tend to agree

It really seems like it depends a lot on the display device being used though. If the display has a lot of contrast as is, then the dark scheme is usually just fine...and if not, then sometimes the light scheme might work. The light scheme still needs a whole lot of polishing up though...

shreds · 12th January 2009, 10:48 PM

I think I have grown used to the traditional style, and recall another forum in the 'bright white style' which, for me, is not so appropriate for a photo forum. But hey, each to their own.

I do like the fluid style for the traditional dark though.

Thanks Sean, for providing a bit of variety.

Colin Southern · 12th January 2009, 11:01 PM

"I do like the fluid style for the traditional dark though. "

I've settled on the fluid style in white - only been using it a day and already it seems so natural that I don't even think obout it anymore.

Davey · 13th January 2009, 06:46 AM

I find the light theme (although not my personal taste) makes it harder to differentiate the hot thread/new/no new post button colours from each oher. Not a personal request but if others using the light theme found the same then perhaps a possible higher contrast button theme for the light.

I personally feel the dark theme suits me perfect and mirrors my wm so it's all good from my side

I think it's not too dark either which seems to be the trap many dark theme creators fall into hence I usually have to make my own to make readable.

11th January 2009, 04:32 AM	#1
johnb New Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1	Color Scheme On This Website The color scheme of this site really irritates me. I can hardly focus. Is anyone other than me having a problem with viewing this site?

11th January 2009, 06:22 AM	#2
iPhillip Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Feilding, NZ. Posts: 95	Re: Color Scheme On This Website See your local optomitrist? No I think the colour scheme is quite decent, the colours have decent contrast and the set-up of the forums is probably one of the best I've seen. I've seen much worse: Purple, yellow and grey do NOT make for an easy to read site.

11th January 2009, 07:00 AM	#3
Davey Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 457	Re: Color Scheme On This Website I find it easier on the eyes than most. However I'm biased as it's almost identical to my kde theme. Light fonts on dark background can be harder to read than dark font on light background though hence in white on black printing the font is moved up a weight. If you use a decent browser you can just zoom in (like ctrl mouse wheel in ff, epiphany and others do same thing) or change display fonts. Failing that may be greasemonkey (plugin for firefox) would be helpful, you could just write a simple script to render the site in the colours of your choice.

11th January 2009, 07:17 AM	#4
Colin Southern Senior Member / Administrator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Nelson, New Zealand Posts: 3,994	Re: Color Scheme On This Website To be honest, if there was an option of black writing on a white background then that's what I would go for -- for some reason I just find that easier on my brain. I find it interesting that on the net, white writing on a black background is relatively common - and yet if someone produced a book with white writing on black pages I'll bet it wouldn't see anywhere nearly as well as one done the conventional way. Cheers, Colin

11th January 2009, 10:02 AM	#6
Colin Southern Senior Member / Administrator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Nelson, New Zealand Posts: 3,994	Re: Color Scheme On This Website "I got thrown out of WPF for campaigning against the banner ads that were spoiling an otherwise rather similar set-up " LOL - small world. I'm probably about to get thrown out of photo.net for trying to get them to stop their system from picking 3 images from folders marked hidden, for their member community pages (as we speak, of the 3 images chosen 1 is a test shot I did of my daughter and the other 2 are post-processing examples I've done of other peoples work from here! (Apparantly "this isn't a security issue" because "it's a learning site, not a hosting site" and "they don't have any way to prevent images being displayed" (I would have thought that the fact we put them in a private folder would be a good start!). I think that when a site starts to favour politics, job security, and sheer lazyness over the genuine desire to help people, then it's time to move on. Thanks goodness for sites like CiC where we can just get on with the "busines" of sharing, learning, and helping - whatever the colour scheme! Cheers, Colin - pbase.com/cjsouthern Last edited by Colin Southern; 14th January 2009 at 11:04 AM.

11th January 2009, 10:15 AM	#7
shreds Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 386	Re: Color Scheme On This Website From a photographic perspective, having a black background keep a focus on the subject matter of the board, whether that be photos or words, whilst the neutral grey is easier going on the eye, than using a high contrast solution, which although perhaps easier to read for those with eyesight difficulties, is very tiring for the rest of us. Multicoloured sites are equally tiring and difficult to read with a constantly changing emphasis. They also tend to look amateurish. CiC is not that thank goodness

11th January 2009, 10:34 AM	#8
Dave Humphries Senior Member / Moderator Join Date: May 2008 Location: Windsor, Berks, UK Posts: 2,374	Re: Color Scheme On This Website I too, prefer the site with the current colour scheme. I find it quite difficult to assess a picture over a white background, so I usually end up zoom in to lose as much of that as possible, mostly on other sites, or for attachments that result in just the jpg image viewed on the browsers default white background.

11th January 2009, 08:49 PM	#9
Davey Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 457	Re: Color Scheme On This Website I think more people are probably happy with it than not since this is the first complaint I've seen. Like I say if you get firefox and grease monkey you can make the site display in whatever colours you want by typing a few lines once, set it to load the script each time you visit and you've got a fully personalised forum to your tastes. The content here is great (well unless I've posted it in which case it's an off on a wild tangent caffeine fueled rant hehehe) so I think if it really does bother you enough to keep you away then just change it. If you're using IE then the biggest change is moving to firefox (which you should be using anyway because it's better than IE at least, no disputing this allowed ). Side benefits are as well as greasemonkey you get benefit of no script, disabling ad banners, using none sRGB colour spaces, reading exif data etc etc and that's just photo related.

11th January 2009, 09:23 PM	#10
Chelseablue Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Manchester Posts: 351	Re: Color Scheme On This Website @nocturne; Agreed. I've only just recently had my eyes opened to Firefox and the Greasemonkey from fellow flickrites. Although I'd like to know how you'd change the colour scheme of a site!

11th January 2009, 09:28 PM	#11
McQ Senior Member / Administrator Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California, USA Posts: 640	Re: Color Scheme On This Website I am in the process of adding an option for a light color scheme. Selection of this scheme will only be available when logged into your account. The intent is to provide an alternative for those who might have trouble reading the dark color scheme. It will therefore likely never be as polished or as frequently updated as the dark scheme, but should at least be a functional alternative. Expect for this option to be added within the existing bottom left menu very soon...

11th January 2009, 11:01 PM	#12
Davey Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 457	Re: Color Scheme On This Website it's a bit of messing round to get to your taste but once done it's done. For example my themes are dark so I have dark background in google or the high contrast on common visited page is nasty on eye, just "BODY {background:#000 none !important; color:#fff;}" + to give me plain background in black. You can of course use gradients or background image but it can be slower (I like simplicity and speed) and depending where you put it it might not be easy to access of might be lost (like photohosts that delete free account uploads after so many days etc). Might want to check stylish addon out too, it allows you to change the CSS. If you copy the code for the CiC forum and then tweak to your colour choices and save and load up relevant .js it should be simple enough. Saying that I've not bothered for a long time as most sites I visit are not that bad even if some aren't great.

11th January 2009, 11:13 PM	#13
Davey Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 457	Re: Color Scheme On This Website There are ready done ones for most places and I tend to use them and tweak to my taste to save time. NOTE ! Word of warning, goes without saying but just in case it's always worth checking what the script actually contains before you use another persons script because some are not too safe, some even get linked on various official userscripts support forums but usually reported and removed after a few days max (but you never know what slips through the net). Also firebug might be handy since you can view the page source in an expandable tree and just find the bits you need. It's easier than sifting through an entire text file in wordpad or kwrite for a few tiny line changes. Also intelligent text editors that recognise html are handy, I use geany but there are tons out there. I don't actual have a clue with web page stuff so it must be easy if I can figure it out, just familiarity. (sorry for the double post mcq, I did realise but thought people might miss the warning bit about unchecked scripts. I know everyone realises this but sometimes if you're like me it's easy to forget to check them). Last edited by Davey; 11th January 2009 at 11:15 PM.

12th January 2009, 04:38 AM	#14
McQ Senior Member / Administrator Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California, USA Posts: 640	Re: Color Scheme On This Website Ok, the "quick go" at a light color scheme is now accessible. It's marked as "BETA" for a reason...it still needs a lot of work. For the time being though, it should at least serve its purpose as a functional alternative to the dark color scheme, for those who have eye strain using this dark scheme. Just use the style menu at the bottom left when logged in...

12th January 2009, 04:42 AM	#15
Colin Southern Senior Member / Administrator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Nelson, New Zealand Posts: 3,994	Re: Color Scheme On This Website WOW - what a difference! Yes please - definately for me! Thanks Sean.

12th January 2009, 10:16 PM	#16
Bill44 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Gorokan NSW Australia Posts: 356	Re: Color Scheme On This Website I just tried the Light Beta style, not for me thanks, couldn't wait to get back to the grey background, much easier on the eyes. regards Bill Last edited by Bill44; 12th January 2009 at 10:20 PM.

12th January 2009, 10:22 PM	#17
McQ Senior Member / Administrator Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California, USA Posts: 640	Re: Color Scheme On This Website Yes, I tend to agree It really seems like it depends a lot on the display device being used though. If the display has a lot of contrast as is, then the dark scheme is usually just fine...and if not, then sometimes the light scheme might work. The light scheme still needs a whole lot of polishing up though...

12th January 2009, 10:48 PM	#18
shreds Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 386	Re: Color Scheme On This Website I think I have grown used to the traditional style, and recall another forum in the 'bright white style' which, for me, is not so appropriate for a photo forum. But hey, each to their own. I do like the fluid style for the traditional dark though. Thanks Sean, for providing a bit of variety.

12th January 2009, 11:01 PM	#19
Colin Southern Senior Member / Administrator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Nelson, New Zealand Posts: 3,994	Re: Color Scheme On This Website "I do like the fluid style for the traditional dark though. " I've settled on the fluid style in white - only been using it a day and already it seems so natural that I don't even think obout it anymore.

13th January 2009, 06:46 AM	#20
Davey Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 457	Re: Color Scheme On This Website I find the light theme (although not my personal taste) makes it harder to differentiate the hot thread/new/no new post button colours from each oher. Not a personal request but if others using the light theme found the same then perhaps a possible higher contrast button theme for the light. I personally feel the dark theme suits me perfect and mirrors my wm so it's all good from my side I think it's not too dark either which seems to be the trap many dark theme creators fall into hence I usually have to make my own to make readable.

Color Scheme On This Website

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