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A Dark Forums Skin — Parallax Forums

A Dark Forums Skin

Jen J.Jen J. Posts: 649
edited 2011-03-04 15:45 in General Discussion
Hello all,

As promised I am working on a darker version Forums skin. I have attached some screen shots for you to see. Work in progress, images and icons are as seen on our test site, so some of it may look odd. Let us know what you think.

Cheers, JJ

P.S. Please bear in mind the work is incomplete, and much is subject to change.

Dark02.jpg
Dark01.jpg
Dark03.jpg
Dark02.jpg
1024 x 349 - 50K
Dark01.jpg
1024 x 681 - 87K
Dark03.jpg
1024 x 681 - 99K
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Comments

  • RonPRonP Posts: 384
    edited 2010-12-22 17:26
    Jen
    It is dark. I like it.
    Ron
  • gmarchesegmarchese Posts: 30
    edited 2010-12-23 13:19
    i like it as well.
  • pacmanpacman Posts: 327
    edited 2010-12-23 14:35
    I must be a bit of a wimp (no comments please), it's a tad too dark for me.

    I do want a darker forum and I applaud Jen's efforts; just I _personally_ wouldn't want it quite so dark...
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2010-12-24 08:16
    Would this "dark skin" be Forum-overall or user-adjusted?

    If it's overall - hate it...feels like I'm exploring a cave with one candle (yes, I've done that).
    If it's adjustable - I'm looking forward to leaning the controls.

    DJ
  • BumpBump Posts: 592
    edited 2010-12-24 13:56
    davejames wrote: »
    Would this "dark skin" be Forum-overall or user-adjusted?

    If it's overall - hate it...feels like I'm exploring a cave with one candle (yes, I've done that).
    If it's adjustable - I'm looking forward to leaning the controls.

    DJ
    If by overall you mean default, then no. This current blue, purple, and white ensemble is the default; the uber-dark seen in the images linked above would be a different viewing style.
    However that viewing style will not be customizable, it would be uber-dark, so if that's what you meant by overall then yes it is that dark.

    I'm sure once we have a decent pitch black in place and if people are still clamoring for the inbetween then we'll look into a solution.

    We went this dark initially because behind the scenes our conversation went like this:
    B - "Do they mean black?"
    JJ - "I could make it that dark."
    KG - "No one wants it that dark."
    B - "I don't know, maybe they do?"
    JJ - "I'll make a black one and we'll see how they respond."

    So now we're at the see how everyone responds phase :)
  • ratronicratronic Posts: 1,451
    edited 2010-12-24 15:57
    I would like to see something like this attachment
    test.png
    1008 x 630 - 10K
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2010-12-24 17:26
    The dark skin is brilliant.

    ratronic wrote: »
    I would like to see something like this attachment

    As for ratronic's skin, what would you call it? L.A. Rush Hour or Asian Industrial Air Quality Improvement Award?
  • BumpBump Posts: 592
    edited 2010-12-24 18:46
    ElectricAye wrote: »
    As for ratronic's skin, what would you call it? L.A. Rush Hour or Asian Industrial Air Quality Improvement Award?

    Those would work, London Fog would also be appropriate.
  • ratronicratronic Posts: 1,451
    edited 2010-12-24 19:09
    It does kind of look like fog/smog but something with a lighter background than pure black.

    Edit: Bump it's Christmas eve - Merry Christmas
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2010-12-24 22:37
    Bump wrote: »
    If by overall you mean default, then no. This current blue, purple, and white ensemble is the default; the uber-dark seen in the images linked above would be a different viewing style.
    However that viewing style will not be customizable, it would be uber-dark, so if that's what you meant by overall then yes it is that dark.

    I'm sure once we have a decent pitch black in place and if people are still clamoring for the inbetween then we'll look into a solution.

    We went this dark initially because behind the scenes our conversation went like this:
    B - "Do they mean black?"
    JJ - "I could make it that dark."
    KG - "No one wants it that dark."
    B - "I don't know, maybe they do?"
    JJ - "I'll make a black one and we'll see how they respond."

    So now we're at the see how everyone responds phase :)

    So, I take it that enough people have complained about the white background to warrant the internal discussion you mentioned? I don't relish your position in the attempt to keep everyone happy. Cast my vote to leave as is. Will I quit the forum because it goes "uber-dark"? No - there's too much good informaton here. But it will be a bummer being back in the cave.

    DJ
  • sam_sam_samsam_sam_sam Posts: 2,286
    edited 2010-12-25 06:57
    I am going to chime in here as well I do not like as dark as you have it now something like what ratronic had post might be better or a little darker might be better
  • BumpBump Posts: 592
    edited 2010-12-25 23:34
    davejames wrote: »
    So, I take it that enough people have complained about the white background to warrant the internal discussion you mentioned? I don't relish your position in the attempt to keep everyone happy. Cast my vote to leave as is. Will I quit the forum because it goes "uber-dark"? No - there's too much good informaton here. But it will be a bummer being back in the cave.

    DJ

    Oh, it will be an option. When more skins become available a drop-down menu will also appear in the lower left-hand corner of our discussion forums. From there you will be able to choose between the different skins. The default will always be this white colour.

    Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, now let's ramp it up for the New Year ;)
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2010-12-26 17:05
    "Oh, it will be an option."

    Wonderful! I took your previous comments that the dark skin would be the only available skin. Glad to hear that there will be some options.

    DJ
  • Jen J.Jen J. Posts: 649
    edited 2011-01-04 15:01
    A positive enough response. :) Work will continue on the dark skin. It's getting close to complete, a bit more testing is needed. And it seems there is also some interest in a medium shade skin. Not so bright as the white you see here, yet not so dark as black. 50% gray. I will certainly add it to the list. Thank you for the input everyone!

    Cheers, JJ
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-01-04 17:09
    Something like the following would be nice; but, frankly, I'm getting used to the default skin.

    attachment.php?attachmentid=76949&d=1294189730

    -Phil
    something_darker.png
    960 x 768 - 169K
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2011-01-04 17:51
    I like the skin!!

    Ok. So how do I turn it on? :)

    OBC
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-01-06 02:57
    Phil, very nice rendition. I like it! There is one consideration that may deserve more thought. For visually impaired people, a black font on a light background (such as white, the default light gray, or Phil's light earth colors) may provide the best recognizable contrast. Being visually impaired and losing eye vision I can say that white fonts on black backgrounds are extremely difficult to read for any sustained time period (even though it's very interesting). So if you decide on white fonts on a black background, please make it an option only. Thanks sincerely.
  • Jen J.Jen J. Posts: 649
    edited 2011-01-07 13:19
    @humanoido Not to worry. The "cave-dweller" dark skin will be an option only. Never the default. After it has been successfully launched I shall work on a low glare solution (gray most likely).
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2011-01-08 04:24
    Okay, I'll take some risks here and be a bit 'arty'.

    First of all, having a darker background would indeed conserve on my netbook's power consumption.

    But Black is rather extreme.

    In fact, the problems begin with where you want to go a grey scale of 1 to 10, but generally end up with which color you want and why.

    I strongly recommend going for the middle grey, a 5 of the grey scale. Then trying to avoid too much color by deciding on a 'warm' or a 'cool' grey for the generall background.

    Why so? I have serious trouble reading on a pure black background or even a dark blue or dark chocolate. And you have many more choices of font or icon color with a mid-range tone than with an extreme. At some point, you are going to have to handle color conflicts with all the little icons involved, and less conflicts to handle is a useful thing. As it now stands, you have a complete set of items that fit into a lighter background, but some of those outlined in black may not retain any sense of what they are on a near black background.

    tha'ts my 2 cents. Good luck
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-01-08 09:30
    Loopy Byteloose wrote:
    First of all, having a darker background would indeed conserve on my netbook's power consumption.
    Unless your netbook sports a bleeding-edge OLED display, that's likely not the case, Loopy. Most laptop screens are edge-lit by LEDs or CCFLs that stay on all the time. The intensity (and power consumption) may vary due to ambient lighting, but it will not vary by the nature of the data being displayed. A dark pixel is dark because the liquid crystal controlling it blocks the light behind it, not because it turns a light source off.

    -Phil
  • Clock LoopClock Loop Posts: 2,069
    edited 2011-01-17 05:59
    I see no way to change my skin.

    Am i missing something?
  • BumpBump Posts: 592
    edited 2011-01-17 11:01
    Clock Loop wrote: »
    I see no way to change my skin.

    Am i missing something?

    The new skins are still in development, so there is currently no way to change the colours :)
  • AJMAJM Posts: 171
    edited 2011-02-06 07:32
    Hi Jen / Bump

    Just hoping for an update as to where this darker skin stands. Will we see it in the near future?

    Thanks!
    AJ
  • BumpBump Posts: 592
    edited 2011-02-07 09:35
    We hope to have it up soon, yes. We just need a window to open and we'll send a push through to the forum's server, when that happens the new skin will be included.
  • AJMAJM Posts: 171
    edited 2011-02-13 16:13
    Thanks Bump. I look forward to it.
  • BumpBump Posts: 592
    edited 2011-02-24 14:13
    Hey everyone!
    The dark skin should now be visible, I'll announce more on it in a bit when I'm done with the updates.

    If you scroll down to the footer, bottom left-hand corner you will see a pulldown menu. Use that to toggle your skin on the fly.
    Tell us what you think.
  • Mike CookMike Cook Posts: 829
    edited 2011-02-24 14:17
    My 40+ year old eyes thank you!

    However the user names on the right side are hard to read.
  • BumpBump Posts: 592
    edited 2011-02-24 14:22
    Mike Cook wrote: »
    My 40+ year old eyes thank you!

    However the user names on the right side are hard to read.

    Ah yes, I believe I know a solution for this. I'll see if I can make a quick fix to that style.
  • BumpBump Posts: 592
    edited 2011-02-24 15:24
    I do believe this has been fixed!

    I see some other things that need my attention now.
  • Ding-BattyDing-Batty Posts: 302
    edited 2011-02-24 20:52
    I was trying the Dark skin, and I noticed two things:
    1. The gradient on the two buttons at the bottom of a thread ("Forum name" and "Top") are a little extreme, and the bottoms of the buttons become invisible.
    2. The dark background on the Advanced Editing page makes the editing/formatting icons above the edit field hard to read.

    But the dark option is interesting... I have gotten used to the light version, even though in general I keep my desktop windows somewhat dark, so I'll try it some more.
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