Forum style

[#1]

This isn't a bug exactly, which is why I haven't used that forum, but I feel that some aspects of the forum's styling are quite hard on the eyes. In the main, I'm thinking about when reading a thread. If you look at this thread for example, there is very little to separate all the different items on the page for each post: the poster's information (name, avatar, post count etc.), the post title, the post content, and the user's signature. Every other post has a faint grey background, which then shows some very faint white lines (to separate the signature etc.) which help matters, but the posts without a background have nothing. What I'd therefore like to suggest is maybe giving all posts a background - the simplest way of doing this would just be to change the alternating white background for a darker grey than the grey already in use, thus creating an alternating grey-darker grey. Or maybe other colours, I don't mind.
I realise that may not have made too much sense - let me know if any of it needs clarifying... (Though try to avoid saying 'all of it'. )

[#2]

The distinction between posts is there, but only just.  With the white background the light purple/grey background has little contrast, if it were to be made a shade darker this would be better.

[#3]

Yep.  Agree with all that you guys have said and it's certainly something we're thinking about.
There are a lot of elements on the thread pages, some of which are probably un-necessary on those pages anyway.  We'll look into the styling in more detail after easter.
And yeah, I agree with the point on differentiating between the different posts in a thread.  It's far too subtle for some monitors to pickup on.

[#4]

Nooo you all missed my point!
My problem isn't differentiating between individual posts - I can see the pale grey (or whatever it is) fine, as I have a high quality monitor (I'm interested in photography). My problem is distinguishing between the groups of elements within a post, where a group of elements is, say, the post content, or the user's signature. Posts that have a grey background are alright, as they then have very subtle white lines to differentiate the different elements. Posts with just a white background therefore don't have anything to separate the different elements, as the subtle white lines are invisible. Furthermore, because the page's overall background is also white, the posts with a white background look like they're not 'contained' in anything, which contributes to the problem I think.

[#5]

Yep.
I see what your saying (well can't see actually) white on white is difficult to see

[#6]

A little too white for me.......where's my sunglasses!

[#7]

I like the minimalist look myself.
Cheers
Jon

[#8]

I'd agree that the white body with white surround is somewhat hard to use - it looks as if the forum is floating.  The style on the PlusNet portal is IMO better whereby there is a definite border.
It would also be nice to have something differentiating the vertical elements (ie posters details and the actual post itself)

[#9]

I agree it's too white.  There isn't the demarcation between elements and everything suffers because of the brightness of the background.  It'd probably be pretty hard on the eyes if spending a lot of time on the forums also.

[#10]

I can't say I like some of the colour choices. Grey on White is not easy to read neither is Light Pink on White for people with poor eye sight.

[#11]

Quote from: glloyd

I can't say I like some of the colour choices. Grey on White is not easy to read neither is Light Pink on White for people with poor eye sight.

My eyesight's okay but the huge expanse of white either side of the central pale area (white/grey) where the text is, entirely takes away any "definition" factor.
The "community beta" bit across the top goes across the whole page.  If it's felt necessary to inset the actual forum block with such huge margins either side, perhaps the background colour of the margins could be darkened to give greater emphasis to the central bit.
At present when you get half way down a thread page the whole thing just looks wishy-washy because there are no proper side borders or contrasting background at the sides.
Regards,
Penny.
Edit - just seen there are similar comments on the thread at http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=30.msg134#msg134 .

[#12]

I'm generally more concerned about content than appearance and <flame war>I find the colours here pleasant and easy to read</flame war>.
So, how about an enhancement to please (well most) everyone. Why not provide user selectable styles/templates? Then everyone can get it looking the way they prefer.

[#13]

Would it make it too much of a design nightmare to have a choice of skins etc?

[#14]

Quote from: billbo

Yep. I see what your saying (well can't see actually) white on white is difficult to see

Years ago I changed my system default document background from white to a soft parchment (straw) colour so that it is easier on the eyes and shows where white areas have been defined by the page author.

[#15]

Quote from: Penny

Edit - just seen there are similar comments on the thread at http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=30.msg134#msg134 .

Yup, I've merged the threads to avoid any further duplication.
Merging - oh the power mwwhuhahaha 😛