Hah, Marcia said no one would notice. Anyway it's taken over a week to do, there's hundreds of silly little files to change, and I still might spot something that needs tweaking. P.S. You can still see the way it used to look by changing the theme to fisubice on the 'Your Account' page.
Grace: [loads board]Woah! Garner: [without bothering to look at Grace's screen]Yeah. Grace: Since when? Garner: Some time today. Grace: Cool!
Heeeeey, nice ! Great job Mal, looks great... May I just be piddly and suggest the red buttons for "new messages" be a little brighter to distinguish them from the blue ones more ? Otherwise, great stuff, I love the little Death down the bottom
Woah!! Disappear for a couple of days and come back to find the place redecorated. Nice job too. Thanks.
My first thought was, "Dangit, my computer's messed up again." Then I realized that it was a new look. Very nice.
Everything seems fine for me, reds and blues and all, but this sort of thing depends on eyesight and display quality, I guess.
It looks wonderful mal. Nice and round and modern looking. Also, not being colourblind at all, i can easily tell the difference between the buttons, which is a bonus.
**sticks toungue out at Delphine** it's not about colours it's about contrast, that's all... the difference between the two is just a little two subtle, brightness wise, it's not too bad on a normal screen, but on a flat laptop screen, it's really not easy to distinguish without thinking about it...
First of all: Well done Mal! It's looking very swish, and I appreciate all the effort it must have taken to get it to look right. Getting websites to look right is a right pain in the arse. Hooray for mal! Second of all: Why must people always complain about something? I'm colourblind, and I can see the difference in the red and blue clearly. Not only that, but I'm not sure if you all noticed the fucking huge arrows that topics with new posts have next to them? Even a dog (or person with all the eyesight powers of a dog. DOGVISION MAN, maybe) could spot the topics with new posts easily. So, stop whining!
Well I like it... Was definitelt surprised and thought something had gone wrong but then I calmed down and stopped screaming when the familiar threads made themselves obvious through my hysteria. Mal you are an internet legend that needs a virtual statue erected. In bronze, but nice and close to a wall so you'll be out of the wind.
Doors, don't be jealous that just for once we weren't blaming you... Actually, now you point it out, I must say it does really seem to be your fault after all... I wasn't whining, simply trying to make a constructive comment, I design websites for a living, if I had to take it personally each time someone made a comment (especially a helpful one) about a design, I'd have thrown myself off a cliff by now. The first thing I said was that it was a great job and I loved it, and that's true... If Mal doesn't want to fiddle around any more with the files, then that's fine and understandable, but at least I will have said what I thought, it's not a judgement of him or his work, both of which are great, it's merely a comment, meant to be helpful, he can take it or leave it, as I'm sure he will... Edited to add : also, if the contrast was higher between the reds and blues, then the "huge fucking arrows" wouldn't be necessary, why have two signs, one of which is fucking (fucking what, who knows ?) when a single clear one would suffice. There, now you've made me say the f-word, happy ?
To be honest I half expected a bit more whining, that's why I kept the old template active too - so any dissenters could view the site how it was before by changing their settings. I guess if a load of people think the red spheres aren't red enough it could be changed, it's not very hard, but the fact that people are calling them 'red' in the first place kind of makes it obvious that they can see them well enough.
I disagree with you, Doors. I was trying to help, not complain. I apologize to Mal, and you, if any of you were offended by my post. I am sorry I came across as whining, which is not what I was aiming for. I also hope it was clear that I really did think Mal did a good job in redesigning the look of the forums. I think you would agree with me in saying that I would be pretty fucking silly if I was to point out something as a problem for me if it wasn't. The fact that I brought it up should be proof enough that I truly did find it hard to distinguish the two icons. Another conclusion that can be drawn from this is that I wouldn't be mentioning this if I didn't care. I like these boards, and that's why I want to give Mal constructive feedback on his design. Because I care. No, I did not notice big red arrows on the topics. Now that you've pointed them out, I will be looking for them. But I experienced the new look and feel on the forum listing, where there are no red arrows. I am not colour blind, and I can see that one icon is red and another is blue. Still, I believe it could be easier to distinguish between the two without concentrating, if there would be a bigger difference between the two. This difference could be accomplished in several ways. Here are some examples: 1. If the saturation were higher, the difference between red and blue would be more obvious. The more gray, white or black you blend with a colour, the less distinctive the colour becomes against other colours blended the same way. 2. A difference in luminosity between the two icons. This can also be called contrast. A very desaturated colour is still distinguishable from another equally desaturated colour if they have different luminosities, or brightness. 3. A difference in geometry between the two icons. Colour wouldn't matter if one icon was a circle and another icon was a square. A usability/accessibility expert would probably recommend you to try and accomplish all these three objectives, but I think only following one would make a huge improvement. These are not demands or complaints, but suggestions how I think the usability could be improved. I fully acknowledge that these are Mal's boards, and his to do with whatever he wishes. Finally, I would like to praise the fact that we are of different opinions. How interesting would a discussion be if everyone agreed with eachother and had perfectly identical views on the world? This is, to me, what keeps me coming here. For the discussions and exchange of opinions between different people. I hope you will try to respect that I am of a different opinion than you, just as I am trying to respect your opinion. I also hope you will let me know if you think I am failing in this.
High contrast Low contrast Actually the only reason I'm calling them red is that they were red in the old theme, and "dark muddy grey-browny-red" is too long to type. And the difference between the "red" and "grey/blue" markers are the only thing that I felt was better marked in the old theme, which is why I said that in the first place. Now if it's only me and KK thinking that, then fine, we'll just get used to the new ones, as I said before, it's not that we can't see the difference, it's just not necessarily obvious at first glance, especially on a mediocre screen.
Good grief. Doors, your comment made me laugh, but I don't think there's a problem with the suggestions that were made. Mal, as we know, is so chilled out he could be a pork futures warehouse, so I doubt he's crying himself to sleep over it.
I've made the red spheres a bit redder now, just thought I'd mention it in case future posters think K, KK and Pixel are slightly potty.
OK, but maybe some people viewing the site are colour blind - adjusting the brightness might help. I have hit a situation recently which emphasizes this - while getting in the set for a play in our Studio theatre, when the director had decided that he wanted to rearrange the audience seating to be one single straight-on raked layout, rather than the L-shaped rake that most directors in that venue prefer - taking out the rostra blocks supporting the seating to be removed exposed some areas of wall where the paint was scraped off and was glaringly white - one of the crew painted over these areas in black, as was needed - but being colour-blind, he then continued to paint out in black white spots on a wall painted dark red - he could not tell the difference! Now I have to find paint of a matching colour to go over the black, or confirm a decision with the owning groups to paint that wall black as well! Strangely enough, if I have correctly remembered the name of the particular shade of dark red, buying enough to cover a few spots might be easier than buying enough black to redo the entire wall - using even the largest chain of do-it-yourself suppliers in Belgium, we still have to order in advance when we need the sort of quantities we in the theatre need of black paint - so few people use it that thay just don't stock it in quantity.
Oh we are more than slightly potty, but yeah, the new red ones are much nicer than the old red ones... which of course makes my previous post look rather silly now
I use a laptop too, Katcal. My screen isn't very good either. The ol' rods and cones work fine though. I see the buttons have been changed to a nice, 'Red For Dummies' shade now. :roll: I still like it though, i am a fan of all reds. King of colours.
