Light VS Dark - What's Your Theme Preference?

[Rikifive 3,411]

The dark theme is requested / mentioned quite often, there are obvious reasons why it is popular nowadays, and the light theme pretty much became a meme over time.

 

I'd like to ask you - which theme do you prefer?

Please note, that the poll is mainly for my reference, its results won't be "final". I want to gather your opinions, take them into consideration and see what would work best.

 

The thing is, I don't know when, but the day will come when the forum software will be updated. I expect few things to break when that happens, and I have some plans in general anyway, so I may be working on the theme from scratch.

 

As I've been mentioning earlier, maintaining multiple themes multiplies the work I have to do when doing any changes. That alone maybe would be okay, but there's a real problem:

At the moment the dark theme we have still has white blocks for posts. I left it that way, because I was worried, that some posts may appear not the way they were designed. Leaving them white in both themes ensures compatibility - that they look the same for everyone.

 

There's a common problem, where text copied from somewhere else copies the font color and background as well. I noticed sometimes members post white text on black bars. Now if I decided to make a proper dark theme, where posts also would have dark backgrounds, the problem would be more common, because this also applies to text copied from posts here on the forums. Copying text from posts catches the font color and the background it was on even if the poster didn't set any of this - it just grabs these defaults and sets them as actual style attribute, which is visible only when pasted on a different background.

 

So currently one can bump into white text on dark background, and likewise, while using the dark theme one could bump into random flashbangs, should someone copy&paste text while using the light theme. These things wouldn't be intentional, because one just can't see white background behind text on a white page, for example. These things are noticeable when one switches the theme. I injected a dark theme via browser extension onto forums that have only light theme, and that is when I realized how many of my posts have unwanted white lines and how often other users tend to throw flashbangs without them realizing that. These tend to be unpleasant once you get used to darkness. Now I'm trying to be careful with how I copy text, but to prevent that from happening one has to give up formatting from the copied contents altogether (bold/color highlights etc.), which isn't always desired. Now because I'm sneaking with the dark theme, I might be unintentionally dropping white text on black bars once in a while.

 

A solution for these potential inconveniences would be to stick to one theme, so that it all would look the same for everyone. No unexpected formatting invading the other theme would be appearing, and even if, the person posting this would be aware of that.

The question is, which should prevail?

 

Please feel free to leave feedback and/or share your thoughts regarding this in general.

 

Also I posted this at 4AM, my post (grammar wise and such) might be a mess, but I hope you get the idea.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Rikifive

[PhoenixSoul 1,404]

I always 'Paste as Plain Text' because I notice the formatting changes when dropping pasted stuffs, so like...no thanks. #LMAO

I chose Dark Theme, but yeah, needs darker. lolz

[Rikifive 3,411]

Yeah, it works for copy&pasting some text, but let's take project/game threads for example - these usually are a bit more fancy with all these images, various font settings for headers/sections and such and there's a higher probability the unexpected formatting will sneak in when moving things around. Anyway, not everyone (especially newcomers) may be aware of that and pasting as plain text isn't the default action, so things can happen before they realize that. I've seen enough of flashbangs personally --- tons of my own past content is full of these traps, heh.

 

I plan to make the dark theme from scratch once the time comes. It will have a completely different design and post containers will also be dark. The current pseudo-dark (night) theme will be obsolete.

I've coded another dark theme and locally plugged it via browser extension that allows injecting custom JavaScript and CSS, at the moment it looks like this:

 

--and this could be my target when implementing it "officially" to the site.

 

Of course, I'm open to suggestions regarding the colors and whatsoever.

[That One NPC 321]

Based on the polling data, I'm in the minority here, but I really like the light theme. light and dark options have become the norm over the last ten years as the trend of colorful, artsy, often chaotic page themes has died off. I like a clean aesthetic that makes things easy to read. White on grey is just.... ugh. lol There's no way for me to sugar coat it. It's so 2004 amateur fan board. I'd still use the site, but for in & out operations and maneuvers only. 

 

 

 

[Rikifive 3,411]

Dark theme kind of became a must-have nowadays, because users tend to leave negative feedback for site lacking the dark theme, claiming the whiteness causes them an eye strain. Someone here already expressed displeasure when I mentioned ending support for the dark theme. Anyway, I, as a night owl, can actually agree to that. I do like the bright appearance, because it makes the place feel a bit more peaceful and friendly - more open, but when the Sun sets, the whiteness indeed is more tiring to look at. Having an automatic day-night cycle would be really nice I think.

 

Generally I like to have a choice, so I'd gladly support both, but sadly there are few flaws in that, so I want to see how exactly does the situation look like - whether it's really worth that or not. The poll's purpose is just to gather who prefers what and see how many users are actually interested in these, for my own reference. If there will be few users who prefer the light theme, it will be enough for me to know, that someone actually uses that and that the extra effort I need to put isn't wasted, so to speak.

 

It's not about which theme wins (because without that I know the majority will go with the dark theme), it's about knowing how many users there are behind these, so that I know who I work for. Every vote counts, especially for the light theme.

 

If light theme is desired, I'll give supporting both a try and see how it goes.

[Kayzee 4,032]

Team dark forever I say! We might have a few flashbangs, but still better. If someone doesn't like it that's what the light theme is for!

Only problem is it will break all my invisatext I secretly scattered around my posts. Oh well!

 

edit: Also:

On 5/1/2021 at 12:39 PM, That One NPC said:

White on grey is just.... ugh. lol There's no way for me to sugar coat it. It's so 2004 amateur fan board. I'd still use the site, but for in & out operations and maneuvers only. 

Well discord's dark theme is basically white on dark grey and very few people complain about that! The way people see discord's light theme on the other hand... Anyway you don't need to use it, it wouldn't be the default anyway. That's why different themes exist ya know.

Edited May 10, 2021 by Kayzee

[That One NPC 321]

When I first read the thread, the title suggested a choice between the two may be made at some point. Like many, many sites, I thought they were doing away with themes completely. When I saw that everyone and their pet prefers the dark theme, I said it would affect the frequency with which I use the site. And it would. Stylized site themes that aren't well designed (like this site's dark theme) give me a headache.

[Kayzee 4,032]

Well I would replace the red borders with purple like the current night theme but it seems fine with me!

[That One NPC 321]

The purple on grey is the majority of the problem. It creates a chaotic aesthetic that feels like a children's website made with phpbb2 on one of the old free services that had thousands of horrific themes in any color combo you can possibly imagine.

 

More often than not the point of a dark theme is to get rid of brightness, not replace white with bright, alternative colors. It's been a long time since I saw a purple theme on a board.

Edited May 10, 2021 by That One NPC

[Rikifive 3,411]

The current dark theme has poor design indeed. In fact, it's not even a dark theme, but a "night" theme. It isn't really supposed to be the real dark theme, so its objective isn't getting rid of all bright colors.

 

Anyway, the current night theme will be gone and is irrelevant to this topic. The dark theme I have in mind is a theme, that I'd make from scratch, that would be properly dark, something close (if not the same) to the screenshot I've posted earlier.

 

---

 

That is correct I initially aimed to keep only one theme, so that it is easier for me to maintain it. I expected up to a single or maybe two votes on the light theme, but currently there are 7 users who prefer the light theme or would like to have a choice, so for me that means, that there is that demand for a light theme and that my extra work will actually matter, at least for some.

 

So in the end, I'll keep both, where the dark theme will be redone. However, that will have to wait for a forum software update. These updates tend to ruin a lot of things, so I'll wait for one and then get to reworking things.

 

In the meanwhile, if you have any suggestions regarding site appearance and/or layout, feel free to share these.

 

Perhaps a single high-contrast colorful with tons of lime green eye-wrecking theme would work better? Hmmmmmm 

 

2 hours ago, Kayzee said:

Well I would replace the red borders with purple like the current night theme but it seems fine with me!

Plot twist, it's not just red, but a darker shade of pink - strawberry-ish color.

[That One NPC 321]

46 minutes ago, Rikifive said:

Anyway, the current night theme will be gone and is irrelevant to this topic. The dark theme I have in mind is a theme, that I'd make from scratch, that would be properly dark, something close (if not the same) to the screenshot I've posted earlier.

 

 

Although I don't use it, this is excellent news for the site. Certainly puts any issues surrounding the Purple Monster to bed.

[Kayzee 4,032]

Heeeeey.... I like the night theme. I like it in all it's pruplly glory! It's whimsical~! Onesie some times you can be a real grumpy gus party pooper you know that?

...But I guess so can I so, guess I can't complain too much. Ah who am I kidding, I probably will anyway!

 

Still would like a darker dark theme, but I wouldn't mind keeping the purple somewhat. :3

Edited May 11, 2021 by Kayzee

[That One NPC 321]

Just telling it how it is. My opinion is worth no less because it's not candy coated and PC filtered. Or it could be because you like the Purple Monster, and I'm calling for it's head.

 

 

It's all relative.

Edited May 11, 2021 by That One NPC

[PhoenixSoul 1,404]

13 hours ago, That One NPC said:

It's all relative.

 

'Nuff said. lolz

[Kayzee 4,032]

On 5/11/2021 at 6:52 AM, That One NPC said:

Just telling it how it is. My opinion is worth no less because it's not candy coated and PC filtered. Or it could be because you like the Purple Monster, and I'm calling for it's head.

 

It's all relative.

 

I was mostly just teasing you with the grumpy gus thing you know. :3

 

Though one thing does kinda bug me. Rather then just dislike it, you said it was "badly designed". Now design can be all kinds of subjective for sure, but when I think of bad design I usually think of something that is more objectively functionally broken somehow or has horrible clashing colors or something and I just don't see that in the night theme. I think it's perfectly well designed for what it's going for, even if what it's going for isn't something you appreciate.

 

 

[portableclouds 2]

I like both themes! I have my devices automatically switch to dark mode in the evening hours, so making it responsive to that would be awesome, but even a quick access toggle would be nice!