Densha Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 It'll get a custom look of course. The current theme will be modernized and converted to IPB (based on an existing theme), and we'll work on some other themes as well for people who don't like gray all that much (think an E5 based theme, a Dr. Yellow based theme etc.) Good, as expected but just wanted to be sure. Jeff exactly describes the reason why: it's very easy to read. To me it doesn't look awful either, and this color combination is a synonym to this forum. Link to comment
cteno4 Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 its funny ive dropped a few forums over the years due to interfaces being so loud it hurt your eyes to try to read one post. Usually noticed that the posts were pretty lame as well and always wonder if its the loud interface that then helps create lousy posts... yahoo just "new and improved" their digest mode and its now harder to scan than before and even their old plain text one! they lost the structuring they had on threads in a digest so its harder to quickly scan the subject section at the beginning to see which if any posts you want to scroll down to. bummer. jeff Link to comment
Densha Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 You're totally right Jeff, bad interfaces or layouts can make a website or program completely useless or impossible to use. Link to comment
Martijn Meerts Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 The idea was always to keep this design, just alter it a bit, as in, get rid of the blue button bars that are from a standard SMF theme and adding some rounded corners for browsers that support it. Personally, I prefer a very dark gray text and a very light gray background, but I never go for pure black on white. It works for print, but for the screen I find the contrast of black text on white background starts getting tiresome on the eyes, especially when the room you're in isn't filled with sunlight :) There will be some colorful themes for those who like that, as well as maybe seasonal themes, but the new 'default' one will definitely be close to the current one. Link to comment
cteno4 Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 yeah is dependent on eyes, screen, and environment some on the fine scale! One funny result is that when folks were asked which the liked better between black on white and black on beige or very lt gray, they always chose black on beige or lt gray, but they aways tested better on black on white! we did the encyclopedia as black on beige as it had a tiny bit higher on testing and figured give folks something would "like" at that point and not have to endure the wrath of the folks in marketing (you should see how they make color choices!) All this work we ded was focused at something that folks had to focus on for a while and actively use and with some user importance to get at info, was not for the uber fast n dash stuff thats not of much importance to the user. also wasnt tested for long period use (ie all day on the computer) but for 10-60min on a task. jeff Link to comment
The_Ghan Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 Jeff and Martijn are both correct. I'm sure this would be reflected on any themes produced. Remember too that there is much more to an IP.Board theme besides colours. Reading panes are going to need to be kept simple and as Jeff pointed out, research has proven that simple, bland, reading panes work. There's no reason why other themes wouldn't work though. I'll fess up at this point and say that I'm currently experimenting with the E5 theme. You can expect sparing use of the two-tone green and pink strip. I haven't even done a proper colour match yet. I also plan to use the Hiyabusa logo and other features of the prototypical product in the theme. I don't expect that everyone likes the colour scheme on the E5 and some won't like the E5 skin either. That's exactly why there will be several skins to choose from. I've been/am Admin and Mod on various forums and boards over the years. We've had to cater for people who like blue on white background, colour on black background (like the old DOS days), are red-green colour blind, required larger than normal text, and so on. But that's why we're known as "individuals", isn't it !!! Cheers The_Ghan Link to comment
The_Ghan Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 Actually, I'm one of those people who enjoys a black background ... My screens, even on my notebook, are full HD. They're large: 2 x 24" on the desktop and 17.5" on the notebook. As I tend to recline my chair and have a lazy approach to computing. Because of that, I also prefer a larger font. But that's just me. Also, themes designed for mobile devices and, I guess, smart TVs need to be considered too. Cheers The_Ghan Link to comment
Martijn Meerts Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 smart tv optimized forum .. Guess there's not many of those around ;) Link to comment
The_Ghan Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 Martijn, I've got a 60" Samsung on the living room wall and a smaller one in the bedroom. It is awesome for browsing the web ... mother-in-law scares the shit out of me when we skype though ... Cheers The_Ghan Link to comment
Martijn Meerts Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Dang.. I have a REALLY old 32" Samsung, back before 3D, LED, Smart TV and all that. Also, only has 1 hdmi port (luckily, my receiver has a 4-port in/2-port out hdmi hub built in ;)) Still works fine though, and plenty good enough for the occasional console game :) Link to comment
bill937ca Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 I use a 32 inch Sony. Great for You Tube and watching Flickr slide shows. Link to comment
bill937ca Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 It is awesome for browsing the web ... mother-in-law scares the shit out of me when we skype though ... Ha ha ha! Bet she`s bigger than you!! Link to comment
Densha Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 @Martijn Meh, 3D just causes headache and nausea (already get that from a Nintendo 3DS), LED doesn't make the picture quality better (though less power consumption), I doubt Smart TV is really as good as a media center PC with an HDMI cable. So I doubt you miss a lot, though 1 HDMI port is quite limited. Plus 60 inches is so large that you need a bigger room probably. Not that I wouldn't mind such a TV either, but I just doubt I'm going to use it's functions. Even my 23" Dell screen is sufficient for videos for me. Link to comment
bill937ca Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Some interesting thoughts. http://blog.laptopmag.com/10-gadgets-youd-be-a-fool-to-buy-right-now?slide=7 Link to comment
cteno4 Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 It is awesome for browsing the web ... mother-in-law scares the shit out of me when we skype though ... Ha ha ha! Bet she`s bigger than you!! This is funny as I got slammed a few years back in the early days of HD for doing a load of interview footage in SD for an exhibit at an african american exhibit. one main reason was i didnt want to have to hire makup artist (ever see a zit in HD head shot on a >=42" screen!) and extra lighting (and thus make the interviewee feel uncomfortable and not natural). but we were using 42" lcd displays so i was able to easily blow the SD up about 120% and frame it into a nice background. We did this to make the head come out pretty much spot on life sized. also in the bg we could put their name and occupation w/o having it going over the video (always hard to see and distracting there) and we could then post our bg area to a nice design that meshed into the large exhibit visually. video friends were harranging me for not doing HD and finally one who was the worst saw the exhibit and was amazed that our people looked so good and just "right". Got them to finally realize that the huge HD interview heads they were doing these days in exhibits were scaring people! even if you dont consciously notice it, you do subconsciously and our mind intuitively knows what size things should be. ive observed in exhibits with the big heads that folks tend to stand further back and even away from controls and dont stick around long even if its compelling story! so big, bad, and HD aint always the right thing. jeff Link to comment
Martijn Meerts Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Densha, I don't watch a lot of TV, so I'm perfectly happy with my 32". I do listen to music a lot, so I spent a lot more in decent gear there. If/when I buy something new for my consoles and watching movies, it'll be a projector. That said, it would be interesting, as a developer, to build a page optimized for a smart TV, or, for remote control operation anyway. Link to comment
The_Ghan Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 Hey Martijn, The time will come ... I'm just saying it is something to consider. ATM probably about half our viewing on weekends in internet and social media on the 60". We can even control it with our Samsung Galaxy SII phones. Like I said, the time will come ... Cheers The_Ghan Link to comment
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