Forum color scheme
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    I've put a new (slightly different) set of colors on the forum. Is it still OK for readability and appearance?

  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,192
    A bit of a surprise, but still legible.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    could it be put back the way it was? Brown is singularly uninspiring.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    The theme is intended to be 'parchment', but maybe it's too dull.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    I don't like it. Harder to read.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    OK: we're back to before. I'll try another experiment....
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    This is worse that brown. What was wrong with what we had??? anything???
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Was yellow more inspiring?
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    ...when they change the forum colour scheme!

    (Methinks that they haven't enough to do!)
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Um, have you considered magenta and chartreuse?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Great; another snarky guy with the "Methinks".

    Well, chartreuse is at least a Catholic color.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    It's also, from one snark to another, a monk-crafted spirited libation... good one, too!
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen melofluent
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Well, doesn't the color come from the libation?

    So . . . any other brickbats or bouquets out there? (as Margaret Howard used to say)
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Actually, I'm not categorically opposed to a change of the colours; but here, as in all things, taste and discrimination are the determing factors. Preferably the taste and discriminating eye of an Anglican Use Roman Catholic.

    (What do you want with any other brickbats or bouquets?)
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    I have subtracted the background image.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    What background image?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    http://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/themes/CMAA2/design/caeciliae.jpg

    I would like additional responses from additional persons, since I expected MJO to opine as did the president of Huxley College:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v3etuIw-aM
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    OK... being a graphic artist, a computer geek, a Catholic and ... a liturgist (yikes!), why not have the liturgical color of the day surround the active table with text, but keep the text table consistently morphing around the colors of the rainbow in very light pastels. I could simulate this in Flash, but I am too tired since I think about new ideas all day long. "New ideas", you ask? Well, I had a crazy idea to compose a "spiral fugue" a few months ago, so I did! You can listen to it here:

    http://tetonvirtuoso.com/images/spiralFugue.mp3

    Now, if you marry the concept of ever changing colors to the audio track to which you are now hearing, you would enter into a very scarry part of my crazy mind! Chonak... are you crazy?!?!,,, playing with the colors... you are playing with our minds when you do that!

    Thanked by 3CHGiffen JulieColl donr
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    I liked the theme we had,with the background image. Added character to the site, not just a white BG.

    I agree with francis, incorporating liturgical colors would be cool, even if only seasonal. Maybe we could start by taking the background image, and applying a green color fill over top of it, then setting the color opacacy to 25%, or a similar process ( I can't do it because I'm on my tablet, not my computer). Maybe it'd look corny. Who knows. Looks good in my head though.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Well, francis, you're in a position to offer some color options. But for my sake, let's limit it to what can be done in CSS, by changing the 'background' styles in the current stylesheet .
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Maybe this wasn't a good idea: getting rid of the back-ground image, that is.
    I you are serious about this change business, then you need to make it into a really fine work of art; and, you have a long way to go.

    (All this pink and blue, with the purple lettering to boot, hath the feel of an infants' clothing shop, or some tasteless combination of colours that some cultures seem to cultivate a preference for.)
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Is there a reason we are doing this in the middle of the night?! Pehaps so that when they (participants) all wake up, there is something acceptable on the forum? What about a testbed where you can 'play' without messing with the onlookers heads? Just a thought.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Changing for the liturgical colors is way too affected.

    Besides, it requires coding or manual interventions, both of which are out (see note above about CSS).
    '
    Here's that modified background. (Add layer, fill with #006600; 25% opacity)

    I get more work done 12m-3a than the rest of the day. It's been that way since grad school.
    caeciliae-green.jpg
    1116 x 865 - 36K
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Another possibility is to reverse the text out in white against darker backgrounds.

    http://uxmovement.com/content/when-to-use-white-text-on-a-dark-background/
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Or use complimentary colors

    Green/Red
    Orange/Purple
    Yellow/Blue
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    With complimentary colors, you have one cool color and one warm color. I would keep the warm on the text and the cool surrounding. That is, unless you reverse out the text. Then it could be the other way around. Of course, you could just do seasonal colors (advent, OT, lent, Easter, OT)
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Well, to my surprise, I like the effect of adopting Ben's suggestion (if this is what he had in mind).
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Then again, you could have the colors changing according to the time of day.

    12midnight - 6am
    6am - 12 noon
    12noon - 6pm
    6pm - 12 midnight

    That way, as we are spending hours and days typing and reading without paying attention to time or space, the colors would remind us to say, ...eat lunch! or maybe, do some actual practicing on the organ.
    Thanked by 1JulieColl
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    I should also mention that when I do the next software upgrade in a few months, I will probably wipe the slate and start over. I think the current fonts are not very readable.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    I would change the colors within the table to be in the family of the color outside the table, say 10% of green.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    readability... a whole nother issue. i don't mind this font at all, but fonts tend to be a very subjective... subject.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Also, time-of-day changes, if they're based on US time, are not suitable for the 25% of our readership which is outside of North America.
    Thanked by 1veromary
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Especially if you do colors that map the sky in your particular geographical location. Can you program that using the time zones?
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    I kinda like the green.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Also, for identification purposes, you could put screened back colors of the persons flag that appear behind the text of the user's geographical location.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    (i didn't even drink coffee today...)
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Try the light blue as a light green to match the outside. That would make it less... cheesy.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    These ideas do sound rather 'busy'.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Yes... they are all just because I am up at 1:30 in the morning and my mind is missing...
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    What if this nice green were to be the background colour? It's quite a fine shade. The background pattern looks good on it, and the print and lettering could be in a not-too-garish shade of gold or yellow ochre or some such.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    See the article francis cited on when light text on a dark color is appropriate; in brief: only on headers and labels.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Hey, I like that routine reminder! How long has that been showing up on the forum?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    So now the comment backgrounds are either green (e5fff9) or blue (e5f9ff), depending on whether other people or you (respectively) wrote them.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    The routine reminder has been there for some months. It's had the current text since May.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    Yes, but the wording is now artistic and poetical. I like it a lot. It's like giving warning in poetic fashion. very classy!
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    uh oh... my 'personal' posting color is gone! I'm lost! I cannot differentiate myself from anyone else! My comments are now melting into the bland randomness of everyone else's thoughts!
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Well, the credit for the text goes (somewhat) to Shawn Tribe, who posted it once on NLM; I think, though, that it has circulated elsewhere.

    The 'personal' posting color is now only slightly different from the 'others' posting color.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    mine looks the same
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    the preview and save draft buttons are still the old light orange as are the buttons at the top
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    The 'mine' posting color is now another green.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    wow chonak... i wonder if anyone else is seeing this experiment? gotta be!
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