PlaneShift website criticism (extensive)

[Netty]

I too prefer light text on a dark background. If colors are well picked, it\'s very easy to read. One of the rare cases where I like a dark text on a light background is on this site:

Wizards.com

But I doubt that a similar olive color would fit with PlaneShift, since many seem to want at least something close to one of the logo colors.

I\'d like to hear others\' preferences as well.

EDIT:

Ok, you\'ve requested turquoise-ish or light-bluish, light text on dark background. By the way, it can\'t be too light blue, if you want light text readable. So, I came up with this:

Tuquoise-ish

Hope the creator of the logo doesn\'t mind that I used it for this test.

Alternative

A little less turquoise-ish, a little more bluish.

Note that I used my original \"orange-ish\", not the more dull version, which I think works for a lot of themes well. I tried using shades of red and blue for \"Important\" and it clashed too much.

These are rough shades, which can be adjusted to lighter or darker.

Any thoughts? Does it look PS-ish enough?

EDIT:

By the way, the reason that some people like the \"brown\" theme is because it matches the website theme. Even a bad theme (which the brown one is right now, unless tweaked) will look good and more professional if it matches the site\'s colors.

Currently, I like my bluish theme (latest Alternative) the best, considering some of the \"conditions\" set by the responses. Especially if a site is redesigned more towards bluish color.

One other alternative is to skin the forum. That might bring more variation in colors and how they work together. Anyone up to the task?

[Karyuu]

Aw, now I can\'t decide between the two you posted ^^

*switches between tabs for a good couple of minutes*

...

*whimper*

You know, I think the alternative\'s blue is a bit too vivid/vibrant for my taste, even though it matches better with the logo. The turquoise is more calming on the eyes, which I think is most important.

Neat! \\o/

[AryHann]

I agree totally with Karyuu

[DaveG]

I think those color schemes might be good for a website, but not for the forums.  (the \"alternative\" scheme is nice)  You need lighter colors on here, so it\'s easier to read.  (I really like the Wizards.com one)  I would simply like the same sort of thing as the forum default, but with colors similar to the crystal logo at the top of the page.  Maybe with a bold background in some areas, but not behind text.  For forums, I definitely preffer lighter over darker.

Edited to add:
Btw, there\'s nothing wrong with having a default and multiple optional choices.  

[Netty]

Originally posted by Karyuu
Aw, now I can\'t decide between the two you posted ^^

*switches between tabs for a good couple of minutes*

...

*whimper*

You know, I think the alternative\'s blue is a bit too vivid/vibrant for my taste, even though it matches better with the logo. The turquoise is more calming on the eyes, which I think is most important.

Neat! \\o/

Aww, so you actually like them? I want the feeling to be \"wow, this is beautiful!\". Do you like it better than default or brown?

Hmm, less vibrant bluish:

Less Vibrant 1

Even less vibrant:

Less Vibrant 2

And even less vibrant:

Less Vibrant 3

Any better or do you still like Turquoise best? If you do, it\'s fine. Just throwing some options here.

Hopefully more people like one of these, including Turquoise.

UPDATE:

Moo-Haa! Moo-Haa! Moohahahahahaha!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you \"PlaneShift ala Wizards\"!!! (this is what happens when a wizards theme gets through a PlaneShift grinder):

Voila!

Ok, seriously, one of the reasons Wizards looks good is because of the color choice itself. Plus, on top of pure colors, they have a skin, and a background picture. Plus, they\'re only using bolded thread titles for newly responded to threads. I added a little extra touches, that are not normally available by simply changing a color to show what it might look like. I also slightly edited the PS logo colors to fit into the theme better. Perhaps the logo doesn\'t even have to be used on a forum.

Personally, I think this is very fantasy-like and even somewhat resembles the icon colors used in PS GUI buttons (the main ones). The intensity of the colors is the same as on Wizards.com. Not sure if it\'ll look too hard on your eyes or not.

I think this is a damn good looker for a dark text on a light background (btw, ignore the yellow buttons).

However, the main website would have to be designed around those or similar colors to match the theme.

Any thoughts?

EDIT:

Perhaps a tad bit easier on the eyes, I don\'t know:

Voila 2

EDIT: Hmm, I\'m thinking the latest \"wizards\" themes hurt the eyes somewhat, unless used with a good background image. Nevermind mind them then, was just playing with ideas.

Well, I\'m going to bed now, been up too late trying to tweak this.

[Rolf Blacksmith]

I\'m not a web developer, so my opinion maybe doesn\'t count too much in this thread, but I find Netty\'s last two examples are quite strenious on the eyes (at least on mine). I\'d rather prefer something darker, why not have something resebling dark rock?

Reason:
As PS is not a SciFi MMORPG, I think its colors should pick a bit of the colors of the PS world, like grey (stone), brown (soil), green (plants), maybe wit h some reddish touch (like red wine).

And, another personal opinion, I like having light text on dark background, and as long as the text isn\'t too bright, it is still quite readable (at least to me).
On my desktop I prefer using dark themes, as they focus my vision on the brighter spots, which are icons and text, giving me a better look.

However, all this is just my opinion ...

[DaveG]

Now we\'re talking!  I really like voila (1), though it\'s an little bit too green.  Slide it slightly towards the blue, make it a tiny bit lighter, and I think we\'ve got a good default theme.  (buttons obviously need work, though)  The other 3 (not sure which is the best shade; very similar) are good #2 themes, for those who like the darker feel.  I think we\'re definitely getting somewhere here.  

For all the themes, I really think we need a background panorama behind the entire top part.  (similar to the Wizards forum)  We might even consider a watermark in the background of the main forum selection page.

[Pestilence]

hmm like the blue better

The less vibrants just look to much the same. Tried to see a difference but I really couldn\'t tell what it was sorry.

[lanser]

Hmm Voila 1+2 are much better but I\'m not sure about the yellow and green buttons

[Karyuu]

Agreed with those who have posted before, there\'s a bit too much green tint to the whole thing, but it\'s better than the previous proposals, I think :] We would definitely want some sort of \"scene\" in that top banner instead of just a logo, since I think it\'s just begging for something like that.

[Induane]

To be completely honest I think that the little test theme that Netty did looks better than all of the alternatives.  A darker blue would be ok as long as you gave it a more metallic look as well.  The default theme works well as far as readibility but looks boring.  The brown test theme is ok but causes me severe eyestrain on every computer I see it on.

I also hated that the forums link was hidden  - like a secret for people to discover on accident unless someone told them about it.

Account Registration is the same way.  Even better I always thought: would be that you click on the register button on the main page.  You fill out account information, and a nickname which would be the name you use in the forums.  One registration process - and thus your online account and forum account are the same account.  

I think the real problem is manpower.  I could do some graphics work maybe but between being a graphic artist for Ubuntu, my guild, and some other things plus work, I have less time than I\'d like.  Truthfully I\'d work on PlaneShift full time if I had the ability to do so.

Anyways good ideas Netty - you\'ve a good eye for the sorts of issues that are on the site.  Maybe bringing this up will lead to some positive change.

[Netty]

Hey, guys

Thanks for the feedback! I love doing this publically, since I love immediate and multiple feedback. I\'ll keep working on it. I just hope you don\'t think that I have a bad taste, since some of my ideas were based on taste, while others purely on experimenting.

Once we pick good forum theme, I\'ll play around with website proposals (purely in Photoshop for now).

Heck, I think us starting with forum and not the site is a great thing in a way, since we have to pick something that\'s readable and easy on the eyes for the majority. I\'ve dealth with situations before where someone absolutely loved default forum colors and didn\'t want them changed, so we ended up designing a site around those colors.

[DaveG]

Originally posted by Induane
I also hated that the forums link was hidden  - like a secret for people to discover on accident unless someone told them about it.

I liked the hidden thing, but yeah.  By the way, there\'s also a link in the side menu on the community page.    Regardless, there are plenty of design things that can be done to make it all more user-friendly.

[Netty]

Ok, this is wizards\' theme in blue.

Note that the color values are identical to wizards\' theme, just to be sure, the only difference being the hue, which is set to 206 (blue).

Version 1

Version 2

Seems a bit dark. See how a simple difference of color rather than brightness can make a difference?

Version 1 Brighter

Version 2 Brighter

Not sure if I like it that much. What do you think?

It almost seems like if you just have to have a blue theme but with a dark text on light background, and still have it readable, you may have to stick with the current default theme, which is similar to default themes on many other forums, and is a bit boring. However, if a PS website designed with that theme in mind, it might be ok.

Going to work on my first theme and try to change it more towards metallic blue.

[sesmi]

Personally, I quite like the current forum colour scheme.