The site theme could use a redesign

[General Patton]

January 27th, 2010

Seriously.  I could offer assistance with providing changes to the site color scheme.  There is way too little contrast between the gray background and the black text.  At least lighten the main areas of the page or darken it more and have a dark background with light text.  It becomes a chore to read for an extended time and the contrast with the red links makes many of them hard to read.

I'm sure that you'll see an increase in visitors and new users if your site isn't so hard to look at.  Please don't take that the wrong way.  All I want is to help improve the forum.

I know my opinion alone isn't much but I can tell you from experience that for every user who raises an issue, there are easily a hundred more who will never say anything and simply leave the site.

[Tanya]

January 28th, 2010

LOL

[General Patton]

January 28th, 2010

???

With respect, why is your only response "LOL?"

I feel like you should be taking this a lot more seriously.

[Vanya]

January 29th, 2010

I don't think she's going to change it.

You shouldn't take it personally. This comes up every few months roughly. The explanation that she has given before is she wants to avoid having a lighthearted feel to the site skin. The somber tone is intentional. I understand why she wants it to be this way.

We get occasional compliments on the design because it fits the appropriate atmosphere.

If you have designs in mind you can go ahead and post screenshots of what they look like. I don't expect them to be adopted though.

[General Patton]

January 29th, 2010

Why resort to bullying people who bring attention to this issue?

If you don't want to change the skin, there's nothing I can do about that but it would be a huge improvement for the forum.

[Tanya]

January 31st, 2010

You probably weren't aware, but we get huge amounts of bullying over the site skin.  It's not common but when people feel the need to criticize us, they go all out.  The fact that your first and only post was a complaint about the skin and you seemingly only registered on the forum to complain about it was a red flag.

As Vanya already said, I want to keep the mood of the site in a somber state.  I don't consider it appropriate or reverent to design a jovial or otherwise casual site for this subject matter.

If you really don't like the skin, I suggest using a Greasemonkey script to alter the appearance within your own browser.

I have tried out ideas for changing the skin, but none of them kept the same tone I was looking for.

[General Patton]

January 31st, 2010

If I designed a stylesheet and showed you screenshots, would you consider using it?

If you don't want to adopt it, would you consider adding it as an optional theme for logged in users?

[Tanya]

January 31st, 2010

If you feel like it, you can take the time to work on a design but I don't expect to be changing the theme.

Adding a skin for logged in users seems like a good idea except some people will see it as a manipulative way to gain new users. Making a Greasemoney script would be the best option.