Ma' New Forums!

[CyberSurfer]

Yep, I'm redesigning my website again! At present, the only completed section is the forums, and I'd like y'all to come and check it out!

http://www.techdump.uklinux.net/forums

BTW I know I have to get the "new post" and "post reply" buttons sorted, and I'm down as Moderator for every forum coz the software insists on at least one!

Incidentally, if anyone fancies being a moderator, drop me an email.

[Jethro]

BUt there are no bloody members on your site.....well...except for me that is. Yes, joined up immediatly. Looking forward to using your vb, delphi, feedback, and cafe forums.

One minor complaint though,

Its pretty hard to read the pages

[Jethro]

Just got my welcome on board email. Cool!!!!!! OK where are the smilies, can we have really rude ones, and can l post the address to a few of the lads.

[CyberSurfer]

Jethro...The smiles are in the FAQ, yes you can (email me) and yes you can....

I'll look into the colour scheme...

[spetnik]

take out black background. Bill Watterson wrote in his 10th aniversary ed. of Calvin And Hobbes that the human eye is attracted to white light, and therefore ppl enjoy thigs with a white background. When I see black, it appears unproffessional, and i leave.

[Tygur]

Spetnik, out of curiosity, what do you think of my site? It's got a black background, but I'm quite satisfied with the way it looks.

http://www.snsware.com

[spetnik]

It is a very nice site, but do not enjoy black-background sites. It looks unproffessional and is annoying. I would swap the colors. Personally, I spend as little time possible on black sites, even if it means extra searching (sorry ).

Also, on a personal note, I would get rid of the "Times New Roman" font. I prefer "Arial" (among others) much more. Why Microsoft uses it as default is beyond me (This is personal, not proffessional opinion, although I refrain from using "Times New Roman" at work too).

[Tygur]

Ok, I'll check on some other fonts..

[CyberSurfer]

Spetnik, the background is dark grey...

[parksie]

I like Verdana quite a lot, it's pretty nice on the ol' retina.

[chenko]

Originally posted by parksie
I like Verdana quite a lot, it's pretty nice on the ol' retina.

Yep love that font.....and its all snoopys fault!!!!! MUwAHAHAHAHA

[Good Dreams]

The text size is too big. The rest seems great.

[Wynd]

Well, the text size of the main page is good, I think. The message text is too big however.

[spetnik]

Originally posted by CyberSurfer
Spetnik, the background is dark grey...

Yes, but thats too close to black. If it was a light color,your site would rock!

[Good Dreams]

Originally posted by spetnik
take out black background. Bill Watterson wrote in his 10th aniversary ed. of Calvin And Hobbes that the human eye is attracted to white light, and therefore ppl enjoy thigs with a white background. When I see black, it appears unproffessional, and i leave.

I respect very much what Bill Watterson said, but I don't think he spent enough time in front of a computer screen to notice how much it ruins our eyes. Black text in a white background is more violent to someone's eyes than white text in a black background. Between those two extrems there are plenty of other good choices, namely black text in a gray background.

On the other hand, I don't agree with his theory. It's the contrast which atracts more the eye.

[spetnik]

Well, I have yet to see a successful web-site with a black background (or dark, for that matter). Why do you think it is like that? People would rather a light colored page. That's it. The only dark colored sites out there are amateur ones. Even Yahoo switched from grey to white.

[Good Dreams]

I mentioned health reasons, but Ok... So, let me put it in a different way.

the human eye is attracted to white light

What's more important: the background or the text?

[Tygur]

Well, I have yet to see a successful web-site with a black background

Do you consider www.digitalblasphemy.com to be successful? I do.

[parksie]

www.flipcode.com

[scoutt]

well, I don't think it has anything to do with the background to be successful. it all depends on the content and the theme of the site. if it has a black background and a good theme and content it will be successful, as goes with the white back ground. I personally prefer darker backgrounds as apposed to white as it does hurt my eyes to see a pure white background with not much content.

But if it has a dark background and a bad theme or little content I don't think anybody will be going to it.

I have read however that a brighter site will attrack more visitors as apposed to dark backgrounds.

I also think is has a lot to do with personal feelings about the site. if the site has what I want but it looks like dog do do I will go back to it. who cares what it looks like as long as it gets the point across to it's viewers.

note: personal feelings not reflected on anybody else, no dogs we harmed in the making of this post,

[Good Dreams]

Don't know if it's a good example, but think about the vbsquare style. I don't like the green links in the mutard background, but I dont care.

[CyberSurfer]

succesful dark sites..

www.newgrounds.com

www.arstechnica.com

[CyberSurfer]

I've investigated the message text size, and it appears that the forum makers forgot to give me the ability to change it....At some point, I'll go through all the PHP files and change the text size myself, because I find it too big as well..