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Author Topic: A humble colorscheme request  (Read 16993 times)

32BT

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A humble colorscheme request
« on: May 27, 2009, 08:39:13 am »

A humble request

IIRC this site was to get a major overhaul in the near future, so i hope this request is not too late:

Given the nature of this website, I suspect that most viewers here have sensitive eyes. I have noticed many times that I experience difficulty in reading the text on this site and judging images accompanying a piece of text. The problem appears to be that the white text lines on black background seem to produce a severe afterburn effect in my sight, and consequently when I view the images i experience a horizontal pattern overlay of dark and light linings.

So, my questions are these:

1) do other people here experience something similar?

2) what would be your preferred colorscheme?

My personal preference would be something like a medium to light gray background with darkgray text. The text blocks should have as little contrast as is reasonable without compromising readability but at the same time avoiding afterburn, and the gray background would also help judge or value published images properly.
« Last Edit: May 27, 2009, 08:39:40 am by opgr »
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Christopher Sanderson

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2009, 10:07:37 am »

A humble reply:

Try using Readable - it is quite brilliant and will solve your problem.

Chris S

Colorwave

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2009, 02:07:48 pm »

What you are describing sounds like the Phase One Forum.  For me, I have black text on a very light blue background, with no options available under the IPB Skin choices except for the default, in the menu at the bottom left of the screen.  I'm on a Mac with Firefox and Safari, so I must obviously have a very different system and experience than you.
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Ben Rubinstein

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2009, 02:41:45 pm »

I just hate the fact that this website seems to be the only one on the web designed to be unreadable on a 1048X768 screen and for no reason whatsoever other than to be annoying.
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michael

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2009, 02:48:52 pm »

Yup. That's right. It's just done to be annoying.

Michael

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Ben Rubinstein

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2009, 03:50:03 pm »

You actually have to specifically design HTML text so that it will need side to side scrolling on a 1048X768 screen. None of the guest articles require it. Just yours. Fancy telling us just what you're achieving by using a specific width for your text?
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Panopeeper

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2009, 04:41:40 pm »

Oscar,

I have dark grey letters (#222) on light blue background, alternating #eef2f7 and #f5f9fd, like Ron. This is how it is in the HTML received from LL, and  MSIE displays it this way. It is very good legible.

White letters on a black background is a crime against humanity. I wonder how you managed to get that. Are you using MSIE?
« Last Edit: May 27, 2009, 04:46:47 pm by Panopeeper »
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Gabor

James R

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2009, 05:35:11 pm »

The website is clunky (a website tech term), hate the fonts, and colors choices are less than stunning, but, I like the logo.  In the end, content trumps those issues.  LL is a great resource for a bloke like me.  The info provided through MR and posters on this message board is what is important, so, do what you like, just keep the content.
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32BT

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2009, 05:46:38 pm »

Quote from: Panopeeper
White letters on a black background is a crime against humanity. I wonder how you managed to get that. Are you using MSIE?


I'm talking about the main site, not the forum ldo.

If at all possible, a photography related site should NEVER use pastel tints for background colors anywhere since it strongly affects our whitebalance perception. But forum colors aren't always easily customizable, even for a webmaster, and the informational value of these forums far outweights the inconvenience of viewing a pasteltint for too long.

Having said that, i would thus also appreciate the forum colors neutralized, although i do not have a readability issue here obv.
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dalethorn

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2009, 06:07:56 pm »

Quote from: opgr
I'm talking about the main site, not the forum ldo.
If at all possible, a photography related site should NEVER use pastel tints for background colors anywhere since it strongly affects our whitebalance perception. But forum colors aren't always easily customizable, even for a webmaster, and the informational value of these forums far outweights the inconvenience of viewing a pasteltint for too long.
Having said that, i would thus also appreciate the forum colors neutralized, although i do not have a readability issue here obv.

The main page is very colorful and contrasty, but quite readable on my generic Dell system with the twin 19 inch flat screens.  Is it possible that some people's tweaked or customized colors are incompatible?
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Panopeeper

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #10 on: May 27, 2009, 06:59:55 pm »

Quote from: opgr
I'm talking about the main site, not the forum ldo
I find that very good legible, because the fonts are large, and most are not white anyway. Plus, the images show the best on black background.
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Gabor

Jack Varney

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #11 on: May 27, 2009, 07:21:44 pm »

I would not favor grey text on a grey background. That is, unless I disabled color management and cranked up the contrast.  
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Jack Varney

John.Murray

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2009, 12:47:18 am »

Quote from: pom
You actually have to specifically design HTML text so that it will need side to side scrolling on a 1048X768 screen. None of the guest articles require it. Just yours. Fancy telling us just what you're achieving by using a specific width for your text?

Nope!  The width of some of the pictures is what forces the actual width. The only explicit tags I see is a left margin of 210px to accomodate the menu, plus a 700px body....

Here's the css controlling the site:

http://luminous-landscape.com/lumino-style.css

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Schewe

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #13 on: May 28, 2009, 01:02:28 am »

Quote from: opgr
If at all possible, a photography related site should NEVER use pastel tints for background colors anywhere since it strongly affects our whitebalance perception.


Pretty sure Michael is sitting at his computer giggling about now...you can spend hours talking to him and try to convince him to go with subtle greys and more tasteful colors all to no avail. Michael is quite happy with the Luminous Landscape website and rather disinclined to make those kind of aesthetic concessions. I'm pretty sure Michael doesn't care...so while you can all wring your hands over the design and colors used on this site, I'm pretty sure the chance of things changing substantially are real darn close to zero...

But feel free to kvetch all ya want. It's sometime entertaining (usually not though).

:~)
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MikeMike

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #14 on: May 28, 2009, 01:06:13 am »

When I read on this site I highlight the text and lower screen brightness, makes it less harsh. Works fine for me.

Michael
« Last Edit: May 28, 2009, 01:07:17 am by MikeMike »
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Chris_T

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #15 on: May 28, 2009, 09:03:06 am »

All you critics should be patient. Several years ago I suggested dating each article (since things change so rapidly), now they are dated.
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lcowgill

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #16 on: May 28, 2009, 09:52:01 am »

I find the site quite readable and reasonably easy to navigate.  Some menus seem to be holdovers from gopher, but you can find what you need, when you need it.

The forum, its navigation and color scheme is similar to many on the net and is probably a canned template that most everybody uses.

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Gary Brown

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #17 on: May 28, 2009, 10:18:00 am »

Quote from: Joh.Murray
Nope!  The width of some of the pictures is what forces the actual width. The only explicit tags I see is a left margin of 210px to accomodate the menu, plus a 700px body....

Here's the css controlling the site:

http://luminous-landscape.com/lumino-style.css
That's not the only explicit tag; there's also a "min-width: 790px" on each article page, and that's what's forcing readers to horizontally scroll to read the text if the browser window isn't wide.
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32BT

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #18 on: May 28, 2009, 11:15:53 am »

Quote from: Chris_T
All you critics should be patient. Several years ago I suggested dating each article (since things change so rapidly), now they are dated.

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!! You have taken ambiguity to a whole new level... me like!
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32BT

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A humble colorscheme request
« Reply #19 on: May 28, 2009, 11:18:49 am »

Quote from: Schewe
Pretty sure Michael is sitting at his computer giggling about now...you can spend hours talking to him and try to convince him to go with subtle greys and more tasteful colors all to no avail.

LOL, must be the reason then why you 2 have become such good friends: equal amounts of stubbornness!


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