New Forum Skin: Introducing 'vB3D' Edit: And vB3D-LC

To clarify a bit, it wasn't really an issue for me, but I can see how it might for the slower computer. On my notebook, for example, scrolling in IE (with smooth scrolling enabled) triggered PowerNow to speed up the processor (800Mhz-scroll-chop-skip-1800MHz) while scrolling while the old skin doesn't.

 

put me down on the "too bright" list as well. I like my backgrounds dark, especially if im tired or have a headache otherwise i cant tolerate it too long. I think its mostly just the fact that its a pretty drastic change and its only human nature to feel comfortable with what they've known, but i still dont like bright backgrounds. This is true even for my desktop wallpaper.

 

Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, Vista (32-bit), while using IE7 and scrolling down the page the first core will peak at around 60% usage. While using Firefox (2.0.0.3) this will peak out at 15%. ~20 tabs open in Firefox and just B3D in IE7 during tests. It does not appear choppy but task managing clearly and consistently shows the CPU usage going very high while using IE7. Not sure if that's just normal of IE7 however or related directly to the new skin.

As for general comments on the new skin. I like the colors for the most part. It is just a shade bright but overall I like it and my eyes have adjusted already and I must say it is a great improvement over the previous skin in looks. The ad at the top is a bit annoying (mainly because its that stupid emoticon ad that makes noise if you have to move the cursor over it, that is the most common ad I see there) but not a big deal since I am generally not seeing it and instead at the bottom of a thread.

 

Me lovem new skin! how did you make it?

 

Regarding the "too bright" comments. Any chance that you guys can find time to experiment with how the new skin would look with a "negative image" look? I'm sure this isn't preferred since it'd go totally against the main site's color scheme but just wondering how it's look...

[edit]Going off to work but basically just fine tune the following :

 

I'd just like to say thanks for the effort making it, it really does look nice.

I don't know how simple this is, presumably its all a css file but I don't know. If the whole thing could be copied, called something else then contrast changed a little for those of us that want it that would be absolutely awesome.

I bet monitor types probably do come into it, but also people have different tolerances and likes for their video. Same as EQing your home HiFi. Some people need the bass or high end turned right up before they can hear it, others are more senstitive.

 

Yeah on my old PIII 700MHz notebook the new skin keeps the fan spinning all the time which indicates the CPU is working harder and this is with only one IE7 browser window open. Conversely switching back to the old skin allows the fan to turn off.

As far as the color is concerned, I agree that the body of the posts is too white. It needs some kind of darker intermediate shade. Also the thin outlines are too light.

 

Actually, it's the same color/brightness as the old skin (in which it doesn't seem to bright to me). Rather, I think it's the 'flat' look of the low contrast surrounding whites and borders that gives the unpleasant effect. Well, it is for me at least.

 

Those with the CPU usage issues, is it only IE7 where the problem occurs?

 

Yeah, I'm finding it quite bright too. It's like when you walk into a bathroom that's all white, or when you open a fullscreen empty Word document and it just goes "pow!" straight into your eyes.

A lot of that probably depends on the ambient light and the colour of your desktop. I have quite a softly-lit room and dark desktop, so when B3D opens up, it's suddenly a really bright looking thing in my field of view.

I've got a CRT monitor running at warm colours (6500k) with the brightness and contrast set so whites are a little downplayed, but the new theme just seems to be very white.

 

9300K and I'm still dandy, though I keep my computer areas well lit. It is much harder on your eyes looking at a screen in a dark room.

 

The only problems I have with the new skin are that it seems to scroll very slowly, and the thread icons are hard to read at a glance.
Sometimes I will go to new posts, and look at the icons to see which posts I have already replied in - to see the followups. The new icons make this harder.

But yes otherwise it's really nice

 

Yeah scrolling is a lot slower both in IE7 and Opera 9.1 when using the new skin.

 

Looks nice!

However this morlock, and other morlocks alike, would love a darker skin. Or merely one without so much f'n bright white. Swap the current White background with a dark/solid blue and swap the current Blue lettering with White/Soft-White lettering.

My personal preferences for here would be something similar to WTF's WTF Evil Incarnate or Fallen Nether. The first is dark-grey/black based. The second is blue-based.

 

change makes me a sad panda

no really, it looks good but at 1920x1200 the indicators on the thread markers, such as "new" are too small to make out.

 

BTW, I've never noticed this before (and this can be categorized under "nitty-gritty") but why is the "Last Post" column within the "Site Forums" category on the main forum page wider than all the other "Last Post" columns in other forum categories?

 

I'm guessing this is a bug related to the length of the last post in the F@H forum.

edit: yes, it is. noted, we'll work on it.

 

I switched back to the OLD version precisely because of this - the markers were hard to differentiate.

 

Thank you, now my eyes don't hurt anymore!!! Nice design

I still hope we'll get some options regarding colours, though...