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

[Sobek]

Oh thank god...I fired up the forum and nearly died of shock. I'll be blunt, I hate the new theme, sorry. I definitely think it's far too 'bubbly' and bright. I hate to say it, but it'd look far better if you went with something similar to what they're using over at Toms Hardware (barf, barfbarf..the site that is). It's the same sort of strong blue/white theme, though it's much more squared off and 'professional' looking, dare I say. I've always liked the fact that Beyond3d has used such a simple theme, it's almost like a statement saying we don't care about looks, just the facts! I don't know, just ranting. I'd love to see the same theme, with darker blues, less stark transitions between blue and white, and a lot more sharp, square edges to give a really 'pro' look.

Keep the original as a selectable though and i'm happy as can be!

 

[Hanners]

The theme is awesomeness of the highest degree, but I'm also going to have to be boring and make the inevitable 'too bright' comment. Just a slightly lower contrast between text and background and I think it would be just perfect.

 

[nthd]

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

I have CPU usage of around 40% when scrolling by clicking in the side bar, 70% or so when using the mouse wheel to scroll, 100% if I grab the sidebar button and drag it about.

1.7GHz P4, 512MB, IE6, 1024x768.

 

[nutball]

I like it too. Though if I'm picky I'll simply reinforce what others have touched on ... logo is a bit too big, and the background is just a tad bright (ok for most situations but not when hungover).

 

[pascal]

Great new site skin.

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.

My personal preferences is close to it too.

The theme is awesomeness of the highest degree, but I'm also going to have to be boring and make the inevitable 'too bright' comment. Just a slightly lower contrast between text and background and I think it would be just perfect.

I have this feeling too when viewing with LCDs.

 

[Rys]

We'll take a look at generating a version of the new skin with slightly lower contrast to appease those with displays set to "I hate my own retinas" levels of brightness, but no promises on when other than "pretty soon".

 

[nthd]

(Edit: bad form to quote post immediately above)

White point 10,000K.

 

[Valzic]

Excellent idea re the alternative version of the new skin. My retina's will thank you.

 

[nthd]

I'm glad posting here doesn't increase my post count, and I apologise if I now go off topic, but...


Waaaayyy to go Valzic!

 

[Gelanin]

Looks good, but as many others have mentions, its just to bright atm on my monitor. But if we get a "darker" version of it, it'll be great.

 

[Soulcatcher]

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

Well, in my case it was Opera (i have no idea about ie and i didn't try firefox).

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I've not seen any CPU usage issues with the latest Firefox if that helps any.

 

[Simon F]

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 :

Looks like you are pining for past glories

 

[Zaphod]

Looks like you are pining for past glories

For he lives twice who can at once employ, The present well, and e’en the past enjoy.

 

[Nite_Hawk]

The toned down contrast is much nicer. I'll probably keep the default now. Thanks.

Nite_Hawk

 

[Vadi]

I've not seen any CPU usage issues with the latest Firefox if that helps any.

Firefox eats 100% scrolling the forum but IE7 doesn't and it's jerky in both browsers.

 

[Reverend]

Looks like you are pining for past glories

Nah, I was just suggesting something B3D maybe can consider providing as an option to those that complain about the brightness. I'm fine with the new look personally (I thought I said that earlier?).

 

[Farid]

vB3D-LC:

http://forum.beyond3d.com/index.php?styleid=3

It also includes a different "new forum post" icon, now instead of being of made of a darker blue, it's colored in gold, which allows you to tell the forum with new posts in them from a mile away.

LC stands for lower contrast, by the way. It could have been named DC too.

With that said, I still think that most people should have used the board for a few days before complaining about it.
Unconsciously many folks do not like changes made to their environment, and the only way to deal with this is to expose oneself to the new changes and wait a few while to see if this one can get used to the said changes.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

vB3D-LC:

Much nicer! Thank you!

With that said, I still think that most people should have used the board for a few days before complaining about it.
Unconsciously many folks do not like changes made to their environment, and the only way to deal with this is to expose oneself to the new changes and wait a few while to see if this one can get used to the said changes.

I gave it a few days, and I still think it was rather bright, but then the whole point of themes is because everyone has different preferences for what they like to look at. Why get used to changes when we can choose our browsing experience individually?

Considering the big changes, the fact that some of us wanted it a little less bright means that overall it's a big success, so don't take the minor criticism too much to heart.

 

[AlNom]

lol I was just about to comment on the new posts icon not looking very obvious. Thanks again Vys.

Are you willing to change the shade of blue to that of the B3D logo? And how about a darker shade of grey to go along with that?

Here's another forum that uses a similar colour scheme that I think looks easy to read: TheForumBar