Topic: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!  (Read 9096 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

scott

  • Guest
ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« on: January 19, 2003, 06:24:09 am »
Geez, it's really hard to scan down the threads list when every other topic is an alternate color.  Please go back to one color for the subjects list!

scott
 

troycheek

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2003, 09:03:11 am »
I agree.  Very hard for me to read.
 

Kieran Forester

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2003, 09:14:22 am »
Make that a third agreement.

--Kieran

3dot14

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2003, 10:40:33 am »
Agreed.

Let's get a petition going!

Semper

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2003, 11:05:03 am »
I don't know what setting you might have changed, but I only have 3 colors.

Color #1(Sand) : For un-read threads.

Color #2 (Cyan?): For threads I have been in.

Color #3 (White): For already visited threads, but new post have been made.

All in all, I think it made the forum, a bit better and easier to use.      

lleggs

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2003, 12:39:27 pm »
I like the alternating colors, per the previous post, it makes it easier.

scott

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2003, 02:38:14 pm »
Quote:

I like the alternating colors, per the previous post, it makes it easier.  




Heh, well you have some kind of strange eye physiology, because proper human factors design would dictate that when quickly scanning across many different items, they should be in the same color to keep the process as fast as possible.  When the items are different colors, they eye must physically refocus a little with each item (I believe it's because different colors refract slightly differently and focus at different ranges on the back of the eyeball.  But the color change may also interfere with the brain's visual processing circuits as well, forcing the brain to discriminate in both color and shape for each item.)  The act of refocusing on each line takes a bit of time and so you can't just scan down relying simply on shape pattern matching alone (which the human visual system excels at).

I'm not making this stuff up... I've learned the same principle in two different courses: One on user interface design and one on cognitive psychology.

Imagine trying to read an entire novel where every other sentence was some random color of ink... Our brain just doesn't work well that way.

scott
 
« Last Edit: January 19, 2003, 02:44:07 pm by scott »

lleggs

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2003, 02:42:13 pm »
maybe i do, hehe, but I like it  

Aldaron

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2003, 03:26:49 pm »
Quote:

I don't know what setting you might have changed, but I only have 3 colors.

Color #1(Sand) : For un-read threads.

Color #2 (Cyan?): For threads I have been in.

Color #3 (White): For already visited threads, but new post have been made.

All in all, I think it made the forum, a bit better and easier to use.      




I agree. It makes it easier to see if I need to go into that thread or not.

3dot14

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2003, 03:36:41 pm »
Quote:

I don't know what setting you might have changed, but I only have 3 colors.

Color #1(Sand) : For un-read threads.
Color #2 (Cyan?): For threads I have been in.
Color #3 (White): For already visited threads, but new post have been made.

All in all, I think it made the forum, a bit better and easier to use.      



ONLY three colors?!

Also the shceme is a little different from what I see:

Bold Sand and White Color alternate   for threads I did NOT vist that HAVE  new posts
Bold Cyan for threads I DID visit that HAVE new posts
Regular Sand for threads I did NOTvist that has NO new posts
Regular Cyan for threads I DID visit that have NO new posts  

troycheek

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2003, 04:13:19 pm »
Quote:

Also the shceme is a little different from what I see:

Bold Sand and White Color alternate   for threads I did NOT vist that HAVE  new posts
Bold Cyan for threads I DID visit that HAVE new posts
Regular Sand for threads I did NOTvist that has NO new posts
Regular Cyan for threads I DID visit that have NO new posts    




That's kind of what I see.  I get...

Thread with new replies - bold gold
Thread with new replies - bold white
Thread with new replies - bold gold
Thread with new replies - bold white
Thread with no new replies that I haven't visited lately - reg gold
Thread with unread replies that I didn't read the last time I logged on - reg gold
Thread with no new replies that I visited today - reg cyan

I checked all the settings I could find and nothing seems to affect the alternating gold and white threads that have new replies.

I wonder if it's browser dependent?  I'm running Mozilla 1.3.1a, myself.

Troy
   

Cleaven

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2003, 04:24:23 pm »
Just make all of the unread new posts bold white. I find it hard to scan the new posts with the current alternating scheme.  

scott

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #12 on: January 21, 2003, 04:06:31 pm »
Come on guys, please fix the forums.  Or if there is a way for us to set our preferences to fix the problem, please tell us how...

scott  

Tulmahk

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #13 on: January 21, 2003, 09:49:08 pm »
Click on My Home.  

Click on the Edit link for 'Display preferences, number of shown threads, languages, colors... '

Use the drop-down list under 'Which style sheet (skin) do you want to use for your display?' to set a style sheet.

May I suggest the Infopop one?  I didn't realize how much this forum was taxing my eyes until I switched over to the Infopop stylesheet and felt the muscles around my eyes relaxing.  Much, much better.  

Cleaven

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #14 on: January 22, 2003, 05:13:29 am »
I think I'd rather put up with the alternating unread posts. The white background just makes things worse.  

scott

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #15 on: January 22, 2003, 01:13:08 pm »
I am already using the Infopop skin.  I agree with Talmahk that it is much easier on the eyes.  However, it does not get rid of the alternating topic colors.  It is still really slow, tedious business reading the topics.  It is becoming an effective deterrent for me to participate on these boards...

scott  

troycheek

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #16 on: January 22, 2003, 04:15:48 pm »
Quote:

I am already using the Infopop skin.  I agree with Talmahk that it is much easier on the eyes.  However, it does not get rid of the alternating topic colors.




Curious, because choosing the Info Pop skin did cure the alternating topic colors for me.  I was just about to post and tell you about it.

Weird.

Troy
 

scott

  • Guest
ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #17 on: January 19, 2003, 06:24:09 am »
Geez, it's really hard to scan down the threads list when every other topic is an alternate color.  Please go back to one color for the subjects list!

scott
 

troycheek

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #18 on: January 19, 2003, 09:03:11 am »
I agree.  Very hard for me to read.
 

Kieran Forester

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #19 on: January 19, 2003, 09:14:22 am »
Make that a third agreement.

--Kieran

3dot14

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #20 on: January 19, 2003, 10:40:33 am »
Agreed.

Let's get a petition going!

Semper

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #21 on: January 19, 2003, 11:05:03 am »
I don't know what setting you might have changed, but I only have 3 colors.

Color #1(Sand) : For un-read threads.

Color #2 (Cyan?): For threads I have been in.

Color #3 (White): For already visited threads, but new post have been made.

All in all, I think it made the forum, a bit better and easier to use.      

lleggs

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #22 on: January 19, 2003, 12:39:27 pm »
I like the alternating colors, per the previous post, it makes it easier.

scott

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #23 on: January 19, 2003, 02:38:14 pm »
Quote:

I like the alternating colors, per the previous post, it makes it easier.  




Heh, well you have some kind of strange eye physiology, because proper human factors design would dictate that when quickly scanning across many different items, they should be in the same color to keep the process as fast as possible.  When the items are different colors, they eye must physically refocus a little with each item (I believe it's because different colors refract slightly differently and focus at different ranges on the back of the eyeball.  But the color change may also interfere with the brain's visual processing circuits as well, forcing the brain to discriminate in both color and shape for each item.)  The act of refocusing on each line takes a bit of time and so you can't just scan down relying simply on shape pattern matching alone (which the human visual system excels at).

I'm not making this stuff up... I've learned the same principle in two different courses: One on user interface design and one on cognitive psychology.

Imagine trying to read an entire novel where every other sentence was some random color of ink... Our brain just doesn't work well that way.

scott
 
« Last Edit: January 19, 2003, 02:44:07 pm by scott »

lleggs

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2003, 02:42:13 pm »
maybe i do, hehe, but I like it  

Aldaron

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #25 on: January 19, 2003, 03:26:49 pm »
Quote:

I don't know what setting you might have changed, but I only have 3 colors.

Color #1(Sand) : For un-read threads.

Color #2 (Cyan?): For threads I have been in.

Color #3 (White): For already visited threads, but new post have been made.

All in all, I think it made the forum, a bit better and easier to use.      




I agree. It makes it easier to see if I need to go into that thread or not.

3dot14

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #26 on: January 19, 2003, 03:36:41 pm »
Quote:

I don't know what setting you might have changed, but I only have 3 colors.

Color #1(Sand) : For un-read threads.
Color #2 (Cyan?): For threads I have been in.
Color #3 (White): For already visited threads, but new post have been made.

All in all, I think it made the forum, a bit better and easier to use.      



ONLY three colors?!

Also the shceme is a little different from what I see:

Bold Sand and White Color alternate   for threads I did NOT vist that HAVE  new posts
Bold Cyan for threads I DID visit that HAVE new posts
Regular Sand for threads I did NOTvist that has NO new posts
Regular Cyan for threads I DID visit that have NO new posts  

troycheek

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #27 on: January 19, 2003, 04:13:19 pm »
Quote:

Also the shceme is a little different from what I see:

Bold Sand and White Color alternate   for threads I did NOT vist that HAVE  new posts
Bold Cyan for threads I DID visit that HAVE new posts
Regular Sand for threads I did NOTvist that has NO new posts
Regular Cyan for threads I DID visit that have NO new posts    




That's kind of what I see.  I get...

Thread with new replies - bold gold
Thread with new replies - bold white
Thread with new replies - bold gold
Thread with new replies - bold white
Thread with no new replies that I haven't visited lately - reg gold
Thread with unread replies that I didn't read the last time I logged on - reg gold
Thread with no new replies that I visited today - reg cyan

I checked all the settings I could find and nothing seems to affect the alternating gold and white threads that have new replies.

I wonder if it's browser dependent?  I'm running Mozilla 1.3.1a, myself.

Troy
   

Cleaven

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #28 on: January 19, 2003, 04:24:23 pm »
Just make all of the unread new posts bold white. I find it hard to scan the new posts with the current alternating scheme.  

scott

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #29 on: January 21, 2003, 04:06:31 pm »
Come on guys, please fix the forums.  Or if there is a way for us to set our preferences to fix the problem, please tell us how...

scott  

Tulmahk

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #30 on: January 21, 2003, 09:49:08 pm »
Click on My Home.  

Click on the Edit link for 'Display preferences, number of shown threads, languages, colors... '

Use the drop-down list under 'Which style sheet (skin) do you want to use for your display?' to set a style sheet.

May I suggest the Infopop one?  I didn't realize how much this forum was taxing my eyes until I switched over to the Infopop stylesheet and felt the muscles around my eyes relaxing.  Much, much better.  

Cleaven

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #31 on: January 22, 2003, 05:13:29 am »
I think I'd rather put up with the alternating unread posts. The white background just makes things worse.  

scott

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #32 on: January 22, 2003, 01:13:08 pm »
I am already using the Infopop skin.  I agree with Talmahk that it is much easier on the eyes.  However, it does not get rid of the alternating topic colors.  It is still really slow, tedious business reading the topics.  It is becoming an effective deterrent for me to participate on these boards...

scott  

troycheek

  • Guest
Re: ACK! Turn off the alternating colors please!
« Reply #33 on: January 22, 2003, 04:15:48 pm »
Quote:

I am already using the Infopop skin.  I agree with Talmahk that it is much easier on the eyes.  However, it does not get rid of the alternating topic colors.




Curious, because choosing the Info Pop skin did cure the alternating topic colors for me.  I was just about to post and tell you about it.

Weird.

Troy