Originally Posted by JFarrell71
I set most of my webpages to the dark mode when they have them (my hotmail and Reddit, for example), but I like the light mode here. It helps that there's a lot of light blue backgrounds, not stark white. Of course that may not be true in the new location, so I can't speak to whether I'd prefer *that* light mode.

That's a good point.
I think light mode where it isn't bright white would work well and be a good compromise too.

Originally Posted by Redglyph
I agree, it depends on the brightness but it's never as comfortable as a book, no matter the dark/light mode. If that's 70-80%, the white colour is correct and the light is comparable to what book pages reflect.


Any research on the web will confirm that it's usually better to read black on white, because the iris is a little more closed instead of more opened, which makes the image easier to focus and less blurred or fuzzy (halation). With white on dark, we have to make out the bright dots that tend to scatter, or "spread" across one another.

The worst, in either case, is having too much contrast. The dark mode of this website is almost there, very uncomfortable, but I've seen much worse. When it's softer, like the darcula theme in Jetbrains tools for ex, the contrast is more reasonable which makes it OK except on a bright day.

Are you saying that it's better for the background to be white or black?
I'm a bit confused [emoji53]

Originally Posted by Pladio
Are you saying that it's better for the background to be white or black?
I'm a bit confused [emoji53]

White. By black on white, I mean black characters on a white background. There's a part of subjectivity obviously, and it depends on the conditions, so I suppose that's why the opinions are divided (that's what intrigues me).

Originally Posted by Redglyph
White. By black on white, I mean black characters on a white background. There's a part of subjectivity obviously, and it depends on the conditions, so I suppose that's why the opinions are divided (that's what intrigues me).

I think you may have a good point on the fuzziness point. I think it is about two separate issues which probably have different levels of "priority" for different people.

A) Light (read - white) backgrounds are harder on the eye when used for long periods of time. I.e. like @Couchpotato says - your eyes get strained and tired more quickly.

B) Dark backgrounds make the text a bit fuzzier, but the eyes adjust - or people can just easily zoom to the level they want.


I assume some people's version of B is not as important as the strain they experience when working on light backgrounds. And the other way around too I assume.

During the day (at work) I tend to work with lighter backgrounds, whilst at night (at home) I tend to use darker ones.

Originally Posted by Pladio
I assume some people's version of B is not as important as the strain they experience when working on light backgrounds. And the other way around too I assume.

During the day (at work) I tend to work with lighter backgrounds, whilst at night (at home) I tend to use darker ones.

I tend to do the same, there are some very good "dark" themes where the contrast is fine and the text is not too bright, and they're quite relaxing.

Let's hope we'll find a way to get both quickly enough then. I'd help with the stylesheets but I'm just not very good at that.

The majority of gaming websites have dark backgrounds (or at least a combination of light and dark), so I assume that overall that is also the preferred choice by gamers. It certainly is for me. I think the numbers might be skewed somewhat here because the default is light, which is quite unusual for a site of this kind.

I didn't answer in the poll because I guess it would send the wrong message.

Generally I prefer dark themes, I use them wherever possible. However the dark theme on the Watch isn't well done, so I use the light theme.

I especially dislike the blueish background of every other posting which imho makes the layout… hm… unsteady? (I don't know a good english term. I would use "unruhig" in German.) I don't think an alternating layout of the postings is necessary at all. But this should be tested.

I'd also get rid of the gradients.

Edit: Ok, I just answered with 'light' because if I understood it correctly the result should help to decide which should be implemented first to make us feel at home in the new forum.

I've always used the light theme on rpgwatch - I think its fantastic. Dark themes are a dime a dozen and usually are just "ok" but don't wow me or make me appreciate them more than a great lighter based type theme like rpg watch has had.

I just disagree when it comes to general readability as well when it comes to many dark themes -- they are not easier to read as a default, they often choose bad shades of dark and bad colors overall.

Originally Posted by Arkadia7
I just disagree when it comes to general readability as well when it comes to many dark themes -- they are not easier to read as a default, they often choose bad shades of dark and bad colors overall.

Yep, a good light theme is better than a bad dark theme.
However I think a good dark theme is better than a good light theme.

I agree with Arkadia7 and if I compare the Codex with the Watch I see a clear reflection of my face at the Codex in broad daylight, which is really annoying, and the text is less clear. After sunset things are a bit better, depending on where the light is coming from.
I think for a news site and a forum good readability is of the utmost importance.
Most news sites that I know of have the light style. I guess the big ones have done some proper research and would change it immediately if the majority of their readers would prefer it.

Simple solutiuon just offer both again. It works that that way already. Just turn down the brightness a little on the white and work on improving the dark version as well.

Everyone wins and no need to choose or take sides. See problem solved.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Simple solutiuon just offer both again. It works that that way already. Just turn down the brightness a little on the white and work on improving the dark version as well.

Evey-one wins and no need to choose or take sides. See problem solved.

I think the point is that they have to set it up and the question is what's the priority?

The idea is to have both later but need one to start off with.

Yes I know that but that solution solves the whole debate. Want another easy suggestion combine both dark and light into a new setting. Your welcome.

If you need examples there are many templates for forums on the internet.

Also there are plugins for most forums that allow you to switch to light and dark easily. It doesn't require that much work to implement. Just depends on the software.

Anyway third post don't mean to sound like an ass. As written words don't carry intent to well sometimes on this forum. I just wanted to offer a few suggestions. Couch out.

My guess was that we'd arrive at a roughly 50/50 split between Dark and Light.

I agree that the dark version of RPGWatch isn't very well done. I created it back in 2006 and never really bothered to make it better. Contrast is too high, etc. So that's another reason the poll might skew towards the light side.

I used to be "dark everything" before, but nowadays I tend to use light themes during the day and dark themes after sunset, if there's an option. With Windows offering a system wide dark/light setting and with the help of an app this is done automatically for most of my Windows apps. Very neat. Google maps on android does the same.

Yes, there was a question of priority for the new forum software. I played around with styling in it and while I haven't gotten around to implementing a second color style yet, it seems easy enough to do and thus possible to simply offer both again. A mixed style could be nice too, but it depends on how much effort would be required to maintain it. Some things can be a real hassle.

For XenForo my short term plan is to make everything look good enough so that the place will at least feel like home. Basically it should look mostly like it does now. Maybe I can make some improvements to the dark skin while I'm at it, although long term I'd rather put the energy into a proper new theme for everything.

Light for me. I already did my time with green text on black backgrounds.

EXCEPT when there's a screenshot topic. Those are typically best with a dark background.

I usually prefer darker when it's well done. By darker, that doesn't mean "pitch black with bright white font", that's just awful. Softer violet/dark grey tones with a gentler font usually work great. In RPGWatch, I settle for the lesser of two evils, the light theme.

… And i thought this was about RPGs …

I like both really, but the light mode just kind of gives off a vibe that seems more… welcoming I guess. It just seems to give off more of a friendly feel to me for some reason, and I like that