Light or dark themes?

itunes66 · Posted: 9/17/2005, 3:10 pm Post subject:

dark themes

Lady Syren · Posted: 9/19/2005, 4:59 pm Post subject:

My personal preferrence leans more towards the darker colors, however, I do like a few of the lighter themes. When I design a site or forum for someone, I do my best to personalize it to fit the community and/or the people that use it. I like one-of-a-kind designs the most and unfortunately I haven't had time to create one-of-a-kind themes for the phpBB forums I run so I use a few of the free offered themes available.
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Teknomancer · Posted: 9/19/2005, 10:27 pm Post subject:

Light themes... usually in sober blue, somewhat similar to this one. But it really depends on the topic, ex: game sites (medeival themes like Diablo etc), the Black theme suits.

But here is one dark theme which I consider the best I've seen so far. Absolutely flawless in readability and clarity. Excellent indeed.

Planet Unreal. My favourite dark theme.
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Elbethil · Posted: 9/20/2005, 7:43 pm Post subject:

I personally prefer (and design) sites with pastel themes, as I find it's nicer on the eyes. Sometimes they're dark, sometimes they're light - I think it's more important to have something that fits in well with the content of the community.
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Ex0dus · Posted: 9/26/2005, 11:57 am Post subject:

Im a bigger fan of dark themes. I like big contrasts and flashy colors and dark themes ususally give me that. I do appreciate nice light templates though (subsilver/fi subice/this sites modified subsilver being 3 of them). I install both kinds on my site to give everyone a choice. Most of my members stick with light themes.

-Ex0dus

danecobain · Posted: 9/26/2005, 1:56 pm Post subject:

i like the lighter themes theyre easier on the eyes, maybe i'm biased from having dark themes for so lonng
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Cited · Posted: 9/27/2005, 3:14 am Post subject:

I like to make the theme suit the forum.

One I have i dark as the users are young and they seem to prefer the black based themes.

Another is mostly white to go with the logo and clean, basic feel.

Yet another I am working on is greys and slivers which has a more sophisticated feel about it and is aimed at an older group.

I like most colours, so its all about the demographic as to what colours I end up with.

~HG~ · Posted: 9/27/2005, 3:39 am Post subject:

As with cited, I tend to color the scheme to suit the theme of the forum.

I have black for my games site and various color designs in between down to light green for Galahs Corner and Pink and Silver for my Freebies forum.
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SpeeeedyJ · Posted: 10/1/2005, 1:05 pm Post subject:

No one has yet mentioned themes with neutral mid-range colors (colors with shades of grey). The web is a great place to explore the unconventional and experimental ideas, instead of the "go with the flow" mentality.

For readability, black on white is generally best (or white words on black for some), but explore color while you have the freedom to.

Elbethil's "Walk on the Grass" is a great example of that.

--Jim---
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Cross_+_Flame · Posted: 10/11/2005, 2:19 pm Post subject:

I prefer light themes, but I keep a dark theme as an option. When I moved from the dark theme to the bright theme, some members were aghast about it, and said it took a lot of getting used to.

I think choose whatever style and color attracts people, not the color that they prefer. I think the light color makes it more inviting as a default, and if they want extended comfort then they can choose the dark theme.
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