The new White Background

November 2, 2015

The new white background hurts my eyes.

Surely this old bird is not the only one....

Firefox

Win 7

3.8k · November 2, 2015

Doesn't bother me. If it hurts your eyes, turn your brightness down, or use the mobile version.

2.7k · November 2, 2015

My eyes aren't as old as some, but this whitewashing is horrid. Please return to the prior color scheme, or make it an optional skin.

10.1k · November 2, 2015

I agree! This is horrible! Like staring into the sun. Make it go away.

15.3k · November 2, 2015

Damned if you do, damned if you don't...

If they use high-contrast colors, then someone complains that the background is too bright.

If they use low-contrast colors, then someone else complains that the text is hard to read.

November 2, 2015

I'm not a fan of the white background at all. Having optional skins is the best way to go. You can't please everyone but it helps.

James

3.3k · November 2, 2015

Doesn't bother me. If it hurts your eyes, turn your brightness down, or use the mobile version.

Nah, a blunder. Everything was fine, and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." So this is the one website on the entire Internet that I need to adjust down??? Ha!

7.3k · November 3, 2015

It's hurting my eyes a lot. And turning down the screen brightness doesn't help much, because then it's harder to read the words.

I spend a lot of time on these forums, and more so being a mod, and this isn't going to be easy for me.

7.3k · November 3, 2015

A white page is a horrible design choice.

Dull, boring, not distinctive or brand-identifiable at all.

B.

3.5k · November 3, 2015

When this change was implemented earlier today, I was hoping it was just temporary. It's definitely a bit harsh on the eyes. Not sure how this is supposed to increase readability for anyone, as the main sections we would be reading still have the same appearance (black text on grey background). I certainly hope the main reading sections don't change.

7.3k · November 3, 2015

I find it quite unpleasant. And am hoping it goes away (if it doesn't, I'll

spend less time here, which is probably just as well)

4.9k · November 3, 2015

I find it quite unpleasant. And am hoping it goes away (if it doesn't, I'll

spend less time here, which is probably just as well)

Agree.

Hans

3.7k · November 3, 2015

Dear lord...how about the smilies? Aren't you folks going to complain about the smilies too?

Or the ugly teal-colored buttons at the top? Aren't those ugly?

What about the size of the avatar images? Too small, right? Hurts your eyes, no?

Oh oh oh...and the 'Reply' and 'MultiQuote' buttons should have different icons, shouldn't they? I mean, it's impossible to tell them apart! (aside from the different text).

And that green color of the quote boxes just totally clashes with the surrounding gray color of each post! What were they THINKING?!?!

19k · November 3, 2015

I find it quite unpleasant. And am hoping it goes away (if it doesn't, I'll

spend less time here, which is probably just as well)

Yes, and the text is way too dark, too. How about perhaps a very pale shade of gray?

19k · November 3, 2015

Dear lord...how about the smilies? Aren't you folks going to complain about the smilies too?

Or the ugly teal-colored buttons at the top? Aren't those ugly?

What about the size of the avatar images? Too small, right? Hurts your eyes, no?

Oh oh oh...and the 'Reply' and 'MultiQuote' buttons should have different icons, shouldn't they? I mean, it's impossible to tell them apart! (aside from the different text).

And that green color of the quote boxes just totally clashes with the surrounding gray color of each post! What were they THINKING?!?!

Thank you for your opinion about our opinions and your gripe about our gripes. I didn't realize that you had the exclusive on opinions and gripes.

2.7k · November 3, 2015

Dear lord...how about the smilies? Aren't you folks going to complain about the smilies too?

Or the ugly teal-colored buttons at the top? Aren't those ugly?

What about the size of the avatar images? Too small, right? Hurts your eyes, no?

Oh oh oh...and the 'Reply' and 'MultiQuote' buttons should have different icons, shouldn't they? I mean, it's impossible to tell them apart! (aside from the different text).

And that green color of the quote boxes just totally clashes with the surrounding gray color of each post! What were they THINKING?!?!

Thank you for your opinion about our opinions and your gripe about our gripes. I didn't realize that you had the exclusive on opinions and gripes.

Surprising what you miss while away.

3.7k · November 3, 2015

Dear lord...how about the smilies? Aren't you folks going to complain about the smilies too?

Or the ugly teal-colored buttons at the top? Aren't those ugly?

What about the size of the avatar images? Too small, right? Hurts your eyes, no?

Oh oh oh...and the 'Reply' and 'MultiQuote' buttons should have different icons, shouldn't they? I mean, it's impossible to tell them apart! (aside from the different text).

And that green color of the quote boxes just totally clashes with the surrounding gray color of each post! What were they THINKING?!?!

Thank you for your opinion about our opinions and your gripe about our gripes. I didn't realize that you had the exclusive on opinions and gripes.

Yes well...just goes to show that any change, no matter how inconsequential, will inspire outrage.

Just for a little perspective on 'white backgrounds':

GMail: http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/gmail_inbox.jpg

MS Word: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9xaA0wQ3yro/maxresdefault.jpg

MS Excel: http://pubpages.unh.edu/~lvf6/excel_spreadsheet.jpg

Geocaching.com: https://www.geocaching.com/

Geocaching profile: https://www.geocaching.com/my/default.aspx

15.3k · November 3, 2015

Wait... I'm confused. Where is the offending white background? Is it here in the forum? Or on the geocaching.com site? Or somewhere else?

4.9k · November 3, 2015

Wait... I'm confused. Where is the offending white background?[...]

Well, have a look at the middle of the top half page: pure white room without any content. The content we are looking for is on the last 1/3 at the bottom of the page.

That is pretty poor page design.

Hans

3.7k · November 3, 2015

Wait... I'm confused. Where is the offending white background? Is it here in the forum? Or on the geocaching.com site? Or somewhere else?

Short answer: yes.

Well, have a look at the middle of the top half page: pure white room without any content. The content we are looking for is on the last 1/3 at the bottom of the page.

That is pretty poor page design.

Hans

As I understand it, the forum software is third-party. It's customizable, but with effort that nobody likely really wants to put forth. I don't know if they upgraded their software which wiped out the neutral beige toned background or if they intentionally changed it to white...but I can't see how it makes any real difference.

Edited November 3, 2015 by J Grouchy

November 3, 2015

Dear lord...how about the smilies? Aren't you folks going to complain about the smilies too?

Or the ugly teal-colored buttons at the top? Aren't those ugly?

What about the size of the avatar images? Too small, right? Hurts your eyes, no?

Oh oh oh...and the 'Reply' and 'MultiQuote' buttons should have different icons, shouldn't they? I mean, it's impossible to tell them apart! (aside from the different text).

And that green color of the quote boxes just totally clashes with the surrounding gray color of each post! What were they THINKING?!?!

I LOL'd

7.5k · November 3, 2015

Did they tone it done a notch since yesterday? Maybe it's the computer. This desktop computer seems OK. My laptop had a very bright white background yesterday, when looking at the GC site.

15.3k · November 3, 2015

Ah, got it. They changed the Geocaching theme for the forums. I never noticed, because I always use the IP.Board skin, which looks like this:

1.3k · November 3, 2015

Ah, got it. They changed the Geocaching theme for the forums. I never noticed, because I always use the IP.Board skin

How are you changing the skins? I don't see that option in the settings anywhere and google tells me that should be done server-side..?

ETA: When this happened yesterday I thought I was having browser issues (again)

Edited November 3, 2015 by frinklabs

November 3, 2015

I don't mind it too much. It does look rather spartan, but that's not a bad thing when looking at the forum at work.

7.8k · November 3, 2015

How are you changing the skins?

At the very bottom-left of the page, there are two dropdowns. If you're seeing the white background, then the left dropdown should say "Geocaching". The other options under that dropdown are alternate skins.

7.8k · November 3, 2015

Personally, I don't have a problem with the white. Sure, it's different and it'll take some getting used to, but white backgrounds on webpages are certainly not unheard of. Most of the programs I use on a daily basis at work have significant amounts of white, so a bit more white on a website isn't going to rock my world.

I would never mock those who have a differing opinion.

7.5k · November 3, 2015

How are you changing the skins?

At the very bottom-left of the page, there are two dropdowns. If you're seeing the white background, then the left dropdown should say "Geocaching". The other options under that dropdown are alternate skins.

Thank you for that. I had no idea.

Edited November 3, 2015 by L0ne.R

1.3k · November 3, 2015

Cool -- thanks!

Maybe they made the change because now that most monitors are LCD instead of CRT, having a white background reduces global warming?

EDIT: typo

Edited November 3, 2015 by frinklabs

3.7k · November 3, 2015

How are you changing the skins?

At the very bottom-left of the page, there are two dropdowns. If you're seeing the white background, then the left dropdown should say "Geocaching". The other options under that dropdown are alternate skins.

All of which have a white background.

November 3, 2015

Ah, got it. They changed the Geocaching theme for the forums. I never noticed, because I always use the IP.Board skin, which looks like this:

Found the pulldowns. Was set to Geocaching. Pulled down the pulldown to see what was there. When I released it, it was set to Geocaching.

My computer locked up.

Had to reboot.

When I went back in, I set it to IP.Board.

Still way too much white. Still hurts the eyes.

Change for the sake of change is rarely good. Not a better mistake.

2.7k · November 4, 2015

Yet again, the drive to make the interwebs work for phones over working for computers.

Is there any way to have the IP.Board make changes back to the way it was?

1.3k · November 4, 2015

Is there any way to have the IP.Board make changes back to the way it was?

From a technical perspective, yes.

Here's a link to a list of skins for this board. Google it -- there are many many many options to customize the look and feel of this board software.

However, from an operational perspective, I'd guess no.

Based on the level of customization offered elsewhere on the site and the number of times requests for change have been heeded, I'd wager it is unlikely that options will be provided.

19k · November 4, 2015

Personally, I don't have a problem with the white. Sure, it's different and it'll take some getting used to, but white backgrounds on webpages are certainly not unheard of. Most of the programs I use on a daily basis at work have significant amounts of white, so a bit more white on a website isn't going to rock my world.

I would never mock those who have a differing opinion.

I can still read it, of course. But it begs the question, "WHY?!?" Why change the forums? Was it deliberate or was it due to a forum upgrade, or did someone mess up the style sheets? Did the forums really need a visual makeover? And if so, is this really better?

19k · November 4, 2015

Cool -- thanks!

Maybe they made the change because now that most monitors are LCD instead of CRT, having a white background reduces global warming?

EDIT: typo

Wouldn't a black background be more "green"?

1.3k · November 4, 2015

Cool -- thanks!

Maybe they made the change because now that most monitors are LCD instead of CRT, having a white background reduces global warming?

EDIT: typo

Wouldn't a black background be more "green"?

An LCD monitor's backlight is always on, regardless of what is being displayed. Theoretically, if the screen colour is black, most of the light is being absorbed and converted to radiant heat. If the colour is white, the light is allowed to pass through unconverted.

3.6k · November 4, 2015

Get use to it... its all about them and not about the customers. That's what happen when a company own 95% of the market. Wanna teach them a lesson? Dont renew your PM.

I dont like it...but I dont have any voice here anymore...thats along a major of us.

Making better mistake tomorrow...

19k · November 4, 2015

Get use to it... its all about them and not about the customers. That's what happen when a company own 95% of the market. Wanna teach them a lesson? Dont renew your PM.

I dont like it...but I dont have any voice here anymore...thats along a major of us.

Making better mistake tomorrow...

I don't understand why changing the look of the forum would serve Groundspeak's purposes, though. Maybe the price on green pixels has gone up recently and they're trying to save some bucks?

11.6k · November 4, 2015

Old and new color schemes for comparison:

3.6k · November 4, 2015

Get use to it... its all about them and not about the customers. That's what happen when a company own 95% of the market. Wanna teach them a lesson? Dont renew your PM.

I dont like it...but I dont have any voice here anymore...thats along a major of us.

Making better mistake tomorrow...

I don't understand why changing the look of the forum would serve Groundspeak's purposes, though. Maybe the price on green pixels has gone up recently and they're trying to save some bucks?

No...the new layout looked like nurse Ratched took over.

November 4, 2015

Old and new color schemes for comparison:

Do you have one with the old GC logo with the colors, too?

7.5k · November 4, 2015

I don't understand why changing the look of the forum would serve Groundspeak's purposes, though. Maybe the price on green pixels has gone up recently and they're trying to save some bucks?

Old and new color schemes for comparison:

I could care less, and I probably wouldn't have noticed if someone hadn't mentioned it, but now that I see the comparison, it looks like the old way sent an image for the background. If so, I'm fine with them not bothering any more. In fact, if they'd gone the other way -- from sending nothing to sending an image -- I think we'd be getting more complaints about unnecessary changes just to put hills in the background than we are about being blinded because the hills were removed.

11.6k · November 4, 2015

Do you have one with the old GC logo with the colors, too?

No, I just happened to have the old page in view on my iPad, so I took a screen shot.

10.1k · November 4, 2015

Here I was hoping it was a programming error and would go away. It is very hard on my eyes. I am very sensitive to bright lights, and don't drive at night.

I guess they are trying to get rid of us senior citizen geocachers/forum users.

3.7k · November 5, 2015

Here I was hoping it was a programming error and would go away. It is very hard on my eyes. I am very sensitive to bright lights, and don't drive at night.

I guess they are trying to get rid of us senior citizen geocachers/forum users.

http://lifehacker.com/5912480/how-to-invert-your-browsers-colors-for-easier-reading-at-night

November 5, 2015

Bring it back.

Since The geocaching style is no longer branded, I would like the person who changed the CSS of the forum from

background: #8C9E63url("/web/20150912193106im_/http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/public/style_images/geocaching/uv_header.png") no-repeat right top;

to

background: #fff;

to stop by and explain this odd choice?

Edited November 5, 2015 by fbingha

November 5, 2015

hmmm, shucks i thought voting day was tuesday...

now that i know i can still vote on TBT, i vote for the beige/green backgrounds and header...

7.5k · November 5, 2015

The odd thing is that I can't think of any good reason they couldn't provide both through two different skins and let people choose.

19k · November 5, 2015

The odd thing is that I can't think of any good reason they couldn't provide both through two different skins and let people choose.

The odd thing is that this is post #49 and still no word from Groundspeak about it.

1.2k · November 6, 2015

I am sure they have an explanation, I just can not even imagine what it would be.

The new White Background

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