NEW THEME! for the Spectrum Computing Forums

[druellan]

Is this better? I also changed the font on Windows, to something not so thin as the Courier Mono.

Code: Select all

10 INPUT "type in two strings"'a$,b$
20 IF a$>b$ THEN LET c$=a$: LET a$=b$: LET b$=c$
30 PRINT a$;" ";("<" AND a$<b$)+("=" AND a$=b$);" ";b$
40 GO TO 10

[1024MAK]

@druellan yes, that’s definitely better

Thank you

Mark

[spider]

Not sure if its a recent change or perhaps my browser cached the css for ages, but the 'new' theme aka the ZX ProSilver based one, the width seemed to have been reduced a bit.

Firefox v104

Its relatively dynamic anyway so its not a mass issue but I do have a fair blank margin either side.

[druellan]

Not sure if its a recent change or perhaps my browser cached the css for ages, but the 'new' theme aka the ZX ProSilver based one, the width seemed to have been reduced a bit.

Interesting, I didn't change anything related to that, but I added some borders on other elements that perhaps impacted the width, but only for about 10px if that. I have some revisions to update, I'm working on the header and some changes on the background, so, perhaps I can check that and expand a bit the overall layout.

[spider]

Interesting, I didn't change anything related to that, but I added some borders on other elements that perhaps impacted the width, but only for about 10px if that. I have some revisions to update, I'm working on the header and some changes on the background, so, perhaps I can check that and expand a bit the overall layout.

Thanks.

Its OK as I say just a change.

I'm not up on modern css unfortunately, my skills are about a decade out of date.

It behaves as if it set to a max px width , rather than a % width, if that makes sense. The actual forum body area outside the background. Without looking at the page source its about 1100px max width, give or take say 100px or so.

[druellan]

Yeah, it has a max with of 1184px, and this is part of the original design, not sure how they decided this number, I suspect they don't like the text to expand too much inside a post: at some point it becomes tedious to read. But since I indeed changed a bit the padding, I can compensate a bit.

[druellan]

Hi! Since the ZX-prosilver theme is taking shape and most notorious problems seem to be solved, I decided to go into the dark version. This is still a work in progress, but I think it is functional for anyone who wants to give it a try.



To switch to the dark version, there is a small link at the bottom of the page, the selection should be remembered for a month or so. There is a little downside: I'm applying the dark version on top of the light one, so every time a new page loads, there is a small flash of the light version before the dark styles are applied on top. This is just for development, the final version is going to be a theme on its own.

Let me know how that goes, any comments are reports are more than welcome.

[Nitrowing]

Link?



Found it



Too bright

[Morkin]

Only given dark mode a quick go but I really like it.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

To switch to the dark version, there is a small link at the bottom of the page [...]

Sorry, but I can't switch to that cool feature, I only can select 'prosilver' and 'ZX prosilver' (bright paper, not black as in your pic)... no link at the botton of the page, either.

[1024MAK]

The link at the bottom of the page (most pages, but I’ve obviously not checked everywhere ) appears to only be available on some browsers.

For me, it works on Firefox.

No link when using Safari.

Not tried any other browsers yet.

Mark

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Just found it (works both in Chrome and Edge).

It was me, I thought the link was at the botton of the User Control Panel, not at the forum's page!

Great mode, BTW!

[clebin]

The dark looks great - nice work druellan!

If the smilies do end up being changed, if would be nice if they were PNGs to avoid the jagged edges.

[druellan]

Hi, and sorry if the implementation is kind of wonky, it was a quick patch to get it working and do some test.
Let me know how the contrast feels and if it is pleasant to use. The palette is based on what the pluging Night Eye does with the light theme, and the intention was to replace or remove the background image, but I must say this one works surprisingly well.
I already see some bad background colors here and there, so, a patch is comming.

[Van_Dammesque]

The dark mode is great!

[Lee Bee]

I hadn't been aware of the new theme until now (ZX Prosilver, I haven't seen the dark theme yet). Maybe a bit late, but let me offer my own humble opinion, for what it's worth…

Firstly, well done to druellan for his work on the theme, and I'm glad it's proved popular with users here. Though, I must respectfully say that it's not to my tastes. I'm very relieved we still have the option to use the original theme, because if this new theme were compulsory, I'd be out of here pretty quickly!

I find the colours really cold, stark, depressing, bleak. No warmth or happiness. A major reason I'm a Speccy fan is I love the cheerful colours!

Other things: The links not being blue bugs me as I like to clearly see links. I don't feel the current page number is distinct enough from other page numbers, making it harder to see. I don't like the smaller rounded panel corners - I'd rather it be a more distinct curve or perfectly square. Oh and everything's bigger in the new theme. Probably useful for those with high-res screens but mine is only low res. (I like low-res! ) I also prefer the original topic icons.

The only positive thing I can really say is that I do like the Exolon image in the top right. It's also nice to have bigger page numbers.

I'd be happy just to have the current theme with an image in the top right. Kind of something like this or this.

[druellan]

Hi @Lee Bee completely fair criticism. The original theme was intended to be something like the Spectrum manual: high-contrast, black & white with vibrant touches of color, and some ZX Spectrum photos or art as background, but turns out it was not pleasant to read, so I toned it down and the end result is kind of dull. So, future plans are to add more color, in fact, I started doing so with the header, so, I'm glad you liked it.
About the overall layout being bigger: reason is that my eyesight is not the same as years ago, and I like to have bigger fonts

BTW, I do LOVE this



I think it can be done 100% using styles. I'll try to produce a prototype later.
My intention with those headers was to have a bunch, and rotate them randomly or from time to time, but I don't want to invest too much time right now, the theme is really I side project.

[Morkin]

Just noticed that spoiler tags give you a light background, I guess the text probably needs to be darker to be more visibile.

Spoiler

Ghostly text..!!

[1024MAK]

Just noticed that spoiler tags give you a light background

It’s Sinclair related, so it has to have at least some bugs at launch!

Mark

[druellan]

Just noticed that spoiler tags give you a light background, I guess the text probably needs to be darker to be more visibile.

Thanks! Noted!

[Lee Bee]

Hi @Lee Bee completely fair criticism. […] BTW, I do LOVE this

Thanks for taking my criticism well! I'm happy that the theme has gone down well with most people here. But everyone has different tastes, so I think it's important to have the choice to keep the original theme. To me, stark "black and white" themes remind me of the Borg

[1024MAK]

We are the Borg. Lower your game packs and surrender your ZX Spectrums. We will add your ZX Spectrum collection to our own. You and your ZX Spectrum collection will be assimilated. Your culture will adapt to service us. All forums will become monochrome. Resistance is futile.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

My intention with those headers was to have a bunch, and rotate them randomly or from time to time, but I don't want to invest too much time right now, the theme is really I side project.

Very good idea! If you tell the requirements of the graphics, we might contribute and then you choose the ones you think are more appropiate.



Just a plea in this one: would you mind 'moving' the planets a bit to the left in order to be fully seen? The search box doesn't let them be properly seen.

[Lee Bee]

Would you mind 'moving' the planets a bit to the left in order to be fully seen?

Sorry, that image was just something I quickly mocked-up. Purely a suggestion:

I'd be happy just to have the current theme with an image in the top right. Kind of something like this or this.

[PeterJ]

I'm not planning any changes to to the default theme @Lee Bee, but I'm very grateful to @druellan for offering his two alternatives for those users that prefer darker colours.