I know there was talk in one thread about css and such, however, I wanted to just focus on discussion about the color schemes.

1. If not already, I would suggest if possible to allow users to define their own color schemes or at least pick from a canned list. It could be saved with their profile.

2. If #1 is too hard to implement, can we please get colors that contrast more? Don't get me wrong I like the subtle colors now, but on different types of monitors (LCD, laptop glossy, glass, etc.) it sometimes is very hard to see the distinction of quote blocks versus the regular body.

just my .02$ , thanks.

Rybolt wrote:...I like the subtle colors now, but on different types of monitors (LCD, laptop glossy, glass, etc.) it sometimes is very hard to see the distinction of quote blocks versus the regular body.

I played with different colors for the quotes; the problem is that what looks good on a (lighter) post background doesn't look good on the subsequent (darker) post background. I also tried darkening the border with similar results. The best answer would be to set the quote background color depending on the post background color. Unfortunately the code is structured such that it isn't possible.

I'll think about this a bit more. Any web designers out there with a solution?

i am not a designer per se, however, i am a software engineer and i can do most types of coding. in saying that , i don't have experience in PHP, and i assume that this board is packaged software.

so, if you make some tweaks in the code, the next time you upgrade the board software, you have to either merge them in (maintenance nightmare ), or lose them.

maybe i can look at the phpBB package a little closer to see if a solution exists that we can utilize.

anyhow,
i love this site, it's fast, simple, elegant design. i converted from another popular site that was too slow, and unwilling to change.

i'll do what i can to help.

dan,

what version of phpBB are you running?

see this link, as it says phpBB3 allows more customisation of styles (hopefully meaning css styles , inc. colors)

http://www.phpbb.com/about/features/#styles

I think the colors look good. The site functions quite well.

Rybolt wrote:i converted from another popular site that was too slow, and unwilling to change.

I assume you refer to CoffeeGeek; I moderate there from time-to-time. Mark talks about a new and improved version of CG with lots of bells and whistles, but no firm release date. CG's speed is gated by an implementation designed for small sites; they've made it this far by throwing lots of fast hardware at it. This site uses phpBB, which is wicked fast in version 3 and it scales nicely. If I were in Mark's shoes, I'd get out of the custom software business and leverage open source software wherever possible, but I digress...

Rybolt wrote:what version of phpBB are you running?

It's phpBB version 3 and the colors/fonts are in CSS.

The ideal solution would be a different quoted text color for the two post background colors; unfortunately the way it was coded, that would be very difficult to achieve (for techies: the rendering code for the BBcode markup is invoked outside of the context that knows the odd/even post count for the current post; see bbcode_second_pass_quote(...) in bbcode.php for details).

sweaner wrote:I think the colors look good. The site functions quite well.

I appreciate the feedback. Kudos are also due Dave White from Old Time Design for the snazzy masthead graphics.

HB wrote:It's phpBB version 3 and the colors/fonts are in CSS.

The ideal solution would be a different quoted text color for the two post background colors; unfortunately the way it was coded, that would be very difficult to achieve (for techies: the rendering code for the BBcode markup is invoked outside of the context that knows the odd/even post count for the current post; see bbcode_second_pass_quote(...) in bbcode.php for details).

I see what your saying now. Even post number should get quote style #1 , odd post number should get quote style #2.

I really don't see anything in this function relating to style, without even looking at PHP or phpBB3, it seems to me it is just building the string to say either "Rybolt wrote: " or if it can't find username it will build a string with just a literal "quote" . I don't know, just my take.

source: http://phpbb.org.in/doc/nav.html?includes/bbcode.php.source.html#l531

 /**
 532      * Second parse quote tag
 533      */
 534     function bbcode_second_pass_quote($username, $quote)
 535      {
 536          // when using the /e modifier, preg_replace slashes double-quotes but does not
 537          // seem to slash anything else
 538          $quote = str_replace('\"', '"', $quote);
 539          $username = str_replace('\"', '"', $username);
 540 
 541          // remove newline at the beginning
 542          if ($quote == "\n")
 543          {
 544              $quote = '';
 545          }
 546 
 547          $quote = (($username) ? str_replace('$1', $username, $this->bbcode_tpl('quote_username_open')) : $this->bbcode_tpl('quote_open')) . $quote;
 548 
 549          return $quote;
 550      }

Anyhow, I'll let it rest, I ultimately just wanted to know if phpBB3 had the ability out of the box, for users, like me, to select their own custom colors for each element (quote, code, blocks, etc.). I am thinking it doesn't. I looked at some other themes/styles , and HB blew them out of the water.

I assume you refer to CoffeeGeek; I moderate there from time-to-time. Mark talks about a new and improved version of CG with lots of bells and whistles, but no firm release date. CG's speed is gated by an implementation designed for small sites; they've made it this far by throwing lots of fast hardware at it. This site uses phpBB, which is wicked fast in version 3 and it scales nicely. If I were in Mark's shoes, I'd get out of the custom software business and leverage open source software wherever possible, but I digress...

The quote above is example of no-username quote.

Anyhow, I didn't want to point out CG, but yes, it is painfully slow. Great content and Mark is awesome writer. I don't get it, it's custom software that lacks many features and is horribly slow. Shouldn't it be customized to CG and not a vague forums (boards) software. One major yuck is the buysell forum , where you have to wade through hundreds of postings which are just old 'for sale' items that are now SOLD, arghh!!!

Anyhow, i do this for a living and I know it can be a lot better , but I am always glad CG exists and have many praises for the content.

Rybolt wrote:I see what your saying now. Even post number should get quote style #1 , odd post number should get quote style #2.

I was thinking about this on the way home from work and realized there was an easy solution. So I've changed the code to alternate the background for quoted text dark/light for posts that are light/dark. The contrast is much easier to see now! Thanks for the suggestion.