If, by first, you mean the yellow/mustard one then I have to disagree. Uuugh I couldn't stand that one. The current predominant brown w/ green is my favorite. I've tried the parchment colors and even a graphic background and they just didn't work.
BTW, if you want to point me towards a color scheme you do like (regardless of where), I'll take a look and see if I can make it work.
Originally posted by Don Mappin BTW, if you want to point me towards a color scheme you do like (regardless of where), I'll take a look and see if I can make it work.
Two colors I think make a great combination are (HTML code) #CE7D2E and #4B77AD (an orange tending a bit towards brown and a blue-gray) - if you don't like the orange #BB7027 would be another option that works with the blue-gray. Some other colors to go with them could be #C64214 and #1A3D68 (a 'rust' like shade of red and a darker shade of the blue-gray).
But that's just me...
If these colors aren't to your liking let me at least make two suggestions on the exisiting color scheme:
(1) The two brown shades that make up most of the threads could do with just a little more contrast IMO. Maybe if you turn the lighter brown into something just a tiny little bit more toward orange...
(2) Likewise for the 'mustard'/green combination (the headers + "current time is..."), i.e. I think it could use a little more contrast. Maybe if you try a lighter color for the fonts...
I can play with the browns some more. I'm not married to them. Lightening the font colors is certainly a possibility.
The background is a very dark blue/green that I think works well. I'm trying to keep with the earth-tones so I'm not sure where some of those other shades with blue would fit in.
Originally posted by Don Mappin The background is a very dark blue/green that I think works well. I'm trying to keep with the earth-tones so I'm not sure where some of those other shades with blue would fit in.
Fair enough. I sure won't stop visiting these forums just because of the colors.
One thing that certainly makes the LotR forums look very different from the Trek forums is the number of different colors used.
Have you considered using 3 variations of the same color for most of the site, like the black, dark grey, light grey of the Trek forums? A dark brown for the background with two lighter shades of the same base color for the posts + green for some of the headers?
A completely unrelated thing I just noticed: When I am browsing a LotR thread the "forum jump" menu lists the two LotR forums, but when on the actual forum I couldn't find the LotR forums in the "jump" menu. Is that an oversight, intended or just one of the many things still open on your "to do" list?
Originally posted by Lancer Have you considered using 3 variations of the same color for most of the site, like the black, dark grey, light grey of the Trek forums? A dark brown for the background with two lighter shades of the same base color for the posts + green for some of the headers?
Actually, I'm only using something like 6 colors, three pairs of very similiar colors (two browns, three golds, and the green). So, from my POV, I'm already doing that!
A completely unrelated thing I just noticed: When I am browsing a LotR thread the "forum jump" menu lists the two LotR forums, but when on the actual forum I couldn't find the LotR forums in the "jump" menu. Is that an oversight, intended or just one of the many things still open on your "to do" list?
Probably a byproduct of the LotR forum being technically "hidden" for the moment.
BTW, I tried your orange/blue combos. Absolutely hideous!
Current colors:
Page Background Color #333333
Page Text Color #FFFFCC
Table Border Color #000000
Category Strip Background Color #663300
Category Strip Font Color #b49432
Table Heading Background Color #554D1F
Table Heading Text Color #D9AC21
First Alternating Table Background Color #9C5612
Second Alternating Table Background Color #AD641D
Link Color #EDD278
Hover Color for Links #D9AC21
Time Color #5A2E01
Current colors:
Page Background Color #263723
Page Text Color #FFFFCC
Table Border Color #000000
Category Strip Background Color #663300
Category Strip Font Color #b49432
Table Heading Background Color #554D1F
Table Heading Text Color #D9AC21
First Alternating Table Background Color #8F4F10
Second Alternating Table Background Color #9E530A
Link Color #EDD278
Hover Color for Links #D9AC21
Time Color #BEBE74
The green background you are using now looks good.
One other thing that might need some tweaking would is the cursor when writing/editing posts. It is so light now that I find it difficult to make out against the gray background of the text fields. Or maybe it's just my eyes.
I always FORGET that I'm still a mod, and then I'm able to see a secret forum. Oooops...
The layout looks really REALLY fine now. Dirt, wood and leather. That's what it tells me now. The previous, more yellow one, was more 'old scrolls and sand'. Talk about some metaphor in vB layout .