Ouddict

Ouddict Co-Founder & Tech Support
Hi All... you may now notice that when you enter a thread, you do not have to scroll or navigate to the end of the thread to post. The reply box is conveniently on the top now and more intuitively laid out. Thanks to @Rahel for his incessant complaining about the forum and how hard it is to use... major changes are on the way.
 

Rai Munir

Musk Man
Background is good. Now the latest post appears first. Again a nice step. Of course, we will become accustomed to it. Otherwise, I started scrolling down to read the latest post, but ended at Mandeel.:Roflmao:

There is some free falling of flakes or something else. That hinders eyesight/vision.

Hectic job it is to maintain the forum. Thumb up, Ouddict.
 

Ouddict

Ouddict Co-Founder & Tech Support
The current colours are just temporary... I fell asleep in the middle of making changes as I’m so tired working on other things too :Roflmao:
 

Ouddict

Ouddict Co-Founder & Tech Support
I vote for switching back to new posts and reply on bottom :Thumbsup:

I know it’s what many people are used to, but it was something I noticed back in 2016, but didn’t have the technical knowledge to change. The new set up is a lot more intuitive, especially for newcomers so let’s give it a chance for a while.
 

Andrew Salkin

it's aboud time!
Staff member
Dark mode would only work if it's actual a global dark theme - where the text and everything is greyed to better present to the eye - like these apps in my picture here:

Is this a wordpress forum?

Also - just my 2c - as much as I enjoy change, I think the majority of online forums we are used to (ie. Reddit) has the scrolling like it used to be - it's kind of intuitive to read things in order vs backwards.... The forum also seems to properly position you on the page based on what's the most new comments. So I for one use the "Recent Posts" button more than anything on this forum. I literally never search around any other way - because all I care about seeing is what's new in the time since I last visited (lol - sometimes 5 minutes). But when I click on Oud of the Day (for example) - it doesn't bring me to page 1 at the beginning - it auto drops me where the most recent posts are - so that's pretty intuitive already....

Lots of font changes as well....Not sure how I feel about those (being a spoiled brat - I'm sorry!). At a certain point, building a better mouse trap has it's limitations....
 

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Taesik Yun

Attar Yun
Staff member
I'll chime in to provide information about pros and cons of each white, black background.

Black
Pros
1. Gives more contrast and visual depth
2. Easier to browser for a longer time, as it doesn’t strain eyes. especially at night.

Cons
1. Mobile users readability of dark background in daylight or bright environment perform worth than white background
2. Forcing users to fixate on the white text for a long time can strain the user’s eyes.

-----

White
Pros
1. white color is a default color of the website. which means most of the users are more familiar with it.
2. simple

Cons
1. harder to browse for a longer time.

----

Other things to keep in mind
1. Perception of color
generally speaking, white color perceived as a safety, purity, and cleanliness and black color as a power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery.

2. User testing
We should remember that we are not only designing for people similar to us but for a broad range of users. What works for one user, might not work for another, a younger audience has different needs and preferences than an older audience. Hence the importance of making sure we know who’s our audience and what are their needs.

---

TLDR;
1. Contrast ratio of text, background is more important than actual background-color (7:1 contrast ratio is suggested by W3)
2. Dark background works great as well as white background if it's done properly.
3. User testing is a must. (when they use? how long? what is the brightness of the surrounding environment, user age, does this color appropriate to the brand?)

References
https://uxplanet.org/dark-side-of-ui-benefits-of-dark-background-12f560bf7165
https://www.droptica.com/blog/benefits-dark-background-your-website/
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html
https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/general/G17.html
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side
https://uxmovement.com/content/when-to-use-white-text-on-a-dark-background/

---

My opinion
Ouddict is an information-heavy, text-oriented website. and as far as I know, Ouddict brand represents safety and neutrality.
I'm not sure about the most used device and using time but it seems most of the users browsing the website with their mobile during night time.
considering those things, I suggest use a white background as a default and use the dark background as an option.
 

Arsalan

True Ouddict
Dark theme forum example, user can switch...
All black/grey, white text
 

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Ouddict

Ouddict Co-Founder & Tech Support
Dark mode would only work if it's actual a global dark theme - where the text and everything is greyed to better present to the eye - like these apps in my picture here:

Is this a wordpress forum?

Also - just my 2c - as much as I enjoy change, I think the majority of online forums we are used to (ie. Reddit) has the scrolling like it used to be - it's kind of intuitive to read things in order vs backwards.... The forum also seems to properly position you on the page based on what's the most new comments. So I for one use the "Recent Posts" button more than anything on this forum. I literally never search around any other way - because all I care about seeing is what's new in the time since I last visited (lol - sometimes 5 minutes). But when I click on Oud of the Day (for example) - it doesn't bring me to page 1 at the beginning - it auto drops me where the most recent posts are - so that's pretty intuitive already....

Lots of font changes as well....Not sure how I feel about those (being a spoiled brat - I'm sorry!). At a certain point, building a better mouse trap has it's limitations....

It’s a Xenforo forum... I hear you regarding the format of the post order. It was something I received feedback about. I’ll put a poll on to see what people prefer... but these changes will take a while to conclude.
 

Ouddict

Ouddict Co-Founder & Tech Support
Dark theme forum example, user can switch...
All black/grey, white text

Yes, to be honest we just left the colours as they were back in 2016 as we were intimidated by the backend configuration interface and due to our inexperience, any changes seemed to have an air of unpredictability about them. Never really changed anything after...
 

Ouddict

Ouddict Co-Founder & Tech Support
I'll chime in to provide information about pros and cons of each white, black background.

Black
Pros
1. Gives more contrast and visual depth
2. Easier to browser for a longer time, as it doesn’t strain eyes. especially at night.

Cons
1. Mobile users readability of dark background in daylight or bright environment perform worth than white background
2. Forcing users to fixate on the white text for a long time can strain the user’s eyes.

-----

White
Pros
1. white color is a default color of the website. which means most of the users are more familiar with it.
2. simple

Cons
1. harder to browse for a longer time.

----

Other things to keep in mind
1. Perception of color
generally speaking, white color perceived as a safety, purity, and cleanliness and black color as a power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery.

2. User testing
We should remember that we are not only designing for people similar to us but for a broad range of users. What works for one user, might not work for another, a younger audience has different needs and preferences than an older audience. Hence the importance of making sure we know who’s our audience and what are their needs.

---

TLDR;
1. Contrast ratio of text, background is more important than actual background-color (7:1 contrast ratio is suggested by W3)
2. Dark background works great as well as white background if it's done properly.
3. User testing is a must. (when they use? how long? what is the brightness of the surrounding environment, user age, does this color appropriate to the brand?)

References
https://uxplanet.org/dark-side-of-ui-benefits-of-dark-background-12f560bf7165
https://www.droptica.com/blog/benefits-dark-background-your-website/
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html
https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/general/G17.html
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side
https://uxmovement.com/content/when-to-use-white-text-on-a-dark-background/

---

My opinion
Ouddict is an information-heavy, text-oriented website. and as far as I know, Ouddict brand represents safety and neutrality.
I'm not sure about the most used device and using time but it seems most of the users browsing the website with their mobile during night time.
considering those things, I suggest use a white background as a default and use the dark background as an option.

@Taesik Yun is a user interface expert and has kindly offered to help advise with the forum changes. Much appreciated, especially as he hasn’t been here for long, but willing to generously help us improve the experience for everyone...
 

Taesik Yun

Attar Yun
Staff member
Regarding post order
Before I talk about this topic, I'll pair praise below quote from the Interaction Design Foundation for the context

"Designers usually apply the F pattern on websites that include text-heavy content and/or video content. With the F pattern, users begin by scanning left to right along the top, but then scan down the left side of the page, looking for visual clues to the information they seek. When they find such a clue, they scan from left to right. They repeat this process until they reach the end of the page. This scanning pattern often produces a heat map that looks like the letter “F”, as shown in the image at the top of this article. It’s perfectly possible to use both Z and F pattern pages on the same website. For example, you might have a very clean homepage that utilizes the Z pattern; however, when the user delves deeper into the site, you might present much more data and use an F pattern instead.

The Z Pattern — In designs without much text, our eye starts scanning from top left to top right, then diagonally down to bottom left, stopping at the bottom right.
The F Pattern — In designs with more text, we scan across the top, from left to right, then down the left, searching for clues to what we want to know. On finding one, we’ll scan across to the right."

Hierarchy.jpg


https://www.interaction-design.org/...ntent-to-follow-natural-eye-movement-patterns

@Sproaty said good point it's counter intuitive. the issue we have here is caused by inconsistent reading patterns. we read website top to bottom, left to right. Thread list is in the newest to oldest order because of each individual thread don't need context of other thread. so each thread can be read without reading the older threads. however, when it comes to the content of the thread, it gets trickier. because readers don't have the context if it's in newest replies to oldest replies order. so they have to go back to the oldest information to understand the context which is what respected @Sproaty said.

social media post is in newest to oldest order because they don't need a context. but we need a context to understand what thread is about. so, how can we solve this problem?

'Sticky original post'

Thread-01.jpg


it can be solved by separating the original post and comments. OP will provide context and readers will be able to participate without extra hustle. users will be able to adjust comments order to suit their purpose.
I think I explained enough about this topic.

time to burn some oud chip... :Coffee:
 
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