Done! Dark Theme: Ready!

[TimWilson]

Several folks have expressed that they really, really want a dark theme NOW, so I thought, okay, how fast can I get something up to play with...and the answer is, pretty darn fast. LOL

It's called RAW Dark: Take 1, to emphasize that there are next to ZERO customizations in it yet. So it hasn't even gotten to the state of "experimental" yet. I'll get most of the core features added this week, along with a little light-bulb icon that'll sit next to the Search button at the top of the page, so that you can toggle between them without digging into settings.

Until then, just go to the bottom left of the page, look for the little paintbrush icon, where you'll see something like Underground (the current default), Sky, or Experimental New Default. Select RAW Dark: Take 1, and give 'er a spin!

Some things that I KNOW are missing:

• No UU logo yet. Photoshop, here I come! LOL
• Missing customizations that I've made for mobile viewing (but it's still mostly fine)
• Ads missing. LOL Enjoy that while you can, because those are definitely coming.
• ....and some minor stuff that only nerds will notice, but as a nerd myself, I care, and I care that other nerds care, so it's all coming in the next few days.

Ironically, some of the tweaks to the RAW Dark: Take 1 theme will come more quickly, because I don't have to visually match anything else. There are still some minor tweaks I'm working on for the Experimental New Default, where the current default has a more balanced color scheme that I haven't been able to fully replicate yet. Getting close though! But because the RAW Dark work doesn't have any visual anchors, I'm shifting my attention to catching this one up, then going back to finishing the default.

Needless to say, there WILL be some weird things in RAW Dark, so do let me know, but you know what? It's ready for posting and reading to your heart's darkest contentment. The new, improved search engine is enabled, the full reactions emoji set is working, etc.

Anyway, here ya go! Dark mode, baby!

 

[Joe T]

Thanks Tim it looks fantastic and I love that all the "like" emoji's are there too. Nice addition, ya done good.

 

[TimWilson]

Thanks @Joe T! I think I can finish it this week, but I'm very happy with where it's starting! Using it on mobile right now, where I think it'll be my favorite. (I still prefer a lighter shade on desktop, me.)

Glad you're digging it already, though! Thanks for letting me know!

 

[TimWilson]

Okay, on to Take 2!

On mobile, now have the page numbers and arrows at both the bottom and top of the page. I've been LOVING this feature on the other themes, and happy to have it back!
Also on mobile, signatures now visible. I added this feature for the first time last week, and again, was shocked by how much I'd been missing sigs on mobile! Love seeing them!
The UU logo looks perfect on mobile, but is too big on desktop. I'll get on that later today. But progress!

 

[Wiggy]

Please explain what "Dark" means. I grew up before Windows and Mac, in a command-line world.

 

[TimWilson]

In the print world, where I started back in the early 70s, we called it reverse: instead of black(ish) text on a white(ish) background, like a newspaper (my roots) or a book, it's the reverse: white type on a dark gray background.

The folks who prefer this trend to prefer it a lot, and there's no question that Dark Mode pushes out less of the harmful blue light.

It was always on the roadmap, maybe even first thing on the list of things we WANTED to do, but it's not the first thing we COULD do, until I came up with a change to the road. As a result, some of the routes are now more direct.

 

[Patty]

Cool! You’re the BEST!

 

[firesgt911]

This looks great! Thank you for all your hard work.

 

[lakesideglenn]

Love the Dark mode! Thanks Tim, you’re the best!

 

[rainbow21]

I recall the first copy machines printed a negative. It would then cost a second nickel to copy this to get a positive.

A nickel was worth five cents back in the day (got you a Snickers bar!)

 

[Wiggy]

DOS 3.2 Royal Blue background with Yellow text.

The bomb!

<edit> Just tried Dark V2. Yeah, baby!

<edit 2> Just watched Joo's "Combing your hair 100 times" and it seemed a bit subdued in DM. Went back to default and seemed to brighten. Is that an illusion? I'm on a Win 10 desktop w/a relatively new (3 YO?) Dell monitor.

<edit 3> This is going to be welcomed at 03:00 as often happens.

 

[TerryM]

Okay, on to Take 2!

On mobile, now have the page numbers and arrows at both the bottom and top of the page. I've been LOVING this feature on the other themes, and happy to have it back!
Also on mobile, signatures now visible. I added this feature for the first time last week, and again, was shocked by how much I'd been missing sigs on mobile! Love seeing them!
The UU logo looks perfect on mobile, but is too big on desktop. I'll get on that later today. But progress!

Excellent, Tim. Loving it. And since retiring, I'm on UU almost exclusively via my phone, so was instantly aware when you added signatures. Lots of missing info is suddenly there. Thanks again for all the good work.

 

[TimWilson]

And since retiring, I'm on UU almost exclusively via my phone, so was instantly aware when you added signatures. Lots of missing info is suddenly there.

Congrats on retiring!

Fully half of our traffic is on mobile, and tablets (and some laptops, like Chromebooks or early Airbooks) can also be shown the mobile view depending on the size of their browser window and screen resolution. That is, responsiveness has several vectors, not just on or off based on device ids.

As a result, maybe 2/3s of folks were never seeing sigs! Anyone who doesn't like seeing them can turn them off in their own site settings, but I'm with you, @TerryM, there's a lot of great stuff in people's sigs! I'm having so much fun with them on!

Thanks for letting me know you noticed too! You're the first to mention it.

 

[jtsteam]

I've just switched it on, and it is my new favourite thing. (I am easily pleased though). Thank you .

 

[TimWilson]

<edit 2> Just watched Joo's "Combing your hair 100 times" and it seemed a bit subdued in DM. Went back to default and seemed to brighten. Is that an illusion? I'm on a Win 10 desktop w/a relatively new (3 YO?) Dell monitor.

Media settings are among the things I have yet to tweak, so I dunno. Maybe? Can you PM me the link and I'll take a closer look?

In the meantime, up to Take 2.5: logo size fixed on desktop!

Much more still to do, but it really is coming together more quickly now that I don't have to match the colors of an older theme!

 

[Spicysteve]

Tim,
You led me to setting my IPHONE to dark also.
Appreciate all you do for the Forum.

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[Wiggy]

Concerning the "subdued" video. It's very likely the contrast of bright vs dark background. NBD.

 

[TimWilson]

Concerning the "subdued" video. It's very likely the contrast of bright vs dark background. NBD.

Quite possibly, but in general, I'd expect the dark background to make it pop. The theory says that the white background should wash it out. That's why TVs and movie screens have the non-picture portion of screens either set to black, or use curtains to cover the white. Or even the photo lightbox here at UU or on any WordPress site: the background is black, so the pictures pop.

So do go ahead and PM that video link, and I'll be happy to take a look!

 

[Kermit80]

Congrats @TimWilson , I started using the dark theme as soon as you posted it. Came back this morning and it's even better.

 

[Kermit80]

Please explain what "Dark" means. I grew up before Windows and Mac, in a command-line world.

Me too, I started on terminals running VMS in time-sharing. Mostly because the computer center had very old computers. Then I got into retrocomputing and ended up working in IT.