STH Forums a New Look and How to Switch to Dark Theme

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Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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Hey everyone. Just giving a heads-up. We now have the new theme up and running.

I know there are many folks who have wanted a dark theme. That includes me as well. To get to the dark theme, go to the theme switcher at the bottom of the forums. Click this that should say default or STH Pro. Swap to STH Pro Dark and you will be on the new dark theme.

Small improvements!
 

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MiniKnight

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2012
3,073
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NYC
I'd say both look great. The forums looked bad after the upgrade but now they're looking clean and I like the dark theme. It looks like it actually matches the main STH site.

Why the white bar at the top of the dark theme though?
 

PigLover

Moderator
Jan 26, 2011
3,215
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One oddity - clicking the "new posts" link on the blue bar (the one with "trending" "latest" "new posts" "forum list" options) takes you to the "newest" posts in the forum, but clicking "new posts" under the "whats new" menu takes you to unread posts only.

I'd think both would go to unread, which is how I remember it being in the old theme.
 

foogitiff

Active Member
Jul 26, 2018
172
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Is there a way now to see if there is new unread response in a topic?

Previously the title of the topic was bold if there were new messages, if I am not mistaken
 
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EffrafaxOfWug

Radioactive Member
Feb 12, 2015
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It seems that a) javascript is now a requirement to post and b) there's needless animations on every page. Deal breakers for me.

/noscript back on
 
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BlueLineSwinger

Active Member
Mar 11, 2013
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Is there a way now to see if there is new unread response in a topic?

Previously the title of the topic was bold if there were new messages, if I am not mistaken
+1 to this. It's currently not possible to distinguish which topics are read/unread.

A couple other minor nit-picks:
- The font size is a bit small IMO (I've had to zoom the site to 120%, FWIW). edit: just stumbled across the font size option in the prefs (though the sizes still seem to run small).
- The "Mark Forums Read" option is hidden away under the "Forums" menu.

Otherwise, I like the new layout better than the prior's grid of sub-forums, and the new font style is much easier to read.
 
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britinpdx

Active Member
Feb 8, 2013
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Portland OR
If we're giving feedback, my inner grump says I'm not a fan of the page animation effect, nor of the "every color in the rainbow" accents, which IMHO completely distracts the eye in the "dark" page view.
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
12,535
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Elasticsearch index is currently rebuilding. That should help the search function a lot.

On the animation, that seems to be a common point. I will see what we can do to get rid of that.
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
7,763
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The amount of white space all over is still crazy vs how nice and precise the old layout was
May just be me but some buttons fee taller too
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
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Canada
Well done @Patrick on the hard work that went into the fresh new look. From an old fogey's perspective, it will take me a bit to get used to it, seems like a lot of bling for my old eyes to take in....but I'm sure I'll get used to it :)

This is not a complaint, I figure it's just default behaviour, but I noticed that if you are using the dark theme before logon, it pings back to the light one when you do.
 

Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
790
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Austin, TX
Is it just me or does marking everything as read not working? When i mark everything read and check new posts theres still 28 pages of ‘new’.

Edit: annddd as soon as i post this it decides to take, odd nevermind!
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
12,535
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I think this is all going to take some getting used to.

Laying it out there a bit, we had to do the transition sooner rather than later.

Hopefully we can keep adding functionality over the next few days. While we are missing some bits still, the new platform has some nice new features as well.

Just know I do spend a lot of time thinking about this stuff.
 

Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
428
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Czech republic
This is not the old theme.
In fact, this looks ten times more horrible than the default one.
Is this supposed to be final? Really? Come on.

Most importantly: WHY? If it works, don't fix it.
 

EffrafaxOfWug

Radioactive Member
Feb 12, 2015
1,394
512
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Following on from my earlier comment about javascript, it appears to be something to do with NoScript's implementation; if StH javascript is disabled in NoScript, reply boxes don't appear, text boxes aren't editable and if you try and post you get a "Please enter a valid message" error.

However, if you disable JS via uMatrix instead, text boxes appear and I'm seemingly able to post as per usual.

I'm not wild about people's avatar's being randomly coloured blobs, would prefer the old plain icon. But thanks for disabling the animations, they were frying my brain.
 

Rock

Member
Jan 28, 2020
74
47
18
Northern California
Thank you for the dark theme.
And I found the text resize option so that is good.
But when I search for new posts the results include a color explosion that is an attack on the eyes. Please reconsider the decision to assign a different vibrant color to each forum section.
 

EffrafaxOfWug

Radioactive Member
Feb 12, 2015
1,394
512
113
Is anyone else missing the navigation footer at the bottom of the page? Finding I'm having to page up to the top to get a link back to the forum root.
 

BlueFox

Legendary Member Spam Hunter Extraordinaire
Oct 26, 2015
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I preferred how the old theme showed considerably more of the thread titles on the index page for the latest posts in any given subforum. It's really short and gets cut off at as low as 20 characters now. Don't think the subtitles (subforum descriptions) are really all that useful since the subforum titles are pretty self-explanatory already either.

 
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Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
428
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Czech republic
Dont fight change so much my friend, change is good. We are actually a premier site, where many, many people come to view and read about our posts and discoveries. We cant take that for granted. Alot of the stuff we do here, even prominent tech people in the industry come to ask us advice and how to do stuff. So having an updated look isnt a bad thing. Anything new is slightly unfamiliar, but you can get used to it.

Just use the website as normal, and before you know it, it will be ok. So far, I havent found anything that is lacking. Just a new look. Thats it :.)
I don't understand why things are changes for the sake of being changed. What was wrong with the old theme?