Dark theme???

[DaFuzz]

Hello! I was wondering if there will ever be an option for a "dark theme" of this forum as far as display options are concerned. If this has been already discussed I apologise.

Cheers!!!

[Telliot]

We've never had one as far as I know, but I would definitely opt for that if given the chance.

[Tele295]

I’d be down for that

[sal paradise]

Surely there are other upgrades that would be more useful before dark mode?

phpBB is 20 years old. The UX is a looong way from a decent internet experience when it comes to posting images & links.

[soggy mittens]

+1

This site hurts my eyes at night. :C

[Futuron]

Bring it!

[Jay]

Surely there are other upgrades that would be more useful before dark mode?

phpBB is 20 years old. The UX is a looong way from a decent internet experience when it comes to posting images & links.

We've looked into some options... the hope is that eventually we can migrate to something more contemporary but transferring this database into some new forum software using whatever tools are provided will surely make a huge mess to clean up and frankly, seems about as likely to improve things as it would be to ruin things completely.

[JSett]

Use your accessibility settings. There will be an 'invert colours' setting in there somewhere you can toggle on/off

Although, that does invert pictures as well

There's probably an app out there to force a dark mode on websites tbh

[andy_tchp]

Use your accessibility settings. There will be an 'invert colours' setting in there somewhere you can toggle on/off

Although, that does invert pictures as well

There's probably an app out there to force a dark mode on websites tbh

There are a bunch of plugins for most browsers. I tried one but it didn't look great as I think the background on here is actually a fixed image.

[luau]

Use your accessibility settings. There will be an 'invert colours' setting in there somewhere you can toggle on/off

Although, that does invert pictures as well

There's probably an app out there to force a dark mode on websites tbh

There are a bunch of plugins for most browsers. I tried one but it didn't look great as I think the background on here is actually a fixed image.

This bit of css in your browser's user css file will nuke the background image:

body#phpbb {
background-image:none !important
}

[øøøøøøø]

GroupDIY just changed to a new forum user interface after decades of being in an outmoded/deprecated environment.

The transition appears to have been seamless, and the user experience is SO much improved, it looks nicer, it's more flexible... just generally an all around major upgrade.

I wonder whether it might be worth admin checking out to see what they're using, maybe getting in touch to see if they have any experience to share?

I'd also like a dark mode along with myriad other features, if we're wishing.

[Jay]

GroupDIY is running xenforo, you can see a link to the software at the bottom of the site in the footer. From a very cursory glance, it appears to be visually similar to PHPbb in general, so I'd be interested in which user experience elements you feel are improved.

Also, looking at it some more, xenforo is really expensive, so probably not an option for us but having some idea about what makes it better would be great for thinking about where to go in the future.

[øøøøøøø]

Some things I like:

Cleaner user interface; look and feel is vastly improved from old GroupDIY site.

Messaging is great—it exists in the form of conversations that are threaded, instead of the old-school PM style

I think this next one is controversial on here for some reason, but the ability to acknowledge or agree with a post (via a “like”) obsoletes the litany of empty/needless “+1” and “QFE/QFT” responses. I find this to be a massive net-positive, as it clearly increases the proportion of substantive content

It’s VERY snappy and fast, making it eminently usable even when on weak internet connections (e.g. throttled-back “free” international mobile data roaming at 2G speeds).

You can set it up to be notified when a thread in which you’ve participated has been replied-to, or when you’ve been quoted, etc. I find this to be a real time-saver and improvement to user experience.

You can add small attachments—photos, etc—by uploading directly (instead of using Imgur or whatever). This is not only way easier, it means that the posts will still be whole ten years down the line (which is almost never the case with linked photos/files).

I realize the hosting for those attachments surely isn’t free, but personally a banner ad or voluntary donation is more than worth it to have a site with intact archives (nothing more frustrating than a schematic or informative picture that’s just gone; its utility tantalizingly out of reach)

There’s probably more, but that’s all for now. If I think of/notice others, I’ll add!

[Jay]

Yeah, that’s all pretty straightforward stuff I would agree with. You can subscribe to topics here, the little wrench icon at the top of a topic has this feature but I don’t think you can be notified of direct replies to your posts with this version of phpBB.

[øøøøøøø]

Totally, the thing I like is when I get subscribed automatically by replying—but with a forum notification only (not an email)

I’ll never go to the trouble to click a few things and subscribe on purpose, for whatever reason