Section-Specific Color Scheme

[cscgal]

Hi Guys,

As you can see, we went ahead and implemented section-specific color schemes around here. The goal is that they will aid navigation because, at a glance, you could see exactly where on the site you are.

It also lends itself to the idea that DaniWeb can be thought of as an umbrella site with five different mini-sites, each targeting a different audience.

Please let me know not ony what you think of the idea, but also what you think of the specific colors for each category. Thanks!

[John A]

>Please let me know not ony what you think of the idea
I could probably care less.

>but also what you think of the specific colors for each category.
Just don't make them too bright or happy, those tend to annoy me as they conflict with my personality. Thanks.

[WolfPack]

As for the idea, I don't have any problem with it. But it can be subjective, like increasing or decreasing the font face or color.

As for the colors, it would be good if the colors were different instead of using different shades of the same color ( eg. Software Development and Site Management are of the same color green, but with different shades as I see it). But it doesn't look that bad.

However the IT Water cooler color ( Dark Pink/Maroon ) is a bit too strong for my canine eyes.

[cscgal]

Note taken regarding the IT water cooler. Looking for many more comments - it's important to me that the colors don't burn your eyes or hinder someone from staring at them for a long time as they browse many pages.

[iamthwee]

Someone's been busy. :) That IT water cooler colour is a big too bright. Yup.

[Ancient Dragon]

The goal is that they will aid navigation because, at a glance, you could see exactly where on the site you are.

I don't think it meets that goal because I doubt very few people will bother to memorize the color scheme. Looks great anyway. :*

[cscgal]

> I doubt very few people will bother to memorize the color scheme.
Not necessarily that, but people will notice when they're leaving one section and entering another, so overall it does emphasize that DaniWeb is composed of multiple sub-sites, so to speak. In that sense, it helps to bring order to the site instead of it being one giant web of 100 forums and sub-forums and sub-sub-forums, where you never quite understand where you are in relation to the hierarchy.

[cscgal]

I've darkened the color of the IT Water Cooler. Does it look shit-colored now though?

[~s.o.s~]

*Arghh* they are hurting my eyes. I have even stopped visiting the software development forum because of it. ;-)

IMHO, colors are not needed for one to know they are entering or leaving a particular section, since I would be the one performing the action. Like someone had stated before, what works for someone else might not work for us. The idea as I may assume is borrowed from Slashdot but its important to know that Daniweb is not a blog.

Maybe its just me, but sorry to say but these funky colors are making Daniweb look more like a fun thing where kids play games rather than a place for developers / professionals to hang out.

Again like the others, I have started thinking what you want Daniweb to become, since instead of taking inspiration from someone we should strive to become (Google Groups, TheScripts) where simplicity is of paramount, we are trying to become a Jack-of-all-trades and Master-of-none.

Thank you.

[~s.o.s~]

Ah..it seems like everyone seems to like it . Please ignore my previous post.

[Infarction]

I've darkened the color of the IT Water Cooler. Does it look shit-colored now though?

I'm not fond of the color, but I don't go to that part of the site anyways :P

[iamthwee]

Er Dani where are you getting your colour charts from. Is it just random experimentations?
Have you had a look at such sites...
http://www.siteprocentral.com/html_color_code.html

[cscgal]

> The idea as I may assume is borrowed from Slashdot

The idea of the color schemes is to emphasize the fact that we have multiple sub-sites, if you will, each targeted to a different audience. This way we DON'T appear as if we're one giant jack-of-all-trades trying to cover everything and anything.

The original idea came from MSN - they are also one big site (with a blue color scheme) with multiple categories each with its own color scheme (careers.msn.com is orange, for example).

I then saw the idea being used by Google News. Each of their categories (Business / Tech / etc) has its own color scheme. It appears they've changed their layout recently, but not very long ago each of those colors played a large role in the navigation in the section. (They've since slimmed it down to just a thin line across the top I see).

What gave me the idea to do it the way we do is the USA Today website, which has its own color scheme per section, and then colors only the navigation / header and headings in the color scheme.

Slashdot just clinched it as the only other tech-specific website I'm currently aware of that uses different color schemes per categories.

Also, are you aware that TheScripts came to being when I convinced my friend Kub365, a very long time member of DaniWeb (since 2003), to start up his own tech based forum - despite protestations from him trying to tell me that he was in the website flipping business and could never see himself settling down with a site. :) Ya hear that Kub, I still remember :) But it's all good. I still love ya even if you did steal my idea to do the 'use code tags' watermark in the wysiwyg editor :)

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/member1644.html

OK, back on track. SOS, this is the second time you've commented that you stopped visiting the software dev forum because of the color scheme, but both times you added a smiley face at the end. I can't tell whether you're joking or not.

[~s.o.s~]

This way we DON'T appear as if we're one giant jack-of-all-trades trying to cover everything and anything.

But we do cover almost everything. And by the way how colors change this fact still beats me?

Also I notice that the color thing is the CSS doing and not images(since I couldn't make the colors go away).

Oh and by the way, whatever happened to your original streak. Daniweb != MSN, Google News etc. I can't tell whether you're joking or not. Actually both. I mean there is a real difference between "Yay, off to the S/W section to help out people" and "*sigh* back to moderation duties..".

[cscgal]

> Oh and by the way, whatever happened to your original streak.
I'm not sure what you mean here?

[~s.o.s~]

I mean why look up other sites. We are pretty happy with whatever you come up with. Some of your customizations to Daniweb are really good.

[cscgal]

I surf the web a lot to get inspiration. For example, Dave pointed me towards the way DevShed and other forums handle reputation, and so I built on that concept. I was merely saying in post #13 that, in looking for a way to improve our navigation, I got inspiration to do section specific color schemes from a number of other very popular websites which also struggle with the concept of a single umbrella site with multiple subcategories targeted to very different audiences.

[jbennet]

i like it. By the way, does anyone here have IE6? I seem to have found an IE6 specifc problem relating to the navbar on the index page.

[happygeek]

I like the colour idea, although I'm not sure it will help people know where they are as much as not in the same place as they move around.

Can't see how it makes us any less professional in look and feel in any way, shape or form it has to be said.

[cscgal]

Oh, I'll just throw in that DevShed is another umbrella site which uses the same layout but different color scheme for each site in their network.