What colours do you avoid on a forum?

[Shortie]

When it comes to having a theme for a forum, most colours tend to work but there will be some colours that are best avoided either because they could clash or they could be too much and make the forum too bright and off-putting.

When you go for or even create a forum theme, which colours do you tend to avoid?

 

[Ravenfreak]

I tend to stay away from yellow, it's just too bright for a theme. I also stay away from brown, if I'm wanting darker colors I'll stick to greys and blacks. Though it depends on the niche of the forum too I suppose. Browns could be used for niches about nature or camping.

 

[veloman]

Search engines tend to like contrast, but I'm personally very careful to avoid red/green combinations since I'm red/green colour blind. I can use one or the other, but mixtures of hues don't work for me - like blues and purples which just blend into a mess. It's probably why I tend to try and keep things simple, and since I like green I tend to go for that!

My favourite images to show people about my colour-blindness is this one:

 

[live627]

I just discovered a tool that filters websites according to varying color blindedness

https://www.toptal.com/designers/co...ou-avoid-on-a-forum.3258/&process_type=deutan

I should probably change the green header bsrs on my website then.

 

[Cedric]

Search engines tend to like contrast, but I'm personally very careful to avoid red/green combinations since I'm red/green colour blind. I can use one or the other, but mixtures of hues don't work for me - like blues and purples which just blend into a mess. It's probably why I tend to try and keep things simple, and since I like green I tend to go for that!

My favourite images to show people about my colour-blindness is this one:
View attachment 1576

That’s crazy. I could never imagine how color-blindness is so thanks for that. At least you get to keep the blue.

I just discovered a tool that filters websites according to varying color blindedness

https://www.toptal.com/designers/co...ou-avoid-on-a-forum.3258/&process_type=deutan

I should probably change the green header bsrs on my website then.

That’s a cool website!

 

[veloman]

I just discovered a tool that filters websites according to varying color blindedness

Must admit I'm impressed - there really is tools for everything theses days!

That’s crazy. I could never imagine how color-blindness is so thanks for that. At least you get to keep the blue.

True! If you really want to break your brain there's also "reverse colour blindness" tests like the one below. To me the number is clear as day, but (apparently) difficult for normal vision.



Just more headaches for web designers!

 

[Cedric]

Must admit I'm impressed - there really is tools for everything theses days!

True! If you really want to break your brain there's also "reverse colour blindness" tests like the one below. To me the number is clear as day, but (apparently) difficult for normal vision.

View attachment 1580

Just more headaches for web designers!

I see no number at all.

 

[Steve]

I see no number at all.

I don’t either

I’d never actually considered colour blindness when designing anything… I definitely will now!

 

[live627]

True! If you really want to break your brain there's also "reverse colour blindness" tests like the one below. To me the number is clear as day, but (apparently) difficult for normal vision.

I could make out the first two with much difficulty.

 

[Cedric]

But now I’m curious, what is the number?

 

[live627]

42

 

[Cedric]

42

Nope, still don’t see it and I thought it was 213.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I'm a marketing guy.

I typically choose coloring options based on the psychological aspects of color marketing. I try to keep them related to the niche/theme of the site though.

An outdoor forum I ran had a lot of greens in it because green is associated with the outdoors.

My admin forum is red. I associate PASSION with red, since it's an admin forum, it covers communities of different niches. Niches should be based on your passions.

 

[veloman]

But now I’m curious, what is the number?

It's a 5! To me it looks grey on an orange background - so quite obvious

 

[Cedric]

It's a 5! To me it looks grey on an orange background - so quite obvious

Nope, no 5 at all. how does that act in real life though? Were you always color blind from birth?

 

[veloman]

Nope, no 5 at all. how does that act in real life though? Were you always color blind from birth?

Yeah it's genetic - basically I'm missing a certain types of sensor in my eyes so impossible to reverse. Day to day it makes very little difference since I don't know any better - but sometimes I need to adjust things to get around it. For example, at work we have some stuff colour coded, but some of the hues are too close for me, so I just relabeled everything with letters!

I'm also ruled out of a lot of jobs: pilots, certain military branches, train services, etc. But... It is what it is!

 

[Cedric]

Yeah it's genetic - basically I'm missing a certain types of sensor in my eyes so impossible to reverse. Day to day it makes very little difference since I don't know any better - but sometimes I need to adjust things to get around it. For example, at work we have some stuff colour coded, but some of the hues are too close for me, so I just relabeled everything with letters!

I'm also ruled out of a lot of jobs: pilots, certain military branches, train services, etc. But... It is what it is!

I see. I guess it’s something you learn to live with. If you’d turn colorblind from one day to another, that’d be far worse. Still sometimes not easy I imagine.

 

[Cory]

It's a 5!

I see the 5, but I'm not colorblind, but my father is.

I'd try to avoid any colors that are too bright or too dark. I'd try to steer clear of most "girly" colors too since you kind of need a specific niche to have those colors compliment the niche of the board.

 

[Reverie]

I think the website to consider color blindness is really cool and important!

Good to know!

I never really like red on forums other than around Christmas and Valentines. Sometimes it can be such a harsh color. Perhaps niche specific like a Mario/Nintendo forum it would make the most sense. I typically stay away from yellows/browns. Just isn't a preferred color, but I've seen some themes including them! My mind went straight to the Walking Dead forum with the brown theme, it was beautiful!

I think all colors can be usable with the right vision!

 

[Cory]

Sometimes it can be such a harsh color.

Possibly because it's the color of blood, it's what we generally make anger out to be, or it could be that we just hate sitting at stop signs and red lights for so long.