“Grey is easier” I don’t think it is. Would you disagree that most publications use a white background? Could you provide at least some examples of ones that doesn’t?
I checked two sites that you listed, FB and StackExchange, and they literally use a grey/off white background. Started with these two and I stopped after checking these two, I suspect I’ll find more.
Before I thought this opinion about the use of grey (and avoidance of high contrast) was normal/standard before. Now I’m even more sure, and not knowing/ opposing about it seems sort of strange to me.
“I disagree that those other sites are superior.” We would have to define superior. For me, the best (most well paid) minds in UX + the most number of users are objective measures. That doesn’t mean we have to copy them, but it beckons to the familiarity factor.
There’s a lot going on here, but IMO neither of those things make this view very promising. This is because they are designed for MAU/growth hacking and the audience is different (and I don’t think this is some elite or niche thing). Also, since the business is multiple billions are year, you naturally get top talent.
As an analogy, tabloids are popular and well designed for their audience, but that doesn’t make them dominant design choices. I do agree that the design on average is good and things work for those sites.
Also, I suspect some design choices from those sites have dependencies—I think having an infinite scroll or video or picture focus would affect other design choices, such as size/position/font of text, so copying those design choices to a forum might not be appropriate without more sophistication.
I don’t want to be disagreeable or press too much here on you here. Honestly I want to learn about design and different perspectives, but I don’t think I am?
Some of the other things you said suggested you have strong views that seemed more personal and also that you use some unusual color filter? This makes me speculate that you are applying a personal perspective disproportionately and ignoring “the customer”, but maybe this is unfair.
You’re talking about the framing. Sorry, I didn’t realize. It’s not among my concerns to the site. Yes, It’s a preference. There are a few main trends regarding framing, I’m on the one against it. Gray on gray refers to the comments section, and any other place where there is a gray background and a “gray” font. It is not an unusual choice, I just don’t find it the best. As an argument, you read articles in a white background, why comments should have gray, aside from structural purposes?
Regarding audience, I kind of disagree. Yes, the audience here is not the same of that of Reddit. And I think this should change. Still I’d like to see a site like this. It literally created its own engine! Which is awesome by the way. I love VulcanJs. Here is an example of what I would like to see on hitting the main page: https://forum.vuejs.org/.
Just for reference, I have 20 years as a developer, and I have been part in maybe hundreds of design discussions, even though I’m a front/back end developer. So, no expert but I’m somewhat on the loop. The changes I propose are a mix of personal choices and experience/research based opinions.
Also, any discussion of familiarity starts with mobile, which I don’t use. My focus is mainly on the 1080p 24inch desktop experience.
I checked two sites that you listed, FB and StackExchange, and they literally use a grey/off white background. Started with these two and I stopped after checking these two, I suspect I’ll find more.
https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/101876/why-not-use-darker-backgrounds-instead-of-white
The stackexchange site literally answered this very question and one answer pointed out that the very site is off-white (although less than grey or the EA forum). The top answer here supports grey backgrounds: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/23965/is-there-a-problem-with-using-black-text-on-white-backgrounds?rq=1.
Before I thought this opinion about the use of grey (and avoidance of high contrast) was normal/standard before. Now I’m even more sure, and not knowing/ opposing about it seems sort of strange to me.
There’s a lot going on here, but IMO neither of those things make this view very promising. This is because they are designed for MAU/growth hacking and the audience is different (and I don’t think this is some elite or niche thing). Also, since the business is multiple billions are year, you naturally get top talent.
As an analogy, tabloids are popular and well designed for their audience, but that doesn’t make them dominant design choices. I do agree that the design on average is good and things work for those sites.
Also, I suspect some design choices from those sites have dependencies—I think having an infinite scroll or video or picture focus would affect other design choices, such as size/position/font of text, so copying those design choices to a forum might not be appropriate without more sophistication.
I don’t want to be disagreeable or press too much here on you here. Honestly I want to learn about design and different perspectives, but I don’t think I am?
Some of the other things you said suggested you have strong views that seemed more personal and also that you use some unusual color filter? This makes me speculate that you are applying a personal perspective disproportionately and ignoring “the customer”, but maybe this is unfair.
??? Yeah, Reddit’s design literally uses a grey background. It’s darker than the EA forum.
You’re talking about the framing. Sorry, I didn’t realize. It’s not among my concerns to the site. Yes, It’s a preference. There are a few main trends regarding framing, I’m on the one against it. Gray on gray refers to the comments section, and any other place where there is a gray background and a “gray” font. It is not an unusual choice, I just don’t find it the best. As an argument, you read articles in a white background, why comments should have gray, aside from structural purposes?
Regarding audience, I kind of disagree. Yes, the audience here is not the same of that of Reddit. And I think this should change. Still I’d like to see a site like this. It literally created its own engine! Which is awesome by the way. I love VulcanJs. Here is an example of what I would like to see on hitting the main page: https://forum.vuejs.org/.
Just for reference, I have 20 years as a developer, and I have been part in maybe hundreds of design discussions, even though I’m a front/back end developer. So, no expert but I’m somewhat on the loop. The changes I propose are a mix of personal choices and experience/research based opinions.
Also, any discussion of familiarity starts with mobile, which I don’t use. My focus is mainly on the 1080p 24inch desktop experience.