Dark vs. Light skin
 

Which type of skin do you prefer or use and is the best to you? Dark or light skin? Well I am interested more in dark skins since they're much better. :)

Light skins - more professional imo :P

No way! :O

Light, by a mile.

Dark skins are hard on the eyes.

Depends on the content of the forum... I would never be able to see my forum in a light skin.

My members prefer dark skins; they all seem to be up at 6 am and light ones give them eye pain.

It depends how the dark skin was created. For example the skin called "AfterDark" by vBStyles is very easy to read and good on the eyes in both night and day. But in general some dark skins can be hard to read because they are too dark and use the wrong font colour etc.

A lot depends of the design with dark skins. You either get it right or wrong.

I find light skins hurt my eyes more than darks skins after a while, it's the brightness that gets to my eyes.

+1 :bunny:

Light Skins all the way. Dark skins seem depressing.

Depends really... but if I had to choose I would go with light.

I agree

Medium skins. It keeps both parties unhappy. :)

Light skins for me. More chances for it to look better. :p

Seems to be a trend to me. Long time ago dark styles were the thing you saw on just about every forum. Over time they got lighter and lighter until most forums sported a light style and darker ones became more rare.

I like Dark styles, they are easier on my eyes. But I'll be the first to admit that lighter styles do 'look' better for the most part.

Well my forums in a dark skin at the mo, but it was equally as popular in a light skin, i think it totally depends on the content of your forum and your members opinions....

Well I am running a site dedicated to all the Metal Gear series so which type of skin do I have to use? I think it has to be a dark one but I'm not quite sure.

I prefer dark skins personally...but usually use light skins for more professional sites and dark skins for personal or hobby sites.

While I agree some forums, like gaming ones that are most likely used by nerds or computer centered people, forums that are used by the less than computer literate are better with lighter colors.

Hobby sites? Gimme an example...

lighter colors are by far more successful ... this is because light colors tend to put you in a better mood ... also, light colors reflect light for better vision (details) while dark colors absorb light (think of a black hole)

Light Colors:

• reflect light
• makes everything appear bigger

Dark Colors:

• absorb light
• makes everything appear smaller

(something like that)

there are times when a dark color is the better option...
for example, I did an ecommerce site for a client in black to showcase their military shields (brass/gold) ... another example, is showcasing jewelry on a black background

I used to prepare dark styles and i loved to use them but lately my eyes can only handle light colors and light colors always look way cleaner then dark styles.

I meant hobby sites as in the sites that I use to play around with...

I have 6 sites that aren't really focused on anything, mainly I just use them to mess with new designs, programs, scripts, just all sorts of crap...

Dark here.

I believe it all depends on the type of forum in which you are running.

For example, rock forums and gaming forums tend to usually have a darker skin from my experience. Forums for things such as webmaster discussion or forums such as vbulletin usually have a light color scheme.

Giovanni Martinez

You're right but what about game titles such as Final Fantasy & Metal Gear? They're supposed to be running on dark or light skins?

It's really up to the members/admin. However, i'd imagine that it'd be a dark skin.

Giovanni Martinez

Yeah I figured that already!

medium to light skins. They just look cleaner, neater, more attractive, to me. I really do NOT like dark skins. But some of my forum members do, which is why I have several skins for my members to choose from if they don't want to use our custom default skin.

I like both styles. But I usually opt for grays and browns, medium colors that aren't too light or dark.

I like light and dark skins - Some don't suit the forum, and make it look bad or depressing, but for a gaming forum a dark skin is almost a "must-have" feature of your forum - Most gamers are sad depressed loners anyway, so dark skins won't make them any more suicidal :p

Chris

LOL

Guess I used to be a sad lonely git then. :rolleyes:

LOL... well that's interesting reasoning ^ lol

me and my members prefer dark skins but there is always the option to let your members choose, install a dark skin and a light skin and give them the option lol

Yeah but that would be hell a lot of work especially when you've got many mods installed on your forum. -_-

I like dark skins, but there are so few good ones around. All too many of the light skins out there make my eyes bleed (no offense to the people that put in the hard work, it's just not for me most of the time). Dark is just easier on -my- eyes.

Voted for light, will prefer a light skin with eye-soothin moderately dark background..

Dark skins with light text work very well on the eyes, they draw attention to the text therefore making it easier to read ^.^

ROFL! Thats great... *laughs*

Guys, I ask that you please keep the racism to a minimum.

To me, dark skins are easier on the eye - I don't like bright backgrounds after reading for a while.

Light styles. I hate designing dark styles and viewing them. I find dark styles put to much of a strain on my eyes.