[Princeton]

I'm guessing that whomever said it was "clean" was probably a person of age. Maybe even a person with vision problems.

I will say this much...
If you were to change the red/black border (into something that does not call attention) and create an identical niche forum using the default vb4 style. The stripped-white style will win over the vb4 style - that is if you just consider participation (time-on-site, number of posts, etc).

For many people that equals to SUCCESS.

The reason for this is that it's easier to use. There are no distractions - just links to content. It can't get any easier than that.

The more objects on a page the more the brain has to process that information.

For many people, it's frustrating when they don't understand how something works. Or, if it takes long to learn how something works.

People want something that is easy to use.

1. Too many images on a page distracts the reader.
2. Too many objects on a page distracts the reader.
3. Some color combinations also distracts (it depends on the reader)
4. Some designs create too many lines (horizontal/vertical) - distracts the reader.
5. Some designs create shadows in places that do not make sense - distracts the reader.

All of the above requires the brain to process what it sees.

I'm trying to determine if maybe what they define as clean, is actually mostly un-styled CSS. After all, I was told this was clean and easy on the eyes. This has two CSS classes in total. Two border-radius defined. Is that really what people who want minimal are looking for?

Again, it's not about the CSS (color, etc) - it's about usability.

You can add color, increase font size, change font type, you can even add images to the page. It will still not change how minimal-clean it looks to that person.


With that said,
Minimal design does not mean a stripped down style ... It means finding the right balance and focus on what's important. You can still have a beautiful minimal style with colors and images*.

* when adding images it needs to reinforce whatever it is you want the reader to focus on

Remember that a visitor's objective is to get to the RIGHT content as quickly as possible.