TLO Style Concept - Crampton

[Steve Dekorte]

Would it be possible for me to contribute a style for your consideration?

[Dr. Bantham]

Quote Originally Posted by Steve Dekorte

Would it be possible for me to contribute a style for your consideration?

Of course! You may do so publicly as a post reply or via PM. I do enjoy creating new styles.

[Steve Dekorte]

Is there a standard css template to edit to do this?

[Dr. Bantham]

Quote Originally Posted by Steve Dekorte

Is there a standard css template to edit to do this?

The styles for vBulletin are comprised of many templates. I am attaching the main graphics settings for Death Poems as an example, however it would be much easier to design a template if you have a vBulletin license. For example, you are not going to know what many of the css names correspond to on the screen. If you send me the desired color and background settings for the main elements, I could translate them to the correct code and credit you accordingly. Many thanks for the interest!

[Steve Dekorte]

Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Bantham

If you send me the desired color and background settings for the main elements, I could translate them to the correct code and credit you accordingly.

I'd like to do a style based on TL's Crampton book. Black courier (or ideally a old typewriter font) text on a white background. No other colors. Major headings would be in uppercase.

[Dr. Bantham]

Quote Originally Posted by Steve Dekorte

I'd like to do a style based on TL's Crampton book. Black courier (or ideally a old typewriter font) text on a white background. No other colors. Major headings would be in uppercase.

This is a great idea, but much more challenging to implement with clarity than one would initially think. I hope you do not mind if I began work on this in an investigatory mode. You can view the new style Crampton (BETA) by selecting it from the selection box at the bottom left of each page. I followed your description as best I could. From this point, you can direct changes for me to implement. Again, I will credit you with the concept accordingly if this turns out to be a permanent style.

Current issues/challenges:

1. I used Resurrection - White as a starting template for this new style, since it was closest to the basic concept of black on white. Most of the graphics have not yet been updated, however. There are still graphic and coloration remnants which would require revisions.
2. I have set the base font to Courier New. This is the most common courier font variant across various computer platforms. The dilemma with universal web fonts is frustrating, of course. There is a method to embed fonts so that they are loaded locally for specific sites. I have looked into this before but had reservations about full accessibility. I will have a look again, as featuring a classic typewriter font as a text element would necessitate this approach.
3. The concept of a total black and white theme is proving to be a challenge to implement while maintaining region and link distinction. The various panels become indistinguishable and my initial effort to delineate links as underlined elements is not exactly aesthetically pleasing.

[Steve Dekorte]

Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Bantham

[*]The concept of a total black and white theme is proving to be a challenge to implement while maintaining region and link distinction. The various panels become indistinguishable and my initial effort to delineate links as underlined elements is not exactly aesthetically pleasing.[/LIST]

It's a great start. I particularly like the new typewriter header. Some suggestions:

- a smaller font (12px or 13px) and make all fonts the same size

- ether eliminate area fills and outlines and use caps for all non-content or use a very light gray for outlines and fills, such as #ddd

- if underlined links are still unattractive after these changes, maybe use a dark gray for links instead

- replace all buttons and icons with text links or text representations

When the theme is complete, it might be nice to have an black/white inverted version of it for use when ambient light is low.

[Dr. Bantham]

Quote Originally Posted by Steve Dekorte

It's a great start. I particularly like the new typewriter header. Some suggestions: - a smaller font (12px or 13px) and make all fonts the same size - ether eliminate area fills and outlines and use caps for all non-content or use a very light gray for outlines and fills, such as #ddd - if underlined links are still unattractive after these changes, maybe use a dark gray for links instead - replace all buttons and icons with text links or text representations When the theme is complete, it might be nice to have an black/white inverted version of it for use when ambient light is low.

These are all great suggestions, and I followed most. Have a looksee and let me know if I am managing to capture your vision. I started initial work on the buttons with the smeared typewriter font. I also plan to convert the smilies to text their textual counterparts. Many thanks for proposing this style concept!

[Steve Dekorte]

Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Bantham

These are all great suggestions, and I followed most. Have a looksee and let me know if I am managing to capture your vision. I started initial work on the buttons with the smeared typewriter font. I also plan to convert the smilies to text their textual counterparts. Many thanks for proposing this style concept!

I like how it's developing. Would it be possible to change the panel outlines to just have a top 1px border instead of 1px on all sides?

Other suggestions:

- Could the various arrow and other icons be changed to their unicode equivalent text character? Geometric Shapes in Unicode
- eliminate the outlines for:
-- page numbers ("Page 1 of 4 ...")
-- the panel directly under the main "Thomas Ligotti Online" header
-- quoted text as the quoted text is already distinguished by italics. Maybe quoted text could be medium grey if the italics aren't clear enough.
-- content areas (only use outlines for editing and info panels)
- uppercase header menus
- make all fonts the same size
- date format as YYYY-MM-DD
- maybe change the skull icons to asterisks next to the title (ex: Acolyte **)
- double the left/right page margins to more closely resemble a printed page
- would it be possible to remove the join date, posts, bars and AIM icon on the left of posts? (all that info is accessible by clicking on the user)

[Steve Dekorte]

Instead of rendering the buttons etc as images in a typewritter font, how about making one of the free typewriter fonts below the default (before Courier in the font list):

Carbon Type Font - 1001 Free Fonts
1942 Report Font - 1001 Free Fonts

This would make all the fonts in that style for those that install the font and Courier for those that don't have the font.

It would also allow all the text to change size as users increased their browser font size, which can be helpful for low vision users.