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Dark Blue theme gone

I assume it was deleted because it's not compatible with the current XenForo version. Just a wild guess.
 
This one looks way worse than the black one we had before...

1607703251955.png
 
that's not dark enough for me. My soul is fully dark, not partial.
standing in a luminous mist
wielding a great sword of light
our hero with this tremendous power
blazing with celestial splendor
overcomes and destroys the dragon of darkness
 
It's gone again. Can we bring it back?
Yes, you can!

Finding a good dark theme for XenForo is notoriously difficult. A lot of users love complaining about a dark theme here. I've spent a lot of my personal time trying to find a good, reliable theme that is pleasant to use. There are no dark themes (free or paid) for XenForo that fit Otland. I'm sure if XenForo had an official one (and I think it will in the future eventually), we'd have that. But it's not a priority for XenForo and therefore we don't have a perfect one yet.

Now, how can you bring it back? Some users actually did more than just complaining here on the forum and blaming me for being lazy. They actually helped by taking an "okay" dark theme and working on it to make it better. That, of course, didn't go unpunished by some here in the Feedback section complaining about it still. As I've always told those who offered help, I am willing to install a dark theme that meets our criteria. So yes, you can bring a dark theme back if you're willing to do the work.

Now, what happened to the dark themes we had?
First, they were unmaintained by the original upstream maintainers. I'm sure most of you can't see that but we upgrade the forum very often, almost always instantly when a stable release comes out. The fact that you can't see it is a testament that it's been done correctly - invisible to the user. The Staff helps test new releases on a testing copy of the forum, etc. A theme without updates is lagging behind XenForo and some parts of it look out of place.

As numerous users also pointed out, there were some problems with those themes from day 1. Most common were around code highlighting and templates added by some addons. Also, you may not know that our default light theme also carries custom modifications. One of these is the visual separation of sticky threads, which, as @Blackstone pointed out, is not a feature of most dark themes.

Every such additional theme takes work to integrate all custom modifications, which with the frequency of the updates and lack of upstream maintenance required me to drop some of the obsolete dark themes. Instead, I've uploaded two new options as a current replacement - Shades of Blue and Shades of Grey. You have to opt into them manually but they are available. @Okke even noticed a new experimental theme that I uploaded because it was just recently released (after this feedback thread was opened) and I agree that it's horrible, therefore it was removed.

You can keep complaining but there won't be a perfect dark theme unless someone creates one. It currently does not exist. I will try to keep at least one darker-looking theme but if above mentioned circumstances arise again, existing dark themes may be removed and replace with something different - or not.
 
Yes, you can!

Finding a good dark theme for XenForo is notoriously difficult. A lot of users love complaining about a dark theme here. I've spent a lot of my personal time trying to find a good, reliable theme that is pleasant to use. There are no dark themes (free or paid) for XenForo that fit Otland. I'm sure if XenForo had an official one (and I think it will in the future eventually), we'd have that. But it's not a priority for XenForo and therefore we don't have a perfect one yet.

Now, how can you bring it back? Some users actually did more than just complaining here on the forum and blaming me for being lazy. They actually helped by taking an "okay" dark theme and working on it to make it better. That, of course, didn't go unpunished by some here in the Feedback section complaining about it still. As I've always told those who offered help, I am willing to install a dark theme that meets our criteria. So yes, you can bring a dark theme back if you're willing to do the work.

Now, what happened to the dark themes we had?
First, they were unmaintained by the original upstream maintainers. I'm sure most of you can't see that but we upgrade the forum very often, almost always instantly when a stable release comes out. The fact that you can't see it is a testament that it's been done correctly - invisible to the user. The Staff helps test new releases on a testing copy of the forum, etc. A theme without updates is lagging behind XenForo and some parts of it look out of place.

As numerous users also pointed out, there were some problems with those themes from day 1. Most common were around code highlighting and templates added by some addons. Also, you may not know that our default light theme also carries custom modifications. One of these is the visual separation of sticky threads, which, as @Blackstone pointed out, is not a feature of most dark themes.

Every such additional theme takes work to integrate all custom modifications, which with the frequency of the updates and lack of upstream maintenance required me to drop some of the obsolete dark themes. Instead, I've uploaded two new options as a current replacement - Shades of Blue and Shades of Grey. You have to opt into them manually but they are available. @Okke even noticed a new experimental theme that I uploaded because it was just recently released (after this feedback thread was opened) and I agree that it's horrible, therefore it was removed.

You can keep complaining but there won't be a perfect dark theme unless someone creates one. It currently does not exist. I will try to keep at least one darker-looking theme but if above mentioned circumstances arise again, existing dark themes may be removed and replace with something different - or not.

I understand the situation and I may have been too harsh on my commentary to it, it was a mere joke to be honest, I'm fine with the Shades of Grey for the moment, it was a shock at first as the last one before Shades of Grey was very handful.

Let's just wait for it to come, it may, one day.

Best Wishes,
Okke
 
you can bring a dark theme back if you're willing to do the work.

Work? You reply with tenor gifs and warnings whenever you're asked how much you're paying.
 
Work? You reply with tenor gifs and warnings whenever you're asked how much you're paying.
Complains about not liking theme. Has the skill to make a new one.
Won't make a new one without getting paid though.
Excuse Me What GIF by One Chicago
 
and there it is - a gif response. What's next? An absurd warning again?
 
Now, what happened to the dark themes we had?
First, they were unmaintained by the original upstream maintainers. I'm sure most of you can't see that but we upgrade the forum very often, almost always instantly when a stable release comes out. The fact that you can't see it is a testament that it's been done correctly - invisible to the user. The Staff helps test new releases on a testing copy of the forum, etc. A theme without updates is lagging behind XenForo and some parts of it look out of place.
The person / team who dedicates the time to upload the Dark theme should then be given access to your forum changelog then, right? Perhaps the test board too?
 
If anyone wants to mess with theming, even without having any experience with CSS -
You can install extensions for your browser that let you do that quite easily, and save the changes you made permanently every time you visit the website.

https://stylebot.dev/

You can test and play with stuff there without necessarily having access to OTLand .css files, and if you manage to create something awesome, you can publish it for others to use.
Those who know CSS can edit CSS directly instead of using the GUI, all in all, great tool.

Quick example:
(Source, if anyone wants to import this to their Stylebot and keep changing, I cba to mess with it further at the moment).

jJ1PtYY.png
 
If anyone wants to mess with theming, even without having any experience with CSS -
You can install extensions for your browser that let you do that quite easily, and save the changes you made permanently every time you visit the website.

https://stylebot.dev/

You can test and play with stuff there without necessarily having access to OTLand .css files, and if you manage to create something awesome, you can publish it for others to use.
Those who know CSS can edit CSS directly instead of using the GUI, all in all, great tool.

Quick example:
(Source, if anyone wants to import this to their Stylebot and keep changing, I cba to mess with it further at the moment).

jJ1PtYY.png
See -- I like you.
 
or just stop updating the forum script when it isn't broken? You know, things won't break if you don't update them.
 
or just stop updating the forum script when it isn't broken? You know, things won't break if you don't update them.
I'm so sorry that you cannot comprehend the simple fact that updates and patches need to happen in every software; for maintenance, security issues, new functionalities, support etc etc.

And what forum "script" are you referring to? There's no universal script.
You're full of complaints, and you have 0 solutions. Perhaps try to change your outlook on things - that's a good tip for when you apply for jobs too. Sure, complain about something that is an actual problem, but don't just complain without coming with the solution as well. Or at least a proposal that is just not outright sad.
 
or just stop updating the forum script when it isn't broken? You know, things won't break if you don't update them.
That's a very dumb statement, even dumber saying this when you are surrounded by programmers and coders.

So as @Don Daniello said, there are no good and maintained Dark Themes for XenForo, which means best option is to create one strictly for OTLand? Anyone currently working on this or you guys are looking for someone? I could personally do this, even if I'm able to spend 30min per day tops. But I would need some kind of testing environment, some kind of access to test board, so I'm sure it's going to work on main OTLand layout.
 
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