PF Style 2026

[SiennaTheGr8]

@SiennaTheGr8 how does it look now?

Terrific. The color-contrast is great, thanks!

 

[pbuk]

Looking even better now @Greg Bernhardt (in light mode at least, haven't spent much time in dark mode yet)

The forum rearrangement has ended up with some sub-sub-forums e.g. General Discussion > Science Fiction and Fantasy Media > Sci-Fi Writing and World Building: is this intentional?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

The forum rearrangement has ended up with some sub-sub-forums e.g. General Discussion > Science Fiction and Fantasy Media > Sci-Fi Writing and World Building: is this intentional?

Yeah that was from this https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/forum-consolidations.1085652/

 

[pbuk]

Yeah that was from this https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/forum-consolidations.1085652/

Yes, but because Sci-Fi Writing and World Building was already a child of Science Fiction and Fantasy Media it has now ended up a grandchild of General Discussion. Are there any other grandchild forums, and if not then why not make Science Fiction and Fantasy Media Sci-Fi Writing and World Building a direct child of General Discussion (assuming you can easily do this in XenForo, you can in most forum sw)?

 

[renormalize]

Likely that mathjax isn't triggering on that template. I'll take a look.

Looks like the LaTeX Guide is fixed now. Thanks Greg!

 

[Ibix]

The 404 page has an event horizon joke, but no longer has the "fallen into a black hole" context for it.

 

[Muu9]

On mobile, when looking at the forum categories on the homepage (e.g. stem advising), I can't see when the most recent post was made, which I could before. This is important to me because it allows me to tell at a glance if there's a new thread I should check out. (Is the most recent thread a week old or less than a day old?)

 

[palaphys]

looking better

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Is the most recent thread a week old or less than a day old?

Does it matter if it's new to you?

 

[A.T.]

It's like the evolution of the Google logo, just backwards, with serif-fonts in the headings now. But also sans-serif-fonts in thread titles, and monspace-fonts in thread info. Like a ransom letter.

To say it positively: I very much like the new main sans-serif font, used for for message content and thread titles.

I just don't like the variety of font types, with serif fonts in headings, monspace fonts in thread info. It would look much cleaner, if you would stick to that one sans-serif font.

 

[A.T.]

I use the dark mode, and the old style had a better one: Dark gray background is better than blue, because it is more neutral.

The backgrounds in dark mode are still too saturated (too much blue). If we cannot have dark grey background in dark mode (which is the standard dark mode), then at least it could be more towards grey.

Also in dark mode:
- Quotes in posts have lighter background than the rest
- Quotes in the post editing box have darker background than the rest
This should be made consistent.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

- Quotes in posts have lighter background than the rest

rest of what? quotes are styled differently for framing

 

[CrysPhys]

Does it matter if it's new to you?

I raised the same issue previously. The date and time of the most recent post in a particular sub-category of interest is how I determine whether the most recent post is new to me (particularly if it's an update). Sometimes a sub-category will go dormant for several weeks; sometimes there will be a flurry of activity within a single day. There are several sub-categories that I typically check at least daily. If the most recent post is more than a day or so old, I know there's nothing new for me to check out. I typically turn off my computer at ~9 pm at night. The next morn when I boot up my computer, and find that the most recent post was "Yesterday 11:15 pm", I know that it's new to me; whereas, if the most recent post was "Yesterday 7:20 am", I know it's not new to me. So both date and time are relevant. The old site had that info; the new site doesn't.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

There are several sub-categories that I typically check at least daily. If the most recent post is more than a day or so old, I know there's nothing new for me to check out.

That is the point of the unread status icon though? That signals there is something new and likely is the latest post shown.

 

[physika]

It bears a certain vibe to Physics Stack Exchange.
Cool

 

[CrysPhys]

That is the point of the unread status icon though? That signals there is something new and likely is the latest post shown.

By the unread status icon, I assume you mean that the title of the thread is bolded? That works only if (1) I'm logged in and (2) I click to open the sub-category (sub-forum) to display all the thread titles. On the old site (regardless of whether I was logged in or not), I could skim the home page and look for the date and time of the most recent post on the sub-forums of interest. If there was nothing new in a particular sub-forum of interest, I didn't need to open it. On the new site, I now need to open each sub-forum of interest just to find out whether there's anything new or not.

 

[ohwilleke]

Don't like the zero character having a slash. I understand the reason to distinguish the letter oh and the number zero, but it is too easy to misread as an eight in small fonts or at a distance.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

That works only if (1) I'm logged in and (2) I click to open the sub-category (sub-forum) to display all the thread titles.

ok check now, how does that look for you?

 

[Muu9]

Does it matter if it's new to you?

I don't think the UI allows me to tell if a thread is new to me, either. AFAICT it just shows a few words from the title of the most recent thread.

 

[CrysPhys]

ok check now, how does that look for you?

That works. Thanks.

 

[gleem]

@Greg Bernhardt, thanks for putting a timestamp on the last post in a thread.

 

[A.T.]

rest of what? quotes are styled differently for framing

In dark mode:
- Quotes in posts have lighter background than the normal (not quoted) text
- Quotes in the post editing box have darker background than the normal (not quoted) text
This should be consistent.

 

[sbrothy]

Don't like the zero character having a slash. I understand the reason to distinguish the letter oh and the number zero, but it is too easy to misread as an eight in small fonts or at a distance.

I like the slash in the zero Then again I'm from Denmark. My name is Søren and I'm a retired C programmer.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

This should be consistent.

Check now, is it better?

 

[symbolipoint]

Don't like the zero character having a slash. I understand the reason to distinguish the letter oh and the number zero, but it is too easy to misread as an eight in small fonts or at a distance.

Maybe a nowhere suggestion, but can the ZERO character be made using just a dot in the middle of the character figure? I actually use this method when manually writing certain character strings on paper using pen or pencil.

 

[A.T.]

Check now, is it better?

Yes, thanks!

 

[pinball1970]

The last active thread in each SF is now visible which was going to be my gripe.
I like the new style, shake things up!
As long as all the bits and pieces work just as well then it's all good.

 

[bob012345]

I find the new format strains my eyes a bit. I mean I can feel the difference toggling back and forth. The page just seems so bright even when I dim it. I think there is better contrast on the previous version.

But having said that, I think PF is great and I would still use it even if you went back to 1980’s graphics!