What's Better for A Forum, Dark or Light Theme?

[Roxanne S.]

First topic message reminder :

Hi,

The title says it all, what's better? Well, if you're going to answer that it depends on your opinion, please don't answer that, okay? What my point here, really, is to ask forumotion members what theme is better for forums.

Let's see, if a forum is where you can speak your mind and read/write your opinions, it's a gotta be a light theme right? So that it won't be hard to read.
But if you like more design, and a bit modern, you'll choose a dark theme.

So it's your pick, what's better? Dark or Light Theme?

[levy]

Darker ,but not dark pure ,for exemple a dark blue is very ok.

[Impudent Apple]

Personally, I prefer light theme.

[Digi]

I'd say it depends on preference of color scheme. Personally speaking, I prefer lighter schemes over darker schemes purely because darker is the more used option (from my personal experience with the "Duel Academy" setting where every single theme has a black-on-black-on-black scheme.) It's quite refreshing to have a light scheme such as Earth Tone or even some classic shade schemes. However, it does come into mind the main theme of the forum. If you are a heavy metal forum, you probably don't want to go with a rose colored theme. If you are a Hello Kitty fan-site, lets be honest that's fair game. If your forum has the ability to be flexible with its themes, don't be afraid to experiment.

[girishia]

Personally I would prefer dark themes because most of them look way cooler than light themes, but lurking around such forums for a while often strains my eyes a lot so I have to vote for light themes for the sake of practicality

[DeveloperNetwork]

I think it depends on the type of website. Like my web developer one i don't think would look right with a light theme.

[Darth Apple]

I've always preferred the lighter themes. The dark themes just haven't felt as professional to me, but for gaming websites, they do look cooler.

[JennyorAlice]

I think it depends on what the forum is about.

Case in point, my forum is based on a series of books about a boy who becomes an apprentice to the local spook, whose job it is to get rid of ghosts, boggarts, witches, and anything else that goes bump in the night. Since the books are kind of scary and dark, then I chose a dark theme for my forum (I'm not trying to advertise here, just trying to make my point).

[E22]

I Can't Choose Between Dark And Light!!!
ohhhhhhh
My Forum Is good with Both Of Them!

[Derri]

I prefer a light theme for most forums. A dark theme is nice but it has to be well designed and have different color elements. To me a dark theme isn't all that great if it is badly designed as sometimes you hove over things and then become too dark to read.

Again a light theme doesn't require to be completely bright and blinding on the eyes, a good mixture of colors can make for an interesting light theme.

[JennyorAlice]

I think it all depends on the content of the forum or what is being discussed on the forum. If the forum is discussing something light and happy, then it wouldn't look good on a dark themed forum and vice versa.

[daigunder]

Light theme is better

[Ange Tuteur]

They each have their own perks. Light themes tend to look more professional and can be quite attractive depending on the colors used. White on Blue seems to be quite popular In light toned themes. Whereas Dark themes have an air of mystery and tend to stand out.

I enjoy both honestly, though if a light theme is too bright it tends to hurt after long periods of time.

[monio]

I like both.

[Derri]

The current theme I am going for will be a mix of dark colours but be predominantly light.

#bestofbothworlds lol

[thedarkcube]

Dark theme works for me, as my name is TheDARKCube.
But really I don't mind.

[farhaan]

Go for dark...

[dogsmycopilot]

I find a lighter theme easier to read for most people. The dark backgrounds are painful on the eyes.

[Captain Hunk]

I chose dark because it just fits right.

[mbrown]

I'm mostly looking for a lot of contrast between text and background; whether that is black on white or white on black is mostly irrelevant.  Aesthetically I tend to prefer dark sites, but as long as I can see what's happening then the forum color scheme is not very important.

[Makenna Young]

Personally, I prefer dark themes so that the words and colors pop, making the forum eyecandy. If I join a forum that greets my eyes so nicely, I'm usually encouraged to explore a bit.

Besides, there are so many light thememd sites on the web. Dark is great for something different, but that's just my opinion.

[Legolas]

It depends the theme you have. You can have a blue theme very nice or purple or red, green etc..

[runawayhorses]

Personally, I prefer dark themes so that the words and colors pop, making the forum eyecandy. If I join a forum that greets my eyes so nicely, I'm usually encouraged to explore a bit.

Besides, there are so many light thememd sites on the web. Dark is great for something different, but that's just my opinion.

 I had a dark theme for years, it popped like eye-candy as well. But I went back to a light theme because it seems my members think a light theme is more conducive to reading words on a webpage. I tend to agree. I like light themes much better now.

[Nightingveil]

I prefer dark, even for textual posts, because the lighter versions tend to make my eyes glaze over. I supposed a pastel would work, but white or off-white feels brutal after hours of reading.

[ddoesmc]

Dark

[Ikerepc]

I'm vote both because I like white for support or coding forums, because it is simple and clean. But I like dark and complex themes for some rpg forums and like it. I have dark grey theme on one my rpg forum and I really like that.

[sarahhh1]

Light themes are easier for me to look at for a long time.

[Frostie]

I kind of prefer dark

[WeegeeLazer]

Sometimes it depends on what you're trying to go for with the site. The one I go to is black because it fits.

[IP]

I always pick dark, or somewhere down the middle. Some people have their monitors with a high brightness already, so I'd assume it wouldn't be a problem with a dark theme, but obviously, content and containers need to stand out.

I also prefer looking at something that's easy on the eyes, heck my monitor's brightness is 0%, and white can still pierce my eyes.

[Derri]

I've recently been using a light theme but with darker imaging and surroundings. The theme I'm using on my forum seems to be a happy medium between light and dark.

So I guess I could say I've got the best of both worlds when it comes to light vs Dark