Request to disable text color changing

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1

In this thread, several posters (including myself) mentioned not digging or having mixed feelings about the ability to change the color of the text in a post. I would like to ask that this feature be disabled.

It’s a fun feature, definitely, but it’s being overused, and it’s too distracting. In the last hour alone I’ve seen posts where almost the entire thing was done in bright red, or where every other sentence was a different color. I have seen at least one poster consistently post in color for what appears to be the sole reason of “Because I can”.

I found it difficult to read those posts, and wound up ignoring them completely. This is not the effect the authors of the posts intended, I’m sure.

Adjusting my browser settings won’t change the text color back to its default (right?), so all I can do is ask that this feature be disabled. I will be very grateful if you do.

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Let’s disable preveiw, too. There’s no reason we should have any tools available to us other than those required to make our posts. I also favor moderator review of our posts before they actually go live. That way, people can’t say just any old thing. Bold, anchor tags, size, and other such amenities are equally not appropriate for people of our calibre.

3

I disagree. In fact i would like full HTML ability and the ability to post images. Instead of disableing features that users abuse, disable users who abuse the features.[sub]I may have stolen that lest sentance from someone else, I’m not sure.[/sub]

I understand what you are saying though, and you can change it in your browser. In IE go to tools>internet Options. Click the accessability button on the bottom. Check Ignore colors…

It will make the pages look a little funny but it will be all black text.

4

Now now Lib, argument by taking things to ridiculous extremes doesn’t become you. That argument suggests that all possible features should be activated - avatars, images, HTML code, post editing, the lot.

There is a good reason for allowing preview, bold, italics and so forth. Whether there is similarly a reason for allowing colours is the topic under discussion. Personally I agree that it distracts somewhat from the text when overused. And I do think that it is currently being overused, with colours flying about like so much confetti. I’m hoping that this trend will die down as people get used to it, but if not then there would be a good reason for disabling it, no?

pan

5

But bolding and italicizing distracts just as much as colors when it is overused. Plus, there are always the mop-ups by **Gaudere[b/] and other moderators when people *mistakenly[i/] mistype their vB tags and either don’t preview or else can’t tell they’re looking at a duck when they hear “quack”.

If I had money riding on it, though, I would put it on colors being disabled. After all, people of our calibre can’t handle such amenities with the level of maturity that people at*** oh, say, a Civilization game site.

6

Obnoxiousness also distracts when it is overused.

mblackwell, I’m composing this reply having unchecked the ‘Allow page to specify colors’ button (Mac user here). I find the results a little too drastic-- the entire page is white; the only things in color are the hyperlinks, the smilies, the Straight Dope logo, and the buttons on the top. I should have been more specific, but I was thinking of a tweak that would change the text only. Thanks, though.

As I see it, text color serves two purposes: fun and emphasis. The fun aspect I totally understand. I like being able to type in colors. I’ve done it at other boards. It’s a nice feature to have during holidays or in congratulatory threads. You could wish someone a happy birthday or say Merry Christmas!. IMO, the text color feature was intended to color maybe a word or phrase, a sentence at the most, and you get nice results when you use it that way.

But as I’ve said, I’ve seen entire paragraphs in bright red. Such a post is hard to read, and the color distracts from whatever point or idea the poster is trying to make.

Which leaves emphasis as a reason for changing text color. IMO, there are already plenty of ways in which a poster can add emphasis to his or her post: text italicizing, bolding, underlining, and resizing are all options here. Color is simply not necessary.

I realize my request raises the question of whether a feature should be disabled because, for lack of a gentle euphemism, it is annoying. I also realize that annoying is subjective, as is “moderate use” of a feature. However, I would say that when a feature is used to such an extent that it detracts from the readability and enjoyment of the message board, disabling it is not an unreasonable request.

I don’t want to be seen as a big killjoy. I know that some people are thrilled to have the color changing feature. But I don’t see any way of compromising.

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I know there is a way to change the text color only in IE, but I can’t figure it out. I’ll look into it more later. It would be nice if there was a way to put a button on the toolbar to toggle text color on/off.

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Look at the code. It is inserting <font color=""> and </font> to change the color. I don’t think your browser settings are going to override this.

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The only way to override it is to explicitly check the “Ignore colours specified on Web pages” option under Tools > Internet Options > Accessibility.

The downside is that it ignores all colours, including backgrounds, which can make it very hard to read pages (particularly ones with coloured table cells).

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I don’t like the idea of banning colour. It’s nice to have the option of using it. However, I would be happy to follow guidelines on how to use it. Perhaps asking people not to post colours in the “serious” forums and leaving them exclusively for MPSIMS and IMHO (and maybe the Pit) is an answer?

I for one have no problem with people posting all their threads in whatever colour they like. If it’s hard to read (and not worth the effort), I’ll skip it. If it’s hard to read (and worth the effort), in the worst case I’ll use my mouse to highlight the text like I do on so many webpages with ill-advised background. A general agreement on what is inappropriate use is needed. I dare say we won’t need to poll for it, as it will naturally develop in time.

And I quite like this colour for the text because I feel it goes well with the colour scheme here. I can see where it would be annoying if people kept switching colours throughout a post, but I don’t have a problem with things like this paragraph.

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What’s with the location, Anth? You visiting at the mo?

Lib, I quite agree with you that other features can also be annoying. That’s why I suggested that if people calm down and stop purposely changing colour like some enraged chameleon, my objection to it reduces.

However:

  1. I don’t want this site to resemble a computer game discussion board. Those things are disasterous from a debate perspective.

  2. We need some way of emphasising. Bold, italics, underlining: they all have their place. And I’ve used italics when writing out equations and underlining when using subheadings in a lengthy diatribe. Their benefits outweigh their costs, in my opinion. Of course if people started intentionally italicizing whole paragraphs or TYPING ALL IN BOLD CAPS, I’d be reluctantly calling for either the end of the feature or the poster’s contribution.

I just don’t see colours as adding anything particularly useful. And there is something about different colours in particular that I find particularly offputting.

I liken this discussion board to reading a decent newspaper. Italics, bold, underlining - they all have their place. Even different font sizes and types. But colours? No.

I’m not trying to take anybody’s fun though. In MPSIMS I say let people knock themselves out. I just don’t like seeing it in GD or :shudder: the Pit.

pan, arch curmudgeon

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Yeah, I’m just being deviled avocado. Eliminate size tags, too.

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I’m commuting. :slight_smile:

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Geez, and I thought that my old trip round the M25 was tough!

Lib - are you pulling my leg or are you serious? Would you actually like to see the size tag go?

I’m quite a purist really. If it doesn’t garnish what is actually being said in a positive fashion, I don’t want it. It’s good for chat sites but bad for debates.

But that’s just me.

pan

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As I’m learning, there’s more to SD than debates.

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People are just playing with the d#mn thing. It’s a new Board feature, so of course they wanna monkey with it. Things will settle down.
Chill. :cool:

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I thought of this, too, but there are problems with this. First of all, asking anything and hoping even half of the posters here will see it is asking for a lot. Even if you made it a Sticky, it still won’t be seen by everyone. Second, how do you get people to actually follow this suggestion (and that’s all it will ever be; it’s not exactly ban-if-you-break-it rule material)? Some people will conscientiously monitor their color use; others won’t give a rat’s ass or think it’s directed to everyone else but them. Third, who’s to decide what a “serious” forum is? I’ve seen plenty of serious threads in IMHO and MPSIMS. Fourth, on general principle, I don’t think it’s a good idea to enable certain features for different forums. It implies that the people who visit/don’t visit such and such forum are capable/incapable of mature use of X feature. And that’s a division I’d rather not see on this board, or any board, for that matter.

The “don’t read it if you don’t like it” approach isn’t quite as easy WRT text color as it is with annoying posters or displeasing topics. Some colors (such as the pink I used in the “happy birthday” text, and the red in the “christmas”) can distract me even when I’m reading, say, the posts before and after it. The colors are attention-grabbing, and are detectable in my peripheral vision. It takes my focus away from the post I’m reading. Admittedly, the distraction isn’t on the level of HTML blinking or marquee text, or the huge text size (which I understand was disabled). But it’s enough that I catch myself looking at it anyway, even though I’m no longer reading the post it’s in, or have yet to reach the post it’s in.

Perhaps true. But this board attracts new members easily. There will likely be a constant flow of new members who want to monkey around with text color changing. If that’s the case, then things will never settle down.

18

Eh, Audrey, what Bosca said–after a while the novelty will wear off and things will calm down. Don’t worry about it. There are so many more important things to worry about.

Here’s one: There’s a Lettuce Shortage looming! :eek:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,47775,00.html

19

oops, left out, “And the newbies will only monkey around with it for a few posts before they figure out that nobody else has their entire posts done in fuchsia and lime green, and they’ll stop doing it.”

The way newbies always have to monkey around with their sigs, and Pit flame wars, and posting GD-type topics in GQ, etc.

So at any given moment, we’re always gonna have newbies who are monkeying around with things. That just kind of goes with the territory. [shrug]

20

:eek:

Lettuce do something about it! Lettuce stock up, now!

:smiley:

Um… heh. I suppose it’s because I’m tired now and don’t have much fight left in me (not that I ever have much, but eh…) but I’m tempted to just either save my board surfing for last and not turn off colors until then, or just avoid the SDMB altogether. I have a move to prepare for, so I really shouldn’t be lurking/posting anyway… Curse my addiction to this place.