Look of the Forums.

[SteelShark]

The colour scheme's appropriate, but the look is too minimalistic and soft.  I liked the look of the old forums.  Could you steampunkify this a bit? Maybe like, riveted strips for the sides and more victorian fonts, chipping paint, the odd cog, I duno, fewer rounded edges, that kinda thing.

[Lord Dick Tim]

I admit each time I log into the forums I think chocolate chip brownies with fudge frosting on chocolate ice cream.  Not steam punk, but meh.

[Jazzza]

The colour scheme's appropriate, but the look is too minimalistic and soft.

You're clearly not a web designer then.

[Shinkurex]

I admit each time I log into the forums I think chocolate chip brownies with fudge frosting on chocolate ice cream.  Not steam punk, but meh.

and now I'm hungry.... thanks....

[SteelShark]

The colour scheme's appropriate, but the look is too minimalistic and soft.

You're clearly not a web designer then.

Correct.  I'm not a web designer.  What do you think a web designer would have to say about the look of this new forum, and what do you think a web designer would have to say about the look of the old forum?

[Pickle]

The colour scheme's appropriate, but the look is too minimalistic and soft.

You're clearly not a web designer then.

He may not be, so you, Jazzza, have to make an effort to understand that he might not have the technical language.

The colour scheme lacks contrast, with the various shades of brown - contrast and sharpness/softness are easily confused.

The look of each page is quite bland, there's little visual interest or graphics - which could be decribed as minimalist (although technically that isn't the correct use of the term).

As forums go, it's uninspiring and scores quite low for readability.  But it's still far better than what we had before.

[SteelShark]

The colour scheme's appropriate, but the look is too minimalistic and soft.

You're clearly not a web designer then.

He may not be, so you, Jazzza, have to make an effort to understand that he might not have the technical language.

The colour scheme lacks contrast, with the various shades of brown - contrast and sharpness/softness are easily confused.

The look of each page is quite bland, there's little visual interest or graphics - which could be decribed as minimalist (although technically that isn't the correct use of the term).

As forums go, it's uninspiring and scores quite low for readability.  But it's still far better than what we had before.

I was really more just talking about the simple rounded edged bars and gradients and lack of graphics.  Nothing's really sharp and everything looks sanded off and to me it feels too safe to be relating to guns of icarus.  As a non web designer and simple web user, the amount of contrast here is enough for me and I liked the look of the original forums.  I think simply having graphics would make them expand the colour pallet.

[N-Sunderland]

I liked the look of the original forums. 

The old forum was really painful to read off of. The brown text did not go well with the dark background, and the mobile one was illegible without selecting. In that regard this is a big step up from the old one.

[SteelShark]

I liked the look of the original forums. 

The old forum was really painful to read off of. The brown text did not go well with the dark background, and the mobile one was illegible without selecting. In that regard this is a big step up from the old one.

We could have had that with the original forums too though.  Just lighten the font colour, or anything else anyone thought was too dark.

[Jazzza]

I liked the look of the original forums. 

The old forum was really painful to read off of. The brown text did not go well with the dark background, and the mobile one was illegible without selecting. In that regard this is a big step up from the old one.

Definitely. These forums are much easier to use and read. I do believe the header needs work and apparently the Muse team are working on it, but it works for now.

These kinds of forums focus on functionality over appearance, which personally I prefer. As a web developer (with a taste for design) I can say that the current design is a good start and with a bit of tweaking and revisions, it could look great while maintaining the functionality.