[b][big]Similar Worlds Dark Theme[/big] is now released and available for use![/b] 🙂 🌒 🌠
Usage is quite simple. If you'd like to try out SW Dark Mode / Dark Theme, simply do the following:
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1) Once on Similar Worlds, Press the [big]☰[/big] "[b]Three Lined Drop Menu Icon[/b]" ⏬ on the top-right side of your screen (once the blue bar is visible).
2) Press 🌒 "[b]Dark Mode[/b]".
3) Lastly, Press the ⬛ [b]Black Square[/b] to [b]Activate Dark Mode![/b]
You can always disable Dark Mode at any time, by repeating these steps, and clicking on the Light-Blue box on the last step.
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[c=#008099][big]Similar Worlds Original Theme:[/big][/c]
[big]Similar Worlds Dark Theme:[/big]
[c=#666666][i]This "Dark Theme" can be considered a "Beta Release", as there will be numerous improvements progressively done to this theme, and a few bugs may be found along the way.[/i][/c]
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Kind regards! Have a great week ahead, and also a wonderful month of May! [c=#004A59][i]-The SW Team[/i][/c]
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[b][i][Update]:[/i][/b]
Several minor improvements have been made, since this new Dark Theme [i](still Beta)[/i] was released about an hour ago.
Thanks for all the feedback and reporting of bugs/issues that users discovered. 👍
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[b][i][Update]:[/i][/b]
[b][big]Dark Theme Font Color Improvements [i][c=BF6900]( Just Released! )[/c][/i][/big][/b]
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[center][big]----- Live Test -----[/big]
[b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i]
[c=#666666][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#BF0000][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#BF6900][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#A69800][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#359E00][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#009E4F][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#008099][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#003BB2][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#7700B2][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#BF0080][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c]
[c=#000000][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#800000][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#804600][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#665D00][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#1F5E00][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#005E2F][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#004A59][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#002673][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#4C0073][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#800055][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c]
[quote] [b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i]
[c=#666666][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#BF0000][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#BF6900][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#A69800][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#359E00][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#009E4F][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#008099][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#003BB2][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#7700B2][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#BF0080][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c]
[c=#000000][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#800000][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#804600][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#665D00][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#1F5E00][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#005E2F][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#004A59][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#002673][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#4C0073][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c] [c=#800055][b]Default / Dark[/b] Theme [i]Color Test 123[/i][/c]
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[c=#666666]Could you please make SW support alpha channels? I used to just give PNG-images white backgrounds, so that it wasn't noticable against SW's white background, when decorating my posts or "About Me" but now with a dark background, it will be.
Other than that, I love this feature so much. ❣️[/c]
@Sheer That would have been awesome and I think personally should have been a feature a long time ago. Never really checked though, but does SW even support PNG files right now? I just assumed it converted everything to highly compressed JPG during upload to save on server space.
[c=#666666]@PirateMonkeyCabinet I think you're right, since I believe the quality tends to decline a bit when uploading something here. Anyways, I recommend them doing so, in that case.[/c]
@Sheer Come to think of it, the pictures I posted in my other reply in this thread, the one that has the "-SW Team" quote on it was indeed a PNG before uploading... and looking at it now the amount of JPG artifacts on it is horrible and makes my eyes want to twitch badly. 😂
[c=#666666]@PirateMonkeyCabinet Yeah, I know right? 😄 Well, one thing at the time I suppose. I realise they're actually working on some other huge changes for SW right now.[/c]
@Sheer We did actually get something we've been asking for for a long time, so I'm not gonna complain. It's progress. And even if I don't like the direction they are taking with their other larger changes, they are indeed working on that too.
[c=#666666]@PirateMonkeyCabinet I think the other changes fit SW. This site will improve from what it is now, it's just not gonna' be like EP. Back, before there was no Similar Worlds, I actually thought of making a site called Topic Galaxy, which was supposed to focus on topics instead of personal experiences. I dreamt of a space where people met based on similar interests, rather than similar experiences. That's basically what SW is doing now. I think it's a good idea. There's already Reddit, where people write about personal experiences, now. It was there back then too, I think, but has become extremely popular at this point, so I think SW is taking the right turn.[/c]
@Sheer It's definitely gonna be different from EP no matter what direction they take, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. In it's current state there is a fair amount of things on SW I'd say are sort of "conceptually broken". No matter what direction they take though, it's impossible to please everyone and I suppose I'm one of them who doesn't like where this is heading.
That isn't to say there isn't merit in a topic/interest-based focus. In itself I don't think it's a bad idea, and as a separate social network I might be interested in it... but that's just not what I wanted from SW. There have been topic-focused sites that have shown that it does indeed have it's place and can make for a good site.
I came to EP back in the day for the purpose of having a place to vent, share experiences and find people with similar experiences, and while I never had any illusion that SW would ever feel like EP or be a carbon copy of EP, they seemed to focus on filling that niche that EP hovered in. Personally I would have hoped that they would have put their efforts towards polishing and improving what we have to make the best version of that, but instead it now seems like they've decided to just steering the ship in a different direction and as such move away from what made me come here in the first place.
Besides, from what I gathered from previous posts about the changes it just seemed like it was very rigid and not a very well thought through and coherent system they were aiming for. Like the moods-update which I absolutely hate. Even if I didn't dislike it it would still feel rushed and wonky. At least with that change it feels like they're trying to mimic Vent, but since they can't copy it straight up so they just slapped a "Discount Vent" on top of an already wobbly and complicated system.
Maybe I'll be proven wrong and my concerns are unfounded, but so far nothing I've seen has inspired confidence in those changes and reassured me that it's going the right way (well, the right way for what I seek out of this community).
[quote=@PirateMonkeyCabinet]At least with that change it feels like they're trying to mimic Vent, but since they can't copy it straight up so they just slapped a "Discount Vent" on top of an already wobbly and complicated system.[/quote]
I've literally never seen or used Vent, apart from seeing some "Vent App" mentioned by users on here a couple of times.
The introduction of Post Types (Moods) is what has allowed us to progress further with SW in these recent past months.
Post Types was mostly inspired from observing that we had different "Type Sets" of users who utilized Similar Worlds. Especially noticeable when there was the initial complaints about us merging "Stories and Questions".
Apart from Groups / Topic Categorization, we noticed that users often had different purposes and interests for using SW.
A large segment preferred to use the site for "Fun" posts.
Another large segment had preference for more well written, Creative posts.
Others preferred to share and read posts that range between Supportive, Positive, dealing with Life Struggles, and so on.
This general realization, is what spurred the idea of Post Types. The idea was completely thought up internally by us, and was not copied from any other site or service.
The real impact and benefit of post types are still yet to be seen, as the site completes its structural changes over the coming months. At which time, we expect that feeds will be much more relevant to user's interests and subscriptions.
[c=#666666]@Andrew [b]Andrew, we need a Post Type: [u][i]Personal.[/i][/u] [/b] Sometimes we like to write posts about ourselves, which might concern our interests, personalities et cetere, in which we generally just talk a bit about ourselves. Like this:
I believe those posts may fit well in this Category [i](pending release)[/i]:
[big]People & Family > Self[/big]
As for the Post Type/Mood, we do understand that there are some cases where the best mood isn't an easy choice, and that Random isn't always most appropriate as a fallback.
The available options are something we are still considering deeply, hoping to find a most ideal split of choices, without further dilution.
For a post about "Self", I'd use one of the following Moods, based on the nature of what I'm sharing: [big][b][c=#359E00]Positive [/c]/ [c=#A69800]Fun [/c]/ [c=#008099]Sad [/c]/ [c=#009E4F]News[/c][/b][/big]
[c=#666666]@Andrew Well I can get behind how it's difficult picking 12 moods which can possibly fit anything, of course.
I think you're right; the categories, once finalized, will help the context of mood choices, too. Do we get a choice of where to place our old posts, when that time comes?[/c]
@Andrew I was indeed referring to the "Vent" app that exists for Android and iOS.
I should probably have put a harder emphasis on the "[i]it feels like[/i]" part of what I said and possibly rephrased it so it didn't seem like an accusation. That's on me. The point I was trying to make wasn't to straight up accuse you of stealing it, but rather indicate that the moods feature is similar enough to what is a big part of the backbone of the Vent app, but at the same time different enough in a way that seems horribly unpolished to me.
Being honest, the manner in which you are rolling out your restructuring changes is in my opinion awful. With the recent introduction of moods, the forced titles in addition to group selection, etc. it now feels like a patchwork of old and new that's hobbled together, and every time I might want to make a very simple post right now I still have to fill out what feels like tax form 221b-43 section 2, alpha, page 3 and 4 in order to just make a post.
It's a transitional period, sure, but this is a messy and excruciatingly long transitional period. In my opinion it would have been better to withhold it you were closer to completion on the grander restructuring, and if you were still set on deploying the changes in multiple stages, have a shorter timespan between. Because, as said, whether I like it or not right now we're just stuck with a patchwork.
The rest of what you're saying though is nothing new to me, nor does it change my position on it. What you're saying has already been directly or indirectly indicated by your team here over the months since you started revealing your plans for the restructure.
I do agree that changes needed to be made, but we have a very, very different view on how to achieve the goals, and maybe even what the goals themselves are.
I'm not saying that the direction you are taking is overall wrong nor right, but the way it is heading certainly does not seem like the site [i][b]I[/b][/i] thought this was, and not the site I wanted it to be. I understand that there is a broad spectrum of users here and that I in this case represent a single user group of many. For all I know the user group I would belong to, the one who finds the proposed changes to be what I didn't want for this site, might be a minority here.
SW is your site (well, those of you who have ownership at least). Whether you choose to make the site you want, make the site you think appeals the the user groups you want to keep and encourage, make the site that gets you the broadest following, or follow the money, that is up to you. Nothing wrong with either. No matter what you choose though, we both know that it is absolutely impossible to appease all types of users, and it seems more and more that the vision you have is departing from what I seek.
To me personally it is moving away from what may SW, well, SW. It is becoming something different from what it was and what drew me here. Yet again, nothing wrong with moving in a different direction. I'll make a judgement call on that when the time comes and enough of the changes have been rolled out, but if it turns out the way I've been given the impression that you intend it to be then it may be the curtain call for me (well, my account here anyway).
It seemed to me that when you started revealing the greater restructure you had already made up your mind on this being the way you wanted to go and had already been developing it far enough that there was no return anyway. That is of course your choice.
So for now I guess we're at a stalemate of sorts. If the posts made by your team over the months is anything to go by, there is nothing you can do to change my opinion on this, nor anything I can do to influence yours. Time will tell if these changes will really be a new start or a springboard for me to look for somewhere else to stay.
