New UI is unreadable

There are Issues in both Light Theme and Dark Theme, but Light Theme is frankly unreadable

• There are no visual differences between parts of the UI
• All columns are white with a nearly invisible grey line between them
• It's just a big white fields with lots of grey text on it
• The only distinguishable feature is the heavy app bar on top.

Previously there were visual clues separating parts of the UI etc.

Relevant links:

• http://accessites.org/site/2006/11/designing-for-dyslexics-part-2-of-3/
• https://www.nngroup.com/articles/low-contrast/
• https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-contrast.html
• etc.

We are happy to fix any low contrast text you find. I understand this issue is more about clear separations between panels.

This was brought up when we initially released the new light theme on next, @sbromberger October 28, 2016 11:55 AM. Will leave this issue open to gauge support.

It's:

• clear separation between panels
• lower contrast of the app header
• clearer indicators of what's selected:
  • currently selected room is basically another light gray in a sea of whites and greys
  • the left most indicator is lost, especially if there's a background app. (In my case "all conversations" vs "communities" are basically indistinguishable because they show more or less the same thing)
  • clearer indicators of what has new messages (currently it's a small light green ring in a sea of similar light things totally overshadowed by an explosion of color at the top of the app)
• possibly a different theme for code blocks in light theme. Right now they are basically screaming at you :) But this could be because there's basically nothing else standing out on the page

There's more!

• Only today did I realize that if you add something to favorites, there's actually half of a gray star sticking from behind the room's icon. At a glance this looks like dirt on the screent or misaligned pixels or something to that effect :D
• The light green "new messages" indicator is completely overshadowed by the three dark dots if a room is selected next to the room with new messages

@dmitriid Please create separate issues for these things instead of piling on this existing issue which is focusing on UI panel distinction.

@MadLittleMods

MadLittleMods changed the title from New UI is unreadable to Hard to distinguish different UI panels 2 days ago

This is the issue I created to pile all the issues related to readability. So I'm changing the title back

I empathise with the wish for things to be readable but @dmitriid please, respect developers' wishes for separation. One thing at a time.

Not only for developers. For people like me, who track such issues, it's nearly always preferable for each issue to be reasonably discrete; focused. Thank you.

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Side note: if you're not already there, please be aware of https://gitter.im/gitterHQ/gitter – maybe not yet as readable as you would like but still, good for discussion.

The main problem is that these are not isolated issues. This is a general problem with the entire UI.

I can transform this issue into a "meta" issue with links to separate issues. I'll do that a bit later (hopefully tomorrow)

Meta: the accessibility label already applies to this issue, and others.

The UI is fine for the other 99% Gitter users

@TheDiamondYT1 Please provide a poll of 99% users or I call bullshit

Please, let's have a gentle, cooperative 2017.

Essentially: there is an issue, which recognisably (as labelled) affects accessibility – that, at least.

Minority viewpoints are no less valuable than those of the majority; it's an issue, and there's a milestone.