Unity Forum Update removes avatar transparency

The recent Forum update added some pretty nice functionality, like likes, alerts(more flexible than the old subscription system) and a slick new interface.
Unfortunately it also removed transparency for avatars in the forums. It's nice that you can use Gravatar now, but it ignores the alpha channel, even though the images are png files.

This is not really a problem with the standard Unity style, but becomes very noticeable when you start customizing.

Notice the white background behind the avatar:

Which isn't a problem on the profile page:

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Is there any particular reason why transparency would be removed in the thread pages, while still using pngs? Also, if this is a bug, where do I report these kinds of minor aesthetic bugs? Seeing how this isn't a Unity Editor or Documentation problem.

- RC-1290

 

Your profile picture looks perfectly fine from my end...

 

It's not visible on a white background, because the avatar background is automatically white.
It's only visible to weird people like me, who like to use a dark theme for every website they visit, to reduce eye strain.

 

Oops. Sorry about that, didn't notice it. My bad.

 

Don't worry about it, reading is hard (and I say that without sarcasm), which is exactly why I'm using a dark skin for the forums

 

This may be a bit off topic, but does a darker theme really reduce the strain on the eyes? My eyes do burn and it's sight decreases at a steady rate. Would you suggest me to use the dark skin too?

 

It helps me. It simply reduces the amount of light that's constantly shining into your eyes. I've made skins for several sites for that very reason.
As far as I'm aware, my Dark Unity Sites skin is the only one. At least for the plugin called Stylish. It looks there is an unofficial plugin for safari too, although I don't know if that works on iPad too.

I actually removed the link to my dark style from my signature recently because the new forum software was complaining about the number of links. But it's back now

 

How can make forum like on those pictures? I mean the dark skin.

 

By applying an extra css style on top of the standard styles that the site uses.
For that I use a plugin called Stylish, and wrote a custom dark skin for the Unity3D sites(Like I mentioned above), which you can use, that darkens most of them.

 

If you guys do not need color calibration I can recommand f.lux:
/https://justgetflux.com/

f.lux allow you to choose two color temperature settings: one for day and one for night. Also you can quickly choose "Movie Mode" turning f.lux tuning off, and "Darkroom Mode" making everything black and red

 

The thing is that a good GUI is visible during the day without being blinding. But I'm sure some people will find the link useful.

 

I should have read the blog, they mentioned where to submit bugs. I've sent an e-mail to support (at) unity3d (dot) com

 

Honestly, this suggests either significant eye problems (possible, but I wouldn't say likely...) or that your work environment is set up really badly.

It also suggests that you're not resting your eyes and taking breaks appropriately.

I'm also partial to darker themes, but it's not to reduce eyestrain... it's just preference. I work with light themed stuff open all the time and it's never given me problems. Make sure your environment's lighting and your screen's brightness and contrast are set up to be comfortable, and make sure you rest and exercise your eyes.

Changing the stuff you look at to be darker isn't the solution.

 

In my case the problem is that I haven't been able to afford a good monitor, and when the brightness is reduced, the contrast and color balance suffers. So I've set it to display at full brightness. And I don't really like staring a bright light for too long. If I could use an interactive e-ink display, I would, but that's not an option right now.

Also, I'd say it makes more sense on a light-display to draw information with the light, in stead of flooding everything with light, and relying on the negative space.

Another example is when you're doing a presentation in front of a projector. Projectors often need to be incredibly bright to compete with environment light. You could argue that such a projector setup isn't ideal, but it is often the case anyway. If your entire screen is white, you will constantly be staring at the maximum brightness of the light, unless you remember to not look at your audience while you're in front of the projection.


Not that I expect to often display the forums in a presentation, but it's the same principle. Dark themes allow higher brightness where necessary.

 

You need to buy the Pro version.

... that was a joke.