A few updates to Mumsnet 🎨

[LizzyMumsnet]

You might notice things are looking a bit different today. We’ve given Mumsnet a colour refresh, based on feedback from you in our surveys (thank you!).

We’ve also moved a couple of things around to reduce clutter and make things easier to find:

• Watch now sits under the OP post
• Report has moved into the meatball menu (the three dots on posts)

As ever, we’d love to hear what you think, so please share your feedback below.

I've fiddled around with my settings and finally got dark mode working but only on my laptop. I can't look at MN on my phone as it's so bright, I normally love watching a good whinge-fest about why stuff isn't as good as it used to be from the sidelines but this update is really badly executed @MNHQ

Obviously you're hoping that the initial outrage will die down and we'll all get used to it. but it's actually causing physical pain for a lot of us. Do you really think we'll persevere?

Was this trialled to a limited number of users first? Like the perpetual scroll change that was done previously? If not, why not

What was the feedback you got about changing the colour scheme, could you share any of it with us, anonymised of course

I’m another one who doesn’t like the changes. The whole page is just too bright now and all the colours are insipid. I preferred the previous colours and it seems so does must users. Please revert back.
Also it is not good from an accessibility point of view for those of us with eyesight problems or migraine sufferers.
I would also suggest you don’t need to infantilise us with having original poster in big letters as I’m sure most of us knew the OP by colour and what about the safety aspect by those wanting to remain anonymous.

I decided to pay for Premium a couple of months ago to get rid of ads and now I'm regretting my decision. In 2025 no website should be making its use more difficult for anyone with less than perfect vision or with other conditions that affect visual processing. I really can't see that Mumsnet can have done any proper research into usability, let alone thought about why people might want to retain total anonymity on a site which allows them to share problems and ask for advice, rather than have all their posts signposted with an ugly big red button. Sorry, but it's a real failure of thoughtful planning and consideration for users

No ads and a bit more functionality, but we haven't escaped this dreadful "update".

My laptop display brightness is at 26% because of my cataract, but Mumsnet is still too bright for me after the update.

Even actually, wearing sunglasses with everything turned down to the point where everything else on the internet is illegible this is still making me feel queasy and like a migraine is looming after a few minutes.

There is something fundamentally wrong in the new coding.

Please change it Mumsnet, I'm supposed to enjoy browsing Mumsnet. It's not supposed to be an endurance test to see how long I can endure before throwing up.

I am using in on my phone with the night shift filter on. It makes the contrast and the blue a little better to cope with.

@LizzyMumsnet - I hope MNHQ are reading posts like @Boiledbeetle’s - I’m sure she is not the only migraine sufferer on the site, and the changes you have made are painful for people like her - this is not acceptable!

Thanks for that tip, it’s much better.

Nothing says “functional website” better than “spend time fiddling with all your settings to stop your eyeballs from bleeding” eh MNHQ?

I agree, there's a lot of us on here. Unsurprisingly as women are 2 to 3 times more likely to suffer from regular migraines than men.

It is remarkable how harsh the new scheme is. It looked like MN was pranking us.

MNHQ, with this big of a fuckup, it's customary to immediately roll back to the previous functional version, while you work out how you managed to get it so colossally wrong.

Thanks. I was thinking that it probably wasn't worth paying because MN could change things at any time - but it seems they already have!

Come on, MN. Why aren't you answering people's concerns & questions? (And fixing bugs like the one that happens, & just has, when typing replies?) Why aren't you just going back to the previous colours?

How did this ever happen? Two suggestions I've heard IRL this morning are (a) it was developed using equipment with filthy screens that needed a good clean😂& (b) adaptive brightness was switched on & environmental factors meant it ended up too bright under normal conditions. Is that possible?

Oh, just got the 'message' bug again. Would be lovely if you could do something about that.

With Night Shift on, it’s made the green colour I’ve selected for my posts more like a diluted wee colour. MNHQ must be pissing themselves.

😁

I have an extra dim setting on my phone (Nightshift setting was already on). It almost makes it better. Will see how I go.

Actually this is major - i hadn't considered it in relation to women at risk.

But equally I'm not keen on people reading over my shoulder and seeing which is MY POST and I have nothing to fear.

I was really hoping after a morning of work to come on at lunch and find some update from MNHQ, but the silence regarding all the valid points raised on this thread is just deafening.

Been able to readd the 'watch' button at the bottom of threads pretty quick. But ignoring the actually accessibility.

Blue for OP and pink for mine.
Blue and pink. You've picked sex related colours? Seriously?!
And Blue being the dominant colour if OP responds a lot.
So ill thought through.
Also it looks like the Trans flag which is unhelpful.

Absolutely - many other posters have pointed out that not everyone is happy to have their posts highlighted in shrieking pink and a big caption. Utterly thoughtless, please change back.

I've had a headache since 2003. Please make it a bit less vibrant. I tried dark mode but then other things were broken. This is awful.

I've now got screen brightness to minimum, blue light filter to max, and I'm wearing blue light blocking glasses. I've managed 3 pages before the headache starts.

@LizzyMumsnet this is unusable. You will haemorrhage posters. And revenue.

For what? What is the benefit to Mumsnet of any of these changes? There must be something, because it sure as hell isn't to benefit users.

Hi all, just to update - thanks for all your feedback - we've been going through it carefully.

To address some issues raised so far about the changes:

• Colours and contrasts were all checked for accessibility, and both the new blue and the new post colours meet AA standard and in many cases AAA which is gold standard for accessibility (the old blue and new blue both pass at exactly the same rate), AA is the standard across the majority of websites. That said, we know some of you are finding the new colours harder to look at on certain devices, so we will be making the colours a shade darker to increase contrast and provide more distinction.
• No change has been made to the brightness of the white background on posts.
• Removing the username and timestamp from deleted and withdrawn posts is a bug, which we’re fixing now.
• We’ve also heard concerns that highlighting your own posts so clearly could cause issues in domestic violence situations. We are taking this feedback very seriously and will be implementing a setting so people can hide the labels.
• Moving the Report link was a data-based decision following no material change in the number of reports in testing but we’ll be monitoring closely to make sure it doesn’t reduce the number of useful reports and of course we won’t hesitate to move it back, should we see any decline.
• We will also be adding different background shades for posts in dark mode.

Other questions that have been raised:

• Save vs Watch: Save will add the thread to your saved list without notifying you. Watch will notify you about updates to the thread (unless you disable notifications).
• We are currently working on the problem with not landing in the right place on the thread when you click back. It’s a complicated issue, so it’s taking a little while to fix - but we are on it.

It will take a few days to make these updates, but we’ll get started right away and you should begin seeing the changes on the site next week.

Thanks again for all your feedback!