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.

Ah thanks for update. I hadn’t realised this option had gone live.

I can't, the only options I have are still the insipid pastels. Are you a premium member?

This is great, but

I think the default should be the other way, so defaulted to off.

If someone posts in a dangerous situation they are not about to play around with settings.

I had private messages blocked, I just checked and they were unblocked by default.

These are my current background colours (magenta and blue). Thank god those pink bullets have gone 😬 Not a premium member.

Making the previous green an unpleasant shade of grey will not be improved by making it a shade darker.

It is no longer possible to have colours in dark mode, where it was working before. Who are you paying to implement these poorly thought out changes?

I had the other way around! I don’t block PMs, but they were blocked when I went to my settings.

Who are you paying to implement these poorly thought out changes?

I agree @lavendermilkshake - and (again) I would ask you @KatyMumsnet just why MNHQ thought this was a good idea? And what were you trying to communicate about the MN brand with the colour changes?

Just checking back in to see if this awful blue has gone yet. I didn't even know it was possible to create a colour that was so instantly uncomfortable to look at on a screen that I have to hold my phone on an angle to try to minimise the pain it causes when looked at directly.

Whichever Accessibility consultant you used should be hauled over hot coals. This level of fuck up is truly impressive.

Mumsnet's accessibility scores are pretty good. Just a couple of easily-fixed code fails. I'm a world-class accessibility bore and MN has always been miles better than most websites. They dropped the ball several years ago, but fixed it quickly.

Where a checker says something like 148 errors, you need to click on the error. I bet it's 148 instances of the same error, and a nit-picking one at that. Though one should pick all nits, of course.

I'm quite surprised the scary bright blue on a lighter blue background doesn't fail contrast, but it doesn't (AIM/WAVE).

No colour change on the app..

Have you made the colours a shade darker yet? I really can't tell. I switched ops posts from green to blue because I couldn't really see the green anymore and kept missing that a post was by the OP. I switched to blue but that looks like an MN person posted. I just tried the green again but still so insipidly pale.

Please can we have a proper green option? Would it cost the site more to do the insipid green and the old green?

My 'green' is still grey.

I have never seen 'magenta' and 'blue' look like that before 😂

Could I have my old green back, please?

It’s really hard to differentiate the OP’s posts as the shade is almost white.

What was the point of this?!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/5415595-be-first-to-try-our-new-feature

For goodness sake, this has appeared this morning. What now? I have already commented on the original thread, but maybe we could have some guesses about what fresh hell these "new features" may be.

In view of this (and several other) current threads about the recent changes/things that are not working, this is spectacularly tone deaf.

Well, returning to the correct place in the Active list seems to have finally been fixed now, so thank you to whoever has sorted this out. My comment above still stands though.

I agree. The 'My Posts' feature should be off by default. That seems very important and I hope someone takes notice of it.

I'm slightly concerned that this needed to be raised as an issue - MNHQ really should have been wiser about this - but at least it's fixable now.

I agree that the MyPost should be off by default.

But I've changed my mind about the new colours. Please keep them - being limited to 10 mins at a time here means my productivity in the rest of life is through the roof.

Please can you set the my posts to be off? It’s dangerous to have it turned on.

Shouldn't highlighting of the user's posts be off by default too? That is almost equally compromising if the observer knows anything about this (or other) web forums. Or at least switchable?

You need to go into your account settings to do that @Swandry

@BIWI i know. I was typing quickly and brain and fingers didn’t match up.

I mean. Can the default be that “my post” is turned off and we go into settings to turn it on?

I agree it should be off as a default.

Although actually - I don’t really see why it needs to be there at all!

Hi all,

Here’s an update on where things are with the recent changes:.

• We've adjusted the blue to reduce brightness, while still keeping the refreshed look we set out to achieve.
• The classic colours are back - you can now select them in your settings if you prefer the older style.
• You can now turn off the “My post” and “Original poster” labels in your settings if you’d rather not see them.
• We’re continuing to work on dark mode, based on your feedback.

Accessibility update: all required areas have been reviewed and meet AA standards. In the last release, there was one oversight where blue text appeared on a blue background and AA wasn't met. We're sorry about that and will be monitoring more closely to prevent similar issues in future.

Whilst the new lighter blue with white text passed accessibility tests, it's clear that some users found it less accessible so we’ve increased the contrast further to better support users who found it too bright. Some of the contrast checks raised in this thread looked at background-to-background areas (for example, white or green post backgrounds on grey), where WCAG does not require contrast testing. Our focus has been on every place where text is displayed (as per the guidance), and all of those pass at least AA accessibility standards.

We appreciate the time you’ve taken to flag issues and share concerns. Your feedback helps us make improvements that work better for everyone.