LJ Meta Nattering

[mizarchivist]

I have spent a fair bit of time this morning combing through LJ styles. I found a few good ones, but I ended up going back to Chopsticks because all the lovelies I did find (Bamboo Dream and Great Outdoors being top contenders) did not include icon background/name text colors. Since I've internalized that as part of my reading, not having them there made differentiating from one post to another uncomfortable.

My question to you is: what's your favorite style and why? Do you also employ colors for people? Is there some logic to those choices?

To answer my own questions: 
I chose Chopsticks because I like the header illustration, the fonts (I'll always gravitate to serifs over sans), the link arrangement for commenting doesn't look smooshed or awkward as they sometimes can. I wish that it didn't spread out the tags (which I like visible on my page)- once not that long ago, they were in a block not a bulleted list. I also want the tags to be all the same sized font. This detail on tag display is what drove me to look for new in the first place.

Obviously I use colors, since I just said so and of course there's reasons. If I associate a color with a specific person, I try to use that in the background. However, this doesn't always work out because one color would be horribly overused or I don't associate a color with them. In the latter's case, I look at what colors I've used less and try to come up with something that I can read and doesn't look awful as a pairing. Since I've been using colors since I started LJ 6 years ago, some people are now associated with a color set because they've been that for so long.

 

Comments

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

[browse, browse]

...Pea-soup green? What'd I do to deserve that?

[mizarchivist]

I know- not ideal. It was the too many colors problem. What color would you prefer? :)

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Well, I get how one comes to associate a certain color with a certain person, and I wouldn't want to "break" that association in your head . . .

. . . but something a little more forest green would be lovely . . .

[mizarchivist]

I agree, this is much better. I have one other person with this designation, but so far she's never posted, so, there you have it

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yup, much better.

To address the topic of your post, when I do assign colors, I often do it by picking them to match the person's default icon.

[mizarchivist]

Now I'm trying to remember what my icon was when you started reading me. I am fond of that shade of red in any event :)

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

I think, in your case, I might have picked the color scheme just 'cause I think you look good in red . . .

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I haven't changed my style in ages. The header has adorable elephants in the sunshine.

There were things I didn't love about the display, but I figured out how to tweak the html. It was ages ago that I did this, but I think I wanted a horizontal rule between entries, and I wanted the date/time of each entry to show up in addition to the subject line. There's a community about s2 styles that helps you do this.

I don't display tags on my LJ. Some of my tags are fine for everyone to use; some are more private (like, on filtered posts, I'll tag it "not-John" so I can find it later), and some are just for me and don't need to be seen by everyone (I have probably a dozen or more tags classifying my dreams). So, I would really love a style system where I could check off which tags to display on my LJ, but that doesn't currently exist.

[mizarchivist]

Ahhh- I keep my tagging pretty neutral, but if I did, I think I'd leave my tagging invisible, too.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

What color am I?

[mizarchivist]

White and blue

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

I always liked Component because it was so easy to modify to my liking. Now I have a custom CSS because I love the artwork ultra_lilac did for my Wind Tunnel Dreams so much, and I wanted something neat and clean (Component was looking cluttered) and still heavily customizable. Also, I always choose to have my entry icons visible - I don't always remember to change my icon when making entries, but when I do, I like to see the icon associated with the entry. Also, I like clear comment threading. And serifs.

I used to use colors, generally just for partners, but the last few themes I've used, they haven't shown up. No big. *shrug*

[kazmat.livejournal.com]

I use dead simple solid colors because I don't like a lot of clutter. I also override everyone else's colors, so I don't have to deal with the eye strain. So, what color am I? :}

[mizarchivist]

slate-ish blue and black.