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I presume this subsite was aiming for a light pastel-y look, but I think it's taken it way too far. Have a look at these two screenshots of questions on different SE sites:

StackOverflow

enter image description here

Unix/Linux SE

enter image description here

The problem (or not, depending on where you're sitting)

Notice the difference in the visibility of the background colours of two types of highlight (annotated with their R,G,B values for Unix/Linux), familiar across StackExchange:

  • the light blue that indicates the question-asker when their name appears in their question or in comments on answers
  • the grey that highlights block or inline excerpts of code

At least on the screens I've tried, which are modern panels set to 50% for all parameters, these colours are so light that they're almost imperceptible - and therefore functionally almost useless. In particular, I had to squint for about 20 seconds at my monitor, and stoop down to get a slightly better angle, just to work out whether or not the person commenting on the top answer was the OP.

'OP or not' is a status that is extremely relevant when reading discussions and was presumably the rationale behind this highlight colour (on better themes). As for the code background, this is, I suppose, less critical due to the fact that the padding and font provide other visual signifiers - but it's still very inconsistent with the other SE sites that have practically visible backgrounds.

So, what's the point of highlighting any of this, if it's not visible without eye and/or neck strain? I'm pretty sure I'd be considered a very able user in terms of accessibility, and this theme just doesn't work for me, so I can only wonder what it must be like for those with additional requirements reading this.

Please could you revise the theme to have a usable degree of contrast, to grant some utility to these backgrounds, same as they provide in other SE sites?

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    I suggest you take an actual picture instead of a screenshot. What you show looks perfectly clear to me, a screenshot doesn't reflect what you actually see on your screen.
    – terdon Mod
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 13:29
  • @terdon I appreciate that (and lucky for you) but don't have access to a camera right now. In lieu of that, I've added a screenshot comparing Unix/Linux SE to StackOverflow, the latter of which is my point of reference for the (to me) large difference in visibility of the backgrounds.
    – underscore_d
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 13:35

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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The levels of shading actually look fine to me, both on the site and in your screen shots. I suggest the problem is likely your monitor and that you have the contrast, gamma levels, or color temperature out of whack and it is not displaying to you an accurate representation of what is being provided to it. Try resetting the color profile and turning down the contrast and gamma levels.

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