I miss the old green style of the FCC curriculum. The black and white is very depressing. At the very least when code passes or fails, a red & gree alert or background, check or “x” would add visual confirmation to the words.
I found myself wondering how to tell what tests I had passed or failed while doing a backend challenge then finally noticed the checks and “x” below the “running tests” portion.
It would be a big help to also have visual cues there with color, not just with shapes.
It’s been awhile since I contributed (years), but every time I log on I find myself missing the old green and beige code camp.
I would think implementing a theme that users can switch to might be an option.
But we can’t really use colors to signal intent, as often as you do see that being used, it isn’t really accessible (at least on its own).
But I agree, it is a fairly “dull” environment that can get monotone over time.
It might be worth mentioning that Dark Reader is one of the extensions that can cause some CSS tests to fail (depending on the test implementation) so be mindful when using it with challenges.
Thanks for the explanation, good to see it’s at least an open topic of discussion, while I fret over new tests that aren’t passing.
i added dark reader and for some reason can’t pin it, so couldn’t access the menu! So I uninstalled it, it’s just something my mind goes to when looking for that “congrats” popup for each challenge.
having used the site since nearly its inception (seriously I think i was one of the first 50 to 100 members), I’ve see and appreciated the challenges of growth that come with such a great website (why I joined initially…i recognized that even the curated curriculum Quincy had created before we had our own challenges was a fantastic resource) .
but yesterday, I spent about 5 minutes staring at the tests page before realizing that after running the test tubes had turned into other icons, as it happened below the fold.
While accessibility is important, I feel like removing color which communicates so much aside from simple aesthetics unnecessarily makes the site harder to use for those who don’t use screen readers.
Terminals are typically black and white, but there are also terminal plugins that add color!
I wouldn’t mind if the test runner output had some colors. They are already made to work with or without colors (icons and screenreader hints) so adding some pass/fail colors wouldn’t change their functionality negatively I would think.
There is nothing wrong with using colors but being able to interpret the colors can’t be a requirement for the communication to work. Being color blind doesn’t mean you use a screen reader. We use colors already to signal intent (like Bootstrap info/warning/danger) we just can’t rely on them is all I’m saying.
It might be cool to have a few site themes to switch between, maybe inspired by some well-known editor color themes. I assume it wouldn’t be a ton of work as long as everything is using custom properties for the colors. Testing and maintaining them would be a fair bit more work though.
Agreed. As long as there is some other indicator besides color (which there is) then adding color should not be an issue (as long as the color contrast is enough).
