General Layout

I’m a bit of a UI nerd so sorry for the length of this: It is all meant in good faith!!

For reference, i have tried the UI on a 2560×1440 screen & 1920×1080 screen and my opinion of both are the same.

Color Theme;

Dark UI is fine, but:

• Grey-on-black

• Small font

• Minimal line spacing

This really causes eye strain to be honest.

Suggestions:

• Slightly increase font size or line height

• Increase contrast for usernames vs message text

• Consider alternating message backgrounds (very subtle)

Chat feels unintentionally spammy:

Right now:

• Admin messages

• System messages

• Regular chat
  …all look extremely similar.

kind of feels like a big wall of grey text

Fixes:

• Stronger visual distinction:

  • Admin/system messages → boxed, tinted background

  • User messages → lighter contrast

• Slight indentation or grouping by user

• Reduce repetition (The pinned message is there! people will see it!)

I saw in another post the suggestion for the return of people altering their font color. Please don’t!

This was horrid before when people used neon colors and was unreadable in both light and dark mode. Maybe customizable username colors instead?

Members list is information-dense but low value

The members panel:

• Shows usernames + ages

• No status, activity, or relevance indicators

• Takes up a LOT of horizontal space

After 10–15 names, it’s basically noise.

Improvement ideas:

• Collapse by default

• Show only:

  • Moderators

  • Recently active users

  • Friends / favorites

• Add visual hierarchy (icons, badges, activity dots)

TL;DR

The layout isn’t bad, but it feels:

• Overcrowded on the left

• Underutilized on the right

• Visually flat in the center

In all honesty I love that the site is going to be more modern looking than the previous iteration and can not wait for the final thing to go live. The steps you are taking are in the right direction :)