New Background to Address the Brightness Issue
Hello Community!
We updated the header a few weeks ago. Several of you across the team, leadership, and community let us know that the background was streamlined, but too bright. We put our heads together and worked with our designer and have landed on the below design. We've shared this with several folks that were concerned about brightness and they have let us know that they love it ❤️. We hope all of you do! This will go live site wide by the end of the week. Thoughts and comments welcome! 
@GlenM I am loving it so much, Glen! I am already a huge fan of nature, because it gives positive vibes. Nature is relaxing, peaceful, soothing and comforting. And to the emotional support site, it would add peace and harmony. I love the new background so much! Thank you ❤
@SuryanshSingh
I agree with you and it does make you feel like you have stepped into a calm and inviting place much like you feel in nature, where you become more mindful and take in all the goodness from the environment.
Looking forward to the new change of background!
@LisaMeighanMScGMBPsS
Agreed! The calmness of nature is so lovely! ❤ It's full of goodness and positivity!
@GlenM
Amazing ♥️
@GlenM I definitely like the background being used for sure. The white background was a little sterile which could be triggering to some due to being inpatient etc.
I believe this new background will definitely make Cups a little more friendly and welcoming to newcomers.
I hope that in the future, Cups can overall become a friendly environment for everyone. I hope this doesn't just stop with the background 😊 I hope in the future we can work even harder to ensure that the members are safe and that their time here is a good one! The AE team is a huge help with that one. But I do believe there could be more done to ensure that we can weed out the Listeners who are here for the wrong reasons... Even before they sign up and blocking IP accounts when they are making multiple etc
@beck1 yes much more to come on the listener front in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
@GlenM Okay I look forward to it!
@GlenM Hey Glen, I really like the recent changes! To prevent malicious users, there's a technique called browser fingerprinting collects information about the user's browser and device, such as the screen resolution, operating system, and installed plugins. This data can be used to uniquely identify a user, even if they change their IP address. You can use a library like FingerprintJS to generate browser fingerprints and store them in your database. When a user tries to sign up, compare their fingerprint with the banned fingerprints in your database. If there's a match, deny their registration.
Also, I beleive I speak for everyone when I say that becoming a listener on 7 Cups is too easy. If the training isn't going to be changed in the near future, you could implement phone number verification, ban emails from temporary email providers, etc.
I could also try my hand at dark mode, though I'm still learning web development and the intracacies of JavaScript librarires.
@GlenM Maybe send your team this way for an eye- and brain-saving dark mode for surfing the 7cups site at night when people feel most lonely (really almost no effort):
https://hackernoon.com/add-dark-mode-to-your-web-page-with-one-line-of-css
@GlenM : Basically, this change makes it look nicer, but it does NOT address the brightness issue at all.
@cloudySummer another word would be contrast instead of brightness, making it easier on the eyes. I asked the engineers about this and they are not a fan of it, but do think the opera browser @healingtalk recommended below could be good.
@GlenM Someone else suggested a night version of the image, I think that would be nice. Swapping it when the browser requests a dark scheme. The filter version is hacky as ****, but it would work if people are lazy and have no time for anything better.
@cloudySummer Hey Summer! While the one-liner CSS trick you provided is a simple way to implement dark mode, I can think of some some issues and limitations as someone learning web dev:
- Inaccurate color conversion: The invert and hue-rotate filters may not produce the desired color scheme for dark mode. Images and certain elements with specific colors may appear unnatural or distorted.
- Inverted images and media: The filter will affect all elements on the page, including images, videos, and other media content. This will result in inverted colors for these elements, which may not be visually appealing or suitable for accessibility purposes
- Performance issues: Using CSS filters like invert and hue-rotate can lead to performance issues, especially on large pages or pages with many elements. This may cause slower rendering and a less smooth user experience
@Snor1ax I know. I wanted to give 7Cups something easy to copy, and users something to feel bearable. An MVP, if you will.
@GlenM
This is a really lovely design and will really brighten up Cups again, an update that I'm looking forward to 🌞
I do have to agree with a few comments though that it doesn't solve the brightness issue when using the site in the dark/low light - could this pretty design have a night mode with a starry night sky and a moon instead of a sun? 🌙
@Lou73 ... and let me know if you need someone to draw it for you... This type of drawing is a quick 5 minute job.
@cloudySummer please sketch it up and share!
@Lou73, very cool idea. Before we can get to a dark mode, @healingtalk's recommendation of the opera browser seems like it could be a good immediate fix. Thanks for hanging in there!
Thanks for taking on board my ideas @GlenM and @cloudySummer I look forward to seeing a visual!!! 🌙😊
I won't be using the other browser as I have way too many bookmarks to transfer to another browser. I did try Chrome extensions but I couldn't find a theme that would allow it to be dark and functional, but I'll look forward to Cups dark mode 😊
@Lou73
Importing bookmarks is easy: open the Opera bookmarks manager, click the Import/Export button and choose the browser you want to import from.
Making the move is an effective and easy option, but it depends on how much you wish for a dark theme now and how well other options worked for you.
I use six browsers. I don't like dark so I stay with Vivaldi for Cups.
@GlenM If you have the original file for the jpg in the background for me as a PDF or SVG file? (why isn't it SVG on the site?... so much easier and scalable)
(no Illustrator file, please, can't open that)
@GlenM
As there was no reply to my request, the five minute task has now taken about an hour, as I had to redraw the whole thing... :-(
What about this? If you want it, let me know where to put the SVG file.
@cloudySummer Oh well, the image here is tiny. Can you see it well enough?
@cloudySummer for some reason I'm not able to actually reply to the post where you share the idea of the night sky. But I love this. Amazing job. Great idea
@beck I think that's because the lowest possible level in post hierarchy has been reached. If @GlenM doesn't reply (he rarely does on old posts, as far as I know), do you know any other way that this could be submitted to the team?
@beck1 - sorry, I got the tag wrong, please read above!
I really like this design. Can't wait til it's here!
@GlenM
Looks beautiful!
Anything that's easier on our eyes is welcome!
For those who ask for a "Dark Theme" (like the 7 Cups phone app dark theme), the Opera browser has a Configuration option that works well with 7 Cups: "Force Dark Theme on all pages" which turns any website dark.
There are also extensions and plugins for Chrome, Edge, etc. but this is an internal functionality of the browser. Opera is a great free browser. based on Chrome.
Example:
@HealingTalk thank you for this excellent recommendation! The engineers are happy for folks to use opera until we can get our own dark mode version going. Thank you for bringing this up!
@GlenM
You are welcome! Thank you for taking into consideration the suggestion!
🌞 It feels very calming and cheerful at the same time! 🌞
I actually got to enjoy it for a couple of minutes until I refreshed the site,
🌿 I felt a difference between having it and not having it. 🌸
🌸 I love how it just brings positive feelings in a simple way. 🌿
🌻 Often the smallest things bring the brightest smiles 🌻
💛💙💛
I would absolutely love a "night mode" option
I've tried extensions that have "dark mode" capability and it just makes me sad,
because it takes all the charm and the personality of 7Cups away.
I want to see the clouds and now the mountains and trees.
💙
So if we could have the option of seeing either the sun or the moon,
depending on the brightness that would suit me (light/dark mode),
then that's something that we would truly be grateful for and appreciate.
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@AnnaSilverberg thank you for these kind words and feedback. The product folks worked hard on this! re @Lou73's recommendation. I agree and think it would be amazing. Dark mode is just far out for us at the moment. Can you try @healingtalk's recommendation of using opera (or corresponding extensions) and let me know if that does the trick with keeping the charm?
I did however find an extension for Chrome that does also keep the charm,
just in a more beautiful way than Opera does.
😊 It allows me to enjoy the beautiful new background more 😊
💙 I just needed to search more than I did in the first place 💙
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Nature has always fascinated me and taking a walk into the woods is something I have adapted as a means to release stress. This background is soothing to one's eyes as well as their mind. Thank you so much, Glen!
Looking forward to having this update soonest! 💕
Much love,
-Angel 💜💙
@GlenM
@lyricalAngel70 thank you! i'm with you on the healing potential of a simple walk in the woods. the simple things are often the most effective :)
Thank you so much, Glen!
Have a blessed week 💕
@GlenM
