17
$\begingroup$

The new color of blockquotes (transparent gray) bothers my eyes? See the example:

This is some text to illustrate how blockquotes look like.

Is that my problem or all?

$\endgroup$
23
  • 13
    $\begingroup$ I agree. It is a bit annoying. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Aug 27, 2020 at 19:31
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ See related answer on the Meta question announcing the changes: meta.stackexchange.com/a/353557/279167 $\endgroup$
    – Matt Samuel
    Aug 27, 2020 at 21:29
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ See this post, where the contrast between black text and grey text is more evident. I don't like this a bit. $\endgroup$
    – amWhy
    Aug 27, 2020 at 22:59
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @user400188: from their post it appears that they have done a major change in text formatting (aligning with CommonMark is one goal here) and they may not revert it. However if there is huge uproar over the grey colour used in quotes they may change the color to something else. I would prefer it black. $\endgroup$
    – Paramanand Singh Mod
    Aug 29, 2020 at 3:54
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ If so, they may lose many users!! $\endgroup$
    – C.F.G
    Aug 29, 2020 at 3:56
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @OmarS: see their announcement post. Some of the answers there give links to some scripts which disable the changes. I haven't tried them. In the long run I think users will have to get used to the changes as there is no other alternative to stackexchange right now. $\endgroup$
    – Paramanand Singh Mod
    Aug 29, 2020 at 16:06
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ off topic: why my post received 2 down-vote? (of course it is not important on meta, and of course the reputation isn't so important in life.) $\endgroup$
    – C.F.G
    Aug 30, 2020 at 11:04
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @C.F.G first there is no reputatjon on meta, second the post was tag feature-request at some point in which case dv means that somebody is against the requested feature, which in this case would mean they are in favor of the new look. $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    Aug 30, 2020 at 11:31
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @C.F.G it is not that they downvote "just for that." The intent is that if somebody proposes a change the voting on the proposal is to be taken as a poll on the proposal (not as an evaluation of the post). I changed the tag as there is not clear proposal here. $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    Aug 30, 2020 at 11:40
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @user400188 it is not that dramatic but to the extent it is a problem that's on the users that misused blockquotes for this. There were repeatedly warnings that blockquotes should not be used for emphasis, precisely because we do not know how it will look like down the road. math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/25939 and math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/23015 $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    Aug 30, 2020 at 11:46
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I do not understand the question. There are best practices how to do such things; I assume those that did it know more about this than most that comment here, in any case more than I. In any case for users that have specific needs there are plenty of ways to control things locally as long as the formatting directives are used consistently. Let's hope the change will curb the rampant misuse of the feature. $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    Aug 30, 2020 at 11:56
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @quid I don't think you can blame users for this mistake. The majority of people who use the site do not scour the meta for rules that where not mentioned on the official pages. If they are new and see other people using block quotes like this, then they will likely do the same thing. At the time of writing, those repeated warnings have only been read by at most 1229 people. $\endgroup$
    – user400188
    Aug 30, 2020 at 12:24
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @user400188 it does not have much to do with being a "rule." You do have a point regarding most users going by imitation. However if you check the meta threads there was a lot of active resistance and the one meta post might have been seen more had it not been so ruthlessly downvoted into oblivion. $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    Aug 30, 2020 at 12:36
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ When I first saw the use of this block quote my impression was that it was designed to add a hell lot of emphasis to entire paragraphs. It wasn't at all clear that it was meant to quote something verbatim. Thus the visual look did not really match its intended purpose. Removing yellow background is a step ahead to align implementation with purpose of block quote. But changing color of the font adds a new purpose (which is actually not at all related to original purpose) of de-emphasizing the quoted text. $\endgroup$
    – Paramanand Singh Mod
    Aug 31, 2020 at 15:55
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ One can use a trick >$\color{black}{\text{some example}}$ to get ride of gray color of new blockquotes. Now it is emphasizing again!! $\endgroup$
    – C.F.G
    Aug 31, 2020 at 16:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4
$\begingroup$

I read the announcement thread and the blockquote refinement is indeed a common problem among users. A kind user took the time and made a Google Chrome extension:

Please revert the quote background from white to yellow

I personally believe that this is not the best nor the optimal solution for this problem. However, I also believe this is the most convenient one for the time being.

Major thank you for Paramanand Singh for redirecting me to the announcement thread!

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. $\endgroup$
    – Xander Henderson Mod
    Sep 1, 2020 at 22:56

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .