GalCiv3 Forums
I'm perfectly capable of seeing well at long- and near-distances and the fonts in this game are horrible. They're too small and too hard to read.
And this forum's color scheme is so horrible that I want to stop coming here. Please fix it. It's difficult to read.
OK, disclaimer here: I'm running this on a 27" screen at 2560x1440
The color scheme of the forums isn't a problem for me, because I generally prefer light text on a black background for monitors (the opposite of books). So, white on black/dark grey is just fine for me. The font size might be a tad small (it looks like 10pt or so), but that's a personal preference. There's very little extraneous colors in the forums - I count 4 major colors: yellow for links, white for text, and dark grey/black for backgrounds. The User info is a dark gold/brown plus a light grey for text. That's pretty understated and certainly not an eyestrain.
As to the game - My major complaint is the over-use of Small Caps fonts. Small caps are decidedly inferior in legibility to normal upper and lower case in fonts. I'm OK with Small Caps being used for things like the big buttons (Govern/Technology/Ideology etc.), but they're significantly over-used as the "title" font for everything.
I'm also noticing that a Sans-Serif font was chosen. At medium and larger font sizes, San Serif is better looking than Serif, but the reverse is true in small sizes.
Personally, my recommendation is that any place where there's a Small Caps being used, replace that with a normal San Serif Upper/Lower case font. And stick to San Serif when the font size is 12pt or better, switching to a Serif Font when smaller. I'll post a picture below illustrating what I mean.
As to the actual font family, well, that's pretty much a matter of personal taste. I find the one currently used just fine.
In the following shots, I've used RED to indicate things that should be taken out of Small Caps and put into a San Serif standard Upper/Lower font.
I've used Bright Blue to indicate things which should be changed to use a Serif fonts.
I've used Bright Green to show places where Small Caps should just be normal San Serif, but in ALL CAPS.
Overall, I think I'd recommend the following font sizes/types:
1. Serif, 10pt - for most explanations
2. San Serif, 12pt - headline most explanations, plus most headers for buttons and info areas
3. San Serif, 14pt, Caps and Lowercase - most buttons, Major headlines
4. San Serif, 16pt, Caps only - Big buttons or summary icons
It just blows my mind that so many people responded with "yes".
I can almost guarantee those of you who did aren't running high resolutions.
My eyes are sensitive to a light background with black text. I'm one of the few people who wear sunglasses on a cloudy day because it is still too bright for me. I prefer the darker backgrounds than the lighter ones. I really don't like wearing my sunglasses when I read the computer (but I've done that many times). The size of the font doesn't bother me either. I spend quite a bit of time reading small font daily.
I probably don't have a high resolution running, 1440 x 900, but I don't have any issue reading the forums or the game font.
The forum font is fine; some people don't like light on dark, and some people don't like dark on light. You'll never be able to please everyone.
I compared the font size for this forum, and it's the same as for most of my other web pages, so I don't think it's too small. If you think it is, then tell your browser to increase the default font size, because that's what this one appears to use.
As to the game itself, I think I've made it clear where there can be some improvements, and I'm running it at a higher resolution than the majority of people. It's not *bad*, but it could be *better*.
I have no problem with the forum. I have a 1928x1200 screen, but I agree with your points on fonts in game. The issue can only be worse on your screen.
Yes
Stardock's forums are mirrored across their sites; you can view GalCiv on a light color scheme here: https://forums.stardock.com/forum/1058
I much, much prefer white on black; I find it way easier on the eyes when looking at a screen for hours a day. I'm running 1920*1080.
Actually, you know what, I'm sort of getting tired of the forum colour scheme. The post font colour and the editor box background colour need softening up.
Example Example
What do you think of the above as a replacement for that sharp and painful white?
Now that you mention it, toning down the edit/new post box would be a good thing. Probably reduce the brightness by about 30% would be a good idea. The rest of the forum stuff, I'm fine with.
What are you defining as high resolution?
I have no problem reading the text in this game and I run it at max resolution on a 19" monitor. There are isolated instances of very small text like current research on the main screen and production categories on the planet screen, and I agree with trims2u that all-caps is overused; but honestly even those things would have never occurred to me if other people hadn't said anything.
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