There is a very popular student room, similar to CC, but for the UK. It also uses a very bright colour palette but somehow pulls it off. Check it out for some tips*.
*I assume it is in no competition with CC since it caters to european students.
Nice. I’m not sure what earlier poster means by “light font,” because the contrast seems good to me. This is quite cheery, actually. I like it. We just need Lemony Snicket’s “Loverly Spring” song playing in the background now. 
(and really, if anybody doesn’t like it just change your settings. It’s just an option, and we might as well have the happier option as the default.)
cheers.
This seems like a ploy to make CC’ers actually log in
haha bco09, I thought the same thing
I like good change. This is not good change. Too bright - the old blue background is so easy on the eyes - thx for the option to change back, because otherwise, I would never come on late at night for fear of going blind 
its hideous, it looks like someone spilt bleach all over the page
i like the change…it’s good to see sth new
I like it! It’s more in line with all the other BBs out there.
(Now, if only we could have sigs…)
Personally, I find the lighter colors to be quite DULL. The are fresh because they are new…but they are not brighter, in my opinion. Count me as one who has the old ones as my default.
You guys should change it back to the original. It’s kind of a trademark.
^ Trademark indeed!
Having designed far too many websites, I know that the light-on-light theme is most frequently disliked. Thank goodness for the option to revert…dark-on-light is far better for the eyes and more aesthetically pleasing.
I really like it, and it matches the collegeconfidential home page and other pages - which is a huge bonus for conformity and professional taste, in my opinion. It was pretty startling though. I couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on.
I like this a lot, I was just wondering if we had to use Courier Sans for the Replying… that’s kind of bugging me lol
it’s a pretty intense change. fresh, nonetheless – but i’m not sure about my mood.
Why is this webpage brighter than the sun coming in my window.
The background is too bright. Took me less than 2 minutes to decide to change to the classic look.
Why not just give the much simpler directions to change on the bottom lefhand corner of every page?
the new look is as pal as baby vomit Milk). arghh, I hate it
Same for me
The Quick reply box feels different too.
Waaaayyyy too bright. I had to change it after a few minutes.
I might suggest you give clearer directions on how to change though. I never would have connect “forum skin” with editing the font color. I had to read through everyone’s comments to find out how to do it. The fact that other people were commenting on the method of changing back, is an indication the directions in Roger Dooley’s original post need to be clearer.
Thanks for keeping old desing available. New is fresher, but it really bothers my eyes. Old look is just gentler. I even where sunglasses on a cloudy day.
zebes