Name color improvements

(#4133) Feature Open: Under consideration accessibility theming ui

Current problem

Colored names are often poorly visible on light and or dark theme, and this is essentially unavoidable when communities are using many distinct role colors. At the same time users and community organizers demand name color customization and it is regularly implemented and reimplemented as a hack solution using the roles system which is just not made for cosmetics. Both the problem and hack solutions makes the experience worse.

Proposed change

Two problems, one solution. Move the role color to a circle beside the name, making the role color clearly visible while making the name reliably readable. At the same time render the color of a member's nickname to match the hue of their profile accent color and use the lightness to provide good contrast against the theme background. The saturation can simply be static at a mild value or, if preferred, could be an accessibility option. This together makes the name color feel expressive wile keeping it clearly visible regardless of theme preference. This solution accomplishes these ends:
  • Improve the visibility/accessibility of names.
  • Improve the visibility/accessibility of role colors.
  • Enhance the feeling of individual expressiveness.
  • Decrease role pollution!
  • Adds reason to want/buy per-community profile customization.
And best of all: This solution does not necessarily require backed changes.

Platform

macOS, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iOS

Additional information

I've made a mockup to compare what Fluxer might look like with this solution implemented vs what it looks like today. In it we use the hue value of the profile accent color, 75% saturation, 60% lightness on dark theme, and 40% lightness on light theme. All hues, including yellows, are clearly visible. Discord has never done this right, and community organizers have always hacked up the traditional solution for their members, but that is no reason that we can't do this better.

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