Green backgrounds have recently appeared on some forum threads. What exactly do they signify please?
Hey
Are you able to share an example screenshot and I can take a look? Just so I know what it is that you’re seeing
I believe it’s a new feature to signify unread comments. :)
Thought it might be but sometimes they also have the green text to say an unread number of replies, and sometimes not…?

Thus…
I think that it now only shows that green text if there is more than one new, unread, comment in the topic.
Hmm, so green background means one “new”, plus any shown on the green number of “new”. Bit odd.
Some threads show just the green background for one new message, others also show “1 new” text as well.
This is the sort of mystery I am invested in!
Hey all
Just wanted to pop on here, we do believe it’s a change that’s been made by the platform provider, it isn’t something we’ve changed ourselves.
What do you think about the change? Is it something you’d like to keep or is the number showing new comments enough?
… is the number showing new comments enough?
The problem as far as I’m concerned is that this number isn’t always showing. I’m used to being able to scan the page from the top looking for green ‘new’ links, but now it’s haphazard whether there is one or not.
The number only shows if there’s more than one comment, so if there are 2 new it shows as 1 new, which is a bit daft. The green is too pale to show up on my iPhone. Doesn’t really work for me !
Hey
Thanks for the feedback! We’re still getting used to it ourselves but we can pass it along to our platform provider.
Hey
Here’s the explanation provided around the recent green background changes user are seeing - It’s all around accessibility changes being made by the platform provider across their domains.
“Enhancing Topic Visibility: Recent Update and User Settings Guide
After consulting the Product team I can confirm the recent update to the topic list view, with changes designed to enhance visibility of unread content by altering the background color. Some initial customer-reported issues, which might have caused inconsistent behavior, have been addressed, and the fix has been successfully deployed. However, you may still experience issues due to caching, so refreshing the page should resolve them.
Here’s how it works:
- All new topics are highlighted for both guest visitors and registered users.
- Registered users can opt to turn this feature off in their personal settings;
- If "Show numbers of new community activities" is set to YES, unread topics appear in green, changing to white once opened.
- If set to NO, there will be no color differentiation between unread and read topics, which will all appear in white. - This setting is entirely user-specific and can be adjusted anytime by navigating to General Settings - (see example below).

So they only admit to changing the topic background colour. On that:
- For those (like me) with less than perfect vision, the difference is barely discernible.
- It doesn’t work at all well for those who prefer dark mode in order to minimize eyestrain (and a bit of energy!).
- It seems that it’s not just topics with new posts that get this treatment. There are some with green ribbons in the top RH corner that get it, too.
I know that this background colour question was the original one here, but for me the removal of the ‘n new’ link in the topic footer is far more important. I’ve relied on this visual signal ever since I first noticed it, and I can’t see any reason why it should have been removed. It used to be so simple: open a list page (Recent or New for you), start at the top and scroll down, clicking on each green link. Now I’m liable to miss some new replies because there’s no green link.
While we’re at it,
If these changes are an attempt at improving accessibility, they’re failing.
Seconded. Green background much to light to notice. Lack of correct number, or any number, of unread comments doesn't make sense. It was far more “accessible” before !!
…and yes the thread marked with a green ribbon remains pale green even though I’ve read it.
A thought: if the forum developers would like to make any changes it would be useful if they allowed the title of a thread to be edited. Very often we see a misprunt in a title which makes no sense.
We’ll get your feedback put over to Gainsight
Here’s a description of the Alignment with the European Accessibility Act (EAA), given by Gainsight on their community forum here, and the areas they’re looking to/have updated.
Just in case you cannot access it for whatever reason, I’ll include the details below:
At Gainsight, we strongly believe that it is important to ensure all our users can access and interact with our platform. As part of our commitment to inclusivity, we're working to enhance the accessibility of our Customer Communities platform by aligning with accessibility best practices like the European Accessibility Act (EAA).
Alignment with the European Accessibility Act (EAA)
The EAA aims to make digital services accessible to all, with specific guidelines to improve digital inclusivity. Our project is aligned with these objectives, as we've targeted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA, which form the basis for many of the EAA's requirements. By adhering to these standards, we meet current legal obligations and prepare for future enhancements mandated by the EAA.Lighthouse, an open-source automated tool to help improve the quality of web pages, has been at the forefront of our efforts, providing a comprehensive assessment of web pages through various checks. These evaluations help us ensure compliance with accessibility standards and offer actionable insights to enhance the user experience. Lighthouse shows that we are on track to raise our accessibility scores from an average of 60-70 to 90 across most pages by the end of 2024. Going forward, we are aiming for a score of 100 by April 2025.
To maintain our high accessibility standards and prevent future regressions, we've automated our accessibility checks using Lighthouse. This proactive approach allows us to continuously monitor our platforms, ensuring they comply with the latest guidelines and standards.
Summary of Upcoming Key Changes
To make our accessibility improvements more relatable, here's a condensed overview of key changes we will implement over the next few months, derived from the WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines and Lighthouse checks:
- Keyboard-Friendly Navigation. Optimize key navigation elements to be user-friendly and intuitive and ensure that they are accessible without a mouse, supporting users who rely solely on keyboards.
- Screen-Reader Support: Meaningful Text Descriptions. Add descriptive text to buttons and links so they clearly convey their purpose, helping people who rely on screen readers.
- Screen-Reader Support: Consistent Structure. Ensure the logical organization of lists, headings, and navigation elements, making it easier for people to navigate through our content.
- Screen-Reader Support: Multimedia Accessibility. Add enhanced image descriptions (alt text) to ensure all visual content is understandable through audio assistance technology.
- Language Support. Verify that language settings are accurate, allowing for a smooth transition when our platform is configured with multiple languages.
- Impaired vision: Use readable Font Sizes. Adjust target sizes for interactive elements to make them easier to engage with on devices of all sizes.
- Impaired vision: Color contrast. Adjust the color contrast of text and buttons, making reading easier on devices of all sizes.
Our commitment to accessibility is ongoing. We are dedicated to continually improving the inclusivity of Gainsight Customer Communities by leveraging industry-leading tools and ensuring alignment with the European Accessibility Act.
Again, we’ll share the feedback to the UI changes you’ve all shared above with our direct Gainsight representative.
Thanks all,
Thanks for this,
This question is about the newly-introduced green background on some topics in topic lists. While there is a reference at point (7) to colour contrast as it affects accessibility, it doesn’t cover this particular scenario - the lack of contrast between adjacent blocks on the page. My own accessibility checker gives the text a contrast score of 6 - acceptable. But if I’m to be able to distinguish between this block and the others on the page in order to be able to spot topics with new posts, it fails. In light mode, the difference between green and non-green backgrounds is no greater than the difference between non-green at the top of my laptop screen and at the bottom. In dark mode, the difference is just not discernible.
I think I can see why the green link to new posts is missing in some cases. It’s now only there if there’s more than one new post. Someone has written some natty code to identify the oldest new post and create a link to it, instead of simply linking to the latest post. The link isn’t created if the oldest new post happens to be the only one. That is a fault that’s causing users frustration.
As I said earlier, my work flow is quite simple: open the Recent or New for you page, then scroll down it ctrl-clicking on green links to open all the topics with new posts. I run the risk of missing a topic if there’s no green link. I switch between Recent and New for you (usually identical listings for me) simply to get to the top of the page now that the handy floating Back to top chevron has stopped floating. Ideally, there would be a filter causing only topics with new posts to be displayed, but I gather that’s too difficult.
I may get used to this in time, but I can’t help regarding it as a retrograde step with little merit.
Just to illustrate, here’s what I’m seeing just now:

I can see that there are two new posts in the middle topic. How many in the top and bottom ones?
Hey
As always, your feedback will be passed on to our Gainsight representative. As Brad mentioned, there may be more changes between now and April, potentially part of a larger effort to improve Forum accessibility. While these changes may be a setback currently, we’ll provide this feedback to the team and give them an opportunity to address it.
We’re always happy to share the feedback we get to make things better for everyone
This is a first world problem but now the lack of green backgrounds combined with a label showing one-fewer number of new messages than actually exists, is a bit useless.
Tell me this is temporary please !!!
This is a first world problem but now the lack of green backgrounds …
Tell me this is temporary please !!!
You mean the green background that replaced the New link has now gone away again? I hadn’t noticed!
This is a first world problem but now the lack of green backgrounds combined with a label showing one-fewer number of new messages than actually exists, is a bit useless.
Tell me this is temporary please !!!
We can ask the platform provider about this & report back
If they’re not going to replace the correct green text “new” number notification with the actual number of new messages, can they reinstate the peely wally green background please. It’s too easy to miss new posts altogether as it is now.
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