That is a question of philosohy. I personally think it should be the other way around. The default look and feel after install should always be the newest iteration, but there should be the option to revert to the old style for those who don't like it.

If you have to turn on the new version manually, few people will do that and try it and the devs usually have good reasons for changing things, so it suggests itself that this should be default.

Our philosophy is this...

If something is purely additive and something that may benefit a subset of users, the old behavior is left as the default and the new behavior is opt-in.

However, if it's something we deem as "best practice" or that we feel the vast majority of users will want to adopt, the new behavior becomes the default and the old behavior is kept available so that anyone who dislikes it can go back to the old way.

As @Merion pointed out, if we don't make something the default, few users - now and into the future - will explore and discover it. And that greatly diminishes the value of adding it in the first place. So we have to weigh each change on its own merits in this regard.

Thanks!

Thank you good sir!

In this case though the old behavior was the universal standard for links. Changing them to now be black is non standard and should not be the default.

But, but ... it looks smoother in black! Also while still the most often used option, many websites nowadays don't colour links blue anymore but rather use a colour from their corporate identity.

TBH, I think we can keep argumenting in circles forever on this, as different people just have different preferences.

I am using hyperlinks in blue to get visual cues while GM-ing so I don't have to read paragraphs. Black or any other links that merge with the background or the other text is not readable.

The goal was to have hyperlinks be more subdued and less of a distracting eyesore as the default behavior.

There should be configuration options to have the hyperlinks in the text color OR to have the hyperlinks be shown in the traditional blue (both text and underline). So you have CHOICES that allow all these differing user preferences to be accommodated. :)

If you want the old, traditional behavior, you CAN have it. Just toggle the setting.

There is also another choice available, for those who dislike visual noise, which is to have hyperlinks only shown when the mouse moves over one.

This combination of options gives users - who have a wide range of preferences - the ability to tailor the UI more closely to what they like.

I agree that more choices are better. However, I *always* want the links to be blue (the old behavior), and now I have to change it every time I create a realm. (A minor annoyance, of course, but an annoyance nonetheless...)
Could you add a way to set these things globally, to take effect whenever a new realm is created?

-Ian

Now if we could just catch up with the 1980s and have the links Change color after visiting....

No please, I don't want multiple colored links/words in my realms.