It reminds me of how Reddit allows subs to put in their own stylesheets. Each sub can change the look, placement, and existence of just about every UI element. It makes for the most inconsistent interface I've ever seen for a website.
The redisign used for new.reddit.com doesn't give moderators as much control, much to the displeasure of many of us who have been on the platform for a long time.
Although I dislike it when people significantly change UI controls.
I always have custom CSS disabled for all subs. The designs are amusing, some are well done, and it's nice that people put effort into designs. However, as I was saying it makes for a terrible and confusing UI experience. Also some designs are intentionally jarring or annoying, and themes often omit elements.
I respectfully disagree for the large part. My own brain seems to have no issue coupling functionality to visual design. Yes it's probably less optimal for novice-to-expert transition than having colour variants, but conversely it also gives stronger immediate affordance as to what subreddit you're using..
It might depend on one's browsing habits. True, I believe the intention was to give subs their own identity, as if they were individual websites. However, I frequently click between subs. The fact is that it's a single website.
I have no question that every study of user interface ever published would indicate that buttons changing visual appearance, position, or availability with no predictability several times in a browsing session is a high friction interface.
