It looks just dandy to me; and given that I just changed over my own home page to have a darker background with lighter text, I hope it's not TOO big a problem for readers.

That having been said, I've heard that same complaint before. But I don't know how many people it actually inconveniences.

This maroon color is not much of a problem because it's not as dark as, say, black or dark blue, but I do hate reading text on black background. My eyes quickly gets that glowing white thing like the thing you get when you're about to faint (it's hard to describe, but you know what I mean..)

The brown is fine. I really like it, it feels warm. Like pp I don't like black. I especially find black with a bright neony colour hard to read. They hurt my eyes. But your brown? Not a problem. I say keep it!

It does, indeed, bother me, so I make a point of reading you in google reader, where you are nicely black on white! But then if I want to read the commments, I have to focus hard...which is not so fun.

Not an issue for me, and I often read through Bloglines, so don't see the color anyway. But never noticed problems when I've clicked through.

I read mostly in my bloglines reader. I find the brown a better contrast than a darker color.

And Colleen, this is why you're amazing -- you listened to what people were saying about viewing and instead of being "this is how I want it so there" you've put the question out there for other opinions. This may not change, but you're taking it into consideration & listening.

Your brown is fine; admittedly I have to read GLW on my Google Reader because I can't do black backgrounds, there's just too much light contrast. On the other hand, I have glaucoma, so I don't have normal light perception.

Your brown looks fine, but hey, if you're bored you can always redo your site to pink or something.

:D As IF.

...on the other hand, I just realized that if it's a long post, I *DO* go and read it on my Google Reader. So, I can do brown for a little while, but not long. Two shades lighter to something like this and it's okay for me.

Thanks for asking.

Dark backgrounds (especially black) do give me a headache- the words start to swim after a while. But I just make a point to read those blogs (yours included) in google reader. Coming by to read extensive comments can be more tedious- if there are too many, or too long, eventually I stop and skip to the end.

It's fine with me, but I read everything through Google Reader anyway.

I wonder if that is part of the issue for people who jump from blog to blog - adjusting their eyes to the difference in background.

Like others, the brown is not as taxing as a black or dark blue.

When I read here, I do read comments in shorter intervals. I haven't used Google Reader but I'm thinking I might. It would make it easier to read GLW.

Pam, I blog hop and while that could contribute, the bigger issue is spending any extended time at a site with a dark background.

Like Liz, I'm glad you asked the question. I don't follow all industry standards, but I do check them out because bottom line, I blog because I enjoy readers' company. I want readers to be able to read with easy and find the blog aesthetically pleasing.

I just changed my template to a black background. Maybe I'd better re-evaluate.

Thanks, Colleen.

I echo what everyone else has said - the gray on brown is harder than black and white and easier than white on black. If you do have to pay your web guy, it'll probably be for the shortest amount of time he bills for. He can change this big main brown part to one of the other colors you've got in your background image, change your text colors, and be done, I think. (I did look at your code to verify I wasn't making stuff up, there.)

You'll notice that at both lectitans and kimberlyhirsh.com I've got a dark brown on cream. I think this is an excellent way to go to have a more unique look but still be easy on the eyes. You could have a dark brown text on one of the lighter colors from your background image and still keep your uniqueness.

Great suggestion, Kimberly. I previously used a dark background at Black-Eyed Susan but the text area was light color with dark font. Warm colors are cozy. It's a matter of how you use them.

Colleen, the brown is fine to me. I have wicked problems with black backgrounds, though.

No, I don't think it's so much a problem here. But I must admit that I wonder if I went through a dozen back pages if my eyes would be tired by the time I was finished. Like Susan mentioned, how does it effect people with extended stays instead of reading a post at a time. I think it's mainly when the white text is glowing and it's too small to read. Your white text doesn't glow (although the date stamp does - but really that's not a huge block of text that people read - so no big deal). Eye strain for me is if after two pages of a blog, I can hardly stand to be there because my eyes are beginning to pop, I'll leave. Same goes for blogs that use 8 different colored fonts in a single post. All neon and glowing. And blinking things in the sidebar which are very distracting.

i tried to comment earlier, left some of it over at the bbwa discussion on 's post, but to answer your question: the brown is fine, but i do find it odd that the time/date stamp is brighter than the text. on a dark bg my eyes naturally go for the brightest thing and that really should be the text.

i would say that a swap of the two text color values should take less than a minute to do and i would hope that your web designer wouldn't charge you (much) if that was all you wanted done.

what does it say about my blog reading that i can't think of a single site i visit that includes flashing or multiple neon texts? is that a form of aesthetic elitism?

(now let's see if my comment is accepted this time...)

I like the maroon background and white text contrast. Someone earlier said warm, I agree and a tad serious which I like.

One thing that is hard on my eyes when reading blogs. Too many colors.

Well clearly you all have been dying to comment on background colors! Ha!

David - you probably tried to comment at the same time as someone else, which result in you getting booted. That is something I have not been able to change.

I'll talk to Craig and maybe lighten it up just a bit. I do like being different - having people show up and immediately notice the blog (and it sets off the artwork in my header quite nicely which is original stuff belonging to me only). It sounds like GLW is the bigger issue though. When Sarah gets back from her travels in November we shall maybe do a bit of tweaking over there.

Thank you for all the lovely opinions!!

Colleen,

May suggest not totally abandoning the black? Grays, white and black would keep the edge, industrial look if that is what you want. I like dark colors on the borders. The bottom of my template is black and I couldn't change it. I think it works.

Maybe I need to ask if I use too many colors. :-)

Oh - we won't abandon the palette (Hmm did I spell that right?). The black was chosen to look tough/industrial/ and well - guyish. So it will still be blacks and grays. We'll just see if it can be more reader friendly.

as for GLW, i think all that really needs to be done for increased readability is a slightly larger font size. really, i don't think anything else there needs to be changed.

As others have said, I don't mind the brown. It's black or dark blue that is annoying to me.

I vote with the "not a problem" folks. Both background color and font are warm, so the contrast isn't bothersome.

Just found your blog via Semicolon. The background does not seem dark to me and I despise black backgrounds. I like to read most blogs through google reader which puts everything on a white background.

thanks for the all the opinions guys - i'm wondering if i should shift from a literary blog to a design one! (we truly are an HGTV nation! ha)

The background and white type is actually a real problem for me, and it keeps me from reading your blog regularly - I love your blog but it causes way too much eyestrain and headaches for me, so I tend to only read posts that have been linked from Fuse or other blogs I read regularly. I would love to read Chasing Ray regularly, and the background/white type has been a real obstacle. So I'm glad you asked!

I don't use Google Reader (have no idea how that works) which several people above says solves the problem for them.

Brown is fine, however, your background comes out white on Google Reader and that is where I read many of the posts.