Sometimes WordPress offers me a new design when I check my stats. It will say something like “Check out our new design: desert breeze.” Last week it was “clean home” and I thought, because I do not have desert breeze or a clean home that I wouldn’t bother to click on the design and see what it looked like. However, yesterday they offered me “rusty grunge.”
I spent a certain portion of my younger years wearing oversized flannel shirts and drinking espresso in places that weren’t Seattle, so I was intrigued. I clicked on it to see what Fangs and Clause would look like under the influence of rusty grunge. The background was black, like my heart. There was orange to comfort my melodramatic soul. But the actual posts were set in white rectangles with reasonable leading and a larger font, and it looked quite nice. Balanced.
But would my clean design encourage me to be more measured in my rants? Would it make me stop cursing? Would I stop being all punk rock and become all artsy, or as Lyn says put a bird on it and call it art? How does design affect content? Are you going blind reading my badly kerned white-on-black lettering?
Fangs and Clause 
You…you mentioned kerning. In a blog. I weep tears of joy right now.
I’m not going blind, mainly because I haven’t been reading here lately. Which leads me to my next point: I am upset to find out that for some reason my subscription to your blog stopped working. And here I thought you were just on extended hiatus this whole time.
At any rate, I think you should do it. DO IT. Nothing can make you stop cursing, not even a white background. Trust me, I know this.
Now I have to go read your posts from, like, the last three months.
@Brian, you should read more editing/design blogs. 🙂
@Lyn, Welcome back, I missed you! I don’t know why your subscription stopped. Seriously, I have the tech savvy of a monocle. (I magnify things for old men…no, maybe I shouldn’t extend this metaphor.)
@independent – some metaphors are best left as they are. My favorite mentor used to say his older brother had the social skills of a maple.
@Brian, that’s a great metaphor. His brother may be tall, good looking, sheltering, and strong, but he’s a lousy conversationalist.
@independent – Curse you and your astute literary sensibilities 😦
Never cross a poet when metaphors are on the line.
Sorry, I meant to say “Never go up against a poet when metaphors are on the line.”
I’d read you no matter the color – but the black background is restful to my eyes after hours and hours of a white screen/black lettering. And, P.S., I don’t think anything could keep you from righteous, well-justified rants. And that is delightful.
Aw, thanks. You’re making me downright cheerful.
didn’t I read somewhere that dark background and light font uses less energy? that’s a legitimate reason to keep the blog as it is. save the world. snarky you will always be. I know you.
PS- at least I think I do.