this morning, my previous post about joshua claybourn and his role in the ellsworth/daniels underage drinking story got linked by atrios. i'm not sure which was more vindicating: being atriosed or being banned from ITA. okay, it was being atriosed.

anyway, after atrios linked me, i got a couple complaints about this design. an atrios commenter thought my color scheme was more flashback-inducing than the aquamarine and purple at fafblog. and an anonymous commenter here suggested i shut off my animated turntable graphic, as it "makes the blog unreadable for dyslexics like myself."

so consider this the official place to complain about/commend my blog design. i will consider any comments you want to make. i simply don't have time to redesign this month, but it would be a simple matter to replace the animated turntable with a static graphic if there is an outcry for that.

naturally, i think both my color scheme and the turntable graphic are pretty sharp. personally, i like including a bit of animation in my designs, since virtually no blogs seem to do so. but i understand that animation can be distracting, and moreover that some people might unconsciously associate any such animations with advertising. perhaps animation is only suitable for blog designs if it's subtle, like on montana & mcdeviltoast. i've also wondered whether the gray colors i've used for links might be a little too dark.

i like the design and graphic the way they are, but if they're causing me to lose readers, i'm willing to change. though i'm not making any promises. the goal is to have a design that looks snappy, represents my style, and is legible/usable. in this case, two out of three is bad. so speak up.¶

I just recently stumbled across your blog. I find it interesting and I am sure I'll be back. I even like the design, but I must admit the spinning record is a distraction. ¶

i like it, overall.

my only dislike, i think, is when you add emphasis in blockquotes, it looks like a link, due (perhaps) to the color.

but yeah, the spinny t-table is fly. ¶

I like the design. A possible compromise over the turntable complaints would be to make the Play/Pause button functional. ¶

ryan, that would be awesome if i could figure out how to do it. without redoing the animation in flash (yuk!), the closest thing would be making it "stop" if you clicked or mouseovered anywhere on the image. ¶

if one reads further down the page, the turntable gif isn't distracting at all. ¶

The only thing that's ever bugged me was that wish there were a tiny bit more padding on the right column, so I could read it easier. Otherwise -- to each his own! ¶

I think that your blog is beautiful and should reflect your personal taste. Someone would complain if it wasn't distracting, thus dull...I read your blog everyday and haven't yet fallen from a seizure due to moving objects on your page. ¶

i have always liked your design, and i've never found it distracting. i was particularly impressed when you first put inthose throbbing comment lines at the end of each post.

i do like the pause button idea, if you can figure out how to do it... ¶

Just stumbled on your blog. I don't particularly care for your color scheme, but that wouldn't stop me from reading. What might stop me is the white type on black background, which for some reason seems to give me headaches if I read for too long ... but I'll be giving it a shot.

For what it's worth ... ¶

I have been reading your blogs because of the Josh Claybourn (I disagree with him and his tactics along with the C & P), and you asked for a comment about your site.

White on black is the hardest to read of most color contrasts.

Your links can not be read very well. This page is very readable because the print is black on white or gray background.

Other than that, like your content, will try to keep reading. ¶