Totally OT, I have a serious question [was: Talk about GARISH!]

>
>It may still be scrapped completely (except for the color scheme which was
>MANDATED by the owner).

>http://www.circusofthekids.com


You have my sincerest sympathies! (*holding my head, trying to rid my eyes 
of the after images*)

>But it sure as heck is . . . colorful! Oh, and loaded with the CS face
>attribute too :->.

Okay, I'll give you this much...this is one of the FEW (okay, this is the 
ONLY) "professional" use of Comic Sans I've ever seen that made sense. Of 
course, it still, TO ME, comes across as looking "home made" with this 
font. If I had to do this site (and trust me, I'm glad I don't...hehe), I 
would go for Comic in the headlines/subheads, but go for something a little 
less...bold looking...for body copy. I think that's one of the things I 
don't like about it...it's too bold (as in <.b>, not as in garish...well, 
that too...hehe!).

BUT, before I stray any farther down that road, let me ask the group a 
question...which is totally off topic except in that it often affects 
how/when/if I work on sites. Am I the only one on this list who, when I 
look at this site and has actual physical trouble with some of the colors? 
I'm going to address the nav menu, where the links are on blue tickets. 
When I look at this, the blue tickets appear to be SUNK into the page. They 
literally look to my eyes as if they are, oh, a bit more than 1/8 of an 
inch DEEPER than the yellow. Add the colors on top of the tickets, and I 
see: red (Who We Are) appears to be about 1/4 inch ABOVE the blue, thus 
slightly above the background of the page; yellow (Our Programs) same as 
the background in color and depth; purplish (References) is slightly below 
the background, slightly above the ticket; white (Location) is as the 
yellow, even with the page background; bright blue (Join Us) is where it 
gets really hard for me to look at. Because of the white above and yellow 
below, this entire ticket actually appears to my eyes to be even further 
sunk into the background than the others, making the bright blue appear to 
float way high over it; aso, aso...

If you look at the Who We Are page...I'm not even gonna describe the 
multicolored headlines. Suffice it to say that the letters appear to me to 
be at varying depths or heights in comparison to the background. The entire 
effect, taken as a whole, literally makes my stomach roll...not from 
garrishness, but from vertigo.

This is certainly not the first time I've had a problem like this. It is 
always a problem any time I have to view many contrasting colors on a 
computer monitor, and is definitely most noticable in certain colors...the 
bright reds, that really bright blue that is so common, and basic bright 
yellow...there's also a particular purple I have a lot of trouble with. Any 
of the colors near each other, especially on a black background, make my 
head literally swim. There are so many varied "levels" when I look at a 
page like this on a monitor that my eyes can't figure out where the focus 
level is. It can be VERY distracting, and at times very discomforting.

Now, has ANYONE ever heard of this sort of thing before? Everyone I've ever 
tried to talk to about it looks at me like I've been sniffing glue or 
something. I've tried to "think my way out" of it, but I can't make my eyes 
STOP seeing different levels on things like this. Even my doctor looked at 
me funny and rolled his eyes. :/

Jeniffer
OffLead Productions

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