The Joy of Go-Away Green
Okay, I'm going to get back into blogging. But I want to keep everything matching my existing site, which means I'm taking the bare-bone basics of my still-really-2010s CSS knowledge and applying it to...whatever the hell Bear uses. I don't know. I write now. That's what I do.
But I do know one thing.
I freakin' love this background colour. Okay, if you're in dark mode, you can't see it in all its glory (I will figure out a dark mode version — one day. Honest.), but if you're in regular old everyday mode, you're seeing #ABBAAE (well, except for right there, because that's a slightly lighter shade for code).
And that? That is as close as I can get to Go Away Green.
Do Not Perceive Me
What's "Go Away Green"?
First, we have to explain a few things.
What's Disneyland?
It's a theme park in Anaheim, California. It is the original Disney theme park. I am only emphasising this because of how many people I know think that Orlando was the first one. No, Orlando is a flighty young upstart that couldn't even manage to be a proper community of the future or whatever Walt wanted it to be. Go away, Orlando, you are too big, you are too spread out, and you are in Florida, and everything about that is awful.
What's an illusion?
Disneyland is known for, among many other things, really working hard at keeping the illusion alive. You are in Tomorrowland. This is the world of tomorrow. It is the future. You don't get a cowboy walking through Tomorrowland, no matter that he just came in from the nearest staff entrance and is trying to book it to Frontierland so he isn't late for his shift. Nope, that spoils everything, you've ruined this child's hopes and dreams, shame on you, random cowboy.
So you need to keep the illusion alive, but you also need to keep all the mechanical bits of your rides, all the staff gates, all the speakers, all the service exits, all the other bits and pieces that keep a theme park running — you have to keep those in the park. You just don't want your visitors to perceive them.
What do these two have to do with this background colour?
So you need to keep the illusion, and you need to have everything to keep your park running, and one of the easiest ways to do it is to just...paint it a colour that fades into the background. You don't notice it. It's there, sure, but, really, there are more eye-catching things around you, so why would you even spend a lot of time looking at this?
And that's Go Away Green.
Your eyes just...go away.
(Not literally. That would be bad. They just aren't looking at the thing.)
The Invisible Website
When I redesigned katebolin.com, moving it away from a design that I made back in, like, 2010 or whatever (it might have been older than that — what is time), I didn't really want that much on it. I figured a few knitting patterns, my regularly neglected CV, that's it. It's not meant to be all that much, I mean, it's just a vanity site, and I spend all day coming up with content for websites, don't make me think of more.
So I wanted it to exist, and I wanted it to be useful, but I also wanted it to...go away.
It's here, but it's not anything you really pay attention to. It's not flashy. It's not a ride. It's a fence. It's a speaker gently piping in mood music as you walk along the park. It exists. But you're not noticing it.
And that's what makes it great.
More websites should be Go Away Green. Pick the right colour for your text, and it passes WCAG AAA too.
Don't be perceived. It's wonderful.