Why simulations make good backgrounds

A good background has a hard job: be interesting enough to notice, calm enough to ignore. Most of the experiments behind this site lean on a few tricks to stay on the right side of that line.

Keep it dark and additive

Drawing light on black with additive blending means overlapping elements glow rather than clash. It also keeps contrast low, so text stays readable on top.

Let randomness do the work

Hand-authored scenes get stale. A pinch of randomness — in colour, motion, and structure — means the same code looks fresh every time you load the page.

Respect the reader

Honour prefers-reduced-motion, cap the work per frame, and never fight the content for attention. The background is a guest, not the host.