On occasion, I get emails about my annoying background, the light blue grid that is the background for all pages on this web site. I thought I would add a brief note as to what the background stands for.
First, this web site is very old, about 11 years (1997). It was created just after I was able to get a web browser to work, which was not easy to do back then.
I choose the grid because it looks like a sheet of quad ruled paper. When I started programming, editors were not that good, and it was harder to get computer time, so I did a lot of code by writing it down. I found quad pad, ruled 4x4 to the inch (0.25 inch for the grid), worked well for all purposes, including programming, diagramming and schematics. Although quad pad is more useful for diagrams and schematics, I found, and still find, that it is useful for indented languages like Pascal.
I've made my living for 30+ years with a quad pad and a Pilot Razor Point pen (hard to find now, but still available). Although there are outstanding editors now, and I do most of my code direct on the computer, I still perform a lot of work on a quad pad, including the occasional routine or so.
One thing that has changed about the background is that the relatively loose grid has become a fine grid on higher resolution displays (like the 1900x1200 display I use). However, I don't find it annoying. If you do, please note that in most browsers you can turn it off in the options menu.