What you see has a lot to do with your monitor's settings, I think. People are complaining about the website being too bright, but it strikes me there may be an actually difference from computer to computer. I see a very soft purplish brown for the table of contents (I have no trouble reading light colored text against it) and a creamy light color against which the black font is easy to read. Obviously not everyone does. It looks very peaceful and elegant to me. Which means, of course, it will be changed since my tastes tend to run counter to everyone else's. Oh well.