I tried the app today (on a borrowed iPad mini) and thought it was really very well executed ... except for all the visual noise in the background: umpteen kinds of "paper", ripped paper, torn paper, folded paper, burnt paper, Chinese art, and especially that plasticy woodgrain effect.

I just found it distracting and would have very much preferred a plain white background (or maybe a subtle suggestion of paper).

Is there any way of turning that stuff off?

There isn't, no. We aren't going to go background-less. Are there any of the backgrounds that you like better than the rest?

i L O V E the app background and noises! its part of the experience!

It's possible to get used to it, but I agree it's distracting.

anyone tried turning off the sound?
the plain day theme is pretty similar to the website, no?

Is there a reason for not having a backgroundless option? I thought it might improve performance for those running skritter on devices with low memory issues, like the ipod touch.

The backgrounds are part of the main texture file, so we would still have to load them into memory--it wouldn't save much performance. We don't have these kind of options because we try to avoid adding options that aren't necessary. Too many options makes it really hard to find the options you need and to understand how to configure the important behaviors of Skritter. It also makes it hard for us to maintain and debug the software.