:root{ --ground:#ECEDEE; --ink:#000; --head:#333; --quiet:#666; --rule:#DEDEDE; --soft:30px; /* the cover's ground blur */ --sharp:1px; /* the cover's facet blur - the sharpness lives here */ --field-alpha:.8; /* Peter, 2026-08-24: gradient density to 80% */ --field-fill:.45; /* THE INPUT'S OPACITY - the dial being walked */ } *{box-sizing:border-box} body{margin:0;background:var(--ground);color:var(--ink); font:400 12.5px/1.5 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif} /* THE FIELD - export_report._cover_field(), seed 631, verbatim. Pinned to the window, never travels; scroll turns it, time makes it shimmer. */ .field{position:fixed; inset:0; z-index:-1; overflow:hidden; pointer-events:none; opacity:var(--field-alpha); -webkit-mask-image:linear-gradient(to bottom,#000 0%,#000 52%,transparent 96%); mask-image:linear-gradient(to bottom,#000 0%,#000 52%,transparent 96%); animation:turn 1s linear both; animation-timeline:scroll(root block)} @keyframes turn{ from{transform:rotate(-5deg) scale(1.22)} to {transform:rotate( 5deg) scale(1.40)} } .bg{position:absolute; inset:-90px; will-change:transform} /* the soft ground, deeply blurred - the airbrush the cover sits on */ .bg1{filter:blur(var(--soft)); animation:d1 61s ease-in-out infinite alternate} /* the facets and seams, barely softened - the hard 0.5deg wedges and the 0.3%-wide white hairlines. Counter-drifting against the ground: the shimmer is these edges sweeping across it, not either layer moving fast. */ .bg2{filter:blur(var(--sharp)); animation:d2 43s ease-in-out infinite alternate} @keyframes d1{from{transform:translate3d(-1.5%,-1%,0) scale(1.02)} to {transform:translate3d( 2%, 1.5%,0) scale(1.06)}} @keyframes d2{from{transform:translate3d( 1.6%, 1%,0) rotate(-.8deg)} to {transform:translate3d(-2.2%,-1.4%,0) rotate( .9deg)}} .ray{position:absolute; will-change:opacity} .ray:nth-child(1){animation:g 17s ease-in-out infinite alternate} .ray:nth-child(2){animation:g 23s 1.4s ease-in-out infinite alternate} .ray:nth-child(3){animation:g 29s 3.1s ease-in-out infinite alternate} .ray:nth-child(4){animation:g 19s 2.2s ease-in-out infinite alternate} .ray:nth-child(5){animation:g 31s 5.0s ease-in-out infinite alternate} .ray:nth-child(6){animation:g 26s 0.7s ease-in-out infinite alternate} @keyframes g{from{opacity:.30}to{opacity:1}} @media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){ .field,.bg,.ray{animation:none!important} } @supports not (animation-timeline:scroll()){ .field{transform:rotate(-2deg) scale(1.3)} } /* ── THE DISCLOSURES ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Native
. No JavaScript, keyboard-operable and screen-reader-correct for free, and the page keeps its promise of no script. The smooth open is a progressive enhancement: ::details-content + interpolate-size is Chrome-only today, so everywhere else opens instantly, which costs nothing. */ /* THE PRISMATIC RULE - lite_render's echo rule, verbatim: the six deep tints across 90deg at 2px. Peter's note in that file: 1px muddies a gradient to grey. It replaces the tinted panel; the sections stand on the field itself. */ details{border:0; margin:0 0 4px; background:transparent; border-radius:0} /* THE FOLD RULES ARE BLACK (Peter, 2026-08-26). The spectrum now belongs to ONE place on the page - the foot - where lite_render puts it and where it closes the reading. Six of them stacked down a column spent the thing that makes it mean something. The height stays 2px: the note that set it says 1px muddies a GRADIENT to grey, which is a reason black does not have, but he named a colour and nothing else. 1px NOW (2026-08-26, on seeing it). Black at 2px was a bar rather than a rule; the gradient needed the second pixel and black never did. */ /* THE RULE BELONGS TO THE SUMMARY NOW (Peter, 2026-08-26): "you should be able to click on any part of that rule or text and have the accordion open." A pseudo-element cannot take a click, and on `details` the rule sat OUTSIDE the summary's box - so the only target was the words. Moved onto the summary itself, it is inside the one element the browser already treats as the control, and the whole band from rule to plus is live. */ summary::before{content:""; display:block; height:1px; margin:0 0 8px; background:#030303} details + details{margin-top:0} summary{list-style:none; cursor:pointer; display:block; justify-content:space-between; gap:16px; padding:0 0 4px; font:400 16.5px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color:#030303} /* Peter, 2026-09-10 10:48 AM: '400 for all' (superseding the 2:50 AM 500) */ summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none} summary:focus-visible{outline:2px solid #333; outline-offset:3px} /* the mark: a hairline cross that loses its upright when the section opens */ /* the old two-bar mark - an 11px box with two absolutely positioned strokes - is superseded by the SVG cross inside a .pmark. It had to GO rather than be overridden: `summary .mk` at (0,1,1) was still beating `.pmark` at (0,1,0), so the circle was rendering at 11px with the glyph centred inside it. */ details > *:not(summary){padding:0 0 18px} /* the panels read in the page's own paragraph voice - same size, same weight, same leading as the lede. Only the summary's 500 separates head from body. */ details p{font:300 16px/1.5 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#030303} /* THE ANIMATED FOLD - restored and staying, 2026-08-30 11:05 PM. IT WORKS. Peter checked Chrome 151.0.7922.174 - the same build installed on this machine - and Chromium 139 before it. Both headed, both fine. I REMOVED IT TWICE ON A BAD MEASUREMENT, and the record is here so no one repeats it. Every "the fold opens to 57px and stops" I produced came from HEADLESS Chrome, which does not run these transitions the way a real window does: `content-visibility` with `transition-behavior:allow-discrete` needs a compositor that headless is not giving it. The numbers were real; the instrument was wrong. THE RULE THIS COST: headless is not a valid medium for testing transition or animation behaviour. Layout and geometry it measures faithfully - the ghost overrun, the grid, the shared axis were all found and proven there. Motion it cannot judge, and a headless green or red about motion means nothing. Safari is unaffected either way: it does not support interpolate-size, so this @supports guard skips the block and
opens natively. Correct as written from the beginning. */ @supports (interpolate-size: allow-keywords){ :root{interpolate-size:allow-keywords} details::details-content{ block-size:0; overflow:hidden; transition:block-size .34s ease, content-visibility .34s allow-discrete; transition-behavior:allow-discrete} details[open]::details-content{block-size:auto} } main{max-width:672px; margin:0 auto; padding:25px 24px 24px} /* the site's .eyebrow: Roboto sans 13/400/1.35, letter-spacing 0.2em, uppercase - the same move the report cover makes with THE CREATIVE PRISM REPORT. */ .eyebrow{font:400 11px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; letter-spacing:.2em; text-transform:uppercase; color:#030303; margin:0 0 14px} /* ONE SIZE (Peter, 2026-08-24): every display voice at 16. The hierarchy is weight and family alone - slab 700 for the headline, sans 300 for the lede, sans 500 for every section head. Nothing on this page is bigger than anything else. */ h1{font:400 32px/1.2 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin:0 0 -2px; color:#030303} h2{font:250 16.5px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color:#030303; margin:44px 0 12px} h1 + h2{margin-top:0} /* the subhead is the headline's second line, not a section head */ /* THE MASTHEAD LOCKUP, RULED (Peter, 2026-09-12 12:08 → 12:39 AM, "Perfect. Apply to Lab door too… type applies across both, hence made simpler with a unified CSS"): EDITION on the masthead's line after the ring; the masthead 2px above the headline's ascenders; a line space after the headline; the subhead Roboto 400 at 18 with no space beneath it; 60px at the top; the folds 16. Six comps on his eyes (lite_lockup_01–06); the lock amended. Scoped to the door's own subhead - `h1 + h2` - so the wing's h2s on the full door are untouched. */ h1 + h2{font-weight:400; font-size:18px; margin-bottom:0} /* 2px TO THE ASCENDER. Measured: the headline's ink begins 6.2px below its line box's top (Roboto 400 at 32/1.2 - a 30px font ascent against a 24px ink ascent, plus 3.2px of half-leading), so the box overlaps the masthead by 4.2px and the ink sits 2px beneath it. `main .pmasthead` outranks the masthead's own `margin:0 0 5px`. */ main .pmasthead{margin-bottom:-4.2px} h1{margin-bottom:22px} h1 + h2{margin-top:0} /* THE TOP: 60px at every width ("a little bit more breathing room… the patterns behind the prism itself are quite pretty, and the transparent design lets it show"; the phone may give some back on his word). `body main` outranks the breakpoints' padding shorthands. THE FOLDS: 16 (was 16.5). */ body main{padding-top:60px} main summary{font-size:16px} .lede{font:300 14.5px/1.4 'Roboto Slab',Georgia,serif; margin:0 0 15px; color:#030303} p{margin:0 0 12px; font:300 14px/1.5 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif} /* one full line of the body's own leading, between the button and what follows */ /* the instruction lives INSIDE the highlight now (Peter's markup, 2026-08-24 - the arrow pointed from the line into the block, and I had only taken the half-line half of that note). It heads the block rather than floating above it, so the shape carries the whole thought: what to write, then what that looks like. */ /* SPECIFICITY: this is a

inside blockquote.examples, so `blockquote.examples p` (0,1,2) was beating `.exhead-line` (0,1,0) and setting it in Roboto Slab 300/16 like an example. Qualified here so it wins on its own terms. */ /* the instruction sits with the BOX it instructs, not inside the examples - it tells you what to write, so it belongs where you write. */ .writenote{font:700 14px/1.5 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color:#030303; margin:0 0 10px} /* EXAMPLES: heads the block in the page's eyebrow voice, black like the four voices beneath it, sitting on the block's one left edge. */ blockquote.examples p.exlabel{font:400 11px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; letter-spacing:.2em; text-transform:uppercase; color:#030303; margin:15px 0 -5px; padding-left:17px} /* CENTRED IN THE SPAN, WITHOUT DEEPENING IT (Peter, 2026-08-24). Measured: the run from the highlight's top edge to the quote's ink is 82.2px, and the headline was sitting 14.6px above its midpoint. Moving it down 15 and taking the same 15 back off the bottom margin (10 -> -5) leaves the flow height EXACTLY as it was - the block does not grow by a pixel - while the line lands on the middle. The negative margin is the point, not an accident. */ /* the rule's own inset, so the block keeps ONE left edge: headline, quote mark, label and copy all at 17px */ /* the offer, as the second beat under the headline - the site's h3 voice */ .freeline{font:500 18px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color:#030303; margin:0 0 18px} /* the privacy line rides the end of the lede rather than standing as its own paragraph - a reassurance in passing, not a notice. Both claims are the privacy page's in substance: the writing is not kept after the reading is made, and the provider does not train on API data by default. */ .privnote{color:#3A3A3A} .privnote a{color:#3A3A3A; text-decoration:none; border-bottom:1px solid rgba(3,3,3,.35)} .privnote a:hover{border-bottom-color:#030303} /* ── THE HIGHLIGHT SHAPE ───────────────────────────────────────────────────── The printed report's own prompt treatment, ported: the quoted matter sits on a white ramp with the two LEFT corners at 10px and the right square where the shape bleeds away - `export_report`'s `.phl`, whose numbers these are exactly. The ramp runs 70% white to ZERO over 465px, which is the report's RUN constant, "the ramp completes by ~3/4 of the measure". (Peter, 2026-08-24, late: the end stop was 10% and is now 0 - the highlight fades to nothing rather than to a faint standing tint. Changed in export_report.py at the same time.) THE RULE IS BACK. In the report it returned 2026-08-21 and retired again on 08-22, so this is a deliberate divergence for the web, not a stale copy: 1px solid black, standing 16px inside the highlight's edge, white on both sides, never touching the rounded corner (the report's own description of it). The bleed is clipped at main's right edge by the foreground's `contain:paint`. That costs nothing here: the ramp has already reached ZERO by 465px and the block is 1040 wide, so everything past that point is empty anyway. Keeping the containment matters more - it is what stops the type flashing. */ /* OPTICALLY even, not numerically even (Peter, 2026-08-24). Measured on the rendered page: at 30/30 padding the space above the quote's INK was 65.2px and the space below the last baseline was 37.3px - 28px out. The mark is the reason: its box is 22px tall but sits 21.7px down on the baseline grid, so its ink begins ~35px below the block's edge and the padding above is paying for space nobody can see. Taking 14 off the top and adding 14 to the bottom lands both at ~51px. The numbers look lopsided BECAUSE the result is balanced. */ blockquote.examples{position:relative; margin:0 0 4px; padding:8px 0 16px} /* folded above the box (Peter, 2026-08-29); the 3-lede-line seam belonged to its old seat in the foot */ blockquote.examples::before{content:""; position:absolute; z-index:-1; left:0; right:-200px; top:0; bottom:0; border-radius:10px 0 0 10px; background:linear-gradient(to right, rgba(255,255,255,.7) 0, rgba(255,255,255,0) 465px)} /* THE RULE MEASURES THE COPY, NOT THE BLOCK (Peter, 2026-08-24). It used to hang 63px above the first line because it spanned the head row as well. The rule now belongs to `.excopy`, which holds only the four examples, so its height IS the copy's height. The head keeps the same left edge by carrying the rule's own width in padding (1px + 16px), so the quote mark stays aligned with the text. */ .exinner{margin-left:16px} .exhead{padding-left:17px} .excopy{border-left:1px solid #000; padding-left:16px} /* half a line BETWEEN each quote (Peter's markup, 2026-08-24): 10 -> 22px. The line here is the block's own 24px leading, so half of it is 12. */ /* each quote is a GROUP now: who is speaking, then what they said. The 22px sits between groups; the eyebrow sits tight to its own quote, so the pairing reads before the spacing does. */ blockquote.examples .ex{margin:0 0 21.2px} blockquote.examples .ex:last-child{margin-bottom:0} blockquote.examples .ex p{margin:0} blockquote.examples p.exwho{font:400 11px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; letter-spacing:.2em; text-transform:uppercase; color:#030303; margin:0 0 6px} /* BLACK, not grey (Peter caught it, 2026-08-24). #8A8A8A was mine, for tonal separation, and it broke the manual's "type is black or white only". The separation is already carried by size, tracking and case - it did not need colour doing the same job a third time. */ /* the mark IS the opener - the report's law. Playfair Display Black, the one place that face appears, at the system's standing 3.58x type ratio (43px on 12px type there, 50px on 14px here). Literal UTF-8, never an entity. IT SITS INSIDE THE RULE, ABOVE THE TEXT - export_report.py:3582 nests it in `.ptext` within `.pinner`, so the mark is inset with the words it opens, not standing above the line. Corrected 2026-08-24 on Peter's note. */ /* the mark and its label share a line (Peter, 2026-08-24). The mark keeps its cropped box - .44em with the ink overflowing - so the label can sit beside it without the row inheriting a 50px line. The label takes the page's own eyebrow voice at the report label's quieter #333. */ /* BASELINE, not centre (Peter, 2026-08-24). The label was optically nudged against the mark's box; it now sits on the mark's actual BASELINE, which the browser computes from the font rather than from my guess - and which drops it lower, where a caption beside a quote belongs. */ /* the mark's ink sits 22.4px below its box, so a 14px margin left the eyebrow's caps 7.1px ABOVE the quote's ink - they overlapped. 36px puts a real 16px of air between them, measured on the ink rather than on the boxes. */ .exhead{display:flex; align-items:baseline; gap:14px; margin:0 0 36px} /* ON THE BASELINE GRID (Peter's markup, 2026-08-24). Measured, not nudged: Playfair Display 700's opening quote at 50px puts its ink between 36.3px and 22.4px ABOVE the baseline - the glyph never touches it, which is why aligning baselines still left the mark floating. Dropping it 22.4px (.448em) sets the ink's bottom ON the baseline, where the label's caps already sit. The two now share a line rather than a metric. In em so it survives a size change: 22.4 / 50 = .448em. WEIGHT 700, not 900 (Peter, 2026-08-24): measured at 50px the two differ by 0.88px of ink height and 2.36px of width - findable if you look, invisible otherwise - so the mark comes inside comitini.com's max-700 rule instead of standing as an exception to it. The offset moved WITH the weight: different ink, different baseline. */ .qmark{display:block; font:700 50px/1 'Playfair Display',Georgia,serif; color:#000; height:.44em; overflow:visible; margin:0; position:relative; top:.448em} .exlabel{font:400 11px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; letter-spacing:.2em; text-transform:uppercase; color:#333} /* ROBOTO SLAB, ROMAN (Peter, 2026-08-24, with his fallback). Verified against the Google Fonts API rather than assumed: `Roboto Slab:ital` returns "400: Font family not found" - the family has no italic at any weight. Asking for one anyway would make the browser SYNTHESISE an oblique by slanting the roman, which is a fake italic and reads as one, so `font-style:normal` is explicit and `font-synthesis:none` makes sure nothing is ever faked here. */ blockquote.examples p{font:300 16px/1.4 'Roboto Slab',Georgia,serif; font-style:normal; font-synthesis:none; color:#2A2A2A} /* the field lightens with it: no box, a rule under the writing line and the faintest veil so the field still reads as a target over the prism. */ textarea{width:100%;max-width:100%;min-height:15.5rem;padding:14px 2px; font:300 16px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#030303; border:0;border-bottom:1px solid rgba(3,3,3,.28); border-radius:0;resize:vertical;outline:0} textarea:focus{background:rgba(255,255,255,calc(var(--field-fill) + .12));border-bottom-color:rgba(3,3,3,.62)} textarea::placeholder{color:rgba(3,3,3,.42)} /* the waitlist takes the paste box's treatment - a rule, not a box - so the two places a person types on this page behave the same way. */ .waitlist{margin:4px 0 22px; max-width:24rem} .waitlist input{width:100%; padding:10px 2px; border:0; border-bottom:1px solid rgba(3,3,3,.28); background:rgba(255,255,255,.28); font:400 16px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color:#030303; outline:0} .waitlist input:focus{background:rgba(255,255,255,.46); border-bottom-color:rgba(3,3,3,.62)} .waitlist input::placeholder{color:rgba(3,3,3,.42)} .waitlist button{margin-top:14px} /* comitini.com "Outline on light" - design-styles.md, verbatim. Transparent, a hairline at 50% black, inverting to solid on hover. Label 12/500, 0.25em, caps. */ button{margin-top:14px;padding:13px 26px;border:1px solid rgba(3,3,3,.5);border-radius:0; background:transparent;color:#030303; font:500 12px/1 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; letter-spacing:.25em;text-transform:uppercase;cursor:pointer; transition:background .2s ease,color .2s ease,border-color .2s ease} button:hover{background:#030303;color:#ffffff;border-color:#030303} /* THE END OF THE PAGE, as a Lite report ends it - lite_render's own foot: the spectrum rule, the one line, then the disclaimer over its hairline. (Peter, 2026-09-11 8:29 PM: "This line in the footer is redundant and should be removed: 'The Creative Prism - Your light refracted'" - the `.chrome` line beneath the cta is struck, with its rule.) */ footer{max-width:672px;margin:70px auto 0;padding:0 24px 70px} footer .footrule{height:2px;margin:0 0 12px; background:linear-gradient(90deg,rgb(238,214,90),rgb(242,184,132),rgb(238,160,202),rgb(182,158,232),rgb(154,168,230),rgb(140,204,238))} footer .cta{margin:16px 0 28px;padding:0} footer .links{font:400 9.5px/1.6 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#666;margin-bottom:12px} footer .links a{color:#666;margin-right:18px} footer .disclaimer{font:italic 400 9px/1.4 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#666; border-top:1px solid #DEDEDE;padding-top:8px;margin:0} .cta{font:500 14px/1.5 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#030303; margin:16px 0 0; padding:0 0 18px} /* ── THE FRAME (Peter's option 2, 2026-08-24) ────────────────────────────── The measure stays where the manual puts it - roughly two alphabets, ~50 characters - and the FRAME widens around it. Reading columns hold at 25em (about 50 characters at any size, since Roboto averages half an em per character); the prismatic rules, the section heads and the footer rules run the full width of the frame. The page then reads as deliberately narrow rather than accidentally narrow, and the field is seen beside the column instead of only behind it. */ /* PIXELS, NOT REM (2026-08-24). The frame was in rem while every type size on this page is in px - so a reader who has raised their browser's default font size got a proportionally WIDER frame carrying the same 16px type. At a 20px default, 76rem is 1520px. That mismatch is the "wide, and the type doesn't look proportioned" defect, and it is the family of bug design_decisions.md already flags as owed before launch. While the type is px-locked, the frame must be too, so every reader sees the same proportion. */ main,footer{max-width:672px} /* THE MEASURE OPENS UP (Peter, 2026-08-24, looking at the page): the text runs the full frame, the same width as the accordion rules, instead of stopping at the ~50-character column. This deliberately overrides the design manual's "roughly two alphabets" rule - his eye on the artifact, over the written rule. */ p,.lede,details p,blockquote.examples p{max-width:none} textarea{max-width:100%} /* the wrapper carries the writing width now */ @media (min-width:1100px){ main,footer{max-width:736px} /* 736 frame, 688 content */ main{padding-top:25px} } /* ── RESPONSIVE ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Explicit breakpoints, no clamp() - comitini.com's locked rule 4: the designer has to know exactly what they will see at each breakpoint. */ main,footer{width:100%} @media (min-width:1100px){ main{padding-top:25px} } @media (max-width:768px){ main{padding:25px 20px 24px} footer{padding:0 20px 56px} .eyebrow{font-size:12px; letter-spacing:.18em} textarea{min-height:12rem; font-size:16px} /* 16 keeps iOS from zooming the page */ ul.examples{padding-left:14px} summary{gap:12px} } @media (max-width:400px){ main{padding:25px 16px 20px} footer{padding:0 16px 48px} } /* ── THE BEAMS ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Car headlights through a window. The source is off-stage; what crosses the frame is the beam, and what you watch is it COMING APART as it goes. Each pass is six wavelengths that enter together and fan out on the way across - yellow bending least, cyan most, in the order a prism actually splits them. That ordering is the whole effect: a single white bar sweeping reads as a searchlight, six bars separating reads as refraction. Cheap on purpose, and this is the difference from the field behind the page: these are NARROW elements (9-17% of the frame) moving on transform alone. Fill-rate is a fraction of a full-viewport layer, and nothing here repaints. NOTE: unmeasured. The pane is hidden, which stops requestAnimationFrame, so no frame timing taken after comp 03 is worth anything - including mine. */ .sweeps{position:absolute; inset:-10%; overflow:hidden; pointer-events:none; mix-blend-mode:screen; opacity:.9} .sweep{position:absolute; top:-40%; left:0; width:var(--w); height:180%; animation:pass var(--dur) cubic-bezier(.42,0,.58,1) var(--delay) infinite} .sweep i{position:absolute; inset:0; display:block; border-radius:50%/6%; background:linear-gradient(90deg,transparent 0%,var(--c) 42%,var(--c) 58%,transparent 100%); filter:blur(7px); opacity:0; animation:fan var(--dur) cubic-bezier(.42,0,.58,1) var(--delay) infinite} @keyframes pass{ 0% {transform:rotate(var(--ang)) translate3d(-190%,0,0) scaleY(1)} 50% {transform:rotate(var(--ang)) translate3d(120%,0,0) scaleY(1.14)} 100%{transform:rotate(var(--ang)) translate3d(430%,0,0) scaleY(1)} } /* the fan: together on entry, apart on exit, and never both ends at once */ @keyframes fan{ 0% {transform:translateX(0) rotate(0deg); opacity:0} 14% {opacity:var(--peak)} 55% {transform:translateX(var(--sep)) rotate(var(--tilt))} 78% {opacity:calc(var(--peak) * .85)} 100%{transform:translateX(calc(var(--sep) * 2.4)) rotate(calc(var(--tilt) * 2.1)); opacity:0} } @media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){ .sweeps{display:none} } /* ── TWO DIRECTIONS AT ONCE (Peter, 2026-08-24) ────────────────────────────── Seven beams instead of three, on short mutually prime cycles, so several are crossing at any moment - and they run on OPPOSING diagonals. The `up` family climbs to the right; the `down` family falls to the right on the mirrored angle and travels back the other way. Where two cross, their fans overlap and the colours add: that crossing is the thing worth watching for. */ .sweep.down{animation-name:passback} @keyframes passback{ 0% {transform:rotate(var(--ang)) translate3d(430%,0,0) scaleY(1)} 50% {transform:rotate(var(--ang)) translate3d(120%,0,0) scaleY(1.16)} 100%{transform:rotate(var(--ang)) translate3d(-190%,0,0) scaleY(1)} } .sweep i{filter:blur(6px)} /* AND THE FIELD ITSELF MOVES MORE. The turn roughly doubles its arc, and the diagonal stretch from comp 16 comes back over it - pulled along the light's own axis, alternating so it reaches its extreme and retracts without a jump. (A scale above 1 only pushes edges outward, so no stretch can crop an edge - no extra overscan is needed for it.) */ @keyframes swing{ from{transform:rotate(-11deg) scale(1.26) translate3d(-7%,-5%,0)} to {transform:rotate( 12deg) scale(1.62) translate3d( 8%, 6%,0)} } @keyframes turn{ from{transform:rotate(-11deg) scale(1.26)} to {transform:rotate( 12deg) scale(1.62)} } .field > .bg, .field > .rays, .field > .ray{will-change:transform,opacity} .bg1{animation:d1 41s ease-in-out infinite alternate !important} .bg2{animation:d2 29s ease-in-out infinite alternate !important} @keyframes d1{from{transform:translate3d(-4%,-3%,0) scale(1.03) rotate(-1.2deg)} to {transform:translate3d( 6%, 4%,0) scale(1.12) rotate( 1.4deg)}} @keyframes d2{from{transform:translate3d( 5%, 3%,0) rotate( 1.8deg) scale(1.02)} to {transform:translate3d(-7%,-5%,0) rotate(-2.2deg) scale(1.10)}} /* ── THE SCRIM (Peter, 2026-08-24) ─────────────────────────────────────────── 5% white laid IN FRONT of the field and BEHIND the type, so the reading holds across the motion. Deliberately a separate layer rather than a change to the field: the background is locked, and legibility is bought in front of it. One dial, --scrim. It is also the honest place to solve the busyness problem - raise it and the seams quiet behind the words without the beams losing any of their travel. */ .scrim{position:fixed; inset:0; z-index:-1; pointer-events:none; background:#fff; opacity:var(--scrim,.05)} /* ── THE FOREGROUND IS ITS OWN LAYER ───────────────────────────────────────── The flashing was real, not an illusion. The field and the scrim sit at z-index -1, but the type and the input were in the SAME stacking context and the input was 28% opaque - so every beam that crossed underneath repainted through it, which is exactly what "a light bar passed over the front" looks like. Two fixes, both needed: give the foreground its own stacking context ABOVE the background, and promote the input to its own compositing layer so it stops being repainted by anything moving behind it. */ main,footer{position:relative; z-index:1} .writebox{position:relative; isolation:isolate; transform:translateZ(0); /* FULL WIDTH (Peter, 2026-08-24). The principle that actually applies is that a field's width should signal the LENGTH OF ANSWER expected - and this page asks for a paragraph, so full width is the honest affordance rather than a violation of anything. The waitlist stays short for the same reason in reverse: it wants one address, and a 1040px box would be asking for an essay. */ border-radius:10px; width:100%} textarea{background:rgba(255,255,255,var(--field-fill,.62)); border-radius:10px; border:1px solid rgba(3,3,3,.14); border-bottom-color:rgba(3,3,3,.28); padding:14px 16px; transform:translateZ(0); backface-visibility:hidden} /* ── THE ACTIVE RULE, v2 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────── CLIPPED TO THE BOX. The runner lives in a track the exact width of the field with overflow hidden, so it enters and leaves at the box's own edges instead of running past them. The track takes the box's bottom corners so the light never squares them off. IDLE is a short comet ping-ponging quickly - the machine breathing, waiting for you. WORKING is the same light let off the leash in one direction at an even pace. Both are transform-only on a 2px-tall element: about as cheap as an animation on this page gets. COLOUR CYCLING - the modern parallel to palette animation - is `hue-rotate`. Add the `cycle` class to see it. One filter property on one small element, done on the GPU: the colours turn while the light travels, which is the old trick with the palette held still and the ramp rotating underneath. */ .track{position:absolute; left:0; right:0; top:0; bottom:auto; height:2px; overflow:hidden; /* Peter, 2026-09-11 1:53 AM: on the door page the shuttle moves to the TOP of the input box */ border-radius:0 0 10px 10px; pointer-events:none} .runner{position:absolute; left:0; top:0; height:2px; width:34%; border-radius:2px; opacity:0; transition:opacity .35s ease; will-change:transform; background:linear-gradient(90deg,transparent, rgb(238,160,202), rgb(182,158,232), rgb(140,204,238), transparent)} .writebox.on .runner{opacity:1} .writebox.idle .runner{width:18%; animation:bounce 1s ease-in-out infinite alternate} /* 1.5s -> 1s, +50% (Peter, 2026-08-27 2:23 AM) */ /* working's one-way sweep. THE DURATION IS A DIAL, `--wk` (2026-09-10 10:35 AM: "working seems slower - it was fine earlier"), so the sweep can be tuned on his eyes without a rebuild: `?wk=`, the lock's 2.6s by default. The `--spin` fallback it used to read is left alone - it still belongs to `.shot` and to the retired cycle-rides-working rule below. */ .writebox.working .runner{width:34%; animation:cross var(--wk,2.6s) linear infinite} .writebox.writing .runner{width:30%} /* a modifier, not a state: it rides whatever the light is already doing */ .writebox.cycle .runner{animation-name:cross,hue; animation-duration:var(--spin,2.6s),5s; animation-timing-function:linear,linear; animation-iteration-count:infinite,infinite} @keyframes bounce{from{transform:translateX(0)} to{transform:translateX(455%)}} @keyframes cross {from{transform:translateX(-100%)} to{transform:translateX(294%)}} @keyframes pulse {from{opacity:.45} to{opacity:1}} @keyframes hue {to{filter:hue-rotate(360deg)}} @media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){ .runner{animation:none!important; opacity:.5} } /* ── THE WAVEFORM (writing) ────────────────────────────────────────────────── While text is arriving the rule stops being a travelling light and becomes a voice. The wave is a sine drawn once as an SVG, used as a MASK over the prism gradient - so the colour is the page's own spectrum and the shape is the only thing the SVG contributes. The pattern repeats every 120px and the element is translated exactly 120px, so the scroll is seamless with no redraw: transform only, like everything else here. Amplitude rides a second, slower clock (scaleY 0.55 -> 1.15), which is what makes it read as a voice rather than a test pattern - a steady sine is a machine, a modulated one is something speaking. */ .wave{position:absolute; left:0; top:0; height:18px; width:200%; opacity:0; transition:opacity .35s ease; will-change:transform; background:linear-gradient(90deg, rgb(238,214,90), rgb(238,160,202), rgb(182,158,232), rgb(140,204,238), rgb(238,160,202), rgb(238,214,90)); -webkit-mask-image:url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27120%27%20height%3D%2718%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20120%2018%27%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%27M0%209%20Q%2015%201%2030%209%20T%2060%209%20T%2090%209%20T%20120%209%27%20fill%3D%27none%27%20stroke%3D%27%23000%27%20stroke-width%3D%272%27%20stroke-linecap%3D%27round%27%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E"); mask-image:url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27120%27%20height%3D%2718%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20120%2018%27%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%27M0%209%20Q%2015%201%2030%209%20T%2060%209%20T%2090%209%20T%20120%209%27%20fill%3D%27none%27%20stroke%3D%27%23000%27%20stroke-width%3D%272%27%20stroke-linecap%3D%27round%27%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E"); -webkit-mask-repeat:repeat-x; mask-repeat:repeat-x; -webkit-mask-size:120px 18px; mask-size:120px 18px} .writebox.writing .track{height:18px; bottom:-24px; border-radius:2px} /* the comet stands down - and its animation has to go with it, or the pulse keyframes keep overriding the opacity declaration */ .writebox.writing .runner{opacity:0; animation:none} .writebox.writing .wave{opacity:1; animation:scroll 2.4s linear infinite, amp 1.7s ease-in-out infinite alternate} @keyframes scroll{from{transform:translateX(0)} to{transform:translateX(-120px)}} @keyframes amp{from{transform:scaleY(.55)} to{transform:scaleY(1.15)}} @media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){ .wave{animation:none!important} } /* ── THE FLASHING FIX ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────── `mix-blend-mode:screen` on .sweeps has to READ ITS BACKDROP every frame. With the field un-isolated that backdrop was the whole page beneath it, so the browser was rasterising the entire stack - ground, facets, rays - then blurring 42 bars, then blending, once per frame at DPR 2. That is a full repaint pretending to be a composite, and the flash is it failing to keep up. `isolation:isolate` closes the group at the field's own edge: the beams still screen against the field, which is the whole intent, but the backdrop stops being the document. The look does not change - the compositing boundary does. Nothing in BACKGROUND_LOCKED.md moves. */ .field{isolation:isolate; contain:paint} /* ── THE UNDULATION (writing) — supersedes the single sine above ───────────── An oscillation is one sine on a conveyor: the pattern is fixed and only the belt moves. An undulation needs INTERFERENCE. So: three sine layers at mutually prime periods (47 / 71 / 101px), scrolling at different speeds and in OPPOSING directions, each breathing on its own clock. Their sum never repeats within any watching span and the crest wanders along the line instead of marching - a worm, not a wire. Same reasoning as the seven beams. TRANSLATE AND SCALE ARE SEPARATE PROPERTIES, deliberately. The first version drove both through `transform`, so the amplitude keyframes overwrote the scroll and the wave pulsed in place without ever travelling. `translate:` and `scale:` compose instead of colliding - that was a real bug, not a tuning. It sits centred ON the box's bottom edge, 7px either side, instead of floating 24px below where it crowded the button. */ .wave{height:14px !important; width:220% !important; -webkit-mask-image:url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27120%27%20height%3D%2714%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20120%2014%27%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%27M0%207%20Q%2015%201%2030%207%20T%2060%207%20T%2090%207%20T%20120%207%27%20fill%3D%27none%27%20stroke%3D%27%23000%27%20stroke-width%3D%272.2%27%20stroke-linecap%3D%27round%27%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E") !important; mask-image:url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27120%27%20height%3D%2714%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20120%2014%27%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%27M0%207%20Q%2015%201%2030%207%20T%2060%207%20T%2090%207%20T%20120%207%27%20fill%3D%27none%27%20stroke%3D%27%23000%27%20stroke-width%3D%272.2%27%20stroke-linecap%3D%27round%27%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E") !important; -webkit-mask-size:var(--p) 14px !important; mask-size:var(--p) 14px !important; will-change:translate,scale} .wave.w1{--p:47px} .wave.w2{--p:71px} .wave.w3{--p:101px} .writebox.writing .track{height:14px !important; bottom:-7px !important; border-radius:2px; overflow:hidden} .writebox.writing .wave{animation:none} .writebox.writing .wave.w1{opacity:.95; animation:scr1 1.9s linear infinite, amp2 1.3s ease-in-out infinite alternate} .writebox.writing .wave.w2{opacity:.55; animation:scr2 2.9s linear infinite, amp2 1.7s ease-in-out infinite alternate} .writebox.writing .wave.w3{opacity:.38; animation:scr3 4.3s linear infinite, amp2 2.3s ease-in-out infinite alternate} @keyframes scr1{from{translate:0 0} to{translate:-47px 0}} @keyframes scr2{from{translate:-71px 0} to{translate:0 0}} @keyframes scr3{from{translate:0 0} to{translate:-101px 0}} @keyframes amp2{from{scale:1 .5} to{scale:1 1.25}} /* ── THE FOREGROUND IS HARDENED (Peter, 2026-08-24) ────────────────────────── "They sometimes flash on and off in pieces, shift alpha." That is tile-level repaint, and it is exactly what it sounds like: the compositor rasterises the page in tiles, and any tile holding translucent foreground gets INVALIDATED every time the field moves underneath it. z-index alone does not prevent that - it orders paint, it does not decouple it. The fix is to give the foreground its OWN compositing layer, rasterised once and thereafter only composited. Then nothing behind it can invalidate it: the background can do whatever it likes and the type is untouched. `translateZ(0)` + `will-change:transform` forces the layer. `isolation` stops any blend group reaching into it. `contain:layout paint` tells the engine that nothing inside affects anything outside, so invalidation cannot cross the boundary in either direction. The card behind the reading is the belt to that pair of braces - opaque enough that the type never has to composite against moving light at all. Dial it with --card. */ main,footer{position:relative; z-index:2; isolation:isolate; transform:translateZ(0); will-change:transform; contain:layout paint; backface-visibility:hidden} .writebox,textarea,.waitlist input,button{transform:translateZ(0); backface-visibility:hidden} /* 10 points more transparent, Peter 2026-08-24: .72 -> .62. Affordable now only because the foreground sits on its own compositing layer - the fill was belt-and-braces against the tile repaint, and the promotion is the belt. */ textarea,.waitlist input{background:rgba(255,255,255,var(--field-fill))} /* ── THE MOBILE BUDGET ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Honest answer to "I don't know how this is going to work on mobile": as built, probably badly. 42 blurred bars inside a blend group at DPR 3 is a phone's whole frame budget. So the phone gets the same design at a smaller cost - the ground and the facets stay exactly as they are, four of the seven beams stand down, and the survivors lose their blur. The look holds; the fill-rate does not. Measure on a real device before trusting any of this. */ @media (max-width:768px){ .sweep:nth-of-type(n+4){display:none} .sweep i{filter:none} .sweeps{opacity:.75} } @media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){ .sweeps{display:none} .field{animation:none} } /* ── ONE AND A HALF (Peter, 2026-08-24) ───────────────────────────────────── Every indicator effect at 1.5x. It is a weight change, not a scale: each number below is the old one times 1.5, and the SVG is REDRAWN at the heavier stroke rather than stretched - a stretched 2.2px stroke goes soft, a redrawn 3.3px one stays crisp. That is the difference between heavier and bigger. runner 2px -> 3px track (rest) 2px -> 3px wave height 14px -> 21px wave stroke 2.2 -> 3.3 track (write) 14px -> 21px offset -7px -> -10.5px, still centred */ .runner{height:3px !important} .track{height:3px !important} .wave{height:21px !important; -webkit-mask-image:url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27120%27%20height%3D%2721%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20120%2021%27%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%27M0%2010.5%20Q%2015%201.5%2030%2010.5%20T%2060%2010.5%20T%2090%2010.5%20T%20120%2010.5%27%20fill%3D%27none%27%20stroke%3D%27%23000%27%20stroke-width%3D%273.3%27%20stroke-linecap%3D%27round%27%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E") !important; mask-image:url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27120%27%20height%3D%2721%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20120%2021%27%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%27M0%2010.5%20Q%2015%201.5%2030%2010.5%20T%2060%2010.5%20T%2090%2010.5%20T%20120%2010.5%27%20fill%3D%27none%27%20stroke%3D%27%23000%27%20stroke-width%3D%273.3%27%20stroke-linecap%3D%27round%27%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E") !important; -webkit-mask-size:var(--p) 21px !important; mask-size:var(--p) 21px !important} .writebox.writing .track{height:21px !important; bottom:-10.5px !important} /* ── THE STATUS LINE ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Peter, 2026-08-24: the label beside the buttons is the right place to tell a person what the system is doing, so it stops being scaffolding and becomes an element. It takes the eyebrow's voice - Roboto 11/400 at 0.2em, uppercase - so it reads as page furniture rather than as a message. The BUTTONS beside it remain temporary; in the product the state is set by the server, not clicked. */ .statusline{display:flex; align-items:baseline; justify-content:space-between; gap:16px; margin:16px 0 0; min-height:16px} /* beside the button, in sentence case at normal tracking (Peter's markup): it is the system speaking to a person, not a label on a control - so it takes the body's own voice rather than the eyebrow's. */ .actionrow{display:flex; align-items:center; gap:20px; margin-top:8px; flex-wrap:wrap} /* THE AIR BELOW THE INPUT GROUP - three lede lines, 72px (ruled 2026-08-29 for BOTH doors; his markup 2026-08-30 9:52 PM, "add space"). Lite never received it: measured, its action row's bottom and the first fold's top were the SAME pixel - 2909 and 2909, zero air - while the full door carried 72 through `.doorfoot{margin-top:72px}`. This is the parity gap of his 1:11 AM ruling, not a new value. The 8px above the row stays: that grouping is deliberate, the row belongs to the box. */ .actionrow{margin-bottom:72px} /* grouped with the box (Peter, 2026-08-28) */ .actionrow button{margin-top:0} .status{font:400 14px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color:#333; display:inline-flex; align-items:center} /* ── THE WAITLIST FORM ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Name, email, and an optional phone. Each field is a rule rather than a box, the same treatment as the paste box, with the label above it so the optional one can say so without placeholder text (a placeholder disappears the moment someone types, which is exactly when they need to know what the field was). THE GOOGLE BUTTON IS INERT - it is here to judge the layout, nothing more. Wiring it is a real decision: see the note in chat. */ .waitlist{margin:6px 0 22px; max-width:26rem} .gbtn{display:block; width:100%; margin:0 0 18px; text-align:center; opacity:.55; cursor:not-allowed} .orline{display:flex; align-items:center; gap:12px; margin:0 0 18px; font:400 11px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; letter-spacing:.2em; text-transform:uppercase; color:#888} .orline::before,.orline::after{content:""; flex:1; height:1px; background:var(--rule)} .fld{display:block; margin:0 0 16px} .fld .lbl{display:block; font:400 11px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; letter-spacing:.2em; text-transform:uppercase; color:#666; margin:0 0 4px} .fld .lbl em{font-style:normal; letter-spacing:.12em; color:#999} .waitlist input{width:100%; padding:8px 2px; border:0; border-bottom:1px solid rgba(3,3,3,.28); font:400 16px/1.35 Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color:#030303; outline:0} .waitlist input:focus{background:rgba(255,255,255,calc(var(--field-fill) + .12)); border-bottom-color:rgba(3,3,3,.62)} .waitlist button[type=submit]{margin-top:6px} /* ── THE READOUT SPEAKS (Peter, 2026-08-24) ────────────────────────────────── The status line is where the system gets to be a person for a second, so it says what it is doing in the register the trouble register already uses in `runner.py` - percolating, ticking, moving. These are Lite's own, and they are chosen to mean something rather than to fill time: "separating the light" is what a prism does, and "looking for what holds it up" is literally what the reading returns. Nobody has to be told what that means. NO SCRIPT. The words are stacked and cross-faded by staggered CSS animations - each holds for one slot of the cycle with a short fade either side. Opacity only, so it composites like everything else that works well on this page. */ /* THE BOX HAS TO HOLD A LINE (Peter, 2026-08-24). Every word is absolutely positioned, so this container collapsed to ZERO height and the words painted from an anchor with no line box - except the idle word, which was `static` and therefore the only one that sat right. That inconsistency is why the readout jumped between modes. One explicit line box, every span absolute inside it, and all four modes land on the same baseline. */ .words{position:relative; display:inline-block; min-width:15rem; height:1.35em; line-height:1.35} .words span{position:absolute; left:0; top:0; line-height:1.35; white-space:nowrap; opacity:0} .words.id span{opacity:1} @keyframes cyc{ 0%{opacity:0} 1.5%{opacity:1} 12.8%{opacity:1} 14.3%{opacity:0} 100%{opacity:0} } .wk span{animation:cyc 21s linear infinite; animation-delay:calc(var(--i) * 3.000s)} .wr span{animation:cyc 9s linear infinite; animation-delay:calc(var(--i) * 3.000s)} /* which set is speaking is a function of the state, and nothing else */ /* the status lives inside .actionrow, which is the writebox's SIBLING - so the state has to reach it through that, not directly. (It read as a sibling of the status at first and every set resolved to display:none.) */ .status .words{display:none} /* TENTH PASS: the readout left the action row for the show's third row, so the sibling selectors that reached it through `~ .actionrow` are gone; the descendant rules live with the caption row below. */ @media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){ .words span{animation:none; opacity:0} .words span[style*="--i:0"]{opacity:1} } /* ── WIDOWS ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Width is a blunt instrument for widows - it moves every break and creates as many as it fixes. `text-wrap:pretty` is the tool that actually addresses them: the engine looks ahead over the last few lines and avoids leaving a lone word. `balance` does the same job for short display lines, evening them instead. Both are already used in the printed report (`export_report` sets pretty on the pull quote and balance on the prompt), so this is the house technique, not a new one. Verified supported in this engine before use. */ p,.lede,blockquote.examples p,.exinner p,details p,footer .disclaimer{text-wrap:pretty} h1,h1 + h2,summary,.exlabel{text-wrap:balance} /* CYCLE RUNS HOT (Peter, 2026-08-24): four times working's pace - 2.6s -> 0.65s. Placed last on purpose: the button applies `working cycle` together and both selectors carry the same specificity, so SOURCE ORDER is what decides which --spin wins. The hue comes down with it (5s -> 2s) so the colour turn stays related to the travel instead of drifting free of it. */ .writebox.cycle{--spin:.65s} .writebox.cycle .runner{animation-duration:var(--spin),2s} /* ── THE FIFTH PHRASE: THE SHOT (Peter, 2026-08-24) ────────────────────────── One pass, left to right, at cycle's pace (.65s), fired ONCE and gone. The other four are states - they describe a condition the system is in and they loop. This one is an EVENT: it says a thing just happened and then it stops existing. That difference is the grammar's, not the CSS's, and it is why it gets `iteration-count:1` and `fill-mode:both` rather than `infinite`. Deliberately unassigned. It confirms something - an upload landing, a choice taken, a save - and which of those is a decision for when the moment turns up. Building the vocabulary before the sentence is the point. In the product it fires by adding a class and removing it on `animationend`; the comp's SHOT button does exactly that so it can be fired repeatedly. */ .writebox.shot .runner{width:34%; opacity:1; animation:cross var(--shot,.65s) linear 1 both} /* ── THE BUTTON REFRACTS (Peter, 2026-08-24) ───────────────────────────────── NO FILL. A full gradient face was out of character - the brand is a black rule and a travelling light, not a coloured surface. So the button says the same thing the readout says, in the same words: the rule doubles in weight and a rainbow comet runs around it. REST 1px solid black. The original weight, nothing else. HOVER the rule doubles to 2px and the comet circles, 1.4s a lap. CLICK the comet takes ONE fast lap at the grammar's .65s and stops. The comet is a conic gradient turned by an @property angle and masked to a RING - `mask-composite:exclude` cuts the middle out, so what remains is a 2px band on the edge. It is a pseudo-element, so the doubling costs no layout: the real border stays 1px and merely turns transparent underneath. It repaints while it turns, unlike the transform-only effects elsewhere. That is affordable HERE and nowhere else on the page: one small element, only during a hover or a click, never at rest. */ @property --a{syntax:""; inherits:false; initial-value:0deg} /* the corners ease to match the box above. The paste box is 10px on a ~330px height; the same RATIO on a 40px button would be a pixel and read as square, so it is matched by eye at 6px - the same family of curve, at the button's own scale. The ring inherits it, or it would cut square corners across a rounded edge. */ .actionrow button{position:relative; border:1px solid #030303; background:transparent; border-radius:6px; color:#030303; transition:border-color .18s ease, color .18s ease} .actionrow button::before{content:""; position:absolute; inset:-1px; padding:2px; border-radius:inherit; pointer-events:none; opacity:0; transition:opacity .18s ease; background:conic-gradient(from var(--a), rgb(255,255,255) 0.0deg, rgb(238,214,90) 10.0deg, rgb(242,184,132) 30.0deg, rgb(238,160,202) 50.0deg, rgb(182,158,232) 70.0deg, rgb(154,168,230) 90.0deg, rgb(140,204,238) 110.0deg, rgb(255,255,255) 120.0deg, rgb(238,214,90) 130.0deg, rgb(242,184,132) 150.0deg, rgb(238,160,202) 170.0deg, rgb(182,158,232) 190.0deg, rgb(154,168,230) 210.0deg, rgb(140,204,238) 230.0deg, rgb(255,255,255) 240.0deg, rgb(238,214,90) 250.0deg, rgb(242,184,132) 270.0deg, rgb(238,160,202) 290.0deg, rgb(182,158,232) 310.0deg, rgb(154,168,230) 330.0deg, rgb(140,204,238) 350.0deg, rgb(255,255,255) 360deg); -webkit-mask:linear-gradient(#000 0 0) content-box, linear-gradient(#000 0 0); mask:linear-gradient(#000 0 0) content-box, linear-gradient(#000 0 0); -webkit-mask-composite:xor; mask-composite:exclude} .actionrow button:hover{border-color:transparent} /* THREE comets, 120 apart, and the two tempos are the GRAMMAR's - hover runs at working's 2.6s, the click lap at cycle's 0.65s. Same 4x step the readout makes, so the button is not inventing a speed of its own. With three lights on the ring a comet passes any given corner every 0.87s at hover and every 0.22s on the click: the acceleration reads as three times more than the lap time says. */ .actionrow button:hover::before{opacity:1; animation:lap 3.6s linear infinite} /* MOUSEDOWN SPEEDS IT UP (Peter, 2026-08-24). Held, the band runs at cycle's 0.95s instead of 3.6s - the same ~4x step the readout makes. SLOWER THAN THE RUNNER'S OWN NUMBERS, on purpose: with THREE lights on the ring, a lap of 2.6s puts an event past any corner every 0.87s, which reads three times busier than the single runner at the same duration. The lap is what the CSS sets; the RATE is what the eye reads. 3.6 / 0.95 brings the felt tempo back toward working and cycle. It sits AFTER the hover rule on purpose: both selectors carry the same specificity, so source order is what decides which duration wins while the pointer is doing both things at once. */ .actionrow button:active{border-color:transparent} .actionrow button:active::before{opacity:1; animation:lap .95s linear infinite} .actionrow button:focus-visible{outline:none; border-color:transparent} .actionrow button:focus-visible::before{opacity:1} .actionrow button.fired{border-color:transparent} .actionrow button.fired::before{opacity:1; animation:lap .85s linear 3, fadeout .85s linear 1 1.7s forwards} /* the one answer (2026-08-27 3:25 PM); bloom retired with it */ /* the marks' variant (Peter, 2026-08-26: "goes to white, then off"): the pulse comes back to colour by design - right for the button's press, wrong for the answer's ending. This one rises and HOLDS, so the ringout fade happens entirely inside the white. */ @keyframes bloomhold{ 0%{filter:none} 22%{filter:saturate(.15) brightness(2.6)} 100%{filter:saturate(.15) brightness(2.6)}} /* THE ACCELERANDO (Peter's question, 2026-08-26 midnight: "spins more quickly at the end and looks like it's blending into white before it fades"). Newton's disc - the recombination through SPEED: five turns over the same 4.2s on an ease-in curve, from a gentle start to ~0.4s a turn at the end, while bloomblend walks the band into held white (fully white at 80%, a breath before the fade) with a half-pixel blur smearing the stops at peak speed. An EXPERIMENT behind the rig's end chip; the locked steady form is untouched until he rules. */ /* TUNED ON PETER'S WORD (2026-08-27 12:36 AM: "go around twice before it spins to white; it starts out slow - it should go medium, to light speed"): two segments now. Segment one, 0-80% of the answer: exactly TWO turns at a steady medium cruise (linear - no creep at the start). Segment two, the last 20%: three more turns on a hard ease-in - the kick to light speed - while bloomblend holds the colours clean through the cruise, tints in the kick, and lands full white at 88%; the fade (ringout2) begins only after the white. */ /* THE PRISMATIC (Peter's name, 1:09 AM; its form re-ruled 1:12 AM: "not worth pursuing the spinning into whiteness - the colour on screen for longer, simply circling and fading out; it could fade to white"). Four laps of pure colour at the steady pace, then one breath of exit that whitens as it goes - no acceleration journey, no hold. Simpler, easy to understand. */ /* fadewhite retired with the one-answer ruling (2026-08-27 3:25 PM): pure colour fading to transparent is the exit, everywhere. */ @keyframes fadeout{ 0%{opacity:1} 100%{opacity:0}} /* SPENT: after a click the ring stands down and STAYS down while the pointer is still inside - a confirmation that keeps glowing is not a confirmation, it is a state. CSS cannot un-hover a hovered element, so the class is added on click and removed on `pointerleave`: the button re-arms only when the pointer leaves the shape and comes back. */ .actionrow button.spent{border-color:#030303} .actionrow button.spent:hover{border-color:#030303} .actionrow button.spent:hover::before, .actionrow button.spent::before{opacity:0; animation:none} @keyframes lap{to{--a:360deg}} @media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){ .actionrow button:hover::before,.actionrow button.fired::before{animation:none} } @media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){ .actionrow button:hover{animation:none} } /* ══ THE PAGE TAKES THE FULL PRODUCT'S LANGUAGE (Peter, 2026-08-26) ═════════ "Convert this into the look and feel of the full product page. We lose the refracted button. We add the circular up arrow for input, the notation about shift return." The two doors stop being cousins and become the same door. WHAT DOES NOT CHANGE: this page's own five phrases. "I actually want to move back to the set of patterns for this page and how they are working. I think I like them better than what we experimented with." So idle keeps its ping-ponging comet, working keeps its one-direction travel, writing keeps the waveform, and the session's re-ruling of 2026-08-25 does NOT come here. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── */ /* ── THE MARK — the full product's, verbatim ──────────────────────────────── 28px circle, 18px glyph, 2.3 stroke, a 3px ring present always and only transparent at rest. Three stages: the arrow alone, the grey ring on hover, the prismatic cycle on click. Placement is the box's lower right, which is where both references Peter cited put it. */ .entry{position:absolute; right:0; bottom:12px; z-index:4; width:28px; height:28px; border-radius:50%; display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center; color:#666; cursor:pointer; /* matched to the download's ink */ transition:color .25s ease, border-color .2s ease} .entry,.entry:hover,.entry:focus,.entry:active{ /* the page styles every