Design reference

Stylesheet

A living specimen of the type, color, content, lists, and controls used across this site.

This page uses the production stylesheet without page-specific overrides, so it also makes unfinished or browser-default styles easy to spot.

Typography

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Eyebrow text · Small but purposeful

h1 — the “Stylesheet” page title above

Heading level two

Heading level three

Heading level four

Heading level five
Heading level six

The lede introduces an idea with a little more size and air than the body copy around it.

A standard paragraph should stay comfortable through a few sentences. It can contain strong importance, gentle emphasis, highlighted text, an abbr., and deleted or inserted words.

This is a standard link, and this is a long link that may need to wrap inside the reading measure.

6 minute readDesign systems

Long-form prose

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Readable text has rhythm

A reading style has to work when the novelty wears off. Good measure, steady line-height, and visible hierarchy let an essay feel calm without making it anonymous. Inline code such as git pull --rebase should remain distinct without interrupting that rhythm.

Design is the quiet work of deciding what deserves attention, then helping the reader find it.

A code sample

function saveForLater(article) {
  return fetch("/reading/", {
    method: "POST",
    body: JSON.stringify(article)
  });
}

Text after a thematic break should feel clearly separated while remaining part of the same article.

Lists and tabular data

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Unordered list

  • A short item
  • An item with enough copy to wrap and reveal the indentation and spacing of a list across more than one line
  • A nested group
    • First nested item
    • Second nested item

Ordered list

  1. Capture the page.
  2. Add a note and a few tags.
  3. Return when there is time to read.

Definition list

Original
The active link on the publisher’s website.
Archive
A remembered snapshot that may outlive the original URL.

Table

Example reading-list states, including a long unbroken identifier
State Visibility Identifier
Unread Public public-reading-12
Reading Private private-vault-3
Finished Public finished-article-with-a-deliberately-long-unbroken-identifier-20260822

Media

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Jeff Kao standing at a waterfront railing with the Manhattan Bridge behind him
An image and caption inside a semantic figure.

Forms and controls

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These controls are visual specimens. Their buttons do not submit or save data.

A production-style panel combines standard controls with reusable field and layout classes.

Article details

Use the complete original or canonical address.

This unnamed specimen value is never submitted.

Visibility
Quiet link button

Site components

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Article list

  1. How a small reading list becomes a useful archive

    A two-line summary provides context without competing with the article title.

  2. Notes on durable links

    The same card component with a shorter title and description.

Reading list

External links

Bookmarklet and copy field

Drag-style bookmarklet links use the primary link-button treatment:

Save to reading list

Notices and status

A neutral notice provides context before an action.

Working status: saving the article…

Success status: the article was saved.

Error status: the vault could not be unlocked.

Empty state

Nothing saved yet. New items will appear here.

Color scheme

The production stylesheet currently declares a light color scheme only. This specimen does not simulate a dark theme.