Decisions

Decisions

What changed, why, and the number that proved it. The case, in order.

From June to September 2026

Every decision below is in the history of the site, with its date. The numbers are the ones that justified it.

  1. Jun 2026

    Out of a site builder, into plain code

    Static HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with no framework and no build step. It has to still open in ten years.

    no build step
  2. Jul 2026

    Contact in a side panel, all the work on one page

    A panel that opens from every call to action, and a Work page with every project in one place.

  3. Aug 2026

    One navbar, one footer

    They live in one place and reach every page at once.

  4. Aug 2026

    Glass that refracts

    Real edge refraction in Chrome, frosted glass in Safari and Firefox, one material for everything that floats.

  5. Aug 2026

    One size for all big text

    Every hero and statement shares one fluid size.

  6. Aug 2026

    The navbar measures what is behind it

    Three samples, luminance, and a change only when it holds.

    3 samples · 450ms to change
  7. Aug 2026

    Fewer names

    Three surfaces instead of five, two tints instead of three, and a blue that reads on dark.

    5 → 3 surfaces · 3 → 2 tints
  8. Aug 2026

    The muted grey stops failing

    The token used for dates and labels across the site.

    2.95 → 4.60 : 1
  9. Aug 2026

    Contact becomes a conversation

    Question first, tested with people, and a way out to a classic form.

  10. Aug 2026

    The system opens

    design.md, free to take, written to be handed to an AI assistant.

  11. Aug 2026

    Measured without a cookie banner

    Consent Mode: cookieless in Europe, full data elsewhere, and one file instead of a snippet copied into 21 pages.

  12. Sep 2026

    Cases told as decisions

    Six cases rebuilt from interviews: what was chosen, what was ruled out, why, and what it cost.

    6 cases
  13. Sep 2026

    Air that grows with the type

    Space sized by width, like the type it surrounds.

  14. Sep 2026

    Two failures the audit couldn't see

    It ignored transparency. Fixed, it found white at 75% on blue.

    3.72 → 4.74 : 1
  15. Sep 2026

    Photos uncover

    A mask for every photo, and two traps solved on the way.

  16. Sep 2026

    688 lines of dead CSS

    Removed, with a fingerprint of 23 pages at two widths proving nothing on screen changed.

    5,170 → 4,489 lines · 0 changes
  17. Sep 2026

    Three radii, one accent, one shadow

    Every corner, colour and shadow the site uses, and nothing it doesn't.

    13 → 3 radii · 4 → 1 accents · 3 → 1 shadows
  18. Sep 2026

    The type scale in tokens

    The scale the system documented, finally the one the stylesheet uses.

    38 → 6 steps and named exceptions
  19. Sep 2026

    This system becomes a case

    Documentation that explains why and how, and what each decision cost.