Hairline stat strip
A row of stat tiles joined by hairlines that are grid gap, not borders — the container paints the border color and the tiles paint the surface, so separators never double up or break when the row wraps — in a reporting form and in a second form where each tile is the filter for the list beneath it.
- summary strip at the top of a detail page
- dashboard KPI row
- account usage overview
- report header figures
- profile stats band
The container is the line. gap: 1px over a border-colored background draws every separator, so nothing doubles and nothing strays when the row wraps.
Pattern panes
Reporting only — the figures are the whole job.
Same strip, working as the filter. Press a tile to narrow the list; press it again to clear.
- Bicycle drivetrain teardownDone
- Kiln firing, part threeDownloading
- Field recording — marsh at dawnQueued
- Lathe restoration, episode 12Done
- Sourdough hydration testsFailed
- Bookbinding: the long stitchQueued
Showing all 6 downloads.
<p class="hss-cap">Reporting only — the figures are the whole job.</p>
<div class="hss-strip">
<div class="hss-tile"><span class="hss-k">Documents</span><span class="hss-v">1,482</span><span class="hss-s">this period</span></div>
<div class="hss-tile"><span class="hss-k">Median time</span><span class="hss-v">3.2s</span><span class="hss-s">last 24h</span></div>
<div class="hss-tile"><span class="hss-k">Clean runs</span><span class="hss-v">98.4%</span><span class="hss-s">no retries</span></div>
<div class="hss-tile"><span class="hss-k">Quality score</span><span class="hss-v none" aria-label="No value">—</span><span class="hss-s">not rated yet</span></div>
</div>
<div class="hss-strip hss-strip--filter">
<button class="hss-tile" type="button" aria-pressed="true">…</button>
<!-- one button per status -->
</div>Colors come from shared theme tokens — --surface, --ink, --border, --accent and friends — so this CSS carries no palette of its own. Use Runnable file to copy the tokens along with it.
.hss-strip {
display: grid;
gap: 1px; /* the hairline */
background: var(--border); /* container paints the line */
border: 1px solid var(--border);
border-radius: var(--radius);
overflow: hidden;
grid-template-columns: 1fr;
}
@media (min-width: 21rem) { .hss-strip { grid-template-columns: repeat(2, minmax(0, 1fr)); } }
@media (min-width: 42rem) { .hss-strip { grid-template-columns: repeat(4, minmax(0, 1fr)); } }
.hss-tile { background: var(--surface); padding: 1rem 1.125rem; min-width: 0; }
.hss-k { font-family: ui-monospace, monospace; font-size: 0.8125rem; text-transform: uppercase; color: var(--dim); overflow-wrap: anywhere; }
.hss-v { font-size: 1.6rem; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }
.hss-v.none { color: var(--dim); }
button.hss-tile[aria-pressed="true"] {
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 14%, var(--surface));
}Build a strip of statistic tiles that reads as one joined instrument panel rather than a row of floating cards.
The separators between tiles must not be borders. Make the container a CSS grid with gap: 1px and give the container itself the border color as its background; each tile then paints the surface color on top. The 1px of container showing through the gap is the hairline. This is the entire pattern: real borders double where two tiles meet and leave a stray edge when auto-fit wraps the row, and a gap physically cannot do either.
The full prompt continues with sections on pinning column counts, tile anatomy, two rules of honesty (render a missing value as a dimmed em dash; keep units with the number), the filter form, computing counts from the unfiltered set, and using aria-pressed rather than tab roles.
Related patterns
Object-shaped cards
Where a record stands for a physical thing, the card is drawn as that thing — nine variations in pure gradients.
Adaptive tile mosaic
A container with no artwork draws one from up to four member tiles, grid tracks following tile count.
Ground-scrimmed artwork
Text printed over unreviewed artwork, scrimmed to an alpha that can be written down rather than guessed.