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.
Reach for it when building
- summary strip at the top of a detail page
- dashboard KPI row
- account usage overview
- report header figures
- profile stats band
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.
<div class="hss-strip">
<div class="hss-tile">
<span class="hss-label">Documents</span>
<span class="hss-value">1,482</span>
<span class="hss-sub">this period</span>
</div>
<div class="hss-tile">
<span class="hss-label">Quality score</span>
<span class="hss-value is-missing" aria-label="No value">—</span>
<span class="hss-sub">not rated yet</span>
</div>
</div>
<div class="hss-strip" role="group" aria-label="Filter downloads by status">
<button type="button" class="hss-tile" data-filter="all" aria-pressed="true">
<span class="hss-label">All</span>
<span class="hss-value">6</span>
<span class="hss-sub">downloads</span>
</button>
<!-- one button per status -->
</div>
<ul class="hss-list">…</ul>
<p class="hss-status" aria-live="polite">Showing all 6 downloads.</p>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;
background: var(--border);
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; display: grid; gap: .2rem; min-width: 0; }
.hss-label {
font: 500 .8125rem/1.3 ui-monospace, monospace;
text-transform: uppercase;
color: var(--dim);
overflow-wrap: anywhere;
}
.hss-value { font-size: 1.6rem; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; color: var(--ink); }
.hss-value.is-missing { color: var(--dim); font-weight: 400; }
.hss-tile[aria-pressed="true"] {
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 14%, var(--surface));
}
const strip = document.querySelector('[data-filter]').parentElement;
const tiles = strip.querySelectorAll('button');
const rows = document.querySelectorAll('.hss-list li');
const status = document.querySelector('.hss-status');
tiles.forEach((tile) => tile.addEventListener('click', () => {
const wasOn = tile.getAttribute('aria-pressed') === 'true';
const filter = wasOn ? 'all' : tile.dataset.filter;
tiles.forEach((other) => other.setAttribute('aria-pressed', String(other.dataset.filter === filter)));
let shown = 0;
rows.forEach((row) => {
row.hidden = filter !== 'all' && row.dataset.status !== filter;
if (!row.hidden) shown += 1;
});
status.textContent = filter === 'all'
? `Showing all ${rows.length} downloads.`
: `Filtered to ${filter}: ${shown} of ${rows.length}. Press the lit tile again to clear.`;
}));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 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.