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
Tags
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="cap">Reporting only — the figures are the whole job.</p> <div class="hss-strip"> <div class="hss-tile"><span class="l">Documents</span><span class="f">1,482</span><span class="u">this period</span></div> <div class="hss-tile"><span class="l">Median time</span><span class="f">3.2s</span><span class="u">last 24h</span></div> <div class="hss-tile"><span class="l">Clean runs</span><span class="f">98.4%</span><span class="u">no retries</span></div> <div class="hss-tile"><span class="l">Quality score</span><span class="f none" aria-label="no value">—</span><span class="u">not rated yet</span></div> </div> <div class="hss-strip five" role="group" aria-label="Filter downloads by status"> <button class="hss-tile" type="button" aria-pressed="false" data-status="All"><span class="l">All</span><span class="f">6</span><span class="u">downloads</span></button> <button class="hss-tile" type="button" aria-pressed="false" data-status="Queued"><span class="l">Queued</span><span class="f">2</span><span class="u">downloads</span></button> <!-- Downloading · Done · Failed follow the same shape --> </div> <ul class="dl-list"><li data-status="Done"><span>Bicycle drivetrain teardown</span><span class="s">Done</span></li> …</ul> <p class="live" role="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.
.stage { container-type: inline-size; }
.hss-strip {
display: grid;
gap: 1px; /* the hairline IS the gap */
background: var(--border); /* container paints the line colour */
border: 1px solid var(--border);
border-radius: var(--radius);
overflow: hidden;
grid-template-columns: 1fr;
}
@container (min-width: 21rem) { .hss-strip { grid-template-columns: repeat(2, minmax(0, 1fr)); } }
@container (min-width: 42rem) {
.hss-strip { grid-template-columns: repeat(4, minmax(0, 1fr)); }
.hss-strip.five { grid-template-columns: repeat(5, minmax(0, 1fr)); }
}
.hss-tile { background: var(--surface); padding: .9rem 1rem; display: grid; gap: .15rem; min-width: 0; }
.hss-tile .l { font: 500 .8125rem/1.3 ui-monospace, monospace; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: .06em; color: var(--dim); overflow-wrap: anywhere; }
.hss-tile .f { font-size: 1.6rem; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }
.hss-tile .f.none { color: var(--dim); font-weight: 400; }
button.hss-tile[aria-pressed="true"] { background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 14%, var(--surface)); }const tiles = [...document.querySelectorAll('button.hss-tile')];
const rows = [...document.querySelectorAll('.dl-list li')];
const live = document.querySelector('.live');
tiles.forEach((tile) => tile.addEventListener('click', () => {
const wasOn = tile.getAttribute('aria-pressed') === 'true';
const status = wasOn ? 'All' : tile.dataset.status;
tiles.forEach((other) => other.setAttribute('aria-pressed', String(!wasOn && other === tile && status !== 'All')));
// counts on the tiles come from the unfiltered set, so they never change here
const shown = rows.filter((row) => (row.hidden = !(status === 'All' || row.dataset.status === status)) === false).length;
live.textContent = status === 'All'
? `Showing all ${rows.length} downloads.`
: `Filtered to ${status}: ${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.
[Excerpt. The full prompt continues with sections on pinning the 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.]
§ More in Layout
- Annotated transcript
Conversation bubbles with a speaker-colored spine and a fixed metadata gutter.
- Adaptive tile mosaic
A container with no artwork draws one from up to four member tiles, grid tracks following tile count.
- Column-flow wall
Cards flowing down columns instead of across rows, with the reading-order cost stated plainly.