Object-shaped cards
Where a record stands for a physical thing, the card is drawn as that thing — nine variations in pure gradients.
Layout
Updated
Added · Updated
Hairline stat strip
0Assets
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
- stats
- css-grid
- css-only
- hairline
- no-assets
Reporting only — the figures are the whole job.
- Documents
- 1,482
- this period
- Median time
- 3.2s
- last 24h
- Clean runs
- 98.4%
- no retries
- Quality score
- —
- not rated yet
Same strip, working as the filter. Press a tile to narrow the list; press it again to clear.
- Bicycle drivetrain teardown Done
- Kiln firing, part three Downloading
- Field recording — marsh at dawn Queued
- Lathe restoration, episode 12 Done
- Sourdough hydration tests Failed
- Bookbinding: the long stitch Queued
Showing all 6 downloads.
<p class="hss-cap">Reporting only — the figures are the whole job.</p> <dl class="hss-strip"> <div class="hss-tile"><dt class="k">Documents</dt><dd class="v">1,482</dd><dd class="s">this period</dd></div> <div class="hss-tile"><dt class="k">Median time</dt><dd class="v">3.2<span class="u">s</span></dd><dd class="s">last 24h</dd></div> <div class="hss-tile"><dt class="k">Clean runs</dt><dd class="v">98.4<span class="u">%</span></dd><dd class="s">no retries</dd></div> <div class="hss-tile"><dt class="k">Quality score</dt><dd class="v none" aria-label="No value">—</dd><dd class="s">not rated yet</dd></div> </dl> <div class="hss-strip five" role="group" aria-label="Filter downloads by status"> <button class="hss-tile" type="button" aria-pressed="true" data-state="All"><span class="k">All</span><span class="v">6</span><span class="s">downloads</span></button> <button class="hss-tile" type="button" aria-pressed="false" data-state="Queued"><span class="k">Queued</span><span class="v">2</span><span class="s">downloads</span></button> <!-- Downloading, Done, Failed follow the same shape --> </div> <ul class="hss-list" id="hss-items"> <li data-state="Done">Bicycle drivetrain teardown <span>Done</span></li> <!-- … --> </ul> <p class="hss-status" role="status">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; /* the hairline */
background: var(--border); /* shows through the gap */
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, 1fr); } }
@media (min-width: 42rem) { .hss-strip { grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr); } }
.hss-tile { background: var(--surface); color: var(--ink); padding: 14px 16px; min-width: 0; }
.hss-tile .k { font: 600 0.8125rem/1.3 ui-monospace, monospace; text-transform: uppercase; color: var(--dim); }
.hss-tile .v { font-size: 1.6rem; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }
.hss-tile .v.none { color: var(--dim); }
button.hss-tile[aria-pressed="true"] {
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 14%, var(--surface));
}
const tiles = document.querySelectorAll('button.hss-tile');
const items = document.querySelectorAll('#hss-items li');
const status = document.querySelector('.hss-status');
tiles.forEach((tile) => {
tile.addEventListener('click', () => {
const wasOn = tile.getAttribute('aria-pressed') === 'true';
const state = wasOn || tile.dataset.state === 'All' ? 'All' : tile.dataset.state;
tiles.forEach((other) => other.setAttribute('aria-pressed', String(other.dataset.state === state)));
let shown = 0;
items.forEach((item) => {
const visible = state === 'All' || item.dataset.state === state;
item.hidden = !visible;
if (visible) shown += 1;
});
status.textContent = state === 'All'
? 'Showing all 6 downloads.'
: `Filtered to ${state}: ${shown} of 6. 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.
Pin the column counts. Go from one column to two at 21rem and to four at 42rem. Do not use auto-fit: a row that reflows to three tiles over one leaves an orphan and a hole of container colour.
Tile anatomy. A mono uppercase label, a large tabular-nums figure, and a one-line qualifier that says what window the figure covers.
Two rules of honesty. Render a missing value as a dimmed em dash, never as zero. Keep units with the number, set smaller, so a percent is never read as a count.
The filter form. In the second form each tile is a button that filters the list beneath it. Compute every count from the unfiltered set, so the tiles never change while you filter, and mark the lit tile with aria-pressed rather than tab roles, because pressing it again clears the filter.
Excerpt. The full prompt continues with the exact breakpoints, the tile markup, and the accessibility checks.
:root { --ground:#eef0f3; --surface:#ffffff; --border:#d2d8e0; --ink:#161b22; --dim:#56606e; --accent:#364f6a; --radius:10px }
.hss-strip {
display: grid;
gap: 1px; /* the hairline */
background: var(--border); /* shows through the gap */
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, 1fr); } }
@media (min-width: 42rem) { .hss-strip { grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr); } }
.hss-tile { background: var(--surface); color: var(--ink); padding: 14px 16px; min-width: 0; }
.hss-tile .k { font: 600 0.8125rem/1.3 ui-monospace, monospace; text-transform: uppercase; color: var(--dim); }
.hss-tile .v { font-size: 1.6rem; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }
.hss-tile .v.none { color: var(--dim); }
button.hss-tile[aria-pressed="true"] {
background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 14%, var(--surface));
}
<p class="hss-cap">Reporting only — the figures are the whole job.</p>
<dl class="hss-strip">
<div class="hss-tile"><dt class="k">Documents</dt><dd class="v">1,482</dd><dd class="s">this period</dd></div>
<div class="hss-tile"><dt class="k">Median time</dt><dd class="v">3.2<span class="u">s</span></dd><dd class="s">last 24h</dd></div>
<div class="hss-tile"><dt class="k">Clean runs</dt><dd class="v">98.4<span class="u">%</span></dd><dd class="s">no retries</dd></div>
<div class="hss-tile"><dt class="k">Quality score</dt><dd class="v none" aria-label="No value">—</dd><dd class="s">not rated yet</dd></div>
</dl>
<div class="hss-strip five" role="group" aria-label="Filter downloads by status">
<button class="hss-tile" type="button" aria-pressed="true" data-state="All"><span class="k">All</span><span class="v">6</span><span class="s">downloads</span></button>
<button class="hss-tile" type="button" aria-pressed="false" data-state="Queued"><span class="k">Queued</span><span class="v">2</span><span class="s">downloads</span></button>
<!-- Downloading, Done, Failed follow the same shape -->
</div>
<ul class="hss-list" id="hss-items">
<li data-state="Done">Bicycle drivetrain teardown <span>Done</span></li>
<!-- … -->
</ul>
<p class="hss-status" role="status">Showing all 6 downloads.</p>
<script>
const tiles = document.querySelectorAll('button.hss-tile');
const items = document.querySelectorAll('#hss-items li');
const status = document.querySelector('.hss-status');
tiles.forEach((tile) => {
tile.addEventListener('click', () => {
const wasOn = tile.getAttribute('aria-pressed') === 'true';
const state = wasOn || tile.dataset.state === 'All' ? 'All' : tile.dataset.state;
tiles.forEach((other) => other.setAttribute('aria-pressed', String(other.dataset.state === state)));
let shown = 0;
items.forEach((item) => {
const visible = state === 'All' || item.dataset.state === state;
item.hidden = !visible;
if (visible) shown += 1;
});
status.textContent = state === 'All'
? 'Showing all 6 downloads.'
: `Filtered to ${state}: ${shown} of 6. Press the lit tile again to clear.`;
});
});
</script>
More layout patterns
All 40 patterns →Same sheet, next sticker
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.