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-l">Documents</span>
<span class="hss-v">1,482</span>
<span class="hss-u">this period</span>
</div>
<div class="hss-tile">
<span class="hss-l">Quality score</span>
<span class="hss-v none" aria-label="no value">—</span>
<span class="hss-u">not rated yet</span>
</div>
</div>
<div class="hss-strip five" id="hss-filter">
<button type="button" class="hss-tile" data-f="all" aria-pressed="true">
<span class="hss-l">All</span><span class="hss-v">6</span><span class="hss-u">downloads</span>
</button>
<!-- Queued, Downloading, Done, Failed -->
</div>
<ul id="hss-list"><li data-s="done">Bicycle drivetrain teardown</li>…</ul>
<p id="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); } }
@media (min-width: 56rem) { .hss-strip.five { grid-template-columns: repeat(5, 1fr); } }
.hss-tile { background: var(--surface); padding: .9rem 1rem; min-width: 0; }
.hss-l { font: .8125rem/1.3 ui-monospace, monospace; text-transform: uppercase; color: var(--dim); overflow-wrap: anywhere; }
.hss-v { display: block; 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));
}
Tokens (included in Runnable file)
:root { --ground:#eef0f3; --surface:#fff; --border:#d2d8e0; --ink:#161b22; --dim:#56606e; --accent:#364f6a; --radius:10px; }
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
:root { --ground:#10141a; --surface:#191f27; --border:#2c3743; --ink:#e6ecf3; --dim:#97a4b4; --accent:#6f92bd; }
}const tiles = document.querySelectorAll('#hss-filter button');
const rows = document.querySelectorAll('#hss-list li');
const status = document.getElementById('hss-status');
tiles.forEach((tile) => tile.addEventListener('click', () => {
const wasOn = tile.getAttribute('aria-pressed') === 'true';
const filter = wasOn || tile.dataset.f === 'all' ? 'all' : tile.dataset.f;
tiles.forEach((other) => other.setAttribute('aria-pressed', String(other.dataset.f === filter)));
let shown = 0;
rows.forEach((row) => {
row.hidden = filter !== 'all' && row.dataset.s !== filter;
if (!row.hidden) shown += 1;
});
status.textContent = filter === 'all'
? 'Showing all 6 downloads.'
: `Filtered to ${tile.querySelector('.hss-l').textContent}: ${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 rather than letting auto-fit choose them: one column, then two from 21rem, then four from 42rem. Each tile carries a mono uppercase label, a large tabular-nums figure, and a short unit line.
Two rules of honesty: render a missing value as a dimmed em dash, never a zero; and keep units with the number.
In the filter form, each tile is a toggle button with aria-pressed, not a tab. Compute every count from the unfiltered set, so pressing a tile never changes the numbers on its neighbours.