Color lives in two layers. The palette holds raw color values — a single source of truth, independent of theme. Semantic tokens (text, background, UI) reference palette entries and are the only place themes switch values. In CSS, point to a semantic token when available; reach into the palette only when there is no semantic match.

Raw colors. Click a swatch to copy the var(--m__color-*) reference.

Semantic tokens. These flip with theme; the palette values they point to do not.

Each variable stores a full color value, for example: rgb(253, 47, 75). To apply transparency, or to blend a color toward the background, use color-mix() directly in selector properties — this keeps the token list short and makes the intent explicit in the code.

The main unit is rem, used for text sizes and spacing; em is reserved for inline elements.

:root currently sets font-size: 118%, which gives 1rem ≈ 18.9px. This can be tuned more precisely later, including with separate values for desktop and mobile if needed.

The system supports two layout modes: desktop and mobile. Media queries look at viewport width rather than device type.

Pages are composed of stacked full-width sections, not column grids. Each section always spans the full available width and takes as much height as its content needs; sections are self-contained and can be reordered without side effects. Complex layouts live inside sections, not across them.

Gaps (--m__gap-*) are the distances inside components — the spacing between an icon and its label, between items in a list, or the inset padding rhythm. Reach for these when building a component.

Besides the shared scale below, individual components carry their own gap tokens (--m__gap-checkbox, --m__gap-toggle, --m__gap-table-toolbar and so on) for spacing tuned to that component. They are not part of the general scale.

Components carry a default bottom margin (--m__default-margin-bottom) and no top margin. This keeps vertical stacking predictable and makes it easy to top-align elements placed side by side.

Spacing between sections or before headings is handled with explicit spacer elements (.m__space, backed by --m__spacer-*), not margins on content elements. The idea behind this is that content elements can’t know what spacing is appropriate in every context — that’s why the spacer should be placed by whoever assembles the layout.

Internal padding for UI elements grouped by category — controls, inputs, sidebar links, etc. Most are two-value tokens (padding-block padding-inline); some are full four-value shorthands (top right bottom left) where the inset is asymmetric. Independent from the spacing scale above.

Five corner radii: a four-step scale and a pill for fully-rounded shapes.

For squircle corners that scale with the element's font size, use the .m__rounded utility instead — it sets --m__rounded-radius (1.5em) with corner-shape: squircle, and falls back to an SVG mask where corner-shape is unsupported.

Three stroke weights: s for hairlines and dividers, m for outlined controls (toggles, checkboxes, inputs, outline buttons), l for accent frames like the upload plate.

Font sizes use rem units except font-size-smaller, which is em — it sizes content slightly smaller than the surrounding text.

In this repository, the supported text elements (headings, paragraphs, links, lists, inline code) are styled through their HTML tags. In production, especially when combining different versions or styling systems, that approach can let styles leak inward or outward.

The same elements show up inside interactive components and inside widgets, and on their own as unstructured HTML in Text-content sections.

Icons are collected into one hidden SVG sprite and then reused through <use>. This keeps each icon defined once, avoids duplicated SVG markup, and makes color inheritance and updates easier to manage.

Here are the current icons and their ids. A tile click copies a standalone SVG with resolved colors for Illustrator, Figma, or similar tools.

UI icons — used for interactive controls:

Brand icons and selected signal icons (for example #deepfake, #emotions, and #music) keep fixed accent fills where needed; other shapes use currentColor and inherit color from the parent.

Charts — see post.

Animation tokens define timing only. The system provides tokens for instant hover, animated unhover, and shared easing, but it does not prescribe which CSS properties should be included in a transition.

Hover the row to play.

Hover the row to play at 1s.