Four hundred lines of layout code that one person could read, described in a page.
.stack vertical rhythm via a lobotomised owl.
one variable, --stack-space.
.cluster wrapping horizontal groups with even
gaps. flex-wrap plus gap.
.sidebar two columns where one has an intrinsic
width and the other takes the rest, and
which collapses at a container threshold.
.grid-auto minmax-based auto-fit, one variable for
the minimum column width.
four primitives, and every layout in the application
is a composition of them.
These had been written in 2021, worked perfectly and were opaque — the sidebar in particular is four lines of flex arithmetic nobody could modify without a diagram. Documenting the intent rather than the mechanism is what made them usable, and the page took an afternoon.