Designers ship images cropped into circles, hexagons, and slanted hero banners all the time. You do not need a photo editor for any of that. With CSS masks and clip-path, you can apply “non-destructive” shapes to any image: the source stays intact, the shape is fully adjustable, and the same asset adapts across breakpoints and … Read more
Default list bullets work, but they rarely match a brand, a theme, or a design system. In this walkthrough you will build five creative <ul> bullet styles using pure CSS. No images, no SVGs, just careful use of pseudo-elements, gradients, and a few transforms. By the end, you will have reusable classes for triangles, circles, … Read more
Arrows guide attention. They hint at direction, connect labels to targets, and show what happens next. In this project you will build five practical CSS arrow patterns you can drop into real UI: a tooltip caret, a speech bubble tail, a dropdown indicator, breadcrumb chevrons, and carousel navigation arrows. You will use a single HTML … Read more
Color that looks great and fails contrast checks is design debt. By the end of this guide, you will build a small, reusable palette system that exposes accessible color tokens, previews real contrast outcomes, and scales across themes. You will learn how to structure the HTML for swatches, declare tokens with OKLCH for predictable lightness, … Read more
Your interface already has a hierarchy, but the scan path is often random. Shapes can act as cues that pull attention in a predictable sequence. In this tutorial you will build a compact landing layout where triangles point users through a feature list, a circular halo spotlights the headline, and a ribbon labels the call … Read more
An accessible search bar does two jobs at once: it helps people find content fast and it behaves predictably for assistive tech. By the end of this article, you will have a polished search bar with clear visuals, keyboard-friendly focus, screen reader labels, a CSS-only clear button that appears when the field has text, and … Read more
Shipping a full icon font for three arrows and a close button slows every page and adds layout risk. Pure CSS icons remove the font request, avoid icon-Glyph mapping, and paint instantly with the CSS you already send. By the end of this article you will build two crisp, scalable icons with nothing but CSS, … Read more
A “Back to Top” button is small, but it changes how people experience long pages. In this build, you will design a back-to-top control that looks polished, feels fast, and respects accessibility. You will create a clean circular button, draw the up icon with pure CSS (no images), reveal it only after scrolling, and add … Read more
A default range input works, but the UI feels inconsistent across browsers and it rarely matches a product’s visual language. In this guide you will build a polished slider control: a clean track with a colored fill, a crisp circular thumb, a readable value bubble with a small caret, smooth focus and hover states, and … Read more
Micro-interactions sell intent. A slight nudge on a chevron hints at navigation. A pulse on a search lens suggests action. A tiny ring on a bell conveys fresh updates. In this tutorial you will build a small CSS-only icon set and wire up tasteful micro-interactions that improve clarity without adding JavaScript. By the end, you … Read more