Design reference index · 15/27
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Interaction Specification
A document defining triggers, state transitions, responses, exceptions, and input rules.
State Matrix
A table specifying presentation across combinations such as default, loading, empty, error, and success.
Acceptance Criteria
Observable conditions for determining whether a feature or design is complete.
Visual Regression Test
Comparing screens before and after a change to detect unintended visual differences.
Snapshot Test
A test comparing output with a saved baseline to detect structural or output changes.
Cross-browser Test
Checking functional and layout differences across browsers.
Responsive QA
Checking layout and behavior across viewport sizes, scaling levels, and input methods.
Accessibility Audit
Systematically reviewing accessibility conditions such as keyboard use, assistive technology, contrast, and semantics.
Cognitive Load
The demand a task places on a user's cognitive resources.
Recognition over Recall
The principle of helping users recognize visible options rather than recall information from memory.
Fitts's Law
A model relating pointing-task time to target distance and target size.
Hick–Hyman Law
A model relating the number and information content of choices to time in certain choice tasks.
Affordance vs Signifier
Distinguishing possible actions from the cues that make those actions perceptible.
Dark Pattern
An interface designed to steer users toward choices contrary to their intentions or interests.
Design Debt
Accumulated compromises or inconsistencies that increase future change and usability costs.
Content Model
A structured definition of content types, fields, relationships, and validation rules.
SVG
An XML-based vector image format describing paths, shapes, and text.
PNG
A raster image format used for lossless compression and transparency.
JPEG
A family of lossy image-compression formats widely used for photographs and continuous-tone images.
WebP
An image format supporting lossy and lossless compression, transparency, and animation.
AVIF
An image file format using AV1-based compression.
OpenEXR
An image format used to exchange high-dynamic-range, multichannel render output.
glTF
A Khronos format designed for delivery and loading of real-time 3D assets.
GLB
A binary-container representation bundling glTF assets.
FBX
An Autodesk format used to exchange 3D scenes, models, rigs, and animation.
OBJ
A text-based 3D interchange format representing mesh positions, UVs, and normals.
USD
A 3D scene system describing composition, hierarchy, variants, and collaborative scene data.
STL
A file format describing geometry as triangular surfaces, commonly used in 3D printing.
3MF
A package format for 3D manufacturing geometry and additional information such as materials.
KTX2
A container format for GPU texture delivery and compressed-texture workflows.
Draco Compression
A technology compressing 3D geometry to reduce transfer size and related costs.
WebGL
A web API for GPU-based 2D and 3D graphics in the browser.
WebGPU
A modern web API for graphics and general-purpose GPU computation.
GLSL
A shader language used in OpenGL and WebGL environments.
WGSL
A language for writing WebGPU shader programs.
HLSL
A high-level shader language used in graphics environments such as DirectX.
OpenXR
A common interface standard between XR applications and runtimes, including VR and AR.
Sprite Sheet
A resource arranging multiple 2D images or animation frames on one sheet.
Nine-slice Scaling
Scaling an image as nine regions so corners can retain their appearance as the UI expands.
Font Subsetting
Reducing font-file size by retaining only the required glyphs.
Tailwind CSS
A CSS framework composing styles from single-purpose utility classes.
Bootstrap
A web toolkit providing a responsive grid and styled interface components.
Bulma
A CSS-focused framework providing layout and component styles.
Foundation
A front-end framework offering responsive layouts and web components.
Pico CSS
A CSS framework giving semantic HTML concise default styling.
UIkit
A web interface toolkit combining layouts, components, and interactions.
daisyUI
A Tailwind-based tool providing semantic component classes and themes.
Flowbite
A family of tools providing Tailwind-styled components and interaction implementations.
UnoCSS
An engine generating needed utility CSS from rules and presets.
Open Props
A collection of design tokens provided as CSS custom properties for color, spacing, motion, and more.
Sass
A stylesheet language and tooling that compile variables, mixins, modules, and other extensions into CSS.
Less
A CSS preprocessor language and compiler offering variables, mixins, and related features.
PostCSS
A tool that uses plugins to analyze and transform CSS syntax trees.
Lightning CSS
A tool providing CSS parsing, transformation, bundling, and minification.
Autoprefixer
A plugin handling CSS vendor prefixes according to target-browser information.
styled-components
A CSS-in-JS library defining styles alongside components.
Emotion
A library supporting object- and string-based style authoring and CSS generation.
vanilla-extract
A tool extracting typed style definitions into CSS at build time.
Panda CSS
A styling engine analyzing token- and recipe-based definitions to generate CSS.
Style Dictionary
A tool transforming design tokens into platform-specific style files.
React
A library building user interfaces from components and state.
Vue
A web UI framework centered on reactive state and components.
Angular
A web application framework providing components, routing, dependency injection, and related capabilities.
Svelte
A framework compiling components into reactive interfaces.
SolidJS
A library connecting state to DOM updates through fine-grained reactivity.
Preact
A component and virtual-DOM library with a React-like API.
Lit
A library for building components based on standard custom elements.
Alpine.js
A library declaring lightweight state and event behavior through HTML attributes.
htmx
A library declaring server requests and partial interface updates through HTML attributes.
Next.js
A React application framework providing routing, server rendering, and build tooling.
Nuxt
A Vue application framework providing routing, rendering, and build tooling.
SvelteKit
A Svelte application framework integrating routing, server handling, and deployment.
Astro
A web framework for content-focused sites with selectively interactive regions.
Qwik
A web UI framework centered on resumable execution state.
Ember.js
A convention-oriented web application framework with routing and templates.
jQuery
A library combining DOM manipulation, events, requests, and related functions.
shadcn/ui
A component-code collection and distribution system designed to be copied into and customized within a project.
Radix Primitives
Low-level UI primitives providing behavior, accessibility, and keyboard handling.
Radix Themes
A collection of styles, themes, and components built around Radix.
Headless UI
Unstyled components focused on interaction behavior and accessibility rather than appearance.