The composition
A locally drawn geometric composition using Grid tracks and cell spans. The spirit of the original Mondrian experiment, without bitmap tile dependencies or inaccessible hover-only information.
FIELD NOTES / THE ORIGINS STUDIO
Where the curiosity began.
The site began as a handmade set of HTML and CSS experiments. Instead of maintaining a disconnected second design inside the new field guide, we've given those experiments a shared home: the same navigation, accessible controls, typography and responsive layout as the modern lessons.
What changed? The established
pages/ URLs now contain self-contained reinterpretations. The original historical source is still available through a fixed Git commit, including its early design decisions, remote image references and Bootstrap 4 integration. The new exhibits do not fetch those dependencies.The resource cards
Cards that grow, shrink and wrap. The meaningful links remain visible without hover, and no images are requested from old dynamic photo endpoints.
The framework lesson
The original page taught how to link and use the real Bootstrap framework. Its new version connects that practical lesson to an optional, actual Bootstrap starter and a broader guide to design systems.
The atmospheric world
The original demonstrated the illusion of scripted behavior with CSS alone: zooming into mountains, dissolving clouds, and returning. The modern scene draws smoother mountain-and-ocean contours in inline SVG, with a reversible CSS zoom and drifting clouds that respect reduced-motion preferences.
PRESERVING THE THREAD
Run it. Change it. Break it.
The original invitation remains at the center of this project. Explore the renewed visual exhibits, manipulate the lessons' live controls, and inspect the source. Every exhibit relies on browser-native HTML, CSS and (for curved vector landscapes) inline SVG, with no runtime CSS framework, external font, photo service, or third-party animation dependency.
To study the original 2018–2020 implementation exactly as it was, inspect the pinned historical repository snapshot ↗. That distinction matters: these exhibits are modern reinterpretations, not an assertion that the old code met today's accessibility requirements.