abacusai/abacusai-bot/frontend-design

Frontend design

Most "AI-looking" UI fails for the same handful of reasons. Fix these before reaching for anything clever.

Spacing carries the structure

Use one scale and never improvise values: 4 8 12 16 24 32 48 64.

The rule that does the most work: related things must be closer together than unrelated things. A label 16px from its input and 16px from the section above it reads as unstructured. Make it 6px from its input and 32px from the section.

Whitespace is not wasted space. Cramped is the single most common failure.

Type

• Two sizes and two weights is usually enough for a whole screen.
• Body text at 14–16px. Below 13px is a hint, not content.
• Line height 1.5 for body, ~1.2 for headings.
• Cap line length at ~70 characters (max-width: 65ch).
• Never centre a paragraph. Centre a single line at most.

Colour

• One accent. Use it for the primary action and almost nothing else: if

everything is emphasised, nothing is.

• Greys carry the interface; the accent points at the one thing to do next.
• Semantic colour must never be the only signal: colour-blind users and

greyscale printing both lose it. Pair it with an icon or text.

• Check contrast: 4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text. This is not optional.

States

An unstyled state is a bug. Every interactive element needs: default, hover, active, focus, disabled. Focus must be visible, because keyboard users navigate by it. Never outline: none without a replacement.

Every async surface needs: loading, empty, error, and loaded. The empty state is the one people forget, and it is the first thing a new user sees.

Motion

• 150–200ms for local feedback, 200–300ms for entrances.
• Ease-out for things arriving, ease-in for things leaving.
• Animate transform and opacity only: animating width, top, or height

causes layout thrash.

• Respect prefers-reduced-motion.

Before calling it done

• Does it survive a 320px-wide viewport?
• Does it survive dark mode, if the app has one?
• Does it survive the longest realistic string, and the empty case?
• Can you tab through it and always see where you are?