# ArchNest — Design Decisions & Lessons Learned > This file captures all visual/UX decisions made during Glance page development. > Apply these consistently to ALL future pages to avoid repeated iteration. --- ## Global Rules (Apply to Every Page) ### Sidebar - **Expanded width**: 200px (matches mockup proportions — needs room for labels) - **Collapsed width**: 64px (icon only) - **User can manually collapse/expand** via toggle button (not just responsive) - **Main content margin-left** must match sidebar width exactly ### Page Title (Top Bar) - **Color**: Gold (#C8A434) — NOT white. Use inline `style={{ color: '#C8A434' }}` if Tailwind class doesn't apply - **Font**: 18px, bold, uppercase, tracking-wide - **No border on top bar** — blends into the page background ### Colors — Use Inline Styles When Tailwind Fails - Tailwind v4 `@theme` custom colors (text-gold, bg-card, etc.) may not always apply - If a color isn't rendering correctly, fall back to inline `style={{ color: '#C8A434' }}` - Always verify visually after changes ### Content Alignment - **All rows must share the same horizontal padding** (`px-6` applied once at the parent container level) - **Do NOT** use different padding for different rows — this causes misalignment - The hero banner, status cards, middle row, and bottom row must all line up left and right edges ### Hero Banner + KPI Overlap - Banner height: 200px - Status cards overlap via negative margin: `-mt-12` - Banner image: `object-cover` with `object-position: center 25%` (show the top/skyline, not center) - Cards use `backdrop-blur-sm` and `bg-card/95` for glass effect over the banner ### KPI Card Sizing - KPI 1 (System Status) and KPI 4 (Network): **wider** — `1.3fr` - KPI 2 (Infrastructure) and KPI 3 (Security): **standard** — `1fr` - Grid: `grid-cols-[1.3fr_1fr_1fr_1.3fr]` - Cards have compact padding: `p-4` (not p-5 or p-6) ### No Footer - The mockup does NOT have a footer/status bar - Do not add one unless explicitly requested ### Target Display - Primary design target: **16-inch screen / 1920px width** - Lots of horizontal space available — don't constrain content width unnecessarily - Design should feel spacious, not cramped ### Typography Sizes (smaller than default) - Card titles: 10-11px, uppercase, tracking-[1.5px], secondary color, font-medium - Large numbers: 24-28px, bold, primary color - Subtitles/labels: 10-11px, secondary color - Body text in lists: 13px, primary color - Timestamps: 11px, secondary color - Breakdowns: 9-10px, secondary color ### Animations - Card hover: border → gold, 0.2s ease - Progress ring: animates from 0 to value in 1s - Sparklines: draw animation 1s - Progress bars: fill animation 0.8s ### Icons - Source: Lucide React (imported per component, tree-shaken) - Size: 14-18px depending on context - Color: gold for active/accent, text-secondary for inactive - Gold glow on active sidebar items: `shadow-[0_0_6px_rgba(200,164,52,0.5)]` --- ## Page-Specific Notes ### Glance Page - No footer - Status cards overlap hero banner - Middle row: 3 equal-ish columns (30/40/30) - Bottom row: 2 columns (65/35) - Network Traffic card has its own background image at low opacity - User avatar dropdown has: Profile, Appearance, Security, Help & Support, Sign Out ### Infrastructure Page - Hero banner rendered at the **App.tsx layout level** (not per-page), so it can extend behind the sticky TopBar — conditional via `showHero = location.pathname === '/infrastructure'`. TopBar and the search input are transparent on hero routes so the banner shows through. - Hero image: `object-position: center 5%` to reveal the full arch + sky; faded out via `linear-gradient` mask (vertical) + a `radial-gradient(ellipse 70% 100% at center, ...)` overlay (sides/corners) — borderless, blends into page background. - Sub-tabs trimmed to **Overview only** (Compute → Tags are future work, not built yet). - Status cards: `rgba(10,10,12,0.5)` background (more transparent than other pages), content centered (`justify-content/alignItems: center`) with a fixed row height (110px) so there's breathing room instead of empty space below left-aligned content. - Middle row (`grid-cols-[1fr_1.6fr]`): **Resource Distribution** (donut) and **Node Status** (server tile grid). Both use the `/blank-kpi-bg.png` background art with a `cardDim` (semi-transparent dark overlay) + `cardVignette` (radial-gradient `closest-side` blend) combo — keeps the background pattern visible but subdued, with borders blended rather than hard-edged. Card titles are rendered as our own text, NOT baked into the image (baked-in labels got covered by the dim overlay). - **Node Status** card: originally a world-map-style region dot plot, replaced with a 4-column tile grid (one tile per server, colored status dot + name) — a world map didn't make sense for a small/single-site infra. Reuse this "small-scale" reasoning for any future map-like cards. - Bottom row (`grid-cols-[1.4fr_1fr_1fr]`): Resource Trend / Cost Breakdown / Recent Activity — **left plain/regular**, no dim/vignette blending (explicit user preference, only the middle row gets the hero-style blend). Resource Trend uses the `/archnest-network-traffic-bg.png` background (plain, no dim/vignette) with 4 trend lines: blue `#3B82F6` (compute), orange `#E67E22` (storage), green `#2ECC71` (database), brown `#8B5E3C` (network). - `cardVignette` radial-gradient must use the `closest-side` keyword (not a fixed `%`) — otherwise straight edges of the card don't reach full opacity and a hard border line remains visible (only corners fade correctly with a fixed percentage). --- ## Future Integration Notes ### Live Provider Data (AWS, Linode, etc.) - All KPI/status card data (resource counts, health, pricing, budgets, cost breakdowns, utilization, regions/map data) is currently mocked/static. - The Infrastructure page (and likely Glance) should eventually integrate with real cloud provider APIs — AWS, Linode, or any other VPC/cloud provider — via user-supplied API keys, to pull live data such as: - Resource inventory/counts and health status - Pricing and budget/cost data (replacing the static Cost Breakdown numbers) - Resource utilization metrics - Region/datacenter info for the Infrastructure Map - Design the data layer so it's provider-agnostic (a common interface/adapter per provider) since users may connect more than one provider's API key.