what is this
this blog now renders text as individual graph nodes by default. every word you read is its own little sticky note, floating in a flex container with a slight rotation and a hard shadow.
you can turn it off with the button in the bottom right corner. it says ⊞ nodes when node mode is on, and ≡ text when it's off. your preference is remembered across pages.
why
the whole site already treats content as a graph — posts and projects are nodes, connections are edges. making the text itself into nodes felt like a natural extension of that idea. or maybe it's just chaotic and fun. both are valid reasons.
what's happening under the hood
each paragraph, heading, and list item is wrapped in a component called NodeText. it flattens the children to a plain string, splits on spaces, and renders each word as a styled span with:
- a cream or accent background
- a two-pixel hard shadow
- a deterministic rotation based on word position
- courier prime bold
the color picks from the site's six accent colors roughly every fifth word, with cream filling the rest. the rotation cycles through eight values so every line feels handwritten but not random.
try it
scroll back up and hit the toggle. watch the words snap from sticky notes back into regular prose. then turn it back on, because honestly it's better this way.