The Engineering Lab

Don't just read the refactor — play with it.

Small, interactive experiments in code quality. Flip the toggles, break things safely, steal the patterns.

Field work

The experiments

04 in the lab

01
The Engineering Lesson I Learned From Fixing a “Simple” Table
Apr 2026
I thought I was fixing a small accessibility issue. We had tables rendering with only…
Open the full experiment
02
Engineering Lab: A Small CSS Change That Simplified My Layouts
Apr 2026
During a recent code review, a colleague suggested using gap instead of individual margins inside…
Spacing, reconsidered
One card
Another card
And one more
```
.stack {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  gap: 1rem;
}
```
The layout owns the space between its children.
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03
When “Correct UI” Isn’t the Best UX: Rethinking a Login Button
Apr 2026
In theory, UI should always reflect the correct state. In practice, that’s not always the…
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04
Avoiding JS Code Smells for Layout and Transitions
Mar 2026
In real-world React applications, components often start small but quickly grow into complex beasts that…
Open the full experiment

Always in progress

The index keeps growing

A / Brewing

Next up · a small change in perspective

B / Brewing

In progress · details soon