diff --git a/skills/creative/pretext/SKILL.md b/skills/creative/pretext/SKILL.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..429dd8798f --- /dev/null +++ b/skills/creative/pretext/SKILL.md @@ -0,0 +1,219 @@ +--- +name: pretext +description: "Use when building creative browser demos with @chenglou/pretext — DOM-free text layout for ASCII art, typographic flow around obstacles, text-as-geometry games, kinetic typography, and text-powered generative art. Produces single-file HTML demos by default." +version: 1.0.0 +author: Hermes Agent +license: MIT +metadata: + hermes: + tags: [creative-coding, typography, pretext, ascii-art, canvas, generative, text-layout, kinetic-typography] + related_skills: [p5js, claude-design, excalidraw, architecture-diagram] +--- + +# Pretext Creative Demos + +## Overview + +[`@chenglou/pretext`](https://github.com/chenglou/pretext) is a 15KB zero-dependency TypeScript library by Cheng Lou (React core, ReasonML, Midjourney) for **DOM-free multiline text measurement and layout**. It does one thing: given `(text, font, width)`, return the line breaks, per-line widths, per-grapheme positions, and total height — all via canvas measurement, no reflow. + +That sounds like plumbing. It is not. Because it is fast and geometric, it is a **creative primitive**: you can reflow paragraphs around a moving sprite at 60fps, build games whose level geometry is made of real words, drive ASCII logos through prose, shatter text into particles with exact per-grapheme starting positions, or pack shrink-wrapped multiline UI without any `getBoundingClientRect` thrash. + +This skill exists so Hermes can make **cool demos** with it — the kind people post to X. See `pretext.cool` and `chenglou.me/pretext` for the community demo corpus. + +## When to Use + +Use when the user asks for: +- A "pretext demo" / "cool pretext thing" / "text-as-X" +- Text flowing around a moving shape (hero sections, editorial layouts, animated long-form pages) +- ASCII-art effects using **real words or prose**, not monospace rasters +- Games where the playfield / obstacles / bricks are made of text (Tetris-from-letters, Breakout-of-prose) +- Kinetic typography with per-glyph physics (shatter, scatter, flock, flow) +- Typographic generative art, especially with non-Latin scripts or mixed scripts +- Multiline "shrink-wrap" UI (smallest container width that still fits the text) +- Anything that would require knowing line breaks *before* rendering + +Don't use for: +- Static SVG/HTML pages where CSS already solves layout — just use CSS +- Rich text editors, general inline formatting engines (pretext is intentionally narrow) +- Image → text (use `ascii-art` / `ascii-video` skills) +- Pure canvas generative art with no text role — use `p5js` + +## Creative Standard + +This is visual art rendered in a browser. Pretext returns numbers; **you** draw the thing. + +- **Don't ship a "hello world" demo.** The `hello-orb-flow.html` template is the *starting* point. Every delivered demo must add intentional color, motion, composition, and one visual detail the user didn't ask for but will appreciate. +- **Dark backgrounds, warm cores, considered palette.** Classic amber-on-black (CRT / terminal) works, but so do cold-white-on-charcoal (editorial) and desaturated pastels (risograph). Pick one and commit. +- **Proportional fonts are the point.** Pretext's whole vibe is "not monospaced" — lean into it. Use Iowan Old Style, Inter, JetBrains Mono, Helvetica Neue, or a variable font. Never default sans. +- **Real source/text, not lorem ipsum.** The corpus should mean something. Short manifestos, poetry, real source code, a found text, the library's own README — never `lorem ipsum`. +- **First-paint excellence.** No loading states, no blank frames. The demo must look shippable the instant it opens. + +## Stack + +Single self-contained HTML file per demo. No build step. + +| Layer | Tool | Purpose | +|-------|------|---------| +| Core | `@chenglou/pretext` via `esm.sh` CDN | Text measurement + line layout | +| Render | HTML5 Canvas 2D | Glyph rendering, per-frame composition | +| Segmentation | `Intl.Segmenter` (built-in) | Grapheme splitting for emoji / CJK / combining marks | +| Interaction | Raw DOM events | Mouse / touch / wheel — no framework | + +```html + +``` + +Pin the version. `@0.0.6` at time of writing — check [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@chenglou/pretext) for the latest if demo behavior is off. + +## The Two Use Cases + +Almost everything reduces to one of these two shapes. Learn both. + +### Use-case 1 — measure, then render with CSS/DOM + +```js +const prepared = prepare(text, "16px Inter"); +const { height, lineCount } = layout(prepared, 320, 20); +``` + +You still let the browser draw the text. Pretext just tells you how tall the box will be at a given width, **without** a DOM read. Use for: +- Virtualized lists where rows contain wrapping text +- Masonry with precise card heights +- "Does this label fit?" dev-time checks +- Preventing layout shift when remote text loads + +**Keep `font` and `letterSpacing` exactly in sync with your CSS.** The canvas `ctx.font` format (e.g. `"16px Inter"`, `"500 17px 'JetBrains Mono'"`) must match the rendered CSS, or measurements drift. + +### Use-case 2 — measure *and* render yourself + +```js +const prepared = prepareWithSegments(text, FONT); +const { lines } = layoutWithLines(prepared, 320, 26); +for (let i = 0; i < lines.length; i++) { + ctx.fillText(lines[i].text, 0, i * 26); +} +``` + +This is where the creative work lives. You own the drawing, so you can: +- Render to canvas, SVG, WebGL, or any coordinate system +- Substitute per-glyph transforms (rotation, jitter, scale, opacity) +- Use line metadata (width, grapheme positions) as geometry + +For **variable-width-per-line** flow (text around a shape, text in a donut band, text in a non-rectangular column): + +```js +let cursor = { segmentIndex: 0, graphemeIndex: 0 }; +let y = 0; +while (true) { + const lineWidth = widthAtY(y); // your function: how wide is the corridor at this y? + const range = layoutNextLineRange(prepared, cursor, lineWidth); + if (!range) break; + const line = materializeLineRange(prepared, range); + ctx.fillText(line.text, leftEdgeAtY(y), y); + cursor = range.end; + y += lineHeight; +} +``` + +This is the most important pattern in the whole library. It's what unlocks "text flowing around a dragged sprite" — the demo that went viral on X. + +### Helpers worth knowing + +- `measureLineStats(prepared, maxWidth)` → `{ lineCount, maxLineWidth }` — the widest line, i.e. multiline shrink-wrap width. +- `walkLineRanges(prepared, maxWidth, callback)` — iterate lines without allocating strings. Use for stats/physics over graphemes when you don't need the characters. +- `@chenglou/pretext/rich-inline` — the same system but for paragraphs mixing fonts / chips / mentions. Import from the subpath. + +## Demo Recipe Patterns + +The community corpus (see `references/patterns.md`) clusters into a handful of strong patterns. Pick one and riff — don't invent a new category unless asked. + +| Pattern | Key API | Example idea | +|---|---|---| +| **Reflow around obstacle** | `layoutNextLineRange` + per-row width function | Editorial paragraph that parts around a dragged cursor sprite | +| **Text-as-geometry game** | `layoutWithLines` + per-line collision rects | Breakout where each brick is a measured word | +| **Shatter / particles** | `walkLineRanges` → per-grapheme (x,y) → physics | Sentence that explodes into letters on click | +| **ASCII obstacle typography** | `layoutNextLineRange` + measured per-row obstacle spans | Bitmap ASCII logo, shape morphs, and draggable wire objects that make text open around their actual geometry | +| **Editorial multi-column** | `layoutNextLineRange` per column + shared cursor | Animated magazine spread with pull quotes | +| **Kinetic type** | `layoutWithLines` + per-line transform over time | Star Wars crawl, wave, bounce, glitch | +| **Multiline shrink-wrap** | `measureLineStats` | Quote card that auto-sizes to its tightest container | + +See `templates/donut-orbit.html` and `templates/hello-orb-flow.html` for working single-file starters. + +## Workflow + +1. **Pick a pattern** from the table above based on the user's brief. +2. **Start from a template**: + - `templates/hello-orb-flow.html` — text reflowing around a moving orb (reflow-around-obstacle pattern) + - `templates/donut-orbit.html` — advanced example: measured ASCII logo obstacles, draggable wire sphere/cube, morphing shape fields, selectable DOM text, and dev-only controls + - `write_file` to a new `.html` in `/tmp/` or the user's workspace. +3. **Swap the corpus** for something intentional to the brief. Real prose, 10-100 sentences, no lorem. +4. **Tune the aesthetic** — font, palette, composition, interaction. This is the work; don't skip it. +5. **Verify locally**: + ```sh + cd && python3 -m http.server 8765 + # then open http://localhost:8765/.html + ``` +6. **Check the console** — pretext will throw if `prepareWithSegments` is called with a bad font string; `Intl.Segmenter` is available in every modern browser. +7. **Show the user the file path**, not just the code — they want to open it. + +## Performance Notes + +- `prepare()` / `prepareWithSegments()` is the expensive call. Do it **once** per text+font pair. Cache the handle. +- On resize, only rerun `layout()` / `layoutWithLines()` — never re-prepare. +- For per-frame animations where text doesn't change but geometry does, `layoutNextLineRange` in a tight loop is cheap enough to do every frame at 60fps for normal-length paragraphs. +- When rendering ASCII masks per frame, keep a cell buffer (`Uint8Array`/typed arrays), derive measured per-row obstacle spans from the cells or projected geometry, merge spans, then feed those spans into `layoutNextLineRange` before drawing text. +- Keep visual animation and layout animation coupled. If a sphere morphs into a cube, tween both the rendered cell buffer and the obstacle spans with the same value; otherwise the demo looks painted-on instead of physically reflowed. +- For fades, prefer layer opacity over changing glyph intensity or obstacle scale. Put transient ASCII sprites on their own canvas and fade the canvas with CSS/GSAP opacity so geometry does not appear to shrink. +- Canvas `ctx.font` setting is surprisingly slow; set it **once** per frame if font doesn't vary, not per `fillText` call. + +## Common Pitfalls + +1. **Drifting CSS/canvas font strings.** `ctx.font = "16px Inter"` measured, but CSS says `font-family: Inter, sans-serif; font-size: 16px`. Fine *if* Inter loads. If Inter 404s, CSS falls back to sans-serif and measurements drift by 5-20%. Always `preload` the font or use a web-safe family. + +2. **Re-preparing inside the animation loop.** Only `layout*` is cheap. Re-calling `prepare` every frame will tank perf. Keep the prepared handle in module scope. + +3. **Forgetting `Intl.Segmenter` for grapheme splits.** Emoji, combining marks, CJK — `"é".split("")` gives you two chars. Use `new Intl.Segmenter(undefined, { granularity: "grapheme" })` when sampling individual visible glyphs. + +4. **`break: 'never'` chips without `extraWidth`.** In `rich-inline`, if you use `break: 'never'` for an atomic chip/mention, you must also supply `extraWidth` for the pill padding — otherwise chip chrome overflows the container. + +5. **Using `@chenglou/pretext` from `unpkg` with TypeScript-only entry.** Use `esm.sh` — it compiles the TS exports to browser-ready ESM automatically. `unpkg` will 404 or serve raw TS. + +6. **Monospace fallbacks silently erasing the whole point.** Users seeing monospace-looking output often have a CSS `font-family` that fell through to `monospace`. Verify the actual rendered font via DevTools. + +7. **Skipping rows vs adjusting width** when flowing around a shape. If the corridor on this row is too narrow to fit a line, *skip the row* (`y += lineHeight; continue;`) rather than passing a tiny maxWidth to `layoutNextLineRange` — pretext will return one-grapheme lines that look broken. + +8. **Shipping a cold demo.** The default first-paint looks tutorial-grade. Add: vignette, subtle scanline, idle auto-motion, one carefully chosen interactive response (drag, hover, scroll, click). Without these, "cool pretext demo" lands as "intern repro of the README." + +## Verification Checklist + +- [ ] Demo is a single self-contained `.html` file — opens by double-click or `python3 -m http.server` +- [ ] `@chenglou/pretext` imported via `esm.sh` with pinned version +- [ ] Corpus is real prose, not lorem ipsum, and matches the demo's concept +- [ ] Font string passed to `prepare` matches the CSS font exactly +- [ ] `prepare()` / `prepareWithSegments()` called once, not per frame +- [ ] Dark background + considered palette — not the default white canvas +- [ ] At least one interactive response (drag / hover / scroll / click) or idle auto-motion +- [ ] Tested locally with `python3 -m http.server` and confirmed no console errors +- [ ] 60fps on a mid-tier laptop (or graceful degradation documented) +- [ ] One "extra mile" detail the user didn't ask for + +## Reference: Community Demos + +Clone these for inspiration / patterns (all MIT-ish, linked from [pretext.cool](https://www.pretext.cool/)): + +- **Pretext Breaker** — breakout with word-bricks — `github.com/rinesh/pretext-breaker` +- **Tetris × Pretext** — `github.com/shinichimochizuki/tetris-pretext` +- **Dragon animation** — `github.com/qtakmalay/PreTextExperiments` +- **Somnai editorial engine** — `github.com/somnai-dreams/pretext-demos` +- **Bad Apple!! ASCII** — `github.com/frmlinn/bad-apple-pretext` +- **Drag-sprite reflow** — `github.com/dokobot/pretext-demo` +- **Alarmy editorial clock** — `github.com/SmisLee/alarmy-pretext-demo` + +Official playground: [chenglou.me/pretext](https://chenglou.me/pretext/) — accordion, bubbles, dynamic-layout, editorial-engine, justification-comparison, masonry, markdown-chat, rich-note. diff --git a/skills/creative/pretext/references/patterns.md b/skills/creative/pretext/references/patterns.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..2fa867232d --- /dev/null +++ b/skills/creative/pretext/references/patterns.md @@ -0,0 +1,258 @@ +# Pretext Patterns + +Copy-pasteable snippets for the most common pretext demo shapes. Each pattern is self-contained — drop into an HTML ` + + diff --git a/skills/creative/pretext/templates/hello-orb-flow.html b/skills/creative/pretext/templates/hello-orb-flow.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..b7bdbca2f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/skills/creative/pretext/templates/hello-orb-flow.html @@ -0,0 +1,95 @@ + + + + +pretext hello — text flowing around an orb + + + + + + +