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Refactoring UI

The book that teaches developers to design, by the creators of Tailwind.

Staff pickUsed by me
Preview of Refactoring UI

What it is

Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger is a practical, visual book of design tactics for people who aren't designers: hierarchy, spacing systems, colour, typography, shadows, and dozens of before-and-after fixes. Paid, with a set of free articles.

Why it’s here

If you read one thing about design, read this. Nearly every rule in it (limit your choices, establish a spacing scale, de-emphasise before you emphasise) is something you can hand directly to an agent as an instruction.

Best for

  • learning design fundamentals
  • developers who design
  • writing design rules for agents

Can my agent use this?

Agent limited agent friendliness

Not directly; the book is paid. But its principles transfer perfectly as prompt rules: "use a fixed spacing scale", "one accent colour, greys for everything else", "establish hierarchy with weight and colour before size".

Limited: Mainly a visual reference. Great for humans and for describing a direction, but there's little an agent can read or install.

Access methods

  • Public website

  • Laws of UX
    Preview of Laws of UX

    Laws of UX

    The psychology principles behind good interfaces, one page each.

    GuideFreegood agent friendliness
  • Checklist Design
    Preview of Checklist Design

    Checklist Design

    Checklists of what every common screen and component should include.

    GuideFreegood agent friendliness
    Staff pick
  • Web Interface Guidelines
    Preview of Web Interface Guidelines

    Web Interface Guidelines

    A concise, agent-readable checklist of what a well-built web interface must get right.

    GuideFreeOpen sourceexcellent agent friendliness
    Staff pickUsed by me
  • Josh W. Comeau's blog
    Preview of Josh W. Comeau's blog

    Josh W. Comeau's blog

    Interactive, deeply explained articles on CSS, layout, animation and polish.

    Guidegood agent friendliness