Skip to content

No.120 · Backgrounds

Dune Field

Layered sand ridges seen at low sun: crests glow on one side and fall into shadow on the other while wind drifts each layer at its own speed.

The prompt

Written for the variant you picked above: Golden hour

Paint seven layered ridge lines in Canvas 2D, back to front. Each ridge is a sum of three sines whose frequency, phase and drift speed depend on its layer, so each layer moves at its own pace. Fill each with a vertical gradient from the sand colour toward a deep shadow colour with depth, and add a lit rim line. Where the ridge descends steeply to the right, overlay a translucent dark strip so slip faces read as shadow. A radial sun glow sits above the horizon. Pointer x parallax-shifts layers by depth. Cap DPR at 2, pause offscreen, static under reduced motion. Selected variant — Golden hour: Golden hour (the defaults): sky gradient #f6c48a → #f7e7c6, sand #e8a35d deepening to shadow #5a2b19.

Notes

Interaction
Move the pointer horizontally to parallax the dunes.
Motion
rAF-driven slow sine drift per layer, with pointer parallax.
Accessibility
Decorative canvas (aria-hidden); very slow motion; reduced motion draws one still frame.
Responsive
Redraws to its container size via ResizeObserver.

Featured

01Glassbreak ButtonA solid plate that fractures from one impact point, cracks racing outward as the shards drift apart.04Liquid GlassA capsule of glass that bends what's behind it, carries a specular highlight around its rim toward your pointer, and squashes like a drop of liquid when pressed.07Phosphor Glass ButtonA liquid-glass pill that senses you coming: its rim light turns to face the cursor and the pill leans in to meet it.08Iris ShutterAn async button with a camera iris for a status light — blades close and turn while it works, then open onto the result.
81Atmosphere CardSmoked-glass link cards: colour pooled in the corners, slow contour currents underneath, a field that leans toward you.93Eclipse Event CardAn editorial event plate with an oversized date and an orbital eclipse bleeding in from the right, alive with slow drift.94Specimen CardAn object mounted under glass: hover lifts the pane with a sweep of reflection and swings out a paper catalogue tag.
95Silk FieldDomain-warped light that pours like liquid silk, with an optional glass lens that refracts the flow under your cursor.106IsobarA living weather map — contour lines traced over a drifting pressure field, with your cursor as a system of its own.
151Prompt ComposerA chat composer where attached files tuck into its top edge like tabs in a folder — they rise from behind it when added and sink back when removed. Send turns into stop while the reply streams.157Aura FieldA writing field where colour only exists while the AI is touching your text: the edge becomes a turning band of light and the words are rewritten in place, one by one, out of a soft blur.
205Halftone CTAA tall CTA banner where slow gold paint drifts beneath a fixed halftone grid, visible only through the dots.
212Nocturne Sign-inA single quiet column on near-black with a breathing seam of frost light behind it — email, password, magic link, nothing more.222Sigil Sign-inA split sign-in whose left half grows a geometric mark from your email — the same address always draws the same sigil.
275Voices CarouselA testimonial exhibition: one large quote at a time on frosted glass, crossfading between voices without ever resizing.
279Feral TitleA brutal condensed wordmark — heartbeat in the dark, letters slam in, a gash tears through and the word bleeds.
301 components