Used to eyeball CSS gradients for depth... now I map them out

I used to just type in some random stops and hope the gradient looked like a sunset or a button. Last month I started sketching the color positions on graph paper first, weirdly satisfying. Anyone else find a specific trick that changed their approach to shading?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarwilliams2d ago

Wait, you actually sketch color positions on graph paper before you even start coding? That's wild, man. I just brute force my way through sliders until something clicks.

tyler_baker2d ago

Came across this old color theory book from the 70s at a thrift store once, and it had these little hand-drawn grids with notes like "put the warm tones here, trust me." So I tried it out on a dashboard UI I was building, and honestly it helped more than any color picker tool ever has. The graph paper forces you to think about the relationship between the colors instead of just tweaking hex codes until your eyes hurt. I still mostly brute force things too, but having a rough plan on paper keeps me from going down too many rabbit holes.