system.cssthe engine GitHub

The quieting doctrine

The quieting doctrine (gf-69c — what makes a chart look finished)

  • No per-mark totals — gridlines do the work; numbers live in the native <title> tooltips, plus at most ONE selective direct label (the endpoint, the max) where the question demands it.
  • A legend toggle keeps IDENTICAL content in both states — no layout shift (the outline-not-border spirit); state rides data-ui-state.
  • Legend = tags tinted by their series hue on a borderless .surface at --lift: -0.2, overlaid in RESERVED margin space (mr accounts for it).
  • Title = hgroup with h3 + small, HTML over the chart (.chart-host / .chart-title / .chart-legend, engine recipes in static/system.css), never drawn in the SVG.
  • A single series gets NO legend — the title names it.
  • Sorted marks wherever order is free (ranking reads instantly); ONE axis, always — two measures of different scale are two charts.