Resting tiles are solid
A real player read the outlined resting tile as unfinished, so a tile at rest is a solid object, and selection got a state of its own.
Context
An earlier version drew a resting tile as a transparent outline: an edge with the ground showing through. A real player read that look as unfinished, a placeholder rather than a tile.
The sources record the change and its reason, but not the release it shipped in, so this record has no version.
Options
| Option | Result |
|---|---|
| Transparent outline at rest (the earlier look) | Read as "unfinished" by a real player |
| Solid fill at rest | Chosen |
Decision
A resting tile is a solid fill: --tile fill, a 2.5px edge in the same --tile, and a --tile-ink letter, so it reads as a tile, not a placeholder.
Once rest was no longer empty, selection needed a state of its own. A lit tile takes --select fill, a --select-stroke edge and a --select-ink letter. The edge width never changes between states (box-sizing: border-box), so lighting a tile never shifts the grid.
Evidence
One player's reading, recorded in the spec ("A real user read the old transparent-outline resting look as 'unfinished'") and in the code's own note on .tile. There was no wider test.
| Pair | Dark | Light |
|---|---|---|
--tile-ink on --tilethe letter on a resting tile | 12.70AAA | 12.70AAA |
| Pair | Dark | Light |
|---|---|---|
--select-ink on --selectthe letter on a lit tile | 12.70AAA | 12.70AAA |
Consequences
- Lit needs a different colour and an edge. In dark mode the resting fill is already the light colour, so selection needs a genuinely different fill. A fill change alone wasn't enough: in dark mode it was a close shift that was easy to miss, and in light mode a tile without a defined edge could merge with the grid gaps. So every lit tile carries a stroke.
- Fill, edge and opacity change together, never one without the others, or the edge snaps while the fill fades.
- The solid tile became one of the board's three states that the rest of the system borrows: the podium's 1st column is a solid tile (D-007), and so are the confetti's plain pieces.
- See Tile for every state.