A vocabulary for shaping interfaces with AI https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/ 2026-07-22T21:38:35+00:00 https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/ https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=wiki:logo.png text/html 2026-05-19T14:21:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:closing_notes&rev=1779200473&do=diff 20. Closing Notes — The Quiet Skills That Make Collaboration Work We began this Toolkit with a simple idea: working with AI is not about giving instructions — it is about communicating intention. Everything that followed grew from that single truth. text/html 2026-05-19T14:31:49+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_ask_ai_for_multiple_options&rev=1779201109&do=diff 15. How to Ask for Multiple Options How we invite variation without losing boundaries, clarity, or control —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter teaches us how to invite variation without inviting chaos — how to ask AI for alternatives that are meaningful, bounded, and safe. text/html 2026-05-19T14:31:25+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_ask_ai_to_compare_its_own_options&rev=1779201085&do=diff 16. How to Ask AI to Compare Its Own Options How we use comparison to reveal reasoning, clarify intention, and guide the next step —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter teaches us how to turn AI into its own reviewer — how to ask it to evaluate the options it just produced, not to choose for us, but to reveal the reasoning, trade‑offs, and assumptions behind each variation. text/html 2026-05-19T14:37:11+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_ask_ai_to_explain_its_choices&rev=1779201431&do=diff 09. How to Ask AI to Explain Its Choices How we keep the collaboration grounded by asking AI to reveal its reasoning —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter is essential because explanations are not just information text/html 2026-05-19T14:30:59+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_ask_ai_to_explain_trade-offs&rev=1779201059&do=diff 17. How to Ask AI to Explain Trade‑Offs How we reveal the costs, consequences, and tensions behind each option —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter teaches us how to surface the costs of a choice — not just the benefits. text/html 2026-05-19T14:29:59+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_ask_ai_to_identify_missing_information&rev=1779200999&do=diff 19. How to Ask AI to Identify Missing Information How we invite AI to surface gaps, ambiguities, and unstated dependencies before it begins the work —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter is about revealing the gaps. text/html 2026-05-19T14:30:37+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_ask_ai_to_reveal_its_assumptions&rev=1779201037&do=diff 18. How to Ask AI to Reveal Its Assumptions How we surface the hidden inferences, defaults, and interpretations that shape AI’s choices —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter is one of the most important in the entire Toolkit. text/html 2026-05-19T14:37:56+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_ask_for_safe_changes&rev=1779201476&do=diff 08. How to Ask for Safe Changes How we request improvements without triggering refactors, redesigns, or unintended rewrites —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter is the practical heart of the Toolkit. It teaches us how to request changes in a way that keeps AI from over‑reaching, over‑interpreting, or rewriting the system. text/html 2026-05-19T14:34:35+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_communicate_style_tone_and_restaint&rev=1779201275&do=diff 13. How to Communicate Style, Tone, and Restraint How we express the quiet qualities of a design without triggering unnecessary changes —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter is about surface intention — not decoration, not aesthetics, but the quiet decisions that shape how a component feels. text/html 2026-05-19T14:34:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_communicate_uncertainty_to_ai&rev=1779201248&do=diff 14. How to Communicate Uncertainty How we express doubt, ambiguity, and incomplete information without losing clarity This chapter is important because uncertainty is not a weakness in collaboration — it is a signal. When we express uncertainty clearly, AI stops guessing, stops over‑interpreting, and stops filling in gaps with assumptions. text/html 2026-05-19T14:36:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_decline_ai_and_redirect&rev=1779201405&do=diff 10. How to Decline and Redirect How we bring the work back to clarity when AI misreads intention, boundaries, or context —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter is about agency. It teaches us how to guide the collaboration back to clarity when AI wanders, over‑interprets, or heads in the wrong direction. text/html 2026-05-19T14:50:20+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_describe_layout_intentions_clearly&rev=1779202220&do=diff 04. How to Describe Layout Intentions Clearly How we talk about space, flow, alignment, and structure in a way AI can follow —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter teaches us the language of spatial intention — text/html 2026-05-19T14:46:27+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_describe_relationships_between_elements&rev=1779201987&do=diff 07. How to Describe Relationships Between Elements How we talk about parent/child, siblings, stacking, flow, and containment in human terms —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter is important because relationships are the hidden structure of text/html 2026-05-19T14:48:31+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_describe_visual_intentions_clearly&rev=1779202111&do=diff 05. How to Describe Visual Intentions Clearly How we express tone, density, rhythm, and hierarchy in a way AI can follow —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter teaches us how to express visual intention without falling into vague adjectives or over‑specifying techniques. text/html 2026-05-19T14:35:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_describe_what_ai_must_not_change&rev=1779201308&do=diff 12. How to Describe What Must Not Change How we protect stability, compatibility, and historical decisions through clear language This chapter is the counterweight to intention. It teaches us how to protect the system’s stability by naming the parts of the design, layout, or structure that must remain untouched — the non‑negotiables that keep the work safe. text/html 2026-05-19T14:47:31+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_express_constraints_and_limits&rev=1779202051&do=diff 06. How to Express Constraints and Limits How we name what the system cannot do, what the design cannot break, and what must remain stable —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit This chapter is the structural backbone of safe collaboration. text/html 2026-05-19T14:54:36+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_express_css_intentions_to_ai&rev=1779202476&do=diff 01. How to Describe What You Want (The Core Skill) How to express CSS intentions clearly so AI knows what we mean —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit AI does not guess well. It fills in gaps. It assumes patterns. It invents structure when the request is vague. text/html 2026-05-19T14:50:50+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_name_the_boundaries_of_change&rev=1779202250&do=diff 03. How to Name the Boundaries of a Change How we express what is inside the change, what is outside, and what must remain untouched —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit AI does not know where a change begins or ends. text/html 2026-05-19T14:51:41+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_point_to_the_right_parts_of_the_code&rev=1779202301&do=diff 02. How to Point to the Right Parts of the Code How we show AI only what matters, and avoid overwhelming it with context it cannot interpret —Part of CSS Primer for the AI Era — CSS Communication Toolkit The single most important mechanical skill text/html 2026-05-19T14:36:14+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:how_to_shrink_the_window_of_exposure_to_ai&rev=1779201374&do=diff 11. How to Shrink the Window How we reduce what AI sees so it stays within the right conceptual space This chapter is the mechanical skill that protects every other skill in the Toolkit. It teaches us how to reduce the amount of code, context, and history AI sees — so the work stays small, safe, and aligned. text/html 2026-05-19T14:55:47+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://icontemp.com/wiki/cssprimer/doku.php?id=css_communication_toolkit:start&rev=1779202547&do=diff CSS Communication Toolkit This section teaches us how to speak CSS in a way that reveals: * intention | boundaries | constraints | relationships | purpose | and what must remain unchanged Each chapter is a communication skill, not a technical topic.