About UI Gems

UI Gems is a technical writing series exploring the edges of CSS — advanced techniques, experimental specifications, and the patterns that make design systems tick. Every article originates here with interactive demos you can edit in the browser, then gets cross-posted to Medium and LinkedIn.

The name comes from a simple idea: CSS is full of small, powerful techniques that deserve more attention than a tweet. Each "gem" is a deep dive into one of those techniques — how it works under the hood, when to reach for it, and what it unlocks.

About the Author

I'm Luis — a Senior Frontend Engineer with 10+ years building for the web with deep expertise in CSS architecture, design systems, and modern web standards. I spent 8 years at LinkedIn, where I built token-based design systems, a layout engine, and Figma-to-code tooling that improved delivery speed by 40%. I'm currently at Superhuman working on growth experiments.

I care deeply about CSS as a language — not just as a styling tool, but as an expressive system for building interfaces. I've been writing about it since I was teaching computer science at university, and I believe technical writing is one of the most underrated forms of knowledge transfer.

When I'm not writing CSS or writing *about* CSS, I'm probably making cocktails at home or arguing about things with a close friend.

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