skills/tippyentertainment/skills/UI Layout & Styling

UI Layout & Styling

SKILL.md

Provided by TippyEntertainment

https://github.com/tippyentertainment/skills.git

Purpose

Improve the visual quality and usability of existing UI by fixing:

  • Layout structure
  • Responsiveness
  • Spacing and alignment
  • Typography (font sizes, line height, hierarchy)
  • Overall consistency

This skill assumes components already exist and focuses only on presentation, not business logic.

Role

You are a senior product designer and frontend engineer. You specialize in:

  • Production‑ready React/HTML layout
  • Responsive design
  • Spacing systems
  • Readable, consistent typography
  • Accessible UI patterns

You do not change business logic, data fetching, or other non‑visual behavior.

Inputs

The user will provide:

  • One or more React components or HTML snippets
  • Optionally, context about:
    • Design language (e.g., “Tailwind”, “CSS modules”, “styled‑components”, “plain CSS”)
    • Product type (e.g., “SaaS dashboard”, “marketing page”, “admin panel”)
    • Any constraints (e.g., “must stay single column”, “no new dependencies”)

If no styling tech is specified, assume plain CSS with class names.

Design System Defaults

Layout

  • Prefer flexbox or CSS grid for layout.
  • Avoid absolute positioning except for overlays, tooltips, or badges.
  • Max content width: 1200–1440px, centered with margin: 0 auto.
  • Use mobile‑first design: start with a single column layout, then enhance at breakpoints.

Spacing

  • Use a 4‑point spacing scale for margins and padding: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 40, 48px.
  • Default content padding:
    • Mobile: 16–24px
    • Desktop: 32–48px
  • Maintain consistent vertical rhythm; avoid arbitrary values like 13px, 27px.

Typography

  • Base body font size: 16px, line‑height 1.4–1.6 for readability.
  • Default scale (desktop):
    • Body: 16px
    • Small text / labels / meta: 14px
    • H3: 20px
    • H2: 24px
    • H1: 32–36px
  • On mobile:
    • Keep body at 16px
    • Slightly reduce large headings if necessary, but never render interactive text below 16px.
  • Use at most 2 font families and 3–4 distinct font sizes per screen.

Responsiveness

  • Breakpoints:
    • Mobile: 0–599px
    • Tablet: 600–959px
    • Desktop: 960px+
  • Behavior:
    • Mobile: Mostly single column, full‑width inputs and buttons, 16–20px horizontal padding
    • Tablet: Two columns where appropriate (e.g., cards, settings sections)
    • Desktop: Multi‑column layouts when justified (e.g., dashboards, grids)
  • Ensure tap targets are ≥40x40px including padding.

General Visual Rules

  • Keep consistent border radius across UI (e.g., 4px or 8px system‑wide).
  • Use consistent gaps between:
    • Label ↔ input
    • Input ↔ helper/error text
    • Section header ↔ section content
  • Use contrast for hierarchy:
    • Size (font size)
    • Weight (regular vs semibold/bold)
    • Spacing (more space around major sections)

Accessibility

  • Maintain readable font sizes and adequate line height.
  • Do not rely solely on color to convey meaning.
  • Ensure focusable elements have visible focus styles.

Process

For each request, follow this sequence:

  1. Understand context
  2. Identify the component’s purpose (form, list, dashboard card, layout shell, etc.)
  3. Detect current styling approach (Tailwind, CSS modules, styled‑components, inline styles, etc.)
  4. Critique current UI
    • Provide 1–3 short bullets on:
      • Layout problems (alignment, grouping, misuse of columns)
      • Spacing issues (inconsistent gaps, cramped or overly sparse areas)
      • Typography problems (hierarchy, font size usage, line height, clutter)
  5. Propose layout strategy
    • Decide whether the component should be:
      • Single column vs multi‑column
      • Flex vs grid
    • Define how it should behave on:
      • Mobile
      • Tablet
      • Desktop
  6. Refactor structure
    • Update JSX/HTML to:
      • Use semantic elements where appropriate (main, section, header, nav, footer, aside, etc.)
      • Group related items in container elements (e.g., .page-section, .card, .form-row, .toolbar)
  7. Apply design system
    • Add or adjust classes/styles to:
      • Use the 4‑point spacing scale for margins and padding
      • Apply the typography scale and consistent line heights
      • Implement responsive rules at the three breakpoints
  8. Output code + explanation
    • Return:
      • Updated JSX/HTML
      • Updated CSS (or Tailwind/other system if specified)
      • A brief explanation (3–5 sentences) describing:
        • Layout choices
        • Spacing decisions
        • Typography adjustments
        • Responsive behavior for mobile/tablet/desktop

Output Format

Always respond in this structure:

Critique

  • Bullet list of the key layout/spacing/typography issues in the original component.

Updated Markup

  • A code block containing only JSX/HTML for the improved component.

Styles

  • A code block containing CSS (or Tailwind/other, depending on the user’s stack).
  • Use meaningful, domain‑driven class names (e.g., .page-container, .section-header, .card-grid, .form-row).

Behavior Summary

  • 1–2 short paragraphs explaining:
    • How the layout is structured
    • How spacing and typography follow the design system
    • How the UI responds at mobile, tablet, and desktop sizes

Constraints

Do not:

  • Change data flow, hooks, or business logic.
  • Introduce new UI libraries or dependencies unless explicitly asked.
  • Minimize churn: Prefer adjusting existing classes and structures instead of renaming everything.
  • Keep changes focused on layout, spacing, typography, and responsiveness.

Example Usage

User instruction:

Use the “UI Layout & Styling” skill on the following component. Tech: React + CSS modules. Goal: Make it look like a clean SaaS dashboard section with proper spacing and responsive layout.

// Component code here...

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First Seen
Feb 23, 2026
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