Section navigation shipped; the like button ended as a thumb-shaped swipe strip
Section navigation landed on engineering.satsuma.one: merged through a pull request and deployed, it appears on articles with 3+ sections. The design is a side rail on desktop and a bottom bar with a sheet on mobile, softened from the first mockup to a lighter look. The preview server, worktree and merged branch were cleaned up afterwards.
The like study was revived as a weighted like button and went live as a three-way experiment across hold, tap-again and swipe, with a likes database and a stats endpoint behind it. Hold was the initial recommendation; the decision was to test all three in production instead.
Further pull requests, all merged and deployed, reworked the button. The glow word, the popup, the hint text and every other word were dropped. A prism effect while holding and a lasting page imprint were built and then abandoned in favour of a plain strip. Tap-to-like followed and was replaced by swipe-to-like with intensity.
The button now is a centred swipe-to-like strip. Swipe distance sets the intensity, a partial fill stays visible after a half swipe, and a tap on a like removes it. The first swipe sets handedness, which is remembered; after that the strip tilts 18° and bows 7px toward the thumb. "Handedness is a guess from one swipe."
Still open: the touch gestures and a select-all fix were tested only with simulated touch, not on a real phone. Handedness cannot be flipped without clearing site data. The per-gesture breakdown in the stats now shows only taps and likely needs adjusting after the move to swipe. One of the like button pull requests was merged before its build check reported, though the local build passed. In light mode, the navigation's thread and hollow markers are faint.
- A mockup and redesign of the article section navigation: side rail on desktop, bottom bar and sheet on mobile
- A multi-dimensional like (like, love, adore) from the revived like study
- A three-way gesture experiment: hold, tap-again and swipe
- A prism effect while holding and a lasting page imprint with handedness detection, abandoned for a plain strip
- Tap-to-like, replaced by swipe-to-like with intensity
- Right-side strip placement on phones, superseded by a centred strip with handedness handling
- Hold was recommended at first; all three gestures were tested in production instead
- The glow word, popup, hint text and all words were dropped from the like button
- The prism and imprint design was abandoned for a plain strip
- The strip stays centred and ambidextrous; a partial fill stays visible after a half swipe; a tap on a like removes it
- Handedness is inferred from the direction of the first swipe and remembered
- Touch gestures and the select-all fix were tested only with simulated touch, not on a real phone
- The light-mode navigation thread and hollow markers are faint
- Handedness cannot be flipped without clearing site data and may need re-learning from later swipes
- The per-gesture breakdown in the like stats now shows only taps and likely needs adjusting after the swipe change
- One like button pull request was merged before its build check reported; the local build passed
- Scrolling over the tilted strip is a noted caveat