linkyee-style-designer

Design

Use when the user wants to design, customize, or generate a custom visual theme for their linkyee site (a Hexo-like LinkTree-style static site). Triggers on phrases like "design my linkyee page", "make a custom theme", "change the style", "I want my links to look like X", "create a new theme inspired by Y". Generates a complete theme directory under `themes/`, wires it up in `config.yml`, and verifies the build.

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/ZhgChgLi/linkyee/blob/HEAD/.claude/skills/linkyee-style-designer/SKILL.md

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linkyee Style Designer

You help users design custom visual themes for linkyee — a Ruby/Liquid static site generator that builds a single-page LinkTree-style site. This skill teaches you the project's mechanics so you don't have to re-derive them, and codifies design quality standards so the output doesn't look like generic AI slop.

How linkyee builds a site

Build command: bundle exec ruby ./scaffold.rb
Output: _output/ (committed to gh-pages branch by deploy.sh in CI)
Theme switch: edit the theme: field at the top of config.yml to a directory name under themes/
The build copies themes/<theme>/ verbatim into _output/, then renders _output/index.html through Liquid using config.yml as variable scope

Theme directory contract

A theme dir must contain:

index.html — Liquid template (see required hooks below)
styles.css — the look
scripts.js — can be empty, but the file must exist (default theme references it)

A theme dir should contain:

images/profile.jpeg — sample avatar (so the theme works before the user replaces it)
images/favicons/favicon.ico — at minimum a single favicon

For new themes, copy these two image assets from themes/default/images/ rather than generating new ones.

Required Liquid variables and HTML hooks

Every index.html you generate must preserve these variables (the user's config.yml data flows through them):

Variable	Purpose
`{{ lang }}`	`<html lang>`
`{{ title }}`	`<title>`, OG/Twitter meta
`{{ name }}`	Display name
`{{ tagline }}`	Bio / description
`{{ avatar }}`	Avatar image src
`{{ links }}`	Loop: `{% for item in links %}{% assign link = item.link %}` then use `link.url`, `link.icon`, `link.text`, `link.title`, `link.alt`, `link.target`
`{{ socials }}`	Loop: `{% for item in socials %}{% assign social = item.social %}` then use `social.url`, `social.icon`, `social.title`, `social.alt`, `social.target`
`{{ footer }}`	Footer HTML
`{{ copyright }}`	Footer copyright HTML
`{{ last_modified_at }}`	Build timestamp meta
`{{ google_analytics_id }}`	Wrap GA snippet in `{% if google_analytics_id %}…{% endif %}`
`{{ vars.<PluginName> }}`	Plugin output (rare; user-controlled)

Required HTML structural elements (preserve from themes/default/index.html so SEO/PWA features keep working):

<title>, <meta name="description">, all og: and twitter: meta tags using the variables above
Favicon <link> tags (paths point to ./images/favicons/...)
The GA <script> block wrapped in the Liquid {% if %} guard
A <script src="./scripts.js"> reference at the end of <body>

Font Awesome: link from CDN to keep theme dirs small:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/6.5.2/css/all.min.css" crossorigin="anonymous" referrerpolicy="no-referrer">

(The original default theme self-hosts Font Awesome; new themes use the CDN.)

Design principles — the "no AI slop" baseline

Distilled from alchaincyf/huashu-design. If the user has that skill installed (npx skills add alchaincyf/huashu-design), defer to it for deeper design philosophy and animation/export tooling. The rules below are the minimum bar this skill enforces.

Avoid these AI-design clichés:

Purple → pink gradients
Emoji used as functional icons (Font Awesome icons exist for a reason)
Generic "glassy gradient blob" backgrounds with no purpose
Center-aligned everything with no hierarchy
Drop shadows on every element

Prefer these moves:

A clear typographic hierarchy: one display face for the name/headline, one body face for tagline + links
text-wrap: pretty (or balance) on the tagline so line breaks don't look ragged
Real units: a single accent color, deliberate whitespace, consistent border radius across all elements (don't mix 4px buttons with 24px cards)
One signature move per theme (e.g. brutalist border-shadow, editorial drop cap, terminal scanlines) — don't pile effects

Quality bar every theme must meet:

WCAG AA contrast on body text and button text
Keyboard-accessible: visible :focus-visible styles on every link and button
Respects @media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) if you use any motion (disable transitions/animations in that block)
Dark mode (auto-switch): see the dedicated section below — non-negotiable.
Responsive (RWD): see the dedicated section below — non-negotiable, this is the single most common failure mode.

Dark mode — required, auto-switch only

Every theme must work in both system appearances. The user does not click a button — the OS toggles between light and dark and the theme MUST follow. This is non-negotiable and a frequent source of regressions, so verify it explicitly.

Hard rules:

Auto-switch via @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) { ... } only. No JavaScript toggle. No color-scheme: light only (that disables auto-switching). No <html data-theme="…"> workaround. The user's macOS / iOS / Windows / Android system setting is the source of truth.
Don't just invert. Define a separate dark palette. Pure #000 background causes banding on OLED panels and gives nothing for shadows or borders to push against — use elevated grays from the #0d1117 / #14110d / #1c1814 family. White-on-black body text is harsh — prefer #e6edf3 / #f3ecdf etc.
Re-tune accents. A red that reads on cream often goes muddy on charcoal; a soft pastel disappears. Test each accent color against the dark surface and either brighten/desaturate or pick a sibling hue. Both modes need WCAG AA (4.5:1 body, 3:1 large) — re-check on dark, don't assume.
Surface hierarchy still has to read. On dark, cards / link buttons need to be one step lighter than the body (e.g. body #0d1117, card #161b22). Borders that were rgba(0,0,0,0.12) on light should drop in opacity, not just flip color.
Don't lose the signature move. A brutalist drop-shadow in pure black disappears on a dark page — switch the shadow to a neon (cyan / yellow) on dark. A frosted glass card needs a different blur tint on a dark gradient. Keep the theme's identity in both modes; redesign the trick instead of dropping it.
Latest-link badge (.link-latest-badge) must be re-tuned per mode. The light-mode color usually doesn't read on the dark surface — add a @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) { .link-latest-badge { ... } } override.
Focus rings. A #1f6feb ring that pops on white may need to brighten to #58a6ff on dark. Don't share :focus-visible styling blindly across modes.

Authoring patterns:

Prefer CSS-vars-driven palette swap: define :root { --bg: ...; --fg: ...; ... } once, then @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) { :root { --bg: ...; ... } } only changes the values. The rest of the CSS reads var(--bg) etc. and never needs duplicate rules. This is the cleanest pattern and the one most built-in themes use.
Per-rule overrides are acceptable when only a few properties change (e.g. default theme), but the vars approach scales better.
terminal-retro is the dark-first reference: its :root defaults are dark (green-on-black CRT), and the LIGHT variant is added via @media (prefers-color-scheme: light) (the inverse of the usual pattern) — translating the CRT identity to "deep olive on cream printer-paper". This is the right move when your theme has a dominant identity in one mode: keep that identity dominant, but still translate it into the other mode rather than skipping it. A user who pins color_scheme: light deserves SOMETHING that fits the theme, not the dark version unchanged.

color_scheme override (required for new themes):

Users can pin the page to a specific mode via color_scheme: auto | light | dark in config.yml. The theme must respect this — the system-default auto-switch is not enough. Wire it up like this:

index.html — add the scheme class on <html>:

<html lang="{{ lang }}"{% if color_scheme == "light" %} class="scheme-light"{% elsif color_scheme == "dark" %} class="scheme-dark"{% endif %}>

For auto, no class is added; the @media query fires normally.

styles.css — gate the dark block on :not(.scheme-light) and add a .scheme-dark block that duplicates the dark vars. With CSS variables this is two short blocks:
```
:root { /* light vars */ }

/* Auto + OS=dark, OR explicit "dark" */
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root:not(.scheme-light) { /* dark vars */ }
}
/* Forced "dark" — beats system preference */
:root.scheme-dark { /* same dark vars */ }
```
Yes, the dark vars are duplicated. There is no clean CSS-only way to avoid it short of light-dark() (Baseline 2024 — fine to use if you want a single source of truth and don't need IE-era support). For per-rule themes (no vars, like default), prefix every dark selector with :root:not(.scheme-light) and duplicate every rule under :root.scheme-dark. Mechanical but verbose.
Verification — set color_scheme: light in config.yml, rebuild, force your OS into dark mode. The page should stay light. Set color_scheme: dark, force OS to light. Page should stay dark. Set color_scheme: auto, toggle OS. Page should swap live.

Dark-first themes (e.g. CRT, neon, vaporwave) should still ship a light variant — but the light variant should translate the genre, not invert it (e.g. terminal-retro becomes "olive-on-cream printer paper" in light mode, not a generic light theme). Skipping a light variant is a last resort; a thoughtfully translated one is almost always more respectful of users with color_scheme: light set.

Verification (do not skip):

After your edits, before declaring the theme done:

Run bundle exec ruby ./scaffold.rb then open _output/index.html.
Toggle macOS System Settings → Appearance between Light and Dark (or use DevTools → Rendering → "Emulate CSS prefers-color-scheme"). The page must swap palettes without refresh.
In each mode, confirm: body text ≥ 4.5:1 contrast against background, latest-badge readable, focus ring visible, signature move (shadow / glass / drop cap / scanlines) still has identity.
If you used ./scripts/screenshot-themes.sh or generated screenshots, capture both light and dark and compare side-by-side. Two visually-identical screenshots means the dark CSS is broken — investigate before shipping.

Responsive design (RWD) — required

linkyee is overwhelmingly viewed on phones. A theme that looks great at 1440px but breaks at 360px is a broken theme. Treat the small-screen pass as part of "the theme is done", not a polish step.

Layout rules:

Mobile-first. Author the base CSS for ~360px-wide phones; layer up with min-width media queries for tablet/desktop refinements. Don't write desktop-first then patch with max-width queries.
Container width: use width: 100% with a max-width (e.g. 480–640px for the link column). Never set fixed pixel widths on top-level containers.
No horizontal scroll at any width 320–1920px. If something would overflow (long unbroken strings like URLs, RSS post titles, repo names), use overflow-wrap: anywhere or text-overflow: ellipsis with white-space: nowrap — pick one per element and stick with it.
Test at minimum these widths: 320, 375, 414, 768, 1024, 1440. Eyeball each. If you used huashu-design or any preview/screenshot capability, capture at 375 and 1280 at minimum.

Typography:

Use clamp() for headline/name sizes so they scale fluidly without breakpoint jumps, e.g. font-size: clamp(1.6rem, 5vw, 2.4rem).
Body text floor of 16px on mobile (smaller triggers iOS auto-zoom on inputs and is below WCAG comfort threshold).
Long Latest-link titles (RSS feed posts, YouTube video titles) can be 60+ chars — clamp them. The standard pattern: .link-latest .link-text { display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: middle; } Adapt the badge per theme but keep the truncation.

Touch targets:

Minimum 44×44 CSS px hit area for every link, button, and social icon (Apple HIG / WCAG 2.5.5). Pad with padding, not just height, so the tappable area scales.
Minimum 8px gap between adjacent tappable elements (no rage-tap collisions).

Images / media:

max-width: 100%; height: auto on every <img>, including the avatar. The avatar should be a clamp()-sized circle so it doesn't dominate small viewports.
Don't use background-image for content images — they don't scale predictably across DPRs.

Density / safe areas:

Use padding: env(safe-area-inset-top) ... env(safe-area-inset-bottom) on the outermost container if you have edge-to-edge color, so notched iPhones don't crop content.
Reduce vertical padding on small viewports — what looks airy on desktop looks wasted on a 568px-tall iPhone SE.

Verification step (do not skip): After running bundle exec ruby ./scaffold.rb, also do one of the following before declaring the theme done:

./preview.sh <new-theme> and resize the browser through 320 → 1440 manually, OR
Use Playwright/headless browser at minimum 375×667 and 1280×800, OR
Open _output/index.html and toggle DevTools device mode through iPhone SE, iPhone 14, iPad, desktop.

If any of: horizontal scroll appears, text overflows the container, tap targets shrink below 44px, or the avatar covers more than ~30% of viewport height — fix before reporting back.

When the user's brief is vague

Offer them 2–3 differentiated directions before writing code. Pick from these design schools (mirroring huashu-design's "schools" pattern, scoped to a single-page link list):

School	Vibe	Good for
Swiss minimal	Mono/sans, hairline rules, monochrome, generous whitespace	Engineers, writers
Editorial	Serif headlines, drop caps, two-tone palette, magazine columns	Bloggers, journalists
Neo-brutalism	Thick borders, hard offset shadows, primary colors, no anti-aliasing of intent	Indie devs, artists
Soft & friendly	Pastel cards, rounded corners, hand-drawn accents, casual type	Creators, illustrators
Terminal/Retro	Monospace, CRT scanlines, blinking caret, green-on-black or amber	Hackers, infosec

Built-in themes already exist for each: minimal-mono, editorial-serif, neo-brutalism, paper-card, terminal-retro, plus glassmorphism. Read one of them as a starting point if the user's request is close to an existing direction.

Workflow you should follow

Read context first — Read config.yml to see the user's actual content (name, tagline, link count, link types). Don't design in the abstract.
Read a reference theme — Read themes/default/index.html (canonical structure) and one closer-aesthetic theme from themes/.
Confirm direction — if the brief is vague, present 2–3 options with one-line aesthetic descriptions. Wait for the user to pick.
Generate the theme — create themes/<kebab-name>/:
- index.html — copy the structural skeleton from themes/default/index.html, preserve every Liquid variable and meta tag listed above, swap Font Awesome for the CDN <link>, redesign the body markup as needed
- styles.css — the actual style work
- scripts.js — empty file (or actual JS if the design needs it)
- images/profile.jpeg — copy from themes/default/images/profile.jpeg via cp
- images/favicons/favicon.ico — copy from themes/default/images/favicons/favicon.ico via cp
Wire it up — update config.yml theme: field via Edit. Match the exact existing format (theme: default → theme: <new-name>).
Verify the build — run bundle exec ruby ./scaffold.rb. Confirm:
- Exit code 0 (no Liquid render errors)
- _output/index.html exists
- It contains the user's actual name and tagline text (no raw {{ left in output)
Tell the user how to preview — ./preview.sh <theme-name> builds + serves on http://localhost:8080.

Common pitfalls to avoid

Don't drop the GA {% if %} guard. Many users leave google_analytics_id blank; without the guard you'll inject a broken gtag config.
Don't change the loop variable assignment. Liquid uses {% assign link = item.link %} (not {% assign link = item %}) — config.yml nests link data one level deeper than feels natural.
Don't remove og:image meta — it uses {{ avatar }} and link previews on social media depend on it.
Don't hardcode the user's name/tagline into CSS (e.g. as a ::before pseudo-element). The site is rebuilt every time config.yml changes; the CSS must stay content-agnostic.
scripts.js must exist even if empty — index.html references it.
Don't break default. When generating a new theme, leave themes/default/ untouched.