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Tactile UI

Kit part · Avatars

Avatar

A person’s mark, struck like a coin: initials stamped into the field, or a photo set under the rim, with a status lamp mounted at five o’clock. Stacks into a group with a count.

Element
<span role="img">
Needs
kit.css
Rules
avatar.rules.md · 5
Finishes
Aluminium · Graphite · Oak · Walnut · Porcelain · Black · Daylight · Night · Paper · Phosphor · E-paper · AMOLED
Volumes
Tactile · Quiet
On this page
  1. Variants
  2. Every state, at once
  3. API
  4. Markup
  5. Accessibility
  6. How it’s built
  7. Rules
  8. Related parts

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Variants

AOTR
Initials · stamped
MHJI
Photo · set under the rim
AOTR
With a status lamp
SOSOSOSO
Sizes · 28 · 40 · 56 · 80
AOTRMH
Stack with a count
SA
Square · a team, not a person

Every state, at once

Both finishes, side by side. Hover, pressed and focus are forced with .is-hover, .is-down and .is-focus; checked and disabled are real.

Aluminium

PartInitialsPhotoOnlineAwayBusyOffline
40pxAOAOAOAOAOAO
56pxTRTRTRTRTRTR

Graphite

PartInitialsPhotoOnlineAwayBusyOffline
40pxAOAOAOAOAOAO
56pxTRTRTRTRTRTR

API

NameKindValuesWhat it does
.tui-avatarclasson <span role="img">The coin: a raised rim and a struck field, 40px.
aria-labelattributerequiredThe person’s name, then the status if a lamp shows one: “Ada Okafor, online”.
.tui-avatar__markclass1–2 letters · an SVGStamped initials, or a person glyph for a guest. Always present, under any photo.
imgelementalt=""A photo set under the rim. Empty alt: the coin’s label already names the person. If it fails to load, the initials show.
.tui-lampelementgreen · amber · red · unlitA status lamp mounted in the rim at five o’clock.
.tui-avatar--sm · --lg · --xlclass28px · 56px · 80pxSizes. Initials, rim and lamp scale with the coin.
--sizeCSS property40pxAny other size. The field, the type and the lamp follow it.
.tui-avatar--squareclassA squared coin for a team, a studio or a company.
.tui-avatar-groupclassrole="group" + aria-labelA stack. Coins overlap from the left; each casts its shadow on the next.
.tui-avatar-group--sm · --lgclass28px · 56pxEvery coin in the stack at one size.
.tui-avatar--moreclassaria-hidden="true"The count at the end of a stack: “+4”. The group’s label already says it.

Markup

<!-- One person: initials under the photo, status in the label. -->
<span class="tui-avatar" role="img" aria-label="Ada Okafor, online">
  <span class="tui-avatar__mark">AO</span>
  <img src="ada.jpg" alt="">
  <span class="tui-lamp" data-on></span>
</span>

<!-- A stack of people with a count. -->
<span class="tui-avatar-group" role="group" aria-label="7 people: Ada Okafor, Tom Reyes, Mira Hale and 4 more">
  <span class="tui-avatar" role="img" aria-label="Ada Okafor"><span class="tui-avatar__mark">AO</span><img src="ada.jpg" alt=""></span>
  <span class="tui-avatar" role="img" aria-label="Tom Reyes"><span class="tui-avatar__mark">TR</span></span>
  <span class="tui-avatar" role="img" aria-label="Mira Hale"><span class="tui-avatar__mark">MH</span><img src="mira.jpg" alt=""></span>
  <span class="tui-avatar tui-avatar--more" aria-hidden="true"><span class="tui-avatar__mark">+4</span></span>
</span>

Needs kit.css only, no script. How to install the kit.

Accessibility

  • The coin is one image: role="img" with an aria-label. Its initials, photo and lamp are read as that one name, never letter by letter.
  • Status is in the label as words (“online”, “away”); the lamp is the second signal.
  • A stack is a role="group" whose label lists who is in it and how many more: the “+4” coin is hidden from the reader, because the label says it.
  • Initials are printed in --tui-ink-2 on the field: above 6:1 in aluminium and graphite.

How it’s built

No script and no images of its own. The rim is a raised coin (--tui-raised under a highlight toward the lamp); the field is a ::before inset by 7.5% of the size, and an ::after above everything draws the rim’s shadow on its upper edge and a lit lower lip, over a photo too. Initials are stamped with two text shadows: dark on the cut’s upper wall, light on its lower lip. A photo is layered over the initials, so a broken image with alt="" leaves them readable. The lamp gets a bezel of --tui-face-hi. In a stack, each coin casts a shadow to the right and the first lies on top.

Rules

avatar.rules.mdIn the brain

The name belongs in the label, not the picture; and a coin you cannot see is still counted in the stack’s name.

5 rules in this file, with the foundations they rest on and the anti-patterns that break them. Full rules ship in the brain with the Pass.

See the Founder PassHow agents use the brain

Profile card

A person’s ID plate: their coin set in a countersunk socket, name and role, a rating plate of facts engraved in tabular figures, and one key to act. Compact for one line.

Lamp

The only colour in the kit: a lamp that is on. Green is on, amber is waiting, red is recording or failing, blue is linked, white is standing by. Always next to words.

List

Rows in a rack: a mark, a title, a second line and a fact or a key at the end. Chosen rows sink into a recess with their check key latched; in a running order, a row lifts out of the rack on its skirt and slides past the others, from the keyboard or by its grip.