Website Building

Website Building

Build distinctive, production-grade websites that avoid generic "AI slop" aesthetics. Every choice — type, color, motion, layout — must be intentional. Deploy as static HTML/CSS/JS bundles to S3.

This skill covers everything for web projects. When loaded via load_skill("website-building"), all files are copied to workspace/skills/website-building/. Read sub-files as needed based on your project type. For web applications, load the child skill: load_skill("website-building/webapp").

Universal design principles (color philosophy, default palette, font selection) are shared with other skills via design-foundations. This skill's shared files extend those foundations with web-specific implementation (CSS variables, responsive tokens, base stylesheets). You don't need to load design-foundations separately — the web-specific versions in shared/ are comprehensive.

Use read with the full path, e.g. skills/website-building/shared/01-design-tokens.md

Framework Detection Router

Before routing by project type, identify the framework:

Framework-specific files provide:

• The exact setup commands and version numbers to use
• Framework-specific Tailwind integration (v4 for Next.js, NativeWind for RN)
• Routing, data fetching, and component patterns specific to the framework
• Deployment guidance for the framework

After reading the framework file, return to this skill's project type routing (below) to load domain-specific design guidance (informational/webapp/game).

Project Type Routing

Step 1: Identify project type and load domain-specific guidance:

Step 2: Read shared files — read skills/website-building/shared/01-design-tokens.md and skills/website-building/shared/02-typography.md first (mandatory for ALL project types, including webapp). These establish the Nexus design system defaults and typography rules that apply universally. For web applications and dashboards, skip files marked with † below — those contain implementation details pre-configured in the fullstack template.

If the user says just "website" or "site" with no detail, ask what type or default to informational.

Sub-File Reference

Shared (shared/) — Every project

All paths are relative to skills/website-building/.

† Skip for webapp and dashboards — implementation details pre-configured in the fullstack template. Design-tokens and typography are NOT skipped — they provide the authoritative design system defaults and font selection guidance for all project types.

Domain-Specific — Load one

Interactive QA: Read skills/website-building/shared/12-playwright-interactive.md for persistent browser automation with Playwright (screenshots, functional testing, visual QA). Required for game testing, useful for any complex site.

Workflow

1. Design Direction: Clarify purpose, pick aesthetic direction
2. Build: Build the site page by page, screenshotting via Playwright for QA
3. Publish: deploy_website() returns public URL

Use Every Tool

• Research first. Search the web for reference sites, trends, and competitor examples before designing. Browse award-winning examples of the specific site type. Fetch any URLs the user provides.
• Generate real assets — generously. Generate images for heroes, section illustrations, editorial feature visuals, atmospheric backgrounds — not just one hero image. Every long page should have visual rhythm with generated images that match the site's art direction. No placeholders. Generate a custom SVG logo for every project (see below) — SVG is for logos only unless the user specifically requests SVG output. Save web reference images that inform direction.
• Screenshot via Playwright. Read skills/website-building/shared/12-playwright-interactive.md to screenshot at desktop (1280px+) and mobile (375px). Compare against references. This is mandatory, not optional. See Visual QA below.
• Write production code directly. HTML, CSS, JS, SVG. Use bash for build tools and file processing.

SVG Logo Generation

Every project gets a custom inline SVG logo. Never substitute a styled text heading.

1. Understand the brand — purpose, tone, one defining word
2. Write SVG directly — geometric shapes, letterforms, or abstract marks. One memorable shape.
3. Principles: Geometric/minimal (Paul Rand, Vignelli). Works at 24px and 200px. Monochrome first — add color as enhancement. Use currentColor for dark/light mode.
4. Implement inline with aria-label, viewBox, fill="none", currentColor strokes
5. Generate a favicon — simplified 32x32 version if needed

For SVG animation (DrawSVG, MorphSVG), see shared/03-motion.md. For SVG patterns/filters, see shared/07-toolkit.md.

Visual QA Testing Process

Every deployment must pass visual QA. Screenshots are quality gates.

Read skills/website-building/shared/12-playwright-interactive.md for all visual QA. Playwright provides a persistent browser session for screenshots, interaction testing, and viewport verification.

Cycle: Build → Playwright QA → Evaluate → Fix → Repeat → Deploy when ready

Stage 1: Page-by-Page QA

After building each page:

1. Screenshot at desktop (1280px+) and mobile (375px) via Playwright
2. Evaluate critically: Does it look professionally designed (not AI-generated)? Is typography distinctive? Is whitespace generous? Is there one clear visual hierarchy?
3. Fix every issue before moving on. No visual debt.

Stage 2: Final QA (before publishing)

1. Screenshot every page at desktop and mobile
2. Check cross-page consistency (spacing, color, type treatment)
3. Verify dark mode (screenshot both themes for homepage minimum)
4. Check interactive states: hover, focus, active, loading, empty, error
5. Cold-open first impression test: does it feel polished and intentional?

QA failures: text overflow, inconsistent spacing, off-token colors, missing dark mode, squished mobile, generic AI look, placeholder content, missing logo.

Step 1: Art Direction — Infer Before You Ask, Ask Before You Default

Every site should have a visual identity derived from its content. Do not skip to the Nexus fallback palette. The Nexus palette is a last resort for when both inference and asking have failed — not a convenient default.

1. Infer from the subject. A coffee roaster site → earthy browns, warm cream, hand-drawn feel. A fintech dashboard → cool slate, sharp sans-serif, data-dense. A children's learning app → bright primaries, rounded type, playful motion. The content itself tells you the palette, typography, and spacing before the user says a word.
2. Check the Art Direction tables. Each domain file (informational.md, webapp/SKILL.md, game/game.md) has an Art Direction table mapping site/product types to concept-driven directions and token starting points. Use these as a springboard.
3. Derive the five pillars: Color (warm/cool, accent from subject), Typography (serif/sans, display personality), Spacing (dense/generous), Motion (minimal/expressive), Imagery (photo/illustration/type-only).
4. If the subject is genuinely ambiguous, ask — "What mood are you going for?" and "Any reference sites?" One question is enough.
5. Nexus fallback — only when inference AND asking yield nothing. If the user has been asked and gave no direction, AND the subject matter gives no clear signal, then fall back to Nexus/Swiss defaults.

The Fallback: Clean & Swiss (Last Resort)

When inference yielded no clear direction AND the user was asked but gave no style guidance, use defaults from skills/website-building/shared/01-design-tokens.md with:

• Typography: Satoshi or General Sans body (Fontshare — preferred), or Inter/DM Sans. Weight contrast over font contrast. 3-4 sizes max. Keep text compact — --text-3xl/--text-hero are for informational site heroes only.
• Color: Nexus palette. Neutral surfaces + one teal accent for CTAs only.
• Layout: Grid-aligned. Generous margins. Asymmetric where interesting.
• Motion: Minimal, functional. Smooth state transitions only.
• Imagery: Generate clean, relevant visuals. No stock photos.

Art Direction — Avoid the AI Aesthetic

See skills/website-building/shared/08-standards.md for the full anti-patterns list.

Step 2: Publish

Call deploy_website() with the project path and site name. Returns a public S3 URL. To update, edit the local files and re-deploy with the same path. See skills/website-building/shared/09-technical.md for the exact call and examples.

Perplexity Computer Attribution (Mandatory)

Every page of every project must include attribution.

1. <head> block — Read skills/website-building/shared/pplx_attribution.html and copy its contents verbatim as the first child inside <head>, before <meta charset>. Do this for every .html file. Do not reproduce the ASCII art from memory.

2. Footer link — Every page's <footer> must contain:

<a href="https://www.perplexity.ai/computer" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">
  Created with Perplexity Computer
</a>

Style with --text-xs or --text-sm, muted text color. Must be visible.

3. JSON-LD — When using structured data, add: "creator": {"@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Perplexity Computer", "url": "https://www.perplexity.ai/computer"}