Radix Themes — Playground

Creative ToolsSee it liveradix-ui.com

A floating theme-control panel sits on top of a live component canvas, not beside it — nudge one token and the entire canvas re-renders in place, so the panel and the canvas read as one continuously synced object rather than settings-plus-preview.

Radix Themes — Playground — captured interface — Page excerpt · scroll inside to explore

Source capture · 2026-08-01Open full image ↗

Why this pattern works

The floating (not docked) control panel over a live canvas: every field in the panel is a real design token, and the canvas is the actual rendered component tree, not a screenshot — so changing Radius or Accent color restyles real buttons a few hundred pixels away in real time. Worth stealing wholesale for any settings/theme-builder or config UI: float the controls so the eye can hold both the lever and its effect in one glance, and close the panel with an explicit export action ('Copy Theme') instead of an implicit 'it autosaves'.

Design notes

Surface: Radix Themes marketing site, Playground page — live component canvas with the Themes tab active
Navigation: One shallow tier: a top bar mixing two nav systems in one row — product tabs on the left (Themes as a solid black pill, then Primitives / Icons / Colors as plain text) and site-level links on the right (Documentation, Playground, Blog, GitHub, theme toggle). No sidebar, no breadcrumb — this is a single flat page.
Layout: Fluid canvas underneath a floating, fixed-width control panel. The panel is not a docked sidebar — it overlaps the canvas in the top-right corner with a drop shadow, so the canvas keeps its full width and the panel visually sits a layer above it.
Density: Loose on the canvas (large components, lots of whitespace, one example per row) and tight in the panel (seven stacked control groups in ~340px), because the canvas is the showroom and the panel is the workbench.
Color: White canvas and white panel, both neutral. The only saturated colour on the entire screen is the accent-swatch grid inside the panel — roughly two dozen colour dots spanning the full hue wheel — plus whatever accent colour is currently selected showing up faithfully in the canvas's solid button.
Type: Plain black sans throughout, no serif or monospace anywhere. Hierarchy comes entirely from weight and size: bold ~20px section headings on the canvas, bold ~18px panel title, ~13-14px labels for every control group.
Pattern: Tokens, not settings: every control in the floating panel (accent colour, gray colour, radius, scaling, panel background, appearance) maps 1:1 to a real design token, and the canvas is live rendered output — so touching a swatch restyles real buttons a few hundred pixels away in the same frame, with no save step, no reload, no separate preview mode.
States: Every control opens on a sane, complete default (Medium radius, 100% scaling, Light appearance, Translucent panel, a blue accent already applied to the canvas buttons) — there is no blank or unstyled first-paint state; the demo is always mid-story.
Don't: Don't dock this panel as a sidebar that resizes the canvas. The moment it stops floating over the content and starts pushing it aside, it reads as a settings screen instead of a live 'watch the product restyle itself' demo — the overlap and the shadow are doing real work, not just decoration.

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# My project
[Describe the product, audience, and screen you want to improve]

Stack: Use the existing project stack
Task: Implement the interface and verify the result in the existing project.

## Tool guidance (Any AI tool)
Use available project tools to inspect, implement, and test. State any unavailable capabilities.

# Design reference: Radix Themes — Playground
Source: https://www.radix-ui.com/themes/playground
Swipefile reference: https://swipefile.design/ref/radix-playground/
Captured: 2026-08-01. This is a dated reference, not a claim about the current live product.
Capture scope: a page excerpt. Do not infer unseen sections or interactions.

## Objective
Adapt the interaction and layout patterns below to my project. Use my own content and identity. Do not reproduce logos, proprietary copy, or brand assets.

## Reference notes
- surface: Radix Themes marketing site, Playground page — live component canvas with the Themes tab active
- nav: One shallow tier: a top bar mixing two nav systems in one row — product tabs on the left (Themes as a solid black pill, then Primitives / Icons / Colors as plain text) and site-level links on the right (Documentation, Playground, Blog, GitHub, theme toggle). No sidebar, no breadcrumb — this is a single flat page.
- layout: Fluid canvas underneath a floating, fixed-width control panel. The panel is not a docked sidebar — it overlaps the canvas in the top-right corner with a drop shadow, so the canvas keeps its full width and the panel visually sits a layer above it.
- density: Loose on the canvas (large components, lots of whitespace, one example per row) and tight in the panel (seven stacked control groups in ~340px), because the canvas is the showroom and the panel is the workbench.
- color: White canvas and white panel, both neutral. The only saturated colour on the entire screen is the accent-swatch grid inside the panel — roughly two dozen colour dots spanning the full hue wheel — plus whatever accent colour is currently selected showing up faithfully in the canvas's solid button.
- typography: Plain black sans throughout, no serif or monospace anywhere. Hierarchy comes entirely from weight and size: bold ~20px section headings on the canvas, bold ~18px panel title, ~13-14px labels for every control group.
- pattern: Tokens, not settings: every control in the floating panel (accent colour, gray colour, radius, scaling, panel background, appearance) maps 1:1 to a real design token, and the canvas is live rendered output — so touching a swatch restyles real buttons a few hundred pixels away in the same frame, with no save step, no reload, no separate preview mode.
- states: Every control opens on a sane, complete default (Medium radius, 100% scaling, Light appearance, Translucent panel, a blue accent already applied to the canvas buttons) — there is no blank or unstyled first-paint state; the demo is always mid-story.
- dont: Don't dock this panel as a sidebar that resizes the canvas. The moment it stops floating over the content and starts pushing it aside, it reads as a settings screen instead of a live 'watch the product restyle itself' demo — the overlap and the shadow are doing real work, not just decoration.

Useful for: The floating (not docked) control panel over a live canvas: every field in the panel is a real design token, and the canvas is the actual rendered component tree, not a screenshot — so changing Radius or Accent color restyles real buttons a few hundred pixels away in real time. Worth stealing wholesale for any settings/theme-builder or config UI: float the controls so the eye can hold both the lever and its effect in one glance, and close the panel with an explicit export action ('Copy Theme') instead of an implicit 'it autosaves'.

## Acceptance criteria
- Existing project conventions, design tokens, working functionality, and unrelated changes are preserved.
- Two or three reference principles clearly support the user's task; conflicts are resolved in favor of usability and the existing product.
- Reusable components and semantic HTML express the interface. Available licensed assets are used; important UI text is never rendered as a bitmap.
- Every visible control has a defined behavior. Loading, empty, error, success, disabled, and long-content states are specified where relevant. Demo data is clearly labeled.
- Navigation and content adapt at 375px, 768px, and 1440px without horizontal page overflow. Keyboard use, visible focus, labeled inputs, at least 44px touch targets, readable contrast, and reduced motion are supported.
- Verification distinguishes rendered behavior from proposals and identifies anything still requiring a backend or external service.

## Quality bar
Clear hierarchy, consistent spacing, restrained surfaces, and purposeful motion. Avoid decorative gradients, excessive cards, placeholder buttons, and invented metrics unless the project calls for them. Do not claim a feature is connected or tested without evidence.

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## Objective
Adapt the interaction and layout patterns below to my project. Use my own content and identity. Do not reproduce logos, proprietary copy, or brand assets.

Radix Themes — Playground

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