Skip to content

No.265 · Forms

Upload Stack

Uploads sorted by what needs you: failures lift to the top, the files moving now sit in full view, the queue waits behind them as a stack of edges, and finished files settle into a quiet ledger. Files travel down the stack as work progresses.

The prompt

The design brief behind this component — reuse it to regenerate, remix, or explain it.

Build a multi-file upload surface where the stack order is the order of attention, not the order files were added. Groups, top to bottom: 1. Needs attention. Failed files, lifted with an error-tinted edge and shadow. The reason is written in full ('Too large — the limit is 25.0 MB', 'Connection dropped at 62% — retry to resume'), with Retry (where it can help) and Remove, plus Retry all when several failed. 2. Uploading. The files in flight (concurrency 2 by default) as full rows: a type glyph (PNG/PDF/ZIP… tinted by kind), name, 'x MB of y MB', a 3px progress bar and Cancel. 3. The queue, drawn physically behind the active rows. The next file is a recessed row with its name and 'Next · 2.1 MB'; the files behind it are 6px edges, each inset 10px more than the last, so you can see the depth of the stack. A line lists what's waiting. 4. Uploaded. A quiet ledger with a check, name and size — only the last three unless expanded — with a total and Clear. Moving between groups uses a FLIP (380ms): a queued edge grows into the next row, a finished row glides down into the ledger, and a failure rises to the top. A single hairline meter above the stack shows total bytes sent. The uploader is injected as (file, report, signal) => Promise, so it works with any backend, and cancelling aborts the signal. It supports drag and drop over the whole surface, a labelled file input, multiple files, and an oversize check before upload. A polite status region announces added, uploaded, failed and cancelled. The demo simulates ~5 MB/s with one file that drops once. Paper and Night themes.

Notes

Interaction
Watch the sample batch; retry the failed zip, cancel something, or drop your own files onto the stack.
Motion
Files glide between groups with a 380ms FLIP; progress bars fill linearly.
Accessibility
Real file input with a visible label; every row has named Retry / Remove / Cancel buttons; progress bars expose role=progressbar with values; a status region announces each outcome. Reduced motion removes the gliding and bar easing.
Responsive
Rows compress under 420px (percentages hide); names truncate; the error reason wraps in full.
On touch
Tap 'browse' to pick files.

Featured

01Glassbreak ButtonA solid plate that fractures from one impact point, cracks racing outward as the shards drift apart.04Liquid GlassA capsule of glass that bends what's behind it, carries a specular highlight around its rim toward your pointer, and squashes like a drop of liquid when pressed.07Phosphor Glass ButtonA liquid-glass pill that senses you coming: its rim light turns to face the cursor and the pill leans in to meet it.08Iris ShutterAn async button with a camera iris for a status light — blades close and turn while it works, then open onto the result.
81Atmosphere CardSmoked-glass link cards: colour pooled in the corners, slow contour currents underneath, a field that leans toward you.93Eclipse Event CardAn editorial event plate with an oversized date and an orbital eclipse bleeding in from the right, alive with slow drift.94Specimen CardAn object mounted under glass: hover lifts the pane with a sweep of reflection and swings out a paper catalogue tag.
95Silk FieldDomain-warped light that pours like liquid silk, with an optional glass lens that refracts the flow under your cursor.106IsobarA living weather map — contour lines traced over a drifting pressure field, with your cursor as a system of its own.
151Prompt ComposerA chat composer where attached files tuck into its top edge like tabs in a folder — they rise from behind it when added and sink back when removed. Send turns into stop while the reply streams.157Aura FieldA writing field where colour only exists while the AI is touching your text: the edge becomes a turning band of light and the words are rewritten in place, one by one, out of a soft blur.
205Halftone CTAA tall CTA banner where slow gold paint drifts beneath a fixed halftone grid, visible only through the dots.
212Nocturne Sign-inA single quiet column on near-black with a breathing seam of frost light behind it — email, password, magic link, nothing more.222Sigil Sign-inA split sign-in whose left half grows a geometric mark from your email — the same address always draws the same sigil.
275Voices CarouselA testimonial exhibition: one large quote at a time on frosted glass, crossfading between voices without ever resizing.
279Feral TitleA brutal condensed wordmark — heartbeat in the dark, letters slam in, a gash tears through and the word bleeds.
301 components