lab / experiment

Redacted

A short memory, blacked out line by line. Select a line to read it, but you can only hold three at once; a fourth covers the oldest again.

published: 2026-10-30
status: wip
stack: TypeScript · React · Selection API

livewip

fallback

Twelve numbered lines of a short memory, each covered by a bone bar like a redacted document. Selecting a line reads it through the bar and leaves it open, but only three lines stay open at a time, so opening a fourth covers the oldest again. The lines tell of a summer by the sea, a ferry at seven, a knot someone taught, a house sold the year after, and end on the rule of the page itself.

notes

Reading by selecting

Selecting text is something everyone does and no page asks for. Here it is the only way to read. A blacked-out line is invisible text on a bone bar, and its ::selection turns it back to bone on black, so the words show while you drag across them. When the selection lands, the Selection API says which lines it touched, and those stay open.

Three at a time

The open lines are a queue of three. Selecting a fourth pushes the oldest out, and it goes dark again. A long selection across many lines leaves only its last three open. From the keyboard, Tab to a line and press Enter.

For eyes only

The blacking out is paint. The words are in the page all along, so a screen reader reads every line, and copying a selection copies the text. Nothing here is secret: it is a page about not being able to hold much at once.

## Reading by selecting

## Three at a time

## For eyes only

Reading by selecting

Three at a time

For eyes only