The problem
A slide lists four workstreams. The reader’s next question is which are done, which are stuck and which have not started. Writing “(done)” after each one makes the list read like a form, and coloring a whole row says nothing in a black-and-white printout.
- Plain words in a row are easy to skip, and they all look alike.
- A colored row costs the reader the text’s contrast, and the color alone carries the meaning.
- A pasted label image doesn’t take the theme’s colors and doesn’t resize with the text.
What you want is a small, named label with its own shape and color, set right where the status is.
The idea
- A label in braces.
`{STABLE}`is a capsule. Add words in any order to change it: a shape (tag,chip), a color (c1toc12) or a size (sm,lg). - The shape carries meaning too. A circle is a count, a chevron is a step or a direction, a diamond is a decision. The shape still reads when the color doesn’t.
- It sizes itself. A pill takes its size from the text around it, so one pill fits a heading, a bullet and a caption.
- The deck’s colors.
c1toc12are the same slots the charts and sparks use. A slot picks contrast and never meaning. - Always on. Pills are part of how Lattice draws a slide, so there is nothing to turn on, and nothing can turn them off.
How to use it
Pills are on in every deck. Write one in inline code. The label comes first, then any words, in any order:
Shipped and load-tested `{STABLE, c2}`| Word | Does |
|---|---|
pill (the default), chip, tag, tag-bordered | The shape of the label |
circle, diamond | A round or pointed badge for one character or a number |
chevron-right, chevron-left | A pointed label that shows a direction |
c1 … c12 | The color, from the deck’s chart palette |
sm, lg | A step smaller or larger than the text around it |
icon=name | A drawn icon beside the label, when the icons plugin knows the name |
Each word can also be written by name: {BETA, shape=tag, color=c4} is {BETA, tag, c4}. A label with a comma or a | goes in quotes: {"Cost, excluding tax"}. To show the braces themselves, put a backslash in front: `\{LIVE}`.
In the Studio, type `{ for a menu of starter pills. After a comma, the menu offers only the words that fit next.
Where else it fits
Anywhere a row, a heading or a line has a state: a ledger of workstreams, a status next to a heading, a step number, a count, a tag on a figure caption.
How Lattice uses it
Pills are part of every slide, so no slide type has to ask for the plugin. The colors are slots, not names: c2 is a different hue on every theme, so a slot picks contrast and never meaning. Use a pill’s words, not its color, to say what it means.
What it doesn’t do
- It has no off switch. Pills are always on. A plugin list, a host setting or a
--disable-pluginoption cannot turn them off, and naming one as disabled is an error. - It doesn’t guess. An unknown or repeated word leaves the span as plain code, and the deck linter says why.
{ ok, scene }with padded braces is code. - It isn’t a status system. The label and the color mean what you write. Lattice does not check that
{STABLE}is green. - Circles and diamonds hold one character or a number up to two digits. Longer text makes an oval, and the linter points you to
tagorchip.