[HN Gopher] Poline - An enigmatic color palette generator using ...
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Poline - An enigmatic color palette generator using polar
coordinates
Author : zdw
Score : 179 points
Date : 2025-06-14 23:38 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (meodai.github.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (meodai.github.io)
| onli wrote:
| Doesn't seem to work on Firefox - I tried with adblocker and
| tracking protection disabled. Console complains:
|
| Uncaught SyntaxError: The requested module
| 'https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/highlight.js/11.7.0/e...'
| doesn't provide an export named: 'default'
| jansan wrote:
| Works on my Firefox on Windows.
|
| The website is awesome, however, I am not sure if the palettes
| are very useful.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| Or rather, they're ugly.
| nemomarx wrote:
| >"poline" is an enigmatic color palette generator, that harnesses
| the mystical witchcraft of polar coordinates. Its methodology,
| defying conventional color science, is steeped in the esoteric
| knowledge of the early 20th century. This magical technology
| defies explanation, drawing lines between anchors to produce
| visually striking and otherworldly palettes. It is an
| indispensable tool for the modern generative sorcerer, and a
| delight for the eye
|
| I'm not totally sure I understand this intro - what's different
| here compared to normal color science palette makers?
|
| I do like the visual presentation and animation a lot though.
| caseyohara wrote:
| What don't you understand? It defies conventional color science
| and is steeped in the esoteric knowledge of the early 20th
| century.
|
| It is a very nice palette generator, but I really dislike all
| the talk of magic/mysticism/sorcery/witchcraft. It's a dang
| color generator, ease up on the dungeon master language.
| macrocosmos wrote:
| It defies explanation. This is followed up by an
| explantation.
| cardiffspaceman wrote:
| Defied unsuccessfully.
| nemomarx wrote:
| It feels a little bit ai generated there, or maybe just
| padded out marketing copy - more adjectives and superlatives
| than I'd expect from a technical site at least. Telling you
| how to call it to get a "mesmerizing" palette for example
|
| I can handle some purple mysticism prose but I did want like
| a comparison of a few palettes from this polar system vs some
| traditional plane ones. If the creator reads this thread
| that's my note
| epiccoleman wrote:
| on the other hand, i like the "theme" - i'm a sucker for that
| mix of "wizardry" metaphor with programming stuff.
|
| I'm reminded for instance of this fun little post:
|
| https://aphyr.com/posts/341-hexing-the-technical-interview
| humanfromearth9 wrote:
| It's enigmatic, hence you don't understand.
| sram1337 wrote:
| There's no science behind it. You're reading ai generated text.
|
| My guess is the prompt was something like this:
|
| "describe a color palette generating tool that uses the magic
| of polar coordinates to make pretty color palettes"
| haiku2077 wrote:
| It's not AI generated; it's a joke by the creator, as
| explained here a couple of years ago:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34665584
| nemomarx wrote:
| Ah, thanks for the cite!
| hinterlands wrote:
| It is AI-generated. I'm sure the author provided the prompt
| and liked the result, but it is the output of an LLM.
| SkyBelow wrote:
| It feels a bit satirical or otherwise done for fun, especially
| with sections like the following.
|
| "And thus, the tome of "poline" has been written. Its mystical
| powers, steeped in the arcane knowledge of the ancients, now
| reside within these pages. May this compendium serve you in
| your quest for the ultimate color palette."
|
| Either way, I wasn't expecting to encounter Poe's law inside a
| color palette maker.
| koprocezar wrote:
| Nice one!
| basisword wrote:
| Nice. Hard to generate an unpleasant palette with this at all.
| jonathaneunice wrote:
| It's cool.
|
| Though I am unsure if I am a sufficiently modern generative
| sorcerer to appreciate its eldritch, enigmatic nature.
| mock-possum wrote:
| What a fun project! I feel like you really bury the lede in terms
| of what kinds of palettes are generateable- the first interactive
| demo at the top of page mostly only makes bruises, but later on
| your get full on saturated rainbows!
| basisword wrote:
| Wow, I didn't even realise you could scroll down! Much more
| flexible than I first thought.
| rambambram wrote:
| Hats off! I never experienced a colorcombo generator that only
| turned up good palettes.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| Nicely done, but I'm a bit puzzled by all the alchemical stuff
| (which, to be fair, is probably the point).
| bogdanoff_2 wrote:
| I'm impressed by the naming of colors at the very end.
| meodai wrote:
| thanks! Collecting them has been my hobby for the past few
| years: https://github.com/meodai/color-names
| altairprime wrote:
| Previously on HN (2 years ago) with creator's replies:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34662722
| pseudocomposer wrote:
| Super cool! If the author/creator happens to be reading, I'd
| suggest that, when the user is at the top of the page (ie on
| first load), the default demo wheel's should animate between a
| few different curves. At first glance (before scrolling down), it
| looks somewhat primitive, and less interesting than it really is.
| kazinator wrote:
| It makes sense. When you have complementary colors in the
| palette, you need to include more darks so that in your design
| you can separate the two. This is achieved because the line has
| pass near the centre.
| Teever wrote:
| The favicon updates to match the palette. That's a nice touch.
| stevenhuang wrote:
| What an obnoxiously unclickable interaction on mobile. A very
| strange choice of ux for something that insists to be so
| prominent on my screen that follows my scroll, yet clicking on
| the palette does nothing.
| james_marks wrote:
| This is the most beautiful thing I've seen in a long, long time.
| meodai wrote:
| thanks! that means a lot
| meodai wrote:
| To those not into the mythical vibe: I totally get it. I stumbled
| onto something that looked good by accident and thought it'd be
| fun to lean into the mystical theme -- especially since there's
| no real science or theory behind it (that I know of). Mostly, I
| just wanted an excuse to build a fun website around it.
|
| And to everyone else -- thanks for the kind words, really
| appreciate it!
| gnulinux wrote:
| I love the "old internet" vibe with the new internet look. I
| think it's a very creative idea, I wouldn't mind the haters too
| too much. I love it!
| __MatrixMan__ wrote:
| I'd like to configure my editor to use something like this to
| generate a unique color palette for the syntax highlighting for
| each project so that if I have files from multiple projects open
| at the same time they look different. Maybe base it on a hash of
| the git remote.
| coretx wrote:
| He got me until I read "npm install".
| andyfeliciotti wrote:
| Meodai is the color king! Fantastic tool
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(page generated 2025-06-18 23:00 UTC)