Content
  1. TL, DR
  2. Context
  3. Features
  4. The Collection
  5. Technical
  6. Learnings

A personal browser for Are.na channels

For years, Are.na has been my notebook for the internet. Wordminders is the interface I built to actually live inside those collections, not just scroll a grid on someone else's site.

2026/Design Engineering/wordminders.space

WhenApril –– May '26
ForPersonal
DisciplineDesign engineering, front-end, WebGL, interaction
ToolsNext.js, React, Three.js, React Three Fiber, Motion, Tailwind CSS 4, Are.na API

TL, DR

Wordminders is a personal Are.na browser at wordminders.space. Ten curated channels sit behind a frosted Select a disk picker — each channel a spinning CD with slideshow art — over an infinite WebGL canvas of grayscale tiles. Pick a disk and the whole shell crossfades to that feed; pan the canvas, scrub a wave gallery, or open blocks in a lightbox. Built in about four weeks with Next.js 16, dual WebGL renderers, and the Are.na v3 API.

Context

For years, Are.na has been my notebook for the internet, favorite sites, design references, music, odd corners of culture. The platform's recent API made it possible to build something I'd always wanted: a way to actually live inside those collections, not just scroll a grid on someone else's site.

The design intent is deliberately playful. References aren't rows in a CMS, they're tiles on an infinite canvas, frames in a horizontal wave, or spinning CDs in a frosted picker. Idle imagery stays grayscale; hover brings color back. That mirrors how I actually browse: a calm field of references, one thing pops when I'm curious.

The stakes are small and human: this isn't a product pitch. It's a love letter to a tool I use daily, built because the API finally let me.

Select a disk

Features

→ Wave gallery — horizontal filmstrip in React Three Fiber
  1. 1Channel picker — ten channels as spinning CDs
  2. 2Infinite WebGL canvas — pan an endless grid of blocks; grayscale idle, color on hover
  3. 3Wave gallery — horizontal filmstrip in React Three Fiber, scrub blocks in manual Are.na order
  4. 4Block lightbox — image, text, link, or channel preview, always linking to canonical Are.na permalinks

The Collection

Ten channels are allowlisted in code; each is treated like a record on a shelf you can pull down and play.

  1. 1Wordminders, my default channel
  2. 22oo3, Fav sites, Persona, design and web references
  3. 3Animal shaped breads, Masks, Faces of bandits, visual culture
  4. 4Geo for en mi cuarto, Google street view self portraits, place and self
  5. 5Credits, film and media
Wordminders Select a disk picker showing 2oo3 and Animal shaped breads channels as spinning CD discs
Select a disk — curated channels as spinning CDs

Technical

Stack

Learnings

Small web tools for people who collect things.

  1. Allowlisting channels in code curates a personal canon and prevents arbitrary API proxy abuse
  2. Grayscale idle / color on hover reduces visual noise on dense canvases, hover becomes intentional focus
  3. Dual viewers (Canvas + Wave) prove the same feed can support multiple spatial metaphors without duplicating data
  4. Guest-tier API limits shaped the architecture, progressive hydration is a feature, not a compromise
wordminders.spaceAre.na