Glassmorphism is just a backdrop-filter

Glassmorphism was the visual identity of the previous version of this site. Every card had backdrop-filter: blur(20px). Every pillar had a saturate(180%). The result looked expensive and felt heavy.

The problem is not the technique. backdrop-filter is a beautiful CSS feature, and the saturate-blur combination genuinely makes layered interfaces feel real. The problem is when you use it as a base. Glass is a layer, not a surface. When you put it on every card on a content page, the eye has nowhere to land. Everything is fighting for attention with everything else.

The redesign keeps glass for the things that float above content: the AI sidekick panel, hover-elevated cards, command palette. The content surface goes back to plain hairline-bordered cards on cream. Reading a long post on a glass background is genuinely harder than reading it on a solid one — the eye has to track the noise under the text.

Rule of thumb I am now using: if it is a content surface, it is flat. If it is an interaction surface, it can be glass. Two different roles, two different treatments.