less than 1 minute read

TL;DR: The demo grid is fully interactive, navigable, and usable without instructions.

Project page: /projects/plumafill/

Context

Milestone 1 exists to answer a single question: is this puzzle fun and understandable before investing in correctness or data models. Through Issue 1-5, the focus stayed deliberately narrow—interaction, feedback, and flow—without introducing persistence or validation complexity.

What changed

  • Enforced single-letter, uppercase-only cell input
  • Implemented auto-advance behavior across the grid
  • Added full keyboard navigation (arrows, backspace wrap)
  • Introduced a Check action with clear correctness feedback
  • Ensured blank cells are not incorrectly flagged as wrong

What I learned

  • Small interaction frictions compound quickly in grid-based UIs
  • Keyboard behavior matters more than visual polish at this stage
  • “Understandable without instructions” is a higher bar than it sounds

Next

  • Close out Milestone 1 with reset behavior (Issue 1-6)
  • Lock Proof-of-Fun
  • Begin Milestone 2 with a real puzzle data model

Updated: