Terry Godier’s Essays have been a highlight of web layout design in 2026. If you follow anyone who cares about well-constructed arguments about how we spend our time online, you’ve been recommended one of these. If you haven’t, buddy, you need to read better bloggers.
Phantom Obligation is an essay about RSS Readers and the feeling of guilt for not getting through it fast enough. Scrolling through this essay slowly fades in new paragraphs, like an expensive film version of an essay.
The title feels designed for IMAX. Images are purposefully dim to not stand out past the text. The layout serves the argument.
Phantom Fluency is about information retrieval with podcasts. It’s the kind of essay that makes me wish I’d written it. I’ve had some of these thoughts, but Godier lays out the argument with clever interaction and strong graphic hierarchy.
Godier’s paragraph fade, a gimmick used in every essay on the site, at once helps you pay attention to the current section you’re reading, but also makes you excited to see the next.
Sometimes I have to scroll back up to finish reading because I wanted to see the reveal. In at least one instance, Godier punishes that motion to make a point. Well played.
For the purpose of this post, I’ve mentioned only the first two essays. As I publish this, there are five. I like all five.
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