01 / The idea
A rail for long pages.
Try it
Choose what the rail does and how its marks look.
Shows the main sections. Move toward the rail to expand nearby marks.
Long pages are easy to lose your place in. This rail keeps the document's shape at the edge of the screen without taking up a column.
Choose a mode and marker style above. Then scroll, hover over the rail, or use one of its links.
02 / Orientation
See where you are.
Each mark belongs to a section. The current one grows darker and longer while the page moves underneath it.
The rail shows enough structure to orient you without repeating the whole outline.
03 / Proximity
Move closer.
Move toward the rail and the nearest marks expand. In chapter mode, their names appear too.
Touch users can use the visible marks. Keyboard users can focus each link and read its label.
05 / For everyone
Small marks, full targets.
The marks stay small, but every link has a 40-pixel target. Tab focuses each chapter. Enter opens it and moves focus to the section.
Reduced motion turns smooth scrolling off. Screen readers announce the current section.
06 / What's next
Pick the right amount of navigation.
Docs minimap maps headings and paragraphs. Chapters lists the main sections. Indicator only shows reading progress.
Lines and dots change the look, not the behavior. This experiment will stay in Labs until I know when it works better than a normal table of contents.