← Atlas · Topics: inspiration, motion, navigation
Hover States
- Site
- hoverstat.es
- Type
- gallery
- Verdict
- Useful
- Licence
- Conditional licence, proprietary free
proprietary-freefree to browse; site content is copyright Official Business and, as the footer states, screenshots remain the property of their owners - Agent channels
- none
- Pricing
- free
- Reviewed
What it is
Hover States (hoverstat.es) is one of the older web-design inspiration archives, curated since 2012 by Mike Guppy and Dan Powell and published by the studio Official Business. It features sites that experiment with design, interactivity and content, mostly portfolios, studios, cultural institutions and editorial projects. Its search index held about 1,775 features at review time, browsable by year from 2012 to 2026 and by tags such as navigation, typography, scroll, 3D and weird.
When to open it
When you want art-directed, non-template references for a portfolio, studio, museum or editorial site, and especially when you need fresh ideas for navigation, hover behaviour or image handling.
Most useful
- Written notes: every feature comes with a short paragraph naming the interaction worth studying, for example a dial menu, a node-based project list or an SVG text-distortion effect.
- Credits: features credit the studio or developer behind the site where known, which helps you find people to study or hire.
- Tags and years: the archive filters by tag and by year, useful for spotting how experimental patterns have changed over time.
- RSS feed and newsletter: new features appear in
/rss.xml(the 12 most recent) and in a newsletter, and are posted on Instagram.
Using it with agents
No API, MCP or llms.txt, but the RSS feed and the plain-text notes are easy for an agent to read. Pick a feature, give the agent the note plus your own observation of the live site, and ask it to prototype the interaction, not the design.
Watch out for
- Linked sites age: older features often point to redesigned or offline sites.
- Posting is irregular, with gaps of months between batches.
- Many featured sites trade usability and accessibility for expression; check keyboard, reduced-motion and mobile behaviour before borrowing an idea.
Reusable ideas
- Pair each gallery entry with one or two sentences that name the specific interaction, so the reference teaches something.
- Credit the makers on every entry and give them a way to correct credits.
- Let visitors browse by year to see a style's history, not only the latest work.