# Dao / a reading exhibition

Dr Non's interpretation of the Dao De Jing, visually organized using his
[Palette system](https://colors.nonarkara.org/). This is not an official MoMA
project, a reproduction of Wada's book, or a historical Daoist colour taxonomy.

## A reader in a hurry

Begin, open the five-minute guide, or find a chapter. Inside each room:
chapter title → one-sentence idea → interpretation → original Chinese and
translation → reflection. Read, Original, Study, All chapters, and Next are
explicit controls. Deeper material belongs to Language lab, Gallery, and Field
notes. Those are doors, not deletions. The complete transit map is preserved.

Chapter 40 is intentionally different: four lines, quiet space, no compulsory
explanation. The rest of the book should not imitate that exception.

## Colour as a relationship, not decoration

`chapter_palettes.js` is the explicit 81-chapter manifest. Every chapter has
a different two-colour source plate. Three- and four-colour relationships are
selected by the greatest overlap with that pair (the earliest source plate
breaks ties). They are companion relationships, not 81 unique triples/quartets.
No runtime model, network lookup, randomness, or hue rotation is involved.

The selections are editorial: cool blue for water (8 / 119, 78 / 49); neutral
weight for civic restraint (3 / 69); warm/cool tension for overstimulation
(12 / 1); carmine/black for interruption (18 / 117); deep blue for reversal
(40 / 106). Mood labels describe Dr
Non's intended atmosphere. Wada did not assign these colours to Laozi.

| Role | Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Chapter identity | Raw lighter source colour against its companion; 76:24 field on desktop, narrow companion edge on phones |
| Sustained reading | Ground = lighter member mixed 88% toward white; ink = darker member mixed 68% toward black |
| Study / pointers | Three-colour field with two bounded colour marks; text uses black or white by measured luminance |
| Artifact plates | Four-colour field and three bounded colour marks; artwork itself remains unchanged |
| Night reading | Near-black ground / light ink; chapter identity and bounded study colours remain recognisable |

Source names and digital values are retained separately from production tokens.
They are screen approximations, not exact printed samples. Every chapter has a
Colour notes disclosure with provenance, a Palette link, selectable JSON, and
Copy JSON. Copy failure selects the text so manual copying remains possible.
The JSON includes the actual reading and support-role tokens, not only swatches.

## MoMA discipline, not museum decoration

One 1184px editorial grid; 60ch reading measure; a 1:3 pointer/prose relationship;
space and solid colour fields do the grouping. No new gradients, shadows,
rounded cards, simulated paper grain, or decorative border frames. Geometry
is balanced by default. A large companion field belongs to the chapter doorway,
not behind paragraphs. Paintings, Chinese characters, audio, and comics are
earned content and remain available.

Archivo Narrow is the English display face; Source Sans 3 is the reading face.
IBM Plex Sans Thai keeps Thai readable without Latin tracking conventions.
Noto Sans SC handles modern Chinese UI, while original text retains its literary
and calligraphic faces. New layout CSS has one breakpoint: 768px.

## Architecture

```text
chapters / summaries / extended / artifacts / audio / existing tools
                          ↓
                    app.js renders
                          ↓
chapter_palettes.js → exhibition.js assigns roles + groups existing panels
                          ↓
            exhibition.css controls the final cascade
                          ↓
        Reader → Original → Study → Palette JSON → another project
```

This is a progressive layer over the existing static book. No framework or
build step is introduced. Without the layer, original reading content remains
in `app.js` and the original datasets. Closed study drawers expand for printing.

## Verification and maintenance

```sh
npm run audit:integrity
npm run audit:palettes
npm run verify:accessibility
npm run verify:contrast
```

The palette gate checks 81 distinct source pairs, correct 2/3/4 cardinalities,
complete chapter assignment, and 324 production foreground/background pairs.
Minimum measured contrast is 4.68:1. The computed-style gate is separate because
legacy descendant rules can override otherwise correct tokens.

Walkthrough: begin → directory → chapter 8 → Thai → Chinese → English; jump to
81 on the first attempt; open and close a study drawer; learn a character; open
Colour notes, parse/copy its JSON; use the guide and map; verify mobile Menu and
desktop More tools; return with browser Back. Check 376, 768, and 1280px widths.
Screen-reader and real older-user evaluation are still needed; a scripted check
does not establish the Mama Rule.

Data licensing is in [THIRD_PARTY_PALETTE.md](THIRD_PARTY_PALETTE.md).
The book's existing text and translation rights are unchanged.