TL;DR
Two projects surfaced in an Ask HN thread: InclusiveColors, a browser tool for creating WCAG-aware Tailwind-style palettes with live UI previews; and Riffradar, a user-driven Spotify recommendation engine that builds daily playlists from your library and chosen genres. Both are active projects with public links and early-stage feature notes.
What happened
On a January 2026 Ask HN thread, two developers described ongoing projects aimed at improving design tooling and music recommendations. The first, InclusiveColors, is a web app for making custom color palettes in a Tailwind-like format. It emphasizes accessible contrast by checking pairings against WCAG rules, offers a hue/saturation/lightness curve editor for quick tint and shade adjustments, displays a live UI mockup, and supports exports to CSS variables, Tailwind, Figma and Adobe. The creator is soliciting feedback and considering making the tool more opinionated about palette structure. The second project, Riffradar, is a personal Spotify recommendation engine that generates playlists from a user’s own library based on selected genres and optional artist sources. Playlists update daily and can apply advanced filters; the developer notes the system works best when users follow many artists. Both projects are live at the URLs shared in the thread.
Why it matters
- InclusiveColors aims to make accessible color design faster and teach WCAG contrast rules through immediate visual feedback.
- Export options let designers integrate palettes into common workflows (CSS, Tailwind, Figma, Adobe) without manual translation.
- Riffradar offers a user-controlled alternative to algorithmic playlists, drawing recommendations from a person’s existing library and genre choices.
- Both projects illustrate a trend toward tools that give users more direct control and transparency over automated outputs.
Key facts
- InclusiveColors URL: https://www.inclusivecolors.com/
- InclusiveColors provides a hue/saturation/lightness curve editor for customizing tints and shades.
- The color tool checks color pairings against WCAG contrast requirements and shows a live UI mockup.
- InclusiveColors can export palettes to CSS variables, Tailwind, Figma, and Adobe formats.
- The creator of InclusiveColors is seeking feedback and considering making the tool more opinionated.
- Riffradar URL: https://riffradar.org/
- Riffradar builds playlists from a user’s own Spotify library, letting users pick genres and apply advanced filters.
- Riffradar updates playlists daily and performs best when users follow a substantial number of artists.
- Riffradar can optionally include recommendations from artists that belong to playlists the user follows or has created.
What to watch next
- Whether InclusiveColors adopts more opinionated defaults or presets to simplify the palette-creation flow (creator mentioned interest).
- Adoption and feedback from designers integrating InclusiveColors exports into real projects — not confirmed in the source.
- Riffradar’s roadmap for features, integrations, or broader user testing and whether it expands beyond library-based recommendations — not confirmed in the source.
Quick glossary
- WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: standards for making web content more accessible, including contrast ratios for text and UI elements.
- Tailwind: A utility-first CSS framework that provides low-level utility classes for building custom designs without leaving HTML.
- CSS variables: Custom properties in CSS that store values (like colors) which can be reused and updated across a stylesheet.
- HSL (Hue/Saturation/Lightness): A color model that represents colors by their hue, saturation, and lightness, often used for intuitive color adjustments.
- Recommendation engine: Software that suggests items — such as songs or products — to users based on input data and selection criteria.
Reader FAQ
Are these projects publicly available?
Yes; InclusiveColors and Riffradar are reachable at the URLs shared in the thread.
Can InclusiveColors export palettes to common design tools?
Yes. The creator lists exports to CSS variables, Tailwind, Figma and Adobe.
Does InclusiveColors automatically generate palettes with AI?
The post contrasts this tool with AI/autogeneration approaches and emphasizes manual curve-based editing; whether the tool uses AI internally is not confirmed in the source.
Does Riffradar rely on following artists to work well?
The developer says it works best if you follow a good number of artists and can optionally pull recommendations from artists in playlists you follow or created.
Are the developers soliciting feedback or contributions?
The InclusiveColors creator explicitly asked for feedback; for Riffradar, solicitation of feedback or contributions is not confirmed in the source.
Still working on my tool for creating custom Tailwind-style accessible color palettes for web and UI design: https://www.inclusivecolors.com/ There's lots of tools that try to autogenerate colors for you using…
Sources
- Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (January 2026)
- Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025) – Hacker News
- Accessibility Guidelines
- Psst: Fast Spotify client with native GUI, without Electron, …
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