Infinite Spatial Canvas

Purpose

Use for a bounded, curated 2D/2.5D index of projects, images, notes or cards with meaningful spatial relationships. It is a spatial browsing field, not a whiteboard or a collection of absolutely positioned cards.

Use when

• Six to thirty items can be authored with explicit coordinates, bounds and (when useful) foreground, working or distant planes.
• Pan and zoom add discovery while every item also works as an ordinary article.
• A cluster label can annotate related areas and feed the small orientation map.

Avoid when

• Collaboration, unbounded coordinates or diagram editing are core requirements.
• Spatial navigation would be the only way to find an item.

Keyboard, touch and focus

Arrow keys pan, +/- changes zoom and Home/0 resets. Touch/pointer drag is an accelerator with a short bounded inertial continuation; content controls remain independently interactive. Visible zoom/reset controls and DOM-order focus remain available, so the canvas cannot become a keyboard trap.

Reduced motion and performance

Reduced motion keeps direct pan, selection and the orientation map but removes inertia, parallax and large settlement. Keep bounds sensible, use MotionValues for pan, transform-only item emphasis and let the host own lazy media.