Devlog 4&4.5.

AstroPinax went through its biggest redesign yet.
The original layout is gone. Instead of showing the APOD beside the content, the Astronomy Picture of the Day now becomes the entire background. Whether it’s an image or a video, it fills the screen and turns every new tab into a different scene from space. To keep everything readable, I added a subtle dark overlay instead of blurring the background. The search bar now sits right in the center inside a frosted glass container, making it the first thing you see without taking attention away from the APOD itself. I also changed the typography to Rajdhani and Outfit, which gives the whole project a much more futuristic feel. While I was at it, I removed the Previous, Next and Today buttons. It felt like unnecessary clutter. Navigation is now handled through the date picker or the keyboard, which fits the minimalist direction I wanted. Then I tackled one of the things that annoyed me most….. waiting. Previously, you had to wait for NASA’s API before you could do anything. Now the search bar appears instantly, so you can start searching the web the moment you open a new tab while the APOD loads in the background. I also replaced the boring loading screen with animated skeleton placeholders. Instead of flashing a “Loading…” message, the page gradually comes to life as the image, title and description arrive. The light theme is gone too. It never really matched the vibe of the project. In its place is a new Void theme—a true pitch-black mode that’s especially nice on OLED screens. The starfield is still there, just toned down enough to give the background a little life without becoming distracting. Finally, I cleaned up the error handling so failed API requests don’t hijack the whole page anymore. If NASA’s API decides not to cooperate, the error simply shows up where the APOD information normally lives. This update wasn’t about adding features—it was about making AstroPinax disappear. Open a new tab, start typing immediately, and let the universe sit quietly in the background.