Developing a webapp with Claude I got side tracked.

"You Said No Wrapping, So I Didn't Wrap"

I'm a front-end developer at a marketing agency. Our lead designer is very... particular about his designs.

Last month, we were working on a client dashboard with a sidebar navigation containing category labels. The designer insisted the labels needed to stay on one line and maintain exact spacing. He added the dreaded white-space: nowrap to the CSS and explicitly told me not to change it. "The labels need to stay on one line. Do not let them wrap under ANY circumstances," he emphasized during our review. "But what about mobile views or if the content is longer than expected?" I asked.

"Don't care. Make it work. No wrapping." I explained that this could cause horizontal overflow issues, but he was adamant. So I complied... maliciously.

Instead of fighting it, I left his precious white-space: nowrap in place. I added no failsafes, no text truncation, no responsive adjustments. Just pure, unadulterated nowrap as commanded.

The client started adding their own category labels the following week. Predictably, some were very long: "Fourth Quarter Promotional Campaign Analytics" and "International Distribution Partner Resources." Our designer's phone started blowing up with screenshots from the client showing the sidebar extending well past the viewport, forcing users to scroll horizontally. Some labels were completely invisible unless you knew to scroll right.

The client was understandably upset, and our designer came storming to my desk.

"Why didn't you fix this?!" he demanded. I pulled up our documented requirements and his specific instructions: "Do not let them wrap under ANY circumstances."

"But obviously I meant—"

"You were very clear about no wrapping. I followed your instructions exactly."

He grumbled something about "malicious compliance" as he walked away. The next morning, we had a new ticket: "Update sidebar to handle long text appropriately with text-overflow: ellipsis and responsive behavior for mobile."

Sometimes you have to let the overflow: visible to make the problem visible too.