StealThis .dev

Vaporwave

80s nostalgia meets internet surrealism — pastel pink/cyan palettes, retrowave grids, glitch effects, and neon glow.

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html css javascript
Targets: JS HTML

Code

Vaporwave

Born from Tumblr aesthetics and early internet surrealism, vaporwave translates the uncanny nostalgia of 1980s corporate America into a hallucinogenic neon dreamscape. Deep purple-black backgrounds, hot pink and cyan neon glows, an infinite perspective grid receding to the horizon, and the iconic retrowave sun with its pastel horizontal stripes — this style is maximalism at its most intentional.

The glitch effect — achieved through randomly jittering text-shadow color offsets on the main heading — simulates the magnetic tape degradation that the genre’s music and visuals celebrate. Orbitron or VT323 fonts lean into the synth-era digital aesthetic, while Space Mono keeps body text readable yet appropriately retro.

Key characteristics

  • Deep purple-black background #0D0015 with a CSS perspective grid at the bottom
  • Palette: hot pink #FF71CE, cyan #01CDFE, mint #05FFA1, purple #B967FF, pale yellow #FFFB96
  • Orbitron and Space Mono Google Fonts for headings and body
  • Neon glow via layered text-shadow and box-shadow in pink/cyan
  • Vaporwave sun: concentric half-circles with alternating pink stripe cutouts
  • Cards with translucent pink-tinted glass surfaces
  • Glitch animation: JavaScript periodically randomizes heading text-shadow offsets

When to use it

Use this style for music-related projects, creative portfolios with a retro-futuristic angle, gaming UIs, event landing pages for synthwave or retrowave acts, or any context where the goal is emotional impact over corporate clarity. Best experienced with a dark environment and a synth soundtrack.