diff --git a/core/src/lib.rs b/core/src/lib.rs
index 980b946..62992b9 100644
--- a/core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/core/src/lib.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ mod num;
 mod orientation;
 mod primitive;
 mod render;
-mod state;
+mod typed;
 mod ui;
 mod widget;
 
diff --git a/core/src/state.rs b/core/src/typed.rs
similarity index 100%
rename from core/src/state.rs
rename to core/src/typed.rs
diff --git a/core/src/ui/active.rs b/core/src/ui/active.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76c7438
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/ui/active.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+use crate::{LayerId, Len, MaskIdx, PrimitiveHandle, TextureHandle, UiRegion, UiVec2, WidgetId};
+
+/// important non rendering data for retained drawing
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct ActiveData {
+    pub id: WidgetId,
+    pub region: UiRegion,
+    pub parent: Option<WidgetId>,
+    pub textures: Vec<TextureHandle>,
+    pub primitives: Vec<PrimitiveHandle>,
+    pub children: Vec<WidgetId>,
+    pub resize: ResizeRef,
+    pub mask: MaskIdx,
+    pub layer: LayerId,
+}
+
+/// stores information for children about the highest level parent that needed their size
+/// so that they can redraw the parent if their size changes
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, Default)]
+pub struct ResizeRef {
+    pub x: Option<(WidgetId, (UiVec2, Len))>,
+    pub y: Option<(WidgetId, (UiVec2, Len))>,
+}
diff --git a/core/src/ui/draw_state.rs b/core/src/ui/draw_state.rs
index f6b0a94..338584d 100644
--- a/core/src/ui/draw_state.rs
+++ b/core/src/ui/draw_state.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use crate::{
     ActiveData, Len, Painter, SizeCtx, Ui, UiRegion, UiVec2, WidgetId,
     render::MaskIdx,
-    ui::painter::ResizeRef,
+    ui::ResizeRef,
     util::{HashMap, HashSet},
 };
 use std::ops::{Deref, DerefMut};
diff --git a/core/src/ui/mod.rs b/core/src/ui/mod.rs
index 94a0ac3..4f1ecdb 100644
--- a/core/src/ui/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/ui/mod.rs
@@ -10,11 +10,14 @@ use std::{
     sync::mpsc::{Receiver, Sender, channel},
 };
 
+mod active;
 mod draw_state;
 mod painter;
 mod size;
+mod state;
 
-pub use painter::{ActiveData, Painter};
+pub use active::*;
+pub use painter::Painter;
 pub use size::*;
 
 pub struct Ui<State> {
diff --git a/core/src/ui/painter.rs b/core/src/ui/painter.rs
index 83bbca4..3256b2d 100644
--- a/core/src/ui/painter.rs
+++ b/core/src/ui/painter.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use crate::{
-    Axis, Len, RenderedText, Size, SizeCtx, TextAttrs, TextBuffer, TextData, TextureHandle, Ui,
+    Axis, Len, RenderedText, Size, SizeCtx, TextAttrs, TextBuffer, TextData, TextureHandle,
     UiRegion, UiVec2, WidgetHandle, WidgetId,
     render::{Mask, MaskIdx, Primitive, PrimitiveHandle, PrimitiveInst},
     ui::draw_state::DrawState,
@@ -21,28 +21,6 @@ pub struct Painter<'a, 'b, State> {
     pub(super) id: WidgetId,
 }
 
-/// stores information for children about the highest level parent that needed their size
-/// so that they can redraw the parent if their size changes
-#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, Default)]
-pub struct ResizeRef {
-    pub x: Option<(WidgetId, (UiVec2, Len))>,
-    pub y: Option<(WidgetId, (UiVec2, Len))>,
-}
-
-/// important non rendering data for retained drawing
-#[derive(Debug)]
-pub struct ActiveData {
-    pub id: WidgetId,
-    pub region: UiRegion,
-    pub parent: Option<WidgetId>,
-    pub textures: Vec<TextureHandle>,
-    pub primitives: Vec<PrimitiveHandle>,
-    pub children: Vec<WidgetId>,
-    pub resize: ResizeRef,
-    pub mask: MaskIdx,
-    pub layer: usize,
-}
-
 impl<'a, 'c, State: 'static> Painter<'a, 'c, State> {
     fn primitive_at<P: Primitive>(&mut self, primitive: P, region: UiRegion) {
         let h = self.state.layers.write(
@@ -168,6 +146,3 @@ impl<'a, 'c, State: 'static> Painter<'a, 'c, State> {
         )
     }
 }
-
-impl<State: 'static> Ui<State> {
-}
diff --git a/core/src/ui/state.rs b/core/src/ui/state.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1db0d9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/ui/state.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+pub struct DynState {
+
+}
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 91b3d16..5e2cbe9 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -1,22 +1,25 @@
 # iris
 
-my take on a rust ui library (also my first ui library)
+My experimental attempt at a rust ui library (also my first ui library).
 
-it's called iris because it's the structure around what you actually want to display and colorful
+It's currently designed around using retained data structures (widgets), rather than diffing generated trees from data like xilem or iced. This is an experiment and I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not.
 
-there's a `main.rs` that runs a testing window, so can just `cargo run` to see it working
+There's a `main.rs` that runs a testing window, so you can just `cargo run` to see it working.
 
-goals, in general order:
+Goals, in general order:
 1. does what I want it to (text, images, video, animations)
 2. very easy to use ignoring ergonomic ref counting
 3. reasonably fast / efficient (a lot faster than electron, save battery life)
 
-not targeting web rn cause wanna use actual nice gpu features & entire point of this is to make desktop apps
+## dev details
+
+not targeting web rn cause wanna use actual nice gpu features & entire point of this is to make desktop apps / not need a web browser
 
 general ideas trynna use rn / experiment with:
 - retained mode
-- specifically designed around wgpu
+- specifically designed around wgpu so there's no translation
 - postfix functions for most things to prevent unreadable indentation (going very well)
+- events can be done directly where you draw the widgets
 - almost no macros in user code & actual LSP typechecking (variadic generics if you can hear me please save us)
 - relative anchor + absolute offset coord system (+ "rest" / leftover during widget layout)
 - single threaded ui & pass context around to make non async usage straightforward (pretty unsure about this)
@@ -24,3 +27,5 @@ general ideas trynna use rn / experiment with:
 
 under heavy initial development so not gonna try to explain status, maybe check TODO for that;
 sizable chance it gets a rewrite once I know everything I need and what seems to work best
+
+it's called iris because it's the structure around what you actually want to display and colorful
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 3aa71d4..fd0a774 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 pub mod default;
 pub mod event;
-pub mod state;
+pub mod typed;
 pub mod widget;
 
 pub use iris_core;
@@ -37,5 +37,5 @@ pub mod prelude {
     pub use widget::*;
 
     pub use iris_core::util::Vec2;
-    pub use state::*;
+    pub use typed::*;
 }
diff --git a/src/state.rs b/src/typed.rs
similarity index 100%
rename from src/state.rs
rename to src/typed.rs