brokenlinc / cra-sandbox

A sandbox project based on create-react-app.

This project was bootstrapped with Create React App.

Available Scripts

In the project directory, you can run:

npm start

Runs the app in the development mode.
Open http://localhost:3000 to view it in the browser.

The page will reload if you make edits.
You will also see any lint errors in the console.

npm test

Launches the test runner in the interactive watch mode.
See the section about running tests for more information.

npm run build

Builds the app for production to the build folder.
It correctly bundles React in production mode and optimizes the build for the best performance.

The build is minified and the filenames include the hashes.
Your app is ready to be deployed!

See the section about deployment for more information.

npm run eject

Note: this is a one-way operation. Once you eject, you can’t go back!

If you aren’t satisfied with the build tool and configuration choices, you can eject at any time. This command will remove the single build dependency from your project.

Instead, it will copy all the configuration files and the transitive dependencies (Webpack, Babel, ESLint, etc) right into your project so you have full control over them. All of the commands except eject will still work, but they will point to the copied scripts so you can tweak them. At this point you’re on your own.

You don’t have to ever use eject. The curated feature set is suitable for small and middle deployments, and you shouldn’t feel obligated to use this feature. However we understand that this tool wouldn’t be useful if you couldn’t customize it when you are ready for it.

Learn More

You can learn more in the Create React App documentation.

To learn React, check out the React documentation.

cra-sandbox's Issues

Evolving thoughts

Currently, a global-scope style sheet and vanilla JS plus React implementations are advantageous.

• Our projects are part CMS (Wordpress) and part SPA (React).
• Our project teams are small (often only one front-end dev), so managing multiple CSS builds or Javascript UI libraries is painful for us.
• Our projects are small, so managing CSS at scale is not a challenge for us. This is why complex brand design systems and abstracted style token systems elude us - the investment is actually not worthwhile for our work.
• Local-scope CSS modules can be a useful tool, but there should be a global-scoped foundation to address the above challenges.

Simpler styles systems are advantageous.

• We want the fewest steps to navigate through in order to alter any style.
• Modifying theme variables is helpful, but we also want the ability to get into the weeds.
• Nearly all the top-tier UI libraries are very complex, with hundreds of nodes (including themes, variables, mixins, constants, and so on). This is true of both JS and SCSS based solutions.

Requirements could change depending on the project.

• If we had a 100% React project (which we have had), and...
• If we had a project where brand customization was not a priority, and...
• If we had our designers working exclusively in our UI library, then...
• We could decide on Material-UI, Carbon, or Ant-Design.

Resources
Comparison of Front-end Web UI Component Libraries

Running notes on each branch

Build/utility branches

• master : CRA v2, Storybook
• sass : CRA v2, Storybook, node-sass
• craco : CRA v2, Storybook, craco
• less : CRA v2, Storybook, craco, craco-less, css-modules

Library-specific branches

• 😡 ant-design/core : CRA v2, Storybook, craco, craco-antd, antd
  • Storybook doesn't work, because the styles are isolated in the CRA build. The craco-antd approach to theming is dumb.
• 🤔 ant-design/less : CRA v2, Storybook, craco, craco-less, antd
  • Ant will always be limited because there is no vanilla JS implementation.
• 😥 carbon/core : CRA v2, Storybook, node-sass, carbon-components-react
  • TODO: Build the SCSS to a standalone CSS bundle, but make some variables and mix-ins usable in the CRA app.
  • TODO: Try using a vanilla component in another HTML file.
• ☠️ material-ui/core : CRA v2, Storybook, material-ui/core, material-ui/icons
  • This is kind of dead in the water because you can't get a standalone CSS bundle out of it. MDC may offer another route (see below).

Proposals

• 🤣 bootstrap/less-custom : CRA v2, Storybook, craco, craco-less, reactstrap, custom less build
  • branch from less
  • copy Less files from Lincoln's project into repo
  • add reactstrap (unofficial)
• 😬carbon/scss-custom : CRA v2, Storybook, node-sass, carbon-components-react, custom scss build
  • copy all the scss down from carbon-components, and make a standalone build
• 🤔foundation/core
  • branch from node-sass
  • add foundation react components (unofficial)
• 🤔foundation/scss-custom
  • branch from foundation/core
  • copy down scss source of foundation-sites
• 🤔mdc/core : CRA v2, Storybook, node-sass, material-components-web-react
  • branch from node-sass
  • add material-components-web-react
• 😬 mdc/scss-custom : CRA v2, Storybook, node-sass, material-components-web-react
  • branch from mdc/core
  • copy down scss source of mdc
• 🤔semantic-ui/core
  • branch from less
  • add semantic-ui-react
• 🤔semantic-ui/less-custom
  • branch from semantic-ui/core
  • copy down less source of semantic-ui

Helpful links

Core Packages

• create-react-app
• storybook
• craco
• craco-less

Design Systems

• Ant Design
  • antd
  • craco-antd
• Bootstrap
  • reactstrap
• Carbon Design System
  • carbon-components-react
• Material Design Components (MDC) for the web
  • material-components-web
  • material-components-web-react
• Material-UI
  • material-ui/core
  • material-ui/icons