v2.0.0-alpha.2

One month after alpha.1, alpha.2 is here and brings new features, patterns, more documentation, fixes, optimisations and more, on a relatively settled architecture.

As the second alpha has much change (though far less than alpha.1), we won't present a detailed changelog, but rather some high level notes on where we are and what got us here.

• What is the VF 2.0? A modular, compatible framework for life science websites and services. Need to know more? Read this

📚History

• Initial conceptual planning of the VF 2.0 began in summer 2017 and we starting writing code in July 2018.
• There are few (if any) major architecture changes and small refinements to make the directory structure more consistent (#145).
• Outreach remains a priority (there's the issue queue on GitHub and Slack)

⚙️Technical improvements

• Approach for JS Framework support #115
• The folder structure has been simplified #145
• More EMBL.org specific tooling, include EMBL Breadcrumbs and ContentHub imports
• The pattern library is now also available on GitHub pages in addition to the beta.embl.org URL. In alpha.3 we expect to have a better approach for where global and local patterns show
• You set the pattern library name and prefix in through package.json in vfConfig
• CSS stats are available on Wallace (updated with each commit to dev)
• Multiple tabs are now supported #123
• SVGs are automatically optimised #140
• Margins on the mixin set-type are now more flexible #141
• An alpha vf-child-template is now available
• The vf-banner pattern is much improved and allows more modular control of look, JS dismissal and cookie-based hiding of seen messages

📒Documentation

• The README.md has been greatly improved to make getting started easier
• Guidance on how to use and write VF JS
• Compiled CSS is available for each pattern

🥙All the things

👉See a full list of issues and branches in the alpha.2 milestone

What's next?

Alpha release are planned for the last Thursday of each month.

• Further work on the vf-child-template
• Finalising versioning approach for patterns #119
• Further separation of patterns by 'ownership' #179
• More patterns, including and EMBL notification system #169
• Further work on "blog" type patterns and the nested vf-inlay pattern
• Further directory structure optimisations #170 #128
• Visual regression testing #31
• List core audiences/user types #127
• VF Working Group #114
• A lot of documentation, howtos, and outreach

🗂 See all issues tagged for alpha.3

v2.0.0-alpha.1

Alpha 1 represents the beginning of the end for the exploration of how the VF 2.0 should be built to achieve its aims.

What is the VF 2.0?

A modular, compatible framework for life science websites and services. Need to know more? Read this

What's in the alpha?

As the first alpha has massive amounts of change, we won't present a detailed changelog, but rather some high level notes on where we are and what got us here.

🚨WARNING! 🚨

This is our first alpha and captures the first step on a road ... we still have much to do everywhere ranging from patterns, documentation, guides, technical tooling, governance and so on.

📚History

• Initial conceptual planning of the VF 2.0 began in summer 2017 and we starting writing code in July 2018.
• In November 2018 we moved from the EMBL GitLab server to GitHub for better technical integration and collaboration
• Outreach remains a priority (there's the issue queue on GitHub and Slack)

⚙️Technical improvements

• Visual Framework 2.0 patterns are now available as standalone npm packages
• The pattern library is online
• We have a very developer-oriented README.md available

🖼Visuals

• We've switched the default font from IBM Plex Mono to Sans 👀
• Tools for spacing and the default look of things is much better
• Responsive design is back
• The look of the VF is very "EMBL" out of the box, this will change over time as the VF is separate from any one brand

📒Documentation

• We're still working on a quick start to building sites with the VF (but there are boilerplate pages available)
• We're working on a guide for integrating VF 2.0 patterns in your code base -- as either a ground-up nw framework built with VF patterns, or integrating just one or two patterns from the VF

👉See a full list of issues and branches in the alpha.1 milestone

What's next?

• A lot of documentation, howtos, and outreach
• More patterns
• Optimisations
• EMBL.org specific tooling
• Divide the vf-core look from vf-embl
• See the Alpha 2 roadmap