Component Based Theming in the Real World
Since the release of Drupal 8, great strides have been made to develop a component based theming workflow that takes advantage of the best that Twig has to offer and also plays nice with living style guides and pattern libraries. Gone are the days of redundant styles and markup, making way for the efficiencies found when Drupal and tools like Pattern Lab and KSS can share the exact same code.
While there are a number of great talks and resources on the basics of setting up this workflow, there hasn’t been enough discussion around the challenges that arise when you really put this approach through the paces. It’s time to find out what happens when component based theming in Drupal 8 stops being polite… and starts getting real.
This session shares real world experience related to:
- Creating a workflow and theme structure using Drupal and Pattern Lab to build reusable components.
- Managing complicated mappings between Drupal and your component library--both with core Drupal functionality and with the aid of contributed modules including Twig Field Value and UI Patterns.
- Creating a component-friendly content editing experience.
- Overcoming challenges with onboarding new developers who may not be familiar with this approach to theming.
- Determining where to draw the line in order to avoid diminishing returns when streamlining Drupal’s markup and integrating with a pattern library.
- Other common patterns that have emerged in component based theming projects.
Finally, we’ll also step back and take a look at the future of component based theming in Drupal. Both by looking at ongoing efforts in the community and also by considering some of the ways that these real world challenges could be addressed by future versions of Drupal or related modules.
This session is for front-end developers who have experimented with a component based theming in Drupal 8 and have run into challenges, have questions, or want to compare their approach to something similar. It is also for front-end developers who haven’t yet adopted this emerging component based theming approach and have wondered how it might impact their workflow. And for those who are involved with Drupal 8 projects but are not front-end developers, this session should help you become aware of the potential challenges, as well as the advantages to this component based theming approach as it relates to your work.
Supporting Materials In Progress: