UI Suite Monthly #17 - Major Milestones and Strategic Shifts Ahead

Overall Summary

Our May 2024 monthly meeting marked a pivotal moment for the UI Suite ecosystem as we approach mid-year with significant developments on multiple fronts. We're currently managing five core modules while preparing for major transitions that will reshape our project landscape by year's end.

The meeting highlighted our dual focus: advancing UI Patterns 2 development (which reached an impressive 80% completion with Alpha 2) while simultaneously launching our ambitious new icon set module initiative. We also addressed important strategic decisions regarding Drupal version compatibility and explored exciting collaboration opportunities with the emerging Experience Builder project.

With 181 members now in our Slack community and growing momentum around Single Directory Components (SDC), we're seeing increased engagement and interest in our design system approach. The discussion revealed both technical progress and community growth, setting the stage for what promises to be a transformative period for UI Suite.

Key Topics Discussed

UI Patterns 2 Development Progress • Alpha 2 release achieved 80% completion milestone, representing a massive leap from Alpha 1's 20% • Our completion calculation method tracks 12 key use cases across five plugins: block layout, formats, styles, and components • The two-month development cycle between Alpha 2 and Alpha 3 focuses on code quality improvements and comprehensive unit testing of core APIs

Icons Set Module Initiative We've officially launched development of our sixth module, though it will replace the existing layout option module, maintaining our five-module total. The project started slowly last month, but we're actively seeking a dedicated leader to drive this initiative forward. There's an exciting opportunity for the new maintainer to join our team retreat in June at a beautiful house in the French countryside, where all 10 module maintainers will collaborate in person.

Experience Builder Collaboration The Drupal community's new Experience Builder project presents both opportunities and challenges for us. While it represents potential competition since they aim to integrate directly with SDC components and cover similar scope to our layout and block functionality, we're actively collaborating with their team. They've already adopted two of our key mechanisms - the stream wrapper and reference solver - demonstrating the value of our technical innovations.

Drupal Version Compatibility Strategy We're implementing a phased approach to dropping older Drupal versions. Drupal 8 support will be removed with upcoming releases, while Drupal 9 compatibility will be maintained until Drupal 11's official release. This decision reflects community feedback and ensures we balance innovation with backward compatibility for projects still running older versions.

Single Directory Components Integration Our UI Patterns 2 now includes robust migration tools that convert existing UI Patterns 1 components to SDC format seamlessly. We demonstrated this functionality during the meeting, showing how the conversion maintains all existing configurations while enabling the new standardized component structure. This positions us well for the broader Drupal ecosystem's shift toward SDC adoption.

Key Action Points

Development Team Expansion 

• We're seeking a new development team member for layout and blocks functionality, with a promising candidate recently joining from the community
• The UI Icon module needs a dedicated leader - this role offers significant responsibility and the opportunity to shape a major new component of our ecosystem
• Anyone interested in the icon module leadership role is invited to join our June team retreat in Europe

Module Maintenance and Releases Our immediate focus centers on preparing Alpha 3 of UI Pattern 2 before our upcoming conference presentation. We're also continuing work on UI Style improvements, incorporating lessons learned from Pattern 2 development around typing and source plugging mechanisms. The styling module's "trading" system - which determines where CSS classes attach to DOM elements - requires significant refactoring to address current limitations.

Community Engagement Initiatives We're pursuing recognition as a community initiative within the broader Drupal ecosystem. Our goal is to present UI Suite concepts at major conferences, including DrupalCon Barcelona in September and Drupal Developer Days. These presentations will help spread awareness of design system approaches and potentially attract more contributors to our projects.

Testing and Quality Assurance We continue seeking projects willing to participate in UI Patterns 2 testing - whether private projects (handled confidentially) or public ones that can serve as broader examples. This real-world testing ensures our major release meets diverse use case requirements and maintains backward compatibility where needed.

Upcoming Deadlines / Releases

The meeting concluded with plans for our next session to include a comprehensive demo of UI Patterns 2 Alpha 2, allowing the community to see our progress firsthand. With our growing Slack community of 181 members and multiple active development streams, we're positioned for significant growth and impact in the coming months.