Designing an Enterprise CSS Framework is hard

Stephanie RewisSalesforce UX

Stephanie Rewis@stefsullLead Developer, Design Systems, Salesforce UX

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Salesforce1

How do I get my app to look like this?

Can I use the CSS in my app?

We'd like our prototypers to iterate more rapidly.

We learned our style guide was too static.

Lightning Design SystemThe next generation of living style guides

Lightning Experience

Design System ComponentsCSS Framework + UI Library

Objects/Components

Lightweight

Modular

Reusable

Utilities

Non-semantic

Single Purpose

Dependencies

Tokens

Objects/Components

Lightweight

Modular

ReusableDependencies

Tokens

Mixins

Functions

clarity

Eliminate ambiguity. Enable people to see, understand, and act with confidence.

Clarity and understandability in class names

BEM Naming

BlockElementModifier

Let's build a house!.house { block or component name }.house__door { element or component part }.house--red { modifier or component variation }.house__door--white { variation of a component part }

We love documentation!

efficiency

Streamline and optimize workflows. Intelligently anticipate needs to help people work better, smarter, and faster.

Design audit and inventory of all components in designer's comps

We broke the components down to their smallest patterns and objects.

Enterprise applicationshave some unique traits.

Enterprise applications demand content and data-rich interfaces.They lack vertical rhythm.

Heading levels may vary and our components should be agnostic.

Lists are used for their semantics.

You can opt back in to the default element style using utility classes or a single wrapper.

<h2 class="slds-text-heading--medium slds-m-right--small"> Medium heading with a small margin on the right.</h2>

Accessibility for all people and devices is very important.

We baked accessibility in:

Semantics matter ARIA roles REM unit sizing We’ve documented what needs to happen when JS is added

consistency

Create familiarity and strengthen intuition by applying the same solution to the same problem.

Design TokensThe basic atoms of the Design System

Types of Design Tokens

• Fonts• Font Sizes• Font Weights• Line Heights• Background Colors• Text Colors

• Border Colors

• Shadows

• Spacing

• Sizing

• Animation Durations

• Media Queries

• Z-indexes

Using Sass and tokens (variables), you can brand your app..slds-lookup__menu { position: absolute; width: 100%; margin-top: $spacing-xx-small; border: $border-width-thin solid $color-border; border-radius: $border-radius-medium; padding: $spacing-xx-small 0; background: $color-background-alt; z-index: $z-index-dropdown; }

We play well with others.

.button

.slds-button

What is scoping anyway?

<div class="slds"><!-- Your components here -->

</div>

How does scoping help?

<div class="slds"><!-- Your components here -->

</div>

ul li { margin-left: 20px; }.slds li { margin-left: 0; }

beauty

Demonstrate respect for people’s time and attention through thoughtful and elegant craftsmanship.

SVG icons for beauty at every size

Components should render beautifully at any width.

"I’ve been working on a mobile app that has a Salesforce1 look and feel for the past several weeks. I've been struggling to get the styling just right so I decided to scratch it and try out the framework.

I started this at 11am this morning and by the end of the day, I almost have a complete application that took me previously over 2 weeks to complete."

- Matt M. Sr. Software Engineer

Resources

Get the Design System

https://www.lightningdesignsystem.com/resources/downloads

https://github.com/salesforce-ux/design-system/

Flexbox ResourcesA Complete Guide to Flexbox — CSS Trickshttps://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/a-guide-to-flexbox

Known Bugs and Workarounds for Flexbox — Phil Waltonhttps://github.com/philipwalton/flexbugs

https://developer.salesforce.com/trailhead/module/lightning_design_system

Thank you