iotaCSS: The next steps
It’s been almost 2 weeks since iotaCSS’s official launch. I can’t thank you enough for the honest and meaningful feedback so far. It was really helpful for planning and prioritizing the next steps.
In this post I would like to take some time and talk about several new features as well as some upcoming updates.
Setting up iotaCSS in less than 1 second
Introducing iotaPlate, iotaCSS’s boilerplate CLI. You can now be up and running with iotaCSS in, literally, less than 1 second.
Right now, iotaPlate does 3 things:
- Installs iotaCSS for you
- Generates the recommended file structure
- Each module file contains all available options with explanatory comments and it makes the configuration of the framework a piece of cake
Read more about it here: https://github.com/iotacss/iotaplate
iotaCSS is now a monorepo
iotaCSS is and will always be a set of independent modules. The only difference is that those modules now live under one Github repository instead of separate ones.
This change comes with a good amount of advantages:
- You can either install all modules at once or cherry pick the ones that you need
- All issues & features are gathered in one place
- Makes the development and testing of the framework easier
- Now you know where to star iotaCSS — http://github.com/iotacss/iotacss
Example website built on iotaCSS
To make it easier for you to see how an iotaCSS project is being structured, I decided to open-source the code from my personal website. It’s simple enough to instantly give you all the important information you need. You can see it here: https://github.com/harby/harby.me.
Also, soon I will open-source the code from the first iotaCSS Course under the @iotacasts Github account.
The first course is coming
Yes, it’s almost ready and will be available soon! The first installment covers the following topics:
- An explanation of the architecture and concepts behind the framework
- Building the folder structure and workflow
- Building a start to finish interface using iotaCSS which will demonstrate most of the iotaCSS modules in action
- Provide a minimal starter kit and a Sketch file to help you follow the course
What this course won’t do:
- It will not overcomplicate things
- No Sketch knowledge will be required for the course
- It will not go into very specific and advanced concepts
Subscribe to be the first to know when it’s out: https://iotacasts.com
Better and open-source documentation
The documentation of iotaCSS is in a decent but certainly not perfect state at the moment. There are several things I would like to address in the coming weeks:
- Create a better, more detailed documentation
- Make more examples
- Make it open to people so that they can contribute and report bugs or inconsistencies
- Include documentation for iotaPlate
- Make website and documentation responsive
For the time being, if you guys want to contribute and make the docs better, especially if any one of you is a native english speaker and he can help me improve them, please tweet me at @harbyme.
Communication Channels
Before I end this post, I would like to take some time and define the communication channels for iotaCSS and also the purpose of each.
Github
Github and especially the iotaCSS repository should be the only place for suggesting new features and reporting bugs.
Feel free to tweet me at @harbyme or @iotacss about anything related to iotaCSS. From random questions to suggestions to anything you like.
Slack
I believe in direct support more than anything else. When you get stuck on something, you have to find a solution as soon as possible. I may not be available at the moment but someone else will and this is what I am trying to achieve with the Slack community. This is a feature I am still working on, but it will be up soon.
Mailing List ( Newsletter )
Mailing list is the main channel for new updates. It will always be a short, to the point email that will link you to new things coming out about iotaCSS and iotaCasts. No spam. No bullshit. I promise.
Subscribe here: https://iotacasts.com
Medium
I created a new category under the iotaCSS publication on Medium named “Updates”. There, I will explain and introduce new features of the framework. I will be adding new categories covering interesting subjects soon.
Ask Me Anything
For anything else, feel free to use the AMA section in my Github account: https://github.com/harby/ama.
Special thanks to my friend Andrew Ckor for the illustrations of this post and to Marek Šuščák for a comprehensive review of the article.
Dimitris Psaropoulos is a front-end architect and performance engineer based in Prague, CZ. He had the privilege of working on products for companies such as Nike, Salesforce, Chipotle, Node.io, VanityFair & more. He is the creator of the iotaCSS Framework. Previously Lead Front-end Architect at Chute (YC12).
