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Tutorial: Creating a new list style from an existing one

20 minutes
Estimated Time

A common development scenario starts when a web designer requests a new rendition for list styles on the front end. If the new list style is similar to one already existing in your theme, a good approach is to copy all the relevant files and modify them.

The following mock-ups are a specification for a new list style.

Layout of required list style Layout of required list style
Layout of required list style

In addition, the specification requires changing media responsiveness when laying out a single column of promos under the lead.

Media responsiveness for single column layout Media responsiveness for single column layout
Media responsiveness for single column layout

Lastly, the specification requires updating the Less/CSS formatting for the smaller promos under the lead.

Styling for customized list style Styling for customized list style
Styling for customized list style

Upon review of the specification and the existing list styles, you determine that the new list style is closest to the existing list style Standard List I - 4 Column. In this tutorial, you replicate and then modify files from the list style Standard List I - 4 Column, creating a new list style Standard List M. Specifically, you will complete the following steps:

  1. Copy the existing list style's Handlebars, JSON, and Less files, and updated those copies to match the specification.
  2. Add the updated files to the theme build.
  3. Include the customized list style in the Styleguide UI.
  4. Build the theme and view it in the Styleguide UI; the theme will contain the customized list style.

Assumptions

This tutorial assumes the following:

Step 1: Copy and modify existing Handlebars file

In this step, you make a copy of the Handlebars file for the existing list style Standard List I - 4 Column, and modify it to render the customized list style.

  1. Retrieve the Styleguide training repository from https://github.com/perfectsense/training.git.
  2. In the repository's directory, change to frontend/bundles/bundle-default/styleguide/page/list.
  3. In that directory, do the following:
    1. Copy the file PageListStandardI.hbs to PageListStandardM.hbs.
    2. Open PageListStandardM.hbs in a text editor.
    3. Replace the second line:
      <div class="PageListStandardI" data-module{{include "includes/PageList-attributes.hbs" this}}>
      with the following:
      <div class="PageListStandardM" data-module{{include "includes/PageList-attributes.hbs" this}}>
    {{include "includes/PageList-header.hbs" this}}
      • Introduces a new CSS selector PageListStandardM.
      • Adds the title for all items in the list (as specified in the mock-up).
    4. Replace the following lines:
      {{#set imageSize="xl-16x9"}}
    {{#eq ../imagePositionVertical "top"}}
        {{include "/page/promo/PagePromoModuleA.hbs" this imagePositionVertical="top"}}
    {{else}}
        {{include "/page/promo/PagePromoModuleA.hbs" this imagePositionVertical="bottom"}}
    {{/eq}}
{{/set}}
      with the following:
      {{#set imageSize="large-16x9"}}
    {{include "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs" this}}
{{/set}}
      • Changes the size of the lead promo's image.
      • Applies the template for displaying the image followed by category, promo title, and promo description.
    5. Replace the following lines:
      {{#eq ../listColumns234 "2"}}
    {{#eq this._template "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs"}}
        {{#set imageSize="large-16x9"}}
            {{include "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs" this mobileAltLayout="true" imagePositionVertical="top" description=null}}
        {{/set}}
    {{else}}
        {{render this}}
    {{/eq}}
{{else}}
    {{#eq ../listColumns234 "4"}}
        {{#eq this._template "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs"}}
            {{#set imageSize="medium-16x9"}}
                {{include "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs" this mobileAltLayout="true" imagePositionVertical="top" description=null}}
            {{/set}}
        {{else}}
            {{render this}}
        {{/eq}}
    {{else}}
        {{#eq this._template "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs"}}
            {{#set imageSize="medium-16x9"}}
                {{include "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs" this mobileAltLayout="true" imagePositionVertical="top" description=null}}
            {{/set}}
        {{else}}
            {{render this}}
        {{/eq}}
    {{/eq}}
{{/eq}}
      • Lays out promos' text to the left of the promos' image. This specification required eliminating this effect.
      with the following:
      {{#eq this._template "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs"}}
    {{include "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs" this}}
{{else}}
    {{render this}}
{{/eq}}
      • Includes a Handlebars template for rendering a promo's category, title, description, and byline.
    6. After the above modifications, your Handlebars file is as follows:
      {{#if items}}
<div class="PageListStandardM" data-module{{include "includes/PageList-attributes.hbs" this}}>
    {{include "includes/PageList-header.hbs" this}}

    <div class="PageList-items">
        <div class="PageList-items-item">
            {{#with items.[0]}}
                {{#eq this._template "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs"}}
                    {{#set imageSize="large-16x9"}}
                        {{include "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs" this}}
                    {{/set}}
                {{else}}
                    {{render this}}
                {{/eq}}
            {{/with}}
        </div>
        {{#each items}}
            {{#if (gt @index 0)}}
                <div class="PageList-items-item">
                    {{#eq this._template "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs"}}
                        {{include "/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs" this}}
                    {{else}}
                        {{render this}}
                    {{/eq}}
                </div>
            {{/if}}
        {{/each}}
    </div>

    {{include "includes/PageList-footer.hbs" this}}
</div>
{{/if}}
    7. Save the file.

Step 2: Copy and modify existing JSON file

In this step, you make a copy of the JSON file for the existing list style Standard List I - 4 Column, and modify it to render the customized list style.

  1. Continuing in the directory frontend/bundles/bundle-default/styleguide/page/list, copy the file PageListStandardI-4column.json to PageListStandardM.json.
  2. Open PageListStandardM.json in a text editor.

  3. Replace the two lines:

    "_styledTemplate": "/page/list/PageListStandardI.hbs",
"title": "Standard List I - 4 Column",

    with the following:

    "_styledTemplate": "/page/list/PageListStandardM.hbs",
"title": "Standard List M",
    • Refers to the Handlebars template you modified in Step 1.
    • Specifies the list style's label in Styleguide and in the module picker.

  4. Replace the items array:

    "items": [
  {
    "_include": "/page/promo/PagePromo.json",
    "title": "Standard List I - 4 Column",
    "type": "video"
  },
  {
    "_include": "/page/promo/PagePromo.json"
  },
  {
    "_include": "/page/promo/PagePromo.json"
  },
  {
    "_include": "/page/promo/PagePromo.json"
  },
  {
    "_include": "/page/promo/PagePromo.json"
  }
],

    with the following:

    "items": [
  {
    "_include": "/page/promo/PagePromo.json",
    "_repeat": 9
  }
],
    • Includes the JSON file for individual promos.
    • Specifies number of promos to include in the list: one lead and eight in the subsequent rows.

  5. Save the file.

Step 3: Copy and modify Less styling

In this step, you make a copy of the Less file for the existing list style Standard List I - 4 Column, and modify it to render the customized list style.

  1. Change to the directory frontend/bundles/bundle-default/styleguide/styles/default/page/list/.
  2. Copy the file PageListStandardI.less to PageListStandardM.less.
  3. Open PageListStandardM.less in a text editor.
  4. In the first line, change .PageListStandardI to .PageListStandardM.
  5. Replace the stanza &-item { (lines 7–57) with the following:
    &-item {
    border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-list-border);
    padding-bottom: 20px;
    &:not(:first-child) {
        .PagePromo {
            &-title {
                &:extend(.promo-title-6 all);
            }
        }
    }
}
  6. Replace the media query @mq-md with the following:
    @media @mq-md {
    .PageList-items {
        display: grid;
        gap: 20px;
        grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
        grid-auto-flow: dense;
  
        &-item {
            grid-column: span 1;
  
            &:nth-of-type(1) {
                grid-column: span 2;
                grid-row: span 1;
            }
        }
    }
}

  7. Replace the media query @mq-lg with the following:

    @media @mq-lg {
    .PageList-items {
        display: grid;
        gap: 20px;
        grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr);
        grid-auto-flow: dense;
  
        &-item {
            grid-column: span 1;
  
            &:nth-of-type(1) {
                grid-column: span 4;
                grid-row: span 1;
            }
        }
    }
}

  8. After the above modifications, your Less file is as follows:

    .PageListStandardM {
  .PageList {
    &-items {
      display: grid;
      gap: 20px;

      &-item {
        border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-list-border);
        padding-bottom: 20px;
        &:not(:first-child) {
            .PagePromo {
                &-title {
                    &:extend(.promo-title-6 all);
                }
            }
        }
    }
    }
  }

  @media @mq-md {
    .PageList-items {
        display: grid;
        gap: 20px;
        grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
        grid-auto-flow: dense;
  
        &-item {
            grid-column: span 1;
  
            &:nth-of-type(1) {
                grid-column: span 2;
                grid-row: span 1;
            }
        }
    }
}

@media @mq-lg {
  .PageList-items {
      display: grid;
      gap: 20px;
      grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr);
      grid-auto-flow: dense;

      &-item {
          grid-column: span 1;

          &:nth-of-type(1) {
              grid-column: span 4;
              grid-row: span 1;
          }
      }
  }
}

}

  9. Save the file.

Step 4: Include list style in build configuration

In this step, you include the customized list style in the theme's build configuration.

  1. Include the Less file from Step 3 in the build by doing the following:
    1. Change to the directory frontend/bundles/bundle-default/styleguide/styles/default/page/list/.
    2. Open the file All.less.
    3. Under the comment Standard Page List styles, add the following line:
      @import 'PageListStandardM';
    4. Save the file.
  2. Include the JSON file into the build by doing the following:
    1. Change to the directory frontend/bundle/default/styleguide/page/list/.
    2. Open the configuration file _PageList.config.json.

    3. Inside the templates array (the one that is a sibling of fields), paste the following object:

      {
  "displayName": "Standard - List M",
  "example": "/page/list/PageListStandardM.json",
  "height": 800,
  "width": 1024,
  "fields": [
    "backgroundColor",
    "inverseColors"
    ]
  }
      • Specifies the style's name that appears in the module picker. Whenever you create a new style, the path to its data file must appear in the example key.
      • Refers to the JSON file you created in Step 2.
      • Specifies the height of the screenshot that the editor sees when picking this module in the module picker.
      • Specifies the width of the screenshot that the editor sees when picking this module in the module picker.
      • Adds front-end fields that allow editors to select a background color and inverse colors for this module in the Styles tab.

    4. Save the file.

Step 5: Include the list style in the Styleguide UI

In this step, you configure Styleguide to display the customized list style.

  1. Change to the directory frontend/bundles/bundle-default/styleguide/.
  2. Open the file _navigation.config.json.

  3. In the array pages (the one that is a sibling of "displayName": "Lists - Standard"), paste the following object:

    {
  "displayName": "Standard List M",
  "page": "/page/list/PageListStandardM.json"
}
    • Specifies the list's name in Styleguide.
    • Refers to the JSON file you created in Step 2.

  4. Change to the directory frontend/bundles/bundle-default/styleguide/page/list/.
  5. Open the file Page-withStandardLists.json. This file contains all the list styles. (Developers and testers can use this file to troubleshoot interactions within list styles, which is usually easier than clicking through the left-rail navigation in the Styleguide UI.)

  6. In the array main, paste the following object:

    {
  "_include": "/page/list/PageListStandardM.json"
}
    • Refers to the JSON file you created in Step 2.

Step 5: Build the theme

In this step, you build the theme and verify your customized list appears in the Styleguide UI.

  1. Change to the directory frontend/bundles/bundle-default/.

  2. Build the theme and run Styleguide:

    yarn server:styleguide

  3. In a browser, open http://localhost:8080 and view the list at Lists - Standard > Standard List M.
    Customized list style in Styleguide UI Customized list style in Styleguide UI
    Customized list style in Styleguide UI

In this step, you verified that yarn successfully built the theme, and your list style appears in the UI. After administrators install the built theme in Brightspot, editors see the customized list style in the module picker.

Customized theme in module picker Customized theme in module picker
Customized theme in module picker

In this tutorial, you completed the following:

  1. Copied an existing list style's Handlebars, JSON, and Less files, and updated those copies to match the specification.
  2. Added the updated files to the theme build.
  3. Included the customized list style in the Styleguide UI.
  4. Built the theme and viewed it in the Styleguide UI; the theme contains the customized list style.
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