Pivotal UI is a collection of React components that are styled for the Pivotal brand. Built on top of Bootstrap and React, this library contains everything you need to get started building UI at Pivotal.
- Check it out!
- Using Pivotal UI on your project (with React)
- Using Pivotal UI on your project (without React)
- Customizing your PUI build
- Special instructions for Rails users
- Legacy - Using the Pivotal UI Monolith
- Including SCSS variables and mixins (optional, beta)
- Contributing
- Copyright Notice
We've created two starter projects to help transitioning to Pivotal UI and React.
- If you want to quickly try out some Pivotal UI components, try PUI Starter Project.
- If you want to skip directly to building a full React application, try React Starter.
Once you've played around with some examples and feel comfortable integrating into your project, jump to the next step below.
If you're ready to try PUI with React, follow these instructions!
Using the React components is the recommended approach over CSS/HTML because:
- You have reusable, maintainable code that is more consistent. (compare the React Tabs element to HTML version)
- Meaningful variables for color mean that you remember why you used a particular color ("marketing-header1" vs "teal-23")
- Cross-browser and responsive issues are handled for you.
- It's the future.
** However, you'll need to know a few more technologies. Not enough to write a PHD thesis, but mostly in case things go wrong. If you don't know what React, Bootstrap, babel or a transpiler is, follow the links below and then return **
Ready? We're assuming that you have the following setup on your project:
-
node
brew install node -
node package manager
npm will be installed as part of node
-
Webpack or Browserify - Our React modules follow the CommonJS module pattern. You will need to use Webpack (recommended) or Browserify to compile your javascript for use in the browser.
We use Gulp and Webpack Stream.
-
A JSX transpiler - It's easiest to write React code with JSX. You will need a transpiler to convert your JSX code into plain javascript for use in the browser. We recommend Babel. If you are using Webpack, you will also want Babel Loader
Getting Babel working can be complicated. To see a sample project with Babel integrated, look at React Starter or PUI Starter Project
-
React
npm install react react-dom --save-dev
Seem overwhelming? It's time to talk with a front-end dev on the Pivotal team on how to hook this into your project.
##Install##
-
Create a package.json file that will include the PUI modules you'll be using
npm init -
Install Dr. Frankenstyle. This tool looks at your PUI modules and compiles the CSS required by these packages.(those added with --save, NOT --save-dev),
npm install -g dr-frankenstyle -
Install a PUI module for the components you need. No need to install additional CSS packages. Our React packages tell Dr. Frankenstyle what CSS is needed for each component.
For example, to create a button:
npm install --save pui-react-typography npm install --save pui-react-buttons -
Run Dr. Frankenstyle to compile your CSS to a folder (we use
./build/but you can choose whatever makes sense for your project).
Writes the compiled css to /components.css
dr-frankenstyle <path-to-your-asset-build-folder>
-
Add the compiled css to your html template
<!doctype html> <html> <head> <title>...</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="<path-to-your-asset-build-folder>/components.css"> </head> <body> <!-- ... --> <script src="<path-to-your-project's-compiled-javascript-file>"></script> </body> </html>
-
Write some React!
Javascript:
var React = require('react'); var DefaultH1 = require('pui-react-typography').DefaultH1; var DefaultButton = require('pui-react-buttons').DefaultButton; var MyTestPage = React.createClass({ getInitialState: function() { return {showMessage: false}; }, showMessage: function() { this.setState({showMessage: true}); }, render: function() { return ( <div className="container"> <DefaultButton onClick={this.showMessage}>Show Message</DefaultButton> { this.state.showMessage ? <DefaultH1>Hello world!</DefaultH1> : null } </div> ); } }); ReactDOM.render(<MyTestPage />, document.getElementById('root'));
HTML
<!-- ... --> <body> <div id="root"></div> <!-- Script tag should be below all DOM elements --> <script src="<path-to-your-project's-compiled-javascript-file>"></script> </body> <!-- ... -->
-
Every time you install a new PUI React module, you will need to rerun Dr. Frankenstyle to update your compiled CSS.
npm install --save pui-react-alerts dr-frankenstyle <path-to-your-asset-build-folder>
See the Dr. Frankenstyle docs for more information
React is the recommended approach (see reasons above), but some elements are available in HTML/CSS
The prefered way to consume Pivotal UI is through NPM, even for Rails projects. Using NPM to install PUI will ensure proper dependency management on your project.
-
Run
npm initif you don't have a package.json file already. -
Install Dr. Frankenstyle. This tool looks at your dependencies (those added with --save, NOT --save-dev), and compiles the CSS required by these packages.
npm install --save-dev dr-frankenstyle -
Install the Pivotal UI CSS modules
npm install --save pui-css-allIf you only want to include a few PUI components in your project, see the instructions below on customizing your PUI build.
-
Install jQuery and bootstrap.js
npm install --save-dev jquery npm install --save-dev bootstrapThese installs must happen after you've installed the PUI module. This ensures you'll get the correct version of bootstrap js.
It's important that you install these modules with
--save-dev, because we don't want Dr. Frankenstyle to pick up any CSS from these packages. -
Run Dr. Frankenstyle to compile your CSS to a folder (we use
./build/but you can choose whatever makes sense for your project)dr-frankenstyle <path-to-your-asset-build-folder> # writes the compiled css to <path-to-your-asset-build-folder>/components.css -
Add the css and javascript files to your html template
<!doctype html> <html> <head> <title>...</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="<path-to-your-asset-build-folder>/components.css"> <script src="<path-to-your-project's-root-folder>/node-modules/jquery/dist/jquery.js"></script> <script src="<path-to-your-project's-root-folder>/node-modules/bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.js"></script> </head> <body> <!-- ... --> </body> </html>
-
Write some CSS/HTML and enjoy!
<!-- ... --> <body> <div class="container"> <h1 class="type-brand-1 em-high">Hello world!</h1> </div> </body> <!-- ... -->
-
Upgrade PUI frequently
npm update pui-css-all dr-frankenstyle <path-to-your-asset-build-folder>NB - You must rerun Dr. Frankenstyle after you update PUI (or add any additional CSS module).
If you don't want all of Pivotal UI, you can install only the modules you will need. This will make your resultant CSS smaller! Let's say you're building an app that only has typography and buttons.
-
Remove the
pui-css-allmodule from your project.npm uninstall --save pui-css-all -
Add the necessary PUI CSS modules. For this example
npm install --save pui-css-typography npm install --save pui-css-buttonsUse the styleguide to determine which modules you need to install. Each component contains module information at the beginning of its docs:
-
Rerun Dr. Frankenstyle
dr-frankenstyle <path-to-your-asset-build-folder> -
Every time you install a new PUI CSS package, you will need to rerun Dr. Frankenstyle.
If you're using gulp or grunt or some other task runner, look at the Dr. Frankenstyle docs for how to make this step part of your task workflow.
Coming soon!
If you really don't want to use NPM, you can use our compiled PUI monolith. Be warned, you will have to manage updates and dependencies yourself.
- Download the latest release.
- Unzip the release archive and move the resulting directory into your project.
- Link to the css file in your html template to include the styles.
- Add a script tag to your html template to use the javascript.
- Use the css classes (reference the styleguide for examples and usage)
<html>
<head>
<title>...</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/path/to/release/pivotal-ui.css">
<script src="/path/to/release/pivotal-ui.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<p class='type-brand-1'>Hello, world!</p>
</body>
</html>You'll need to maintain the structure in the release directory to have fonts and assets work properly. Do not modify the release files directly. If you need a component and you cannot find it in the styleguide, write your own styles and javascript separately. Doing so will make it easier to update to newer versions.
If you are building CSS using Sass, you can get pivotal-ui variables and mixins from the pui-css-variables-and-mixins node module.
npm install --save pui-css-variables-and-mixins
Import the file and use the variables:
@import '<path-to-your-projects-node-modules>/pui-css-variables-and-mixins/pui-variables.scss';
@import '<path-to-your-projects-node-modules>/pui-css-variables-and-mixins/mixins.scss';
.bg-special {
background-color: $brand-1;
}If you want a feature added to Pivotal UI, or you've found a bug that needs fixing, please refer to our contribution guidelines.
When creating a pull request, make sure you rebase your branch against our code base (upstream). Read our Commit guidelines! We have a very specific syntax for our messages.
Copyright 2015 Pivotal Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.