Select UI framework for metrics page redevelopment.

[torrin47]

The UI for the EDG Metrics page is clunky and confusing, but reworking it into something modern, clean, and intuitive like this interface might not require starting over from scratch.

The legacy metrics code has 2 components:

• Java/JSP code that generates json file with all the data for the page pulled out of the database nightly
• Simile Exhibit front end to facilitate faceted search/filter

Editing the JSP code to adjust data for metrics is pretty straightforward/low effort (I was able to do it myself!) so even though the way xpath queries are handled in the database is a little clunky, I don't know that there's much value in replacing the back end.
I'm unclear on how challenging it might be to apply purely cosmetic changes to the existing Simile Exhibit front-end. There is an Exhibit3 framework, but development seems to have tapered off, and the UI doesn't look significantly better. Modern JavaScript frameworks seem to offer significantly more capabilities out of the box for interacting with data. The example above uses Esri's Calcite framework, which has this caution:

Calcite Web, while still a CSS Framework, has some profound differences from projects like Bootstrap or Foundation. Where Bootstrap and Foundation both aim to provide a robust set of patterns and utilities for the general, third party developer, Calcite Web only concerns itself with Esri projects. Calcite Web is not designed for a developer who is not directly working for Esri on Esri products or properties. In other words, every project created with Calcite Web will look like an Esri-branded site.

Looking like an Esri-branded site is fine, it's a clean and professional look, but this metrics page is several steps removed from any Esri products or properties, so we don't gain much by locking into an Esri framework, and we might lose out on widgets and functions available in the bigger frameworks. I know Bootstrap is very popular and is underneath the dashboard that Ana really likes, but I'm not sure whether we need a complete framework or might be able to take a widget approach using something like JqueryUI. The decision might also be determined by other requirements, but I will enter those as separate tickets #80 , #81 , #82 , #82 , #83, #84, with this ticket capturing the big-picture decision on what framework to use.

[torrin47]

This issue was moved to USEPA/EPA_Environmental_Dataset_Gateway#7