12 KiB
Design System Documentation - Project Progress
Project Goal: Create comprehensive, state-of-the-art design system documentation with interactive demos
Start Date: November 2, 2025 Status: Phase 1 Complete ✅ | Phase 2 Pending
Project Overview
Vision
Create a world-class design system documentation that:
- Follows Pareto principle (80% coverage with 20% content)
- Includes AI-specific code generation guidelines
- Provides interactive, copy-paste examples
- Has multiple learning paths (Speedrun → Comprehensive Mastery)
- Maintains perfect internal coherence and link integrity
Key Principles
- Pareto-Efficiency - 80/20 rule applied throughout
- AI-Optimized - Dedicated guidelines for AI code generation
- Interconnected - All docs cross-reference each other
- Comprehensive - Every pattern has examples and anti-patterns
- State-of-the-Art - Top-notch content quality
Phase 1: Documentation (COMPLETE ✅)
Tasks Completed (14/14)
Documentation Files Created (12/12) ✅
-
✅ README.md (305 lines)
- Hub document with 6 learning paths
- Quick navigation table
- Links to all other docs and interactive demos
- Technology stack overview
-
✅ 00-quick-start.md (459 lines)
- 5-minute crash course
- Essential components (Button, Card, Form, Dialog, Alert)
- Essential layouts (Page Container, Dashboard Grid, Form Layout)
- Color system, spacing system, responsive design, accessibility
- 8 golden rules
- All time estimates removed per user request
-
✅ 01-foundations.md (587 lines)
- OKLCH color system (why + all semantic tokens)
- Typography scale (font sizes, weights, line heights)
- Spacing scale (multiples of 4px)
- Shadows system
- Border radius scale
- Complete usage examples for each token
-
✅ 02-components.md (1374 lines)
- Complete shadcn/ui component library guide
- All variants documented (Button, Badge, Avatar, Card, etc.)
- Form components (Input, Textarea, Select, Checkbox, Label)
- Feedback components (Alert, Toast, Skeleton)
- Overlay components (Dialog, Dropdown, Popover, Sheet)
- Data display (Table, Tabs)
- Composition patterns (Card + Table, Dialog + Form, etc.)
- Component decision tree
- Quick reference for variants
-
✅ 03-layouts.md (587 lines)
- Grid vs Flex decision tree (flowchart)
- 5 essential layout patterns:
- Page Container
- Dashboard Grid
- Form Layout
- Sidebar Layout
- Centered Content
- Responsive strategies (mobile-first)
- Common mistakes with before/after examples
- Advanced patterns (asymmetric grid, auto-fit, sticky sidebar)
-
✅ 04-spacing-philosophy.md (697 lines)
- The Golden Rules (5 core rules)
- Parent controls children strategy
- Decision tree: Margin vs Padding vs Gap
- Common patterns (form fields, button groups, card grids)
- Before/after examples showing anti-patterns
- Anti-patterns to avoid with explanations
-
✅ 05-component-creation.md (863 lines)
- When to create vs compose (decision tree)
- The "3+ uses rule" (extract after 3rd use)
- Component templates:
- Basic custom component
- Component with variants (CVA)
- Composition component
- Controlled component
- Variant patterns with CVA
- Prop design best practices
- Testing checklist
- Real-world examples (StatCard, ConfirmDialog, PageHeader)
-
✅ 06-forms.md (824 lines)
- Form architecture (react-hook-form + Zod)
- Basic form pattern (minimal + complete)
- Field patterns (Input, Textarea, Select, Checkbox, Radio)
- Validation with Zod (common patterns, full schema example)
- Error handling (field-level, form-level, server errors)
- Loading & submit states
- Form layouts (centered, two-column, with sections)
- Advanced patterns (dynamic fields, conditional fields, file upload)
- Form checklist
-
✅ 07-accessibility.md (824 lines)
- WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards
- Color contrast (ratios, testing tools, color blindness)
- Keyboard navigation (requirements, tab order, shortcuts)
- Screen reader support (semantic HTML, alt text, ARIA)
- ARIA attributes (roles, states, properties)
- Focus management (visible indicators, focus trapping)
- Testing (automated tools, manual checklist, real users)
- Accessibility checklist
- Quick wins
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✅ 08-ai-guidelines.md (575 lines)
- Core rules (ALWAYS do / NEVER do)
- Layout patterns for AI
- Component templates for AI
- Form pattern template
- Color token reference
- Spacing reference
- Decision trees for AI
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Code generation checklist
- AI assistant configuration (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot)
- Examples of good AI-generated code
-
✅ 99-reference.md (586 lines)
- Quick reference cheat sheet
- Color tokens table
- Typography scale table
- Spacing scale table
- Component variants reference
- Layout patterns (grid columns, container widths, flex patterns)
- Common class combinations
- Decision trees
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Accessibility quick checks
- Import cheat sheet
- Zod validation patterns
- Responsive breakpoints
- Shadows & radius
Cleanup & Integration (2/2) ✅
-
✅ Deleted old documentation
- Removed
frontend/docs/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md - Removed
frontend/docs/COMPONENT_GUIDE.md
- Removed
-
✅ Updated CLAUDE.md
- Added design system documentation reference
- Listed all 12 documentation files with descriptions
- Highlighted
08-ai-guidelines.mdfor AI assistants
Documentation Review & Fixes ✅
Issues Found During Review:
-
Time estimates in section headers - Removed all (user request)
- Removed "⏱️ Time to productive: 5 minutes" from header
- Removed "(3 minutes)", "(30 seconds)" from all section headers
-
Broken color system link (user found)
- Fixed:
./01-foundations.md#color-system→./01-foundations.md#color-system-oklch
- Fixed:
-
Broken data-tables cross-reference (agent found)
- Fixed: Removed broken link to non-existent
./06-forms.md#data-tables - Changed to: "use TanStack Table with react-hook-form"
- Fixed: Removed broken link to non-existent
-
Incomplete SelectGroup import (agent found)
- Fixed: Added missing
SelectGroupandSelectLabelto import statement in 02-components.md
- Fixed: Added missing
Comprehensive Review Results:
- ✅ 100+ links checked
- ✅ 0 broken internal doc links
- ✅ 0 logic inconsistencies
- ✅ 0 ToC accuracy issues
- ✅ All 11 files reviewed
- ✅ All cross-references verified
- ✅ Section numbering consistent
Metrics: Phase 1
- Total Files Created: 12 documentation files
- Total Lines of Documentation: ~7,600 lines
- Total Links: 100+ (all verified)
- Learning Paths: 6 different paths for different use cases
- Time to Complete Phase 1: ~3 hours
- Code Quality: Production-ready, all issues fixed
Phase 2: Interactive Demos (PENDING)
Objective
Create live, interactive demonstration pages at /dev/* routes with:
- Copy-paste ready code snippets
- Before/after comparisons
- Live component examples
- Links back to documentation
Tasks Remaining (6/6)
Utility Components (1 task)
- ⏳ Create utility components (
/src/components/dev/)BeforeAfter.tsx- Side-by-side before/after comparisonsCodeSnippet.tsx- Copy-paste code blocks with syntax highlightingExample.tsx- Live component example container- Purpose: Reusable components for all demo pages
- Estimated Lines: ~300 lines
Demo Pages (5 tasks)
-
⏳ Enhance /dev/page.tsx (hub)
- Landing page for all interactive demos
- Quick navigation to all demo sections
- Overview of what's available
- Links to documentation
- Estimated Lines: ~150 lines
-
⏳ Enhance /dev/components/page.tsx
- Live examples of all shadcn/ui components
- All variants demonstrated (Button, Badge, Card, etc.)
- Copy-paste code for each variant
- Links to 02-components.md
- Estimated Lines: ~800 lines
-
⏳ Create /dev/layouts/page.tsx
- Live examples of 5 essential layout patterns
- Before/after comparisons showing common mistakes
- Responsive behavior demonstrations
- Grid vs Flex examples
- Links to 03-layouts.md
- Estimated Lines: ~600 lines
-
⏳ Create /dev/spacing/page.tsx
- Visual spacing demonstrations
- Parent-controlled vs child-controlled examples
- Before/after for anti-patterns
- Gap vs Space-y vs Margin comparisons
- Links to 04-spacing-philosophy.md
- Estimated Lines: ~500 lines
-
⏳ Create /dev/forms/page.tsx
- Complete form examples
- Validation demonstrations
- Error state examples
- Loading state examples
- Form layout patterns
- Links to 06-forms.md
- Estimated Lines: ~700 lines
Estimated Phase 2 Metrics
- Total Files to Create: 6 files
- Total Estimated Lines: ~3,050 lines
- Estimated Time: 2-3 hours
- Dependencies: All Phase 1 documentation complete
Project Status Summary
Overall Progress: 70% Complete
Phase 1: Documentation ✅ 100% (14/14 tasks)
- All documentation files created
- All issues fixed
- Comprehensive review completed
- CLAUDE.md updated
Phase 2: Interactive Demos ⏳ 0% (0/6 tasks)
- Utility components pending
- Demo pages pending
- Integration with documentation pending
Key Decisions Made
-
Documentation Structure
- Decided to create subfolder
docs/design-system/instead of root-level files - Numbered files for clear progression (00-99)
- Separate AI guidelines document (08-ai-guidelines.md)
- Quick reference as 99-reference.md (bookmark destination)
- Decided to create subfolder
-
Learning Paths
- Created 6 different learning paths for different user needs
- Speedrun (5 min) → Comprehensive Mastery (1 hour)
- Specialized paths for component development, layouts, forms, AI setup
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Content Philosophy
- Pareto principle: 80% coverage with 20% content
- 5 essential layouts cover 80% of needs
- Decision trees for common questions
- Before/after examples showing anti-patterns
-
AI Optimization
- Dedicated 08-ai-guidelines.md with strict rules
- ALWAYS/NEVER sections for clarity
- Component templates for AI code generation
- Integration instructions for Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot
-
Link Strategy
- Internal doc links: Relative paths (
./02-components.md) - Demo page links: Absolute routes (
/dev/components) - Anchor links for specific sections (
#color-system-oklch) - All links verified during review
- Internal doc links: Relative paths (
Next Steps
Immediate: Begin Phase 2
-
Create utility components (
BeforeAfter.tsx,CodeSnippet.tsx,Example.tsx)- Reusable across all demo pages
- Consistent styling
- Copy-paste functionality
-
Enhance /dev/page.tsx (hub)
- Landing page for all demos
- Quick navigation
-
Create demo pages in order
/dev/components/page.tsx(most referenced)/dev/layouts/page.tsx/dev/spacing/page.tsx/dev/forms/page.tsx
Future Enhancements (Post-Phase 2)
- Add search functionality to documentation
- Create video tutorials referencing docs
- Add print-friendly CSS for documentation
- Create PDF versions of key guides
- Add contribution guidelines for design system updates
Lessons Learned
-
Ultrathink Required
- Initial plan needed refinement after user feedback
- Comprehensive review caught issues early
-
Time Estimates Removed
- User preference: No time estimates in section headers
- Focus on content quality over reading speed
-
Link Verification Critical
- Agent review caught broken cross-references
- Incomplete imports in examples
- Fixed before Phase 2 begins
-
Documentation Coherence
- Cross-referencing between docs creates cohesive system
- Multiple entry points (learning paths) serve different needs
- Quick reference (99-reference.md) serves as bookmark destination
Sign-Off
Phase 1 Status: ✅ COMPLETE - Production Ready Phase 2 Status: ⏳ PENDING - Ready to Begin
Next Action: Create utility components and begin demo page implementation
Last Updated: November 2, 2025 Updated By: Claude Code (Sonnet 4.5)