An Intro to Component Libraries and Design Systems

The different types of component libraries and their uses.

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  • [00:00 - 00:15] The most common reason for implementing a component library is the need for consistency. By abstracting common business logic, styling, and features, you are able to provide a consistent experience for the end users of your product, as well as an improved developer experience for those building it.

    [00:16 - 00:30] With the flexibility of React and the variety of library choices in the ecosystem, there isn't a hard rule of what should be abstracted into a component library. In this course, we will be focusing on techniques and API patterns that allow for the widest range of uses.

    [00:31 - 00:48] When building a new library, the trick is to make it flexible enough to support the use cases and product needs you don't know about yet. Design systems, as a concept, are a centralized collection of reusable UX patterns, style tokens, and voice and tone guidelines that are applicable to many different platforms.

    [00:49 - 00:58] Whereas a component library is a collection of reusable abstractions for a specific experience. Component libraries are often confused for a complete design system.

    [00:59 - 01:10] But not all component libraries are design systems, and not all design systems have component libraries. Some of the most popular open source component libraries implement design systems.

    [01:11 - 01:20] We have Material UI, which is an implementation of the Material Design System. Fluent UI, which implements the Fluent Design System.

    [01:21 - 01:35] And for example, the Zendesgarden React implementations are shareable components that implement the Zendesgarden design system. The requirement for a design system to be flexible and unappinionated may not meet the use cases for your teams and the types of logic they need to share.

    [01:36 - 01:41] The techniques shown in this course are applicable to design system components, but this isn't the main focus of the course.