Compass Web Framework

Upcoming plugin changes

by Joel Eisner

On April 5 and April 6, VCU Technology Services will begin updating all plugins mapped to a Compass component. While this upcoming release does not introduce any new components, there are significant improvements to existing ones, which has introduced changes our users should be aware of. For a detailed breakdown of our updates and schedule, check out our blog post on v1.3.0.

Custom CSS property prefix

The upcoming CSS for the “Accordion Panel” plugin showing the changes to custom CSS properties.

To aid development between local environments and production T4 sites, as well as make our documentation more consistent between platforms, plugin custom CSS properties will no longer be prefixed with --plugin-, and instead will use --cwf-. Class names for plugins will remain .plugin- prefixed, however.

The “Callout” plugin becomes the “Card” plugin

Examples of the Compass card (formerly callout) component and its variations.

In v1.3.0 of Compass, we decided to reimagine the callout component into what is now referred to as a card. Because of this change, its class names have been renamed to be more contextual, which means its class names will change for the plugin as well.

Class name updates

Changes

  • .cwf-callout/.plugin-callout becomes .cwf-card/.plugin-card
  • .cwf-callout--accent/.plugin-callout--accent becomes .cwf-card--accent/.plugin-card--accent
  • .cwf-callout__container/.plugin-callout__container becomes .cwf-card__container/.plugin-card__container
  • .cwf-callout__wysiwyg/.plugin-callout__wysiwyg becomes .cwf-card__body/.plugin-card__body

New

  • .cwf-card--stacked/.plugin-card--stacked – Modifies the card to stack an image and body on top instead of next to each other. Will be used by default in the sidebar or when contained within a grid component.
  • .cwf-card--reversed/.plugin-card--reversed – Modifies the card to show an image to the left of the body instead of to the right. This does not affect stacked behavior.
  • .cwf-card--gray/.plugin-card--gray – Makes the background of the card a light gray color and darkens the borders; This is stylistically similar to the default callout.
  • .cwf-card__media/.plugin-card__media – A conditional wrapping element to contain a provided image and its blurred background.
  • .cwf-card__background/.plugin-card__background – A duplicate of a provided image to create a blurred background; This is stylistically similar to hero backgrounds.
  • .cwf-card__image/.plugin-card__image – An image to be used adjacent to body content.

Style updates

Changes

  • All CSS custom properties are prefixed with --cwf-card instead of --cwf-callout/--plugin-callout.
  • All SCSS variables use card instead of callout in their names.
  • The 1.5rem padding is no longer on the container element but on the body element.
  • Cards now have a 1px border slightly darker than the background color (using a 0.125 opacity black, i.e. rgba(0,0,0,0.125)).
  • Buttons no longer use custom colors unless the card is themed.
  • Style changes to heading markers has been removed.
  • The accent style for cards now uses the global accent colors for easy theme modification.

New

  • Cards now support images, which show up to the right of the body content by default. It shows up above the body content when a). the .cwf-card--stacked/.plugin-card--stacked modifier class is applied, b). on mobile viewport sizes, c). when within a grid, and d). when within the sidebar area. It shows up to the left of the body content when the .cwf-card--reversed/.plugin-card--reversed modifier class is applied.
  • The “Card” plugin will have a new, optional “Image” field to allow for the new image functionality.

Find & replace

While the updates to the plugins shouldn’t break functionality, if you’ve written custom CSS overrides for them, you may see some style changes. The following find/replace statements should easily convert your custom CSS to work with all the new changes coming to plugins:

  1. Convert --plugin-callout to --plugin-card
  2. Convert --plugin- to --cwf-
  3. Convert .plugin-callout__wysiwyg to .plugin-card__body
  4. Convert .plugin-callout to .plugin-card
  5. Convert .cwf-callout to .cwf-card

Keep in mind, these changes will not be implemented until the week of April 5, so we do not advise making these find/replace changes until the rollout begins.

Have questions about these plugin changes?

If you have questions about the Compass 1.3.0 release, the plugins changes, or suggestions for a future Compass release, message our team on the VCU digital community Slack channel or send us an email at compass@vcu.edu.

Categories Plugin updates
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