The update announced the creation of new community libraries run for and by the community, with the help of a new volunteer UI Contribution Steering Group. We also provided details on how these will impact MDS Community components and Anchor UI v9 components.
Your can find out more about these announcements in the presented slides, a recording of the meeting and a summary of questions asked below.
Important dates
- 10th April 2024
New Community libraries officially launched. - 19th April 2024
Community of Practice demo presentations to support the launch and deep dive sessions arranged by the MDS team.
Please post a message in our Microsoft Teams channel or get in touch with us directly.
Presented slides
Recording of the meeting
Summary of questions asked
On contribution
Who specifically to reach out to regarding Steering Group?
You can reach out to: Aneta Nina Chodor-Kjeldsen, Martin Rosenbaek Mortensen, Natasha Skov-Ludvigsen or Ste Brennan.
How much time would it require from me to be in the Steering Group?
We plan to have fortnightly meetings within the group (around 1 hour long). Also, from time to time, you will be helping with reviewing community contributions and with up-skilling initiatives. We expect you to spend around 2-3 hours per month.
Will there be any follow ups on how we can contribute to these new libraries?
Yes, when the Steering Group has been formed then that group will define the contribution process and governance model in detail.
On the MDS & Community UI
Moving on can we consider MDS as the single source of truth for UI?
Yes
Will the current @maersk-global/mds-components-community package cease to exist at some point?
No, the package will remain in the package registries, however, it will be deprecated in in Q4 2024 and no further versions will be published.
How difficult is it to move to @maersk-global/community-ui?
From mds-components-community it is a simple rename to community-ui wherever you import those components. There are no changes to the underlying code and the components are named the same.
On Anchor UI & Community React
What do you mean by “End of Life” for Anchor UI?
When Anchor UI reaches End of Life, 1st January 2025, it will not receive any updates for features or fixes of any kind. It will continue to be available in Nexus for applications to consume as apps depend on it, and it will never be removed. From our own experience with MDS v1 reaching EOL 31st December 2023, we know that many teams continue to run MDS v1 without any issues. However, if they reach out for support we will ask them to move to the currently supported version, and we will do the same for Anchor UI. All upcoming components in Anchor UI will be available in the community-react package.
Why do we need a separate library for React and not use the Community UI?
Community React library is the new home for Anchor UI components and it’s created so that products using current Anchor UI components can easily move to the new library and be more aligned with MDS. All Anchor UI components and Anchor Widgets were moved to the community-react monorepo and updated to use the MDS components where applicable. MDS components and Community UI components work just fine with React via the React Wrapper components, so we recommend using those libraries first.
Is the upgrade from Anchor UI v9 to Community React time consuming?
Our aim is to make the transition to this new library as smooth as possible, so that as many apps can get the benefits of it as soon as they can. Community React’s component API is as similar as possible to Anchor UI v9 to ease this transition.
What will happen to the existing Anchor UI projects which have been using Anchor UI for a very long time? Do they need some migrations?
A detail migration guide will be published. If you are using version 9, the impact will be minimal. Moving to Community-React is not mandatory though Anchor UI will not be supported after 1st Jan 2025.
Will I be able to use Anchor UI v9 components after 1st Jan 2025?
Yes, Anchor UI will still be supported with fixes until the end of the year and doesn’t disappear after that. Teams can continue to use it but all new features will be in community-ui or community-react.
Can both the Anchor UI and Community React library co-exist in the same app?
Yes, though as these libraries are equivalent we wouldn’t recommend it. Once we publish the final version in April, you can switch to Community-React by changing the import from Anchor UI.
Will there be changes to “remaining” Anchor suite? Will MDS “interact” as today with Anchor suite (flow, feedback/insights, RBAC)?
There are no changes to Insights Hub (Feedback), RBAC or Flow, as these are separate products.
Will Anchor widgets remain the same?
They have been moved into the same repository as community-react and their Figma designs have been moved into the Community-UI Figma library.
Will Community React be based on existing Anchor UI components? Will it be expect being visually backwards-compatible with Anchor UI?
Anchor UI components are styled around MDS v1 visual identity. Community React components have been changed to use the MDS v2 components underneath, and we have made an integration layer to keep the API as similar as possible, though there are some small differences that we’ve highlighted in the types. Because there is an move to MDS v2 styles there will be some visual changes, though these are very minor.
What is the upgrade process looks like from Anchor UI to Community React library?
We will publish a migration guide. If you are using version 9, the impact will be minimal. Moving to Community-React is not mandatory though Anchor UI will not be supported after 1st Jan 2025.
Can I use MDS Components in existing app that uses Anchor UI?
Yes! Import your components from @maersk-global/mds-react-wrapper and get started.
If we are starting to develop a new application before April 19th, can we utilise the new Community React Storybook?
For new applications we recommend using MDS components. For components that are not found in MDS, you can use Community UI or Community React components, which are published as beta to Github packages and Nexus
Please post a message in our Microsoft Teams channel or get in touch with us directly.