Frontend ui engineering

Frontend UI Engineering

Overview

Production-quality UI engineering: component architecture, accessible markup, responsive design, and state management. The bar is not "does it render?" — the bar is "would a user notice a difference from a product they paid for?"

When to Use

• Building or modifying any user-facing component
• Implementing layouts, navigation, or data displays
• Adding or changing state management
• Any change that affects what a user sees or can interact with

Component Architecture

Hierarchy of Concerns

Page (route-level)
  └── Layout (grid/columns)
        ├── Feature Component (data + logic)
        │     └── UI Component (pure display, no data fetching)
        └── Shared Component (reusable, generic)

• Page components handle routing. No business logic.
• Feature components fetch data and own state. Not reusable.
• UI components receive props, render output. Fully reusable, no side effects.
• Shared components are the design system: Button, Input, Modal, etc.

Component Rules

// GOOD: UI component — pure, testable, reusable
interface SkillCardProps {
  name: string;
  description: string;
  onExport: () => void;
}

export function SkillCard({ name, description, onExport }: SkillCardProps) {
  return (
    <article className="skill-card">
      <h3>{name}</h3>
      <p>{description}</p>
      <button onClick={onExport} aria-label={`Export ${name} skill`}>
        Export
      </button>
    </article>
  );
}

// BAD: UI component that fetches its own data — not reusable, hard to test
export function SkillCard({ skillId }: { skillId: string }) {
  const { data } = useQuery(['skill', skillId], fetchSkill);
  // ...
}

Accessibility (Non-Negotiable)

Every interactive element must be keyboard-accessible and screen-reader-friendly.

Minimum Requirements (WCAG 2.1 AA)

// Interactive elements use semantic HTML
<button onClick={handleExport}>Export Skill</button>  // ✓
<div onClick={handleExport}>Export Skill</div>        // ✗

// Images have alt text
<img src={logo} alt="GitScape logo" />
<img src={decoration} alt="" />  // decorative: explicit empty string

// Forms have associated labels
<label htmlFor="repo-url">Repository URL</label>
<input id="repo-url" type="url" required />

// Icon-only buttons have aria-label
<button aria-label="Close dialog">✕</button>

// Loading states are announced
<div aria-busy={isLoading} aria-label="Loading skills">
  {isLoading ? <Spinner /> : <SkillList />}
</div>

Focus Management

• Tab order should follow visual order
• Modals trap focus while open; return focus on close
• Never remove focus outlines — style them instead

State Management

Where State Lives

State Type	Where It Lives	Example
Server data	React Query / SWR	Fetched skill list
URL state	URL params	Active tab, filters
UI state (local)	useState in component	Modal open/closed
UI state (shared)	Lifted to nearest common ancestor	Selected file set
Global app state	Context or Zustand	Auth user, theme

Rules

• Never duplicate server state in local state — React Query is the cache
• Never put derived values in state — compute them during render
• Lift state only as high as necessary (not straight to global)

// BAD: Derived value stored in state
const [filteredSkills, setFilteredSkills] = useState(skills);
useEffect(() => setFilteredSkills(skills.filter(...)), [skills, filter]);

// GOOD: Derived during render
const filteredSkills = skills.filter(...);

Performance in Components

Avoid Common Re-render Traps

// BAD: Creates new object on every render, causing children to re-render
function SkillList() {
  return <SkillFilters options={{ sortBy: 'name', order: 'asc' }} />;
}

// GOOD: Stable reference
const DEFAULT_OPTIONS = { sortBy: 'name', order: 'asc' } as const;
function SkillList() {
  return <SkillFilters options={DEFAULT_OPTIONS} />;
}

// Use React.memo only for expensive components that receive stable props
const SkillCard = React.memo(function SkillCard({ skill }: Props) {
  return <div>{/* expensive render */}</div>;
});

File Preview Truncation (GitScape-Specific)

File previews must be truncated to prevent browser freeze. Large files kill the page:

const MAX_PREVIEW_CHARS = 10_000; // ~200 lines

function FilePreview({ content }: { content: string }) {
  const truncated = content.length > MAX_PREVIEW_CHARS;
  const display = truncated ? content.slice(0, MAX_PREVIEW_CHARS) : content;
  return (
    <div>
      <pre>{display}</pre>
      {truncated && (
        <p className="truncation-notice">
          Preview truncated — full content included in export.
        </p>
      )}
    </div>
  );
}

Error States and Loading States

Every async operation needs all three states:

function SkillExport() {
  const { data, isLoading, error } = useQuery(...);

  if (isLoading) return <LoadingSpinner label="Fetching repository files..." />;
  if (error) return <ErrorMessage message="Could not load repository. Check the URL and try again." />;
  return <SkillPreview data={data} />;
}

Never show a blank screen. Never swallow errors silently.

Common Rationalizations

Rationalization	Reality
"I'll add accessibility later"	There is no later. Retrofitting keyboard nav into a complex component is 3x harder than building it in.
"The div with onClick works fine"	Until a keyboard user or screen reader user tries it.
"This state management is overkill for now"	Start right. Lifting state later causes cascading refactors.
"I'll handle the loading state after the happy path"	Users see loading states constantly. Handle them now.

Red Flags

• <div onClick={...}> anywhere
• Missing alt text on images
• Loading state shows blank content
• Error state shows a technical stack trace to the user
• State that could be derived from props/queries stored in useState
• useEffect used to sync local state with server data

Verification

After any UI change:

• All interactive elements use semantic HTML (button, a, input)
• All images have alt text (or alt="" for decorative)
• All form inputs have associated labels
• Tab order is logical and focus is visible
• Loading, error, and empty states are handled
• Component renders correctly at 320px (mobile) and 1440px (desktop)
• No console.error or console.warn in the browser during normal use