Chris Gregori, Creator of Bloom UI, joins the hosts to discuss the launch of Bloom, an extension of Phoenix core components simplifying UI development for Elixir and LiveView projects. They talk about features like avatars and marketing layouts, potential future directions, contributions from the community, and a strong emphasis on accessibility. Plus, updates on Livebook 0.13.x release, viral projects, and more!
Bloom offers extensible Phoenix components for UI development, emphasizing customization and simplicity.
Creator's motivation for Bloom stemmed from the need for attractive, accessible components beyond Phoenix Core.
Future directions for Bloom include web component integration and emphasis on accessibility and compliance.
Deep dives
Introduction to Bloom
Bloom is an open-source extension to Phoenix core components, offering customizable and extensible components for Phoenix projects. With a command-line utility, users can easily install and tailor components locally, providing a base for further customization. Bloom aims to simplify component handling, similar to React's ShadCN, ensuring developers can fully own and modify components to meet specific project requirements.
Motivation for Developing Bloom
The motivation for creating Bloom stemmed from the need to quickly scaffold pages with beautiful, accessible components beyond what Phoenix Core components offered. Inspired by the desire to enhance productivity in side projects and build visually stunning interfaces, Bloom addresses the gap in generating elegant components without the necessity to delve into different stacks like React or Svelte. The goal was to empower developers to create impressive UIs within the Elixir and Phoenix ecosystem.
Community Engagement and Growth
Since its release, Bloom has garnered attention, with contributors proposing new components and enhancements. Pull requests have been made to refine the repository, and individuals have shown interest in contributing and expanding the library. Discussions with industry experts like Chris McCord have ensured alignment with future Phoenix releases, preventing potential conflicts and enhancing collaboration within the Elixir community.
Developing Bloom as an Open Source Tool
The creator of Bloom discusses the development of the tool, emphasizing its open source nature. Despite suggestions to introduce a pro license for potential revenue, the creator remains committed to keeping Bloom free and open source, finding satisfaction in user enjoyment and engagement. The tool, featuring components essential for marketing and SEO, aims to provide value and enhance user experience, with a focus on the principles of open source and contributions.
Future Plans and Expansion of Bloom with Web Components
Looking towards the future, Bloom's creator explores the potential integration of web components into the tool. By considering the transition to web components, Bloom could streamline client interactions and create a standardized approach to component-based libraries. The discussion also touches on accessibility considerations and the importance of contributions towards making Bloom more accessible and compliant with web standards.
In this episode, we dive into the launch of Bloom UI with its creator, Chris Gregori. Chris shares his motivations behind Bloom, an opinionated extension of Phoenix core components, aimed at simplifying UI development for Elixir and LiveView projects. We discuss its command-line utility for generating components, current features like avatars and marketing layouts, and potential future directions including expanded components and web component integration. Highlights include Chris's journey with Elixir, contributions from the community, and a strong emphasis on accessibility. Plus, we cover news on Livebook 0.13.x release, the viral "2 Million Checkboxes" project by Peter Ullrich, Tyler Young's updated Parameterized Tests, and more!
