To Render or Not To Render

My first experimentations with Lightning Components recall using <aura:renderIf> and <aura:if> interchangeably. Both achieved the same objective. Semantically they were identical. It was great – I could hide and show lightning components conditionally and that was enough for the time being. As lighting applications scale up, modularity and componentisation can run an application into hundreds or more components….

Developer Preview: Elegant CSS with Design Tokens

With Spring 16′ on the horizon, I was keen to see what improvements Salesforce were lining up for the Lightning Component Framework. A small but sweet addition looked to be the inclusion of design tokens into the CSS arena, aiming to resolve some of the current headaches around CSS across larger orgs and a step in the right direction for…

Documenting Lightning Components with LIVE examples!

Some of the least documented features of the Lightning Component framework are the documentation features themselves. When utilised properly, these can bring huge efficiencies in how quickly you can pull together a technical reference guide for your Lightning Components. The coolest part is that the documentation is a lightning application itself. We can incorporate real life…

Tutorial – Activity Timeline Lightning Component

I recently entered a Lightning Component competition at work. The idea was simple; create a Lightning Component based on a CSS template provided by the Lightning Design System. In this tutorial I’ll walk you through the design and build of my Activity Timeline component. The focus, as it should be, was on component reusability and portability….

Extending Communities using Lightning Components

With the launch of Salesforce Community Cloud, Salesforce have made it easier and faster than ever before to deliver mobile first, elegantly designed communities to your customers, employees and partners. “Now you can build Rome in a day” headlines the informational pages on the website. Terms such as Community Templates and Community Designer sit alongside…