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+---
+date: "2021-10-13T16:00:00+02:00"
+title: "Guidelines for Frontend Development"
+slug: "guidelines-frontend"
+weight: 20
+toc: false
+draft: false
+menu:
+  sidebar:
+    parent: "contributing"
+    name: "Guidelines for Frontend"
+    weight: 20
+    identifier: "guidelines-frontend"
+---
+
+# Guidelines for Frontend Development
+
+**Table of Contents**
+
+{{< toc >}}
+
+## Background
+
+Gitea uses [Fomantic-UI](https://fomantic-ui.com/introduction/getting-started.html) (based on [jQuery](https://api.jquery.com)) and [Vue3](https://vuejs.org/) for its frontend.
+
+The HTML pages are rendered by [Go HTML Template](https://pkg.go.dev/html/template).
+
+The source files can be found in the following directories:
+
+* **CSS styles:** `web_src/css/`
+* **JavaScript files:** `web_src/js/`
+* **Vue components:** `web_src/js/components/`
+* **Go HTML templates:** `templates/`
+
+## General Guidelines
+
+We recommend [Google HTML/CSS Style Guide](https://google.github.io/styleguide/htmlcssguide.html) and [Google JavaScript Style Guide](https://google.github.io/styleguide/jsguide.html)
+
+### Gitea specific guidelines:
+
+1. Every feature (Fomantic-UI/jQuery module) should be put in separate files/directories.
+2. HTML ids and classes should use kebab-case, it's preferred to contain 2-3 feature related keywords.
+3. HTML ids and classes used in JavaScript should be unique for the whole project, and should contain 2-3 feature related keywords. We recommend to use the `js-` prefix for classes that are only used in JavaScript.
+4. CSS styling for classes provided by frameworks should not be overwritten. Always use new class names with 2-3 feature related keywords to overwrite framework styles. Gitea's helper CSS classes in `helpers.less` could be helpful.
+5. The backend can pass complex data to the frontend by using `ctx.PageData["myModuleData"] = map[]{}`, but do not expose whole models to the frontend to avoid leaking sensitive data.
+6. Simple pages and SEO-related pages use Go HTML Template render to generate static Fomantic-UI HTML output. Complex pages can use Vue3.
+7. Clarify variable types, prefer `elem.disabled = true` instead of `elem.setAttribute('disabled', 'anything')`, prefer `$el.prop('checked', var === 'yes')` instead of `$el.prop('checked', var)`.
+8. Use semantic elements, prefer `<button class="ui button">` instead of `<div class="ui button">`.
+9. Avoid unnecessary `!important` in CSS, add comments to explain why it's necessary if it can't be avoided.
+10. Avoid mixing different events in one event listener, prefer to use individual event listeners for every event.
+11. Custom event names are recommended to use `ce-` prefix.
+
+### Accessibility / ARIA
+
+In history, Gitea heavily uses Fomantic UI which is not an accessibility-friendly framework.
+Gitea uses some patches to make Fomantic UI more accessible (see the `aria.js` and `aria.md`),
+but there are still many problems which need a lot of work and time to fix.
+
+### Framework Usage
+
+Mixing different frameworks together is discouraged, it makes the code difficult to be maintained.
+A JavaScript module should follow one major framework and follow the framework's best practice.
+
+Recommended implementations:
+
+* Vue + Vanilla JS
+* Fomantic-UI (jQuery)
+* Vanilla JS
+
+Discouraged implementations:
+
+* Vue + Fomantic-UI (jQuery)
+* jQuery + Vanilla JS
+
+To make UI consistent, Vue components can use Fomantic-UI CSS classes.
+Although mixing different frameworks is discouraged,
+it should also work if the mixing is necessary and the code is well-designed and maintainable.
+
+### `async` Functions
+
+Only mark a function as `async` if and only if there are `await` calls
+or `Promise` returns inside the function.
+
+It's not recommended to use `async` event listeners, which may lead to problems.
+The reason is that the code after await is executed outside the event dispatch.
+Reference: https://github.com/github/eslint-plugin-github/blob/main/docs/rules/async-preventdefault.md
+
+If an event listener must be `async`, the `e.preventDefault()` should be before any `await`,
+it's recommended to put it at the beginning of the function.
+
+If we want to call an `async` function in a non-async context,
+it's recommended to use `const _promise = asyncFoo()` to tell readers
+that this is done by purpose, we want to call the async function and ignore the Promise.
+Some lint rules and IDEs also have warnings if the returned Promise is not handled.
+
+### HTML Attributes and `dataset`
+
+The usage of `dataset` is forbidden, its camel-casing behaviour makes it hard to grep for attributes.
+However, there are still some special cases, so the current guideline is:
+
+* For legacy code:
+  * `$.data()` should be refactored to `$.attr()`.
+  * `$.data()` can be used to bind some non-string data to elements in rare cases, but it is highly discouraged.
+
+* For new code:
+  * `node.dataset` should not be used, use `node.getAttribute` instead.
+  * never bind any user data to a DOM node, use a suitable design pattern to describe the relation between node and data.
+
+### Show/Hide Elements
+
+* Vue components are recommended to use `v-if` and `v-show` to show/hide elements.
+* Go template code should use Gitea's `.gt-hidden` and `showElem()/hideElem()/toggleElem()`, see more details in `.gt-hidden`'s comment.
+
+### Styles and Attributes in Go HTML Template
+
+It's recommended to use:
+
+```html
+<div class="gt-name1 gt-name2 {{if .IsFoo}}gt-foo{{end}}" {{if .IsFoo}}data-foo{{end}}></div>
+```
+
+instead of:
+
+```html
+<div class="gt-name1 gt-name2{{if .IsFoo}} gt-foo{{end}}"{{if .IsFoo}} data-foo{{end}}></div>
+```
+
+to make the code more readable.
+
+### Legacy Code
+
+A lot of legacy code already existed before this document's written. It's recommended to refactor legacy code to follow the guidelines.
+
+### Vue3 and JSX
+
+Gitea is using Vue3 now. We decided not to introduce JSX to keep the HTML and the JavaScript code separated.