For the last few months, we’ve been hard at work on the next version of Fractal.

After some time spent analysing these problems, we realised that they were all related to one central issue. It was clear that two separate concerns were entangled in the current Fractal implementation: development, and output. As a result, we decided to split these apart. Having a common core referenced by both aspects, and a CLI to provide access to functionality, followed naturally from this. Thus arose:
The Fractal Quaternity
As the name indicates, there are four main aspects:
The core parser
The core parser is what looks at your filesystem and determines what the components are and how they relate to each other. It uses a plugin based system, so adding new functionality (such as component ‘tags’) is as easy as adding a new plugin. Its only responsibility is to generate component specifications from the filesystem and an API to interact with that specification data. A ‘specification’ consists of information that fundamentally defines a component such as its contents and file path, and anything your plugins might have added.
The static site generator
The static site generator uses the data created by the core parser and combines it with templates you create, to render static pages in whatever style, combination, or format takes your fancy. This gives you complete control over the layout and structure. Creating output such as documentation, a static site, or even a pdf, is its sole concern.
The web-based development tool
The web-based development tool or ‘devtool’ also uses the data created by the core parser, but instead its responsibility is to generate previews of all your components, including all of their variants and custom data. This will enable developers to preview, test and iterate quickly during the development phase of a component without having to worry about details of how documentation regarding implementation and usage might be generated. It will also enable designers to be involved at an earlier stage of the component development process.
The CLI
This will build on the existing implementation and extend its functionality to complement the new structure.
Other improvements
We’re also working on many other changes to improve Fractal’s usefulness and flexibility that aren’t directly tied to the change in architecture. The core parser now handles multiple template files for a single component, so that you can easily have versions in each templating language you might require. We’re also introducing optional ‘schemas’ to help you define your component’s data structure. This will enable validation and automatic generation of context. The plugin system will ensure that new features, rendering methods, and custom functionality are simple to add. We’re really excited about the direction this new release of Fractal is taking. We aim to ship the first iteration of the parser, with some core functionality, by the end of the week but we’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us. We’ve begun active development of the static site generator, and the devtool is in very early prototype stages. Join us on the Fractal slack channel to give feedback on this developer release and help shape Fractal’s future!