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2026-04-23 Frontend Working Group Meeting Notes: Planning upcoming milestones

2026-04-23 Frontend Working Group Meeting Notes: Planning upcoming milestones

All public Working Group meetings follow the Recording Policy for Open edX Meetings

 Time, location

 Agenda

  • Frontend-base project status updates (@Adolfo Brandes)

Previous Action Items

🎥Recording

 Participants

Adolfo Brandes, Brian Smith, Diana Villalvazo Salas, Jacobo Dominguez, Jason Wesson, Javier Ontiveros, Jesse Stewart-WGU, Jesus Balderrama, Max Frank, Sarina Canelake

🤖 Summary

1. Overall Status

  • Frontend Base is nearly complete

    • No major features left to implement.

    • No known critical bugs.

  • Team is in final alignment phase before cutoff.

  • General sentiment: on track for next week’s cutoff.

2. Key Issues & Decisions

Missing Feature

  • Help button in header is missing in frontend-base.

  • Decision:

    • Treat as a new task (not completed work).

    • Brian will investigate and implement.

CSS Layering Bug

  • Unexpected behavior with CSS layers (Paragon vs shell) causing styling issues (e.g., double underline in tabs).

  • Root cause likely:

    • Incorrect layer ordering or import timing.

  • Actions:

    • Create an issue and investigate.

    • Adolfo + Brian to debug.

3. Ongoing Workstreams

Instructor Dashboard

  • Near completion, but pending:

    • Backend + frontend PRs for special exams.

    • Certificates/reports work (Jesse):

      • Blocked by backend merge + UI bug (hidden context menus).

  • Testing:

    • Test plans exist; broader team participation will be needed.

Learner Dashboard

  • Program dashboard PR in progress.

  • Expected ready for review next week.

edX Platform PR

  • Almost ready to merge.

  • Needs:

    • Clearer comments on legacy tests before final approval.

4. Tooling & Improvements

  • CI builds now active for frontend apps (late but valuable).

  • AI-assisted migration (Claude) proved highly effective:

    • Template app converted in ~30 minutes.

  • New CSS layering system introduced:

    • Enables code-splitting without breaking branding.

    • Has edge cases (e.g., !important behavior reversed).

5. Pre-Conference Plan

  • After cutoff:

    • Focus on testing (team-wide effort).

    • Improve documentation and migration guides.

    • Reduce cost/complexity of AI-assisted migration.

  • Some frontend-base content will be included in conference workshops.

6. Post-Conference Plan

  • Adolfo taking time off.

  • Then:

    • Fix bugs and polish.

    • Possibly expand to catalog, profile, account integration (if time allows).

7. Release Strategy

  • Proposal:

    • Wait ~1 week before release → label as v1.0.

    • Use buffer to fix critical issues.

  • Concern:

    • Ensure all dependencies correctly move to 1.x versions.

8. Adoption & Feedback

  • Teams (e.g., Max’s) are actively adopting frontend-base.

  • Early feedback:

    • Solves real problems (especially extensibility and header customization).

  • Encouragement:

    • Report bugs early, even if fixes require breaking changes.

9. Miscellaneous

  • Google Analytics:

    • Plan to provide via Tutor plugin (possibly upstreamed).

  • Deprecation:

    • Placeholder DEPR tickets can be created for now.

  • CI/Dependency management:

    • Workaround for Renovate limitations using automated lockfile PRs.

Bottom Line

  • The project is very close to cutoff readiness.

  • Main risks:

    • Minor missing features (help button)

    • CSS layering bug

    • A few pending PRs

  • Confidence is high that next week’s deadline is achievable.