Creating well-designed components is key to building efficient, maintainable applications in Nordcraft. This guide helps you determine when to create components and explains the process for creating them.

Knowing when to turn parts of your application into components is an important skill. Here are key situations where creating a component makes sense:

Create a component when you notice the same UI pattern appearing in multiple places:

• Navigation bars or menus that appear on multiple pages
• Card layouts used to display different types of content
• Form input groups with labels and validation
• Buttons with consistent styling and behavior

If you find yourself copying and pasting the same group of elements, it's a strong indication that you should create a component.

Components help eliminate duplication in your codebase. Benefits include:

• Changes only need to be made in one place
• Bugs fixed in the component are fixed everywhere it's used
• Consistent user experience throughout your application

Components excel at encapsulating complex logic and UI into manageable, self-contained units:

• Interactive widgets like date pickers, sliders, or toggles
• Data visualization elements like charts or graphs
• Elements that manage their own state and behavior

Creating well-structured components involves finding the right level of granularity:

• Focus on purpose: Each component should serve a clear, specific function
• Consistency matters: Even simple elements like buttons benefit from being components when they appear throughout your application
• Watch for complexity signs: Components with more than 15-20 elements or numerous attributes may benefit from being divided
• Consider separation of concerns: If a component handles multiple distinct tasks or visual areas, it might work better as separate components
• Prioritize maintainability: Components should be easy to understand and modify without affecting unrelated functionality

The ideal component size depends on your specific application needs, but aiming for focused, single-responsibility components generally leads to more maintainable code.

When creating components, follow these steps for optimal results:

1. 1

   Plan the component interface: Determine what attributes and events the component will need
2. 2

   Build the element structure: Create the HTML structure that makes up your component
3. 3

   Style the component: Apply CSS to make the component visually appealing
4. 4

   Add internal logic: Set up variables, workflows, and event handlers
5. 5

   Test with different attribute values: Ensure the component works correctly with various inputs
6. 6

   Test in context: Place your component in its intended parent element or application to verify it works as expected in real usage scenarios

Creating well-designed components takes practice, but pays dividends in maintainability and development speed as your application grows.