Published my first NPM package

Yesterday I published my first module onto NPM, and it’s a plugin for Tailwind CSS to be used alongside Vue.js.

The plugin adds classes for showing and hiding elements in different display variations in combination with Vue's v-cloak directive, which I originally saw in the first 'Building Kitetail' video. These are useful for when you want an element to be visible whilst Vue is compiling, and hidden afterwards.

Here is the compiled CSS that is added by the plugin:

[v-cloak] .v-cloak-block {
  display: block;
}

[v-cloak] .v-cloak-flex {
  display: flex;
}

[v-cloak] .v-cloak-hidden {
  display: none;
}

[v-cloak] .v-cloak-inline {
  display: inline;
}

[v-cloak] .v-cloak-inline-block {
  display: inline-block;
}

[v-cloak] .v-cloak-inline-flex {
  display: inline-flex;
}

[v-cloak] .v-cloak-invisible {
  visibility: hidden;
}

.v-cloak-block,
.v-cloak-flex,
.v-cloak-inline,
.v-cloak-inline-block,
.v-cloak-inline-flex {
  display: none;
}

The v-cloak directive exists on an element until Vue finishes compiling, after which it is removed. Therefore adding a v-cloak-block class to an element will make it display: block whilst Vue is compiling and the element is cloaked, and display: none afterwards when the Vue markup is compiled and rendered.

In my base.html.twig template, I’ve added v-cloak to the wrapper div within the body.

<body class="font-sans leading-normal">
    <div id="app" v-cloak>
            </div>
</body>

Within my navbar.html.twig partial, I have a placeholder div that also contains the site name, which is instantly visible but has the v-cloak-block class so it’s hidden once Vue has compiled and the Navbar Vue component is visible instead.

<div class="mb-6 border-b border-gray-300 border-bottom">
    <div class="container mx-auto">
        <div class="block py-5 v-cloak-block">
            
        </div>

        <navbar
            site-name=""
            page-url="/blog/published-my-first-npm-package/"
        ></navbar>
    </div>
</div>

I was originally surprised that these classes weren’t included as part of Tailwind or as part of an existing plugin, but as I’ve already used these styles on several projects that include Vue.js with Symfony or Sculpin, it made sense to extract it into a plugin and make it available as a npm package which I can easily add to any project - as well as making it easier to maintain if I need to add additional variations at a later point.

You can view the package on npmjs.com, and the code repository on GitHub.

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About me

Picture of Oliver

I'm an Acquia-certified Drupal Triple Expert with 17 years of experience, an open-source software maintainer and Drupal core contributor, public speaker, live streamer, and host of the Beyond Blocks podcast.