Improve Baseline JavaScript

[elseloop]

The default JavaScript offerings in Phoenix are pretty slim. We have a few third party plugins, some utility functions, and not much else. It would be nice to get our baseline JavaScript offerings up to where the baseline Sass is. Most sites share a common group of additional JS functionality that we could abstract and include as a starting point. I'm thinking these could be third party code we're continually including (like appendaround—#56—or touchswipe) or original code we rewrite too often—like smooth scrolling or basic accordions.

I'd love to see ideas and/or links added below.

[chadian]

Along with just keeping inventory on the various projects, maybe we could create a repo for RFC style proposals, like ember: https://github.com/emberjs/rfcs

I imagine it would work where we would have a document that would break down our front-end libraries and plugins into categories. We could fork the repo, make the change that we are proposing, and create a pull request. Pull requests could be reviewed at the tech meeting, the following meeting pending any conversation, it can be merged. This document would be a single reference point when it comes to decisions on what plug-ins to use, but also wouldn't necessarily add things to Phoenix.

This will help lower the barrier of entry to what's included in Phoenix versus what we all commonly use. The document could also mention what should be added and where to have it included in our phoenix structured projects.

As far as what I've seen:
jQuery
appendAround
owlCarousel

+1 for:
lo-dash

[elseloop]

Thanks, @chadian. I'm not sure we have the user base or overarching need for a separate rfc repo right now, though I certainly like the idea. For now, issues with the enhancement label + feature branches should continue to serve our needs (the low rent small-scale version of the rfc repo). I think we could include the documentation ideas you're outlining in this repo, either in the main README.md or in a separate one in the /js directory. I love the bi-weekly review of issues and PRs, too (especially in how it implies frequent activity from multiple sources).

[stoff]

my list:
jQuery
appendAround
EventDebouncer
waypoints
masonry/isotope/packery (diminishing utility in the face of flexbox, however, still useful for some cases. also, isotope can filter.)

re owlCarousel, I haven't been on any projects in some time that use a carousel, and my instinct is that it's a pattern we should continue to discourage by exclusion ;-) Based on our conversation, @chadian saw this on one project recently - has anyone else included a carousel recently?

re lo-dash: I see the utility of this, but I think it would be good to see some practical examples on current projects where it would come in handy. I'd love to help out with a practice meeting presentation on this.