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add-new-service-theme

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Adds a new World Service language/service theme to the SCSS modules theming system (ThemeProviderSCSSModules). Use this when asked to add or set up a theme for a new service.

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Skill: Add a New Service Theme (SCSS Modules)

Purpose

All existing World Service language themes have been migrated from Emotion CSS-in-JS to SCSS modules + CSS custom properties (ThemeProviderSCSSModules). This skill covers creating a theme for a new service using that same system going forward.

The Mundo theme is the best reference implementation to follow: src/app/components/ThemeProviderSCSSModules/themes/mundo/

When to Use

Use this skill when a new World Service language/service is being added and needs a theme set up under the SCSS modules theming system.

How the theming system works

For the Mundo theme, there is a directory including the main theme file itself: src/app/components/ThemeProviderSCSSModules/themes/mundo/mundo.ts; this file imports various SCSS files and relies on their side-effects to either import relevant resources or set CSS custom properties to apply runtime theme customisations.

The theme is made available to be dynamically imported in src/app/components/ThemeProviderSCSSModules/themes/loadableConfig.ts.

Steps

  1. Inspect the mundo theme as a guide: src/app/components/ThemeProviderSCSSModules/themes/mundo/
  2. Create a new directory for the service under src/app/components/ThemeProviderSCSSModules/themes/<service>/
  3. Create palette.scss in that directory, mapping the service's palette tokens to CSS custom properties (use src/app/components/ThemeProviderSCSSModules/themes/mundo/palette.scss as a guide, importing from ../../palette.scss)
  4. Create the main <service>.ts theme entrypoint, importing:
    • The appropriate font face SCSS files from ../../fontFaces/
    • The appropriate font variant SCSS file from ../../fontVariants/
    • The appropriate font script SCSS file from ../../fontScripts/
    • ./palette.scss
    • withThemeProvider from #app/components/ThemeProviderSCSSModules/withThemeProvider
    • brandSVG from ../../chameleonLogos/<service> (see step 5)
  5. Create the chameleon logo at src/app/components/ThemeProviderSCSSModules/chameleonLogos/<service>.tsx — this step is easy to miss and must not be skipped
  6. Register the theme in loadableConfig.ts at src/app/components/ThemeProviderSCSSModules/themes/loadableConfig.ts, adding a new entry following the same pattern as mundo — this step is easy to miss and must not be skipped
  7. Present this for feedback and iterate.

Checklist

Before considering a new service theme complete, verify all of the following:

  • themes/<service>/palette.scss created with correct CSS custom properties
  • themes/<service>/<service>.ts created, importing font faces, variants, script, palette, and brandSVG
  • chameleonLogos/<service>.tsx created
  • themes/loadableConfig.ts updated to include the new service