VueJS

Layouts & Theming in Vuetify 3

Published May 19, 2023

Updated Oct 12, 2023

4 min read

This article was written over 18 months ago and may contain information that is out of date. Some content may be relevant but please refer to the relevant official documentation or available resources for the latest information.

Introduction

Do you want to avoid tinkering with CSS to get your website looking just right?

Branding is everything in today's digital landscape. With Vuetify 3's customizable theming options, you can create web projects that perfectly reflect your unique branding, and visual identity. Additionally, you can reduce the duplicated code by creating layouts representing your application's different page structures.

In a previous article introducing Vuetify 3 with Vue 3, we created an application that allowed us to add, display, and delete jokes. If you'd like to follow along with this article, please clone the GitHub repository.

git clone https://github.com/thisdot/blog-demos.git
# or `git@github.com:thisdot/blog-demos.git` for ssh

# then cd into the project directory
cd layouts-and-theming-in-vueityf

In this article, we'll go over how you can create layouts in Vuetify 3 to allow you to reuse the same layout for pages that share the same structure. We will also go over how you can customize the look and feel of your application to match your brand's visual identity through the powerful theming tools that Vuetify 3 offers us.

Layouts in Vuetify 3

What are layouts, and how are they useful?

In web development, layouts are akin to blueprints for the structure of your web pages. They provide a consistent and reusable frame for the different pages of an application. A well-designed layout can improve the user experience by providing familiarity and predictability as the user navigates through other parts of your application.

Layouts are particularly helpful in reducing code duplication. Instead of defining the same structure for each page—headers, footers, and navigation menus, you define them once in a layout, and then apply that layout to any page that uses the same structure. This speeds up development, and makes your code easier to maintain.

Using Layouts in Vuetify 3

Creating a layout in Vuetify 3 is as simple as creating a new Vue component. This component will include the common elements shared across multiple pages like headers, footers, and navigation bars. Here is an example of a basic layout:

<template>
  <v-app>
    <v-main>
      <v-header> ... </v-header>
      <v-navigation-drawer> ... </v-navigation-drawer>
      <router-view/>
    </v-main>
    <v-footer> ... </v-footer>
  </v-app>
</template>

This layout has a header, a navigation drawer, and a footer. The <router-view/> component is where the content of the specific pages will be injected.

Building a layout for our application

Let's create a layout for our application. We'll have a top navigation bar and a footer. Inside the layouts directory, create a new file named Default.vue and add the following code:

<template>
  <v-app>
    <v-app-bar app color="primary" dark>
      <v-toolbar-title>Joke Machine</v-toolbar-title>
    </v-app-bar>

    <v-main>
      <router-view/>
    </v-main>

    <v-footer color="primary" app>
      <span>&copy; 2023 Joke Machine</span>
    </v-footer>
  </v-app>
</template>

Additionally, in order for us to use our layout, we will need to modify our router/index.ts file to use the Default.vue component:

const routes = [
{
    //...
    component: () => import('@/layouts/Default.vue'),
    //...
}

This will make sure that our respective pages use the Default.vue layout that we created. The contents of the pages will appear in place of <router-view> in the layout.

It is also worth noting that you can create, and nest as many layouts as you want.

Theming in Vuetify 3

Themes allow you to customize your application's default colors, surfaces, and more. If your brand has specific colors and styling, you can theme your Vuetify application to resemble your brand through theming better. Additionally, Vuetify 3 allows you to modify your theme in real-time programmatically. [Vuetify 3] also comes with light and dark themes pre-installed.

Theming API

Vuetify 3 offers us 2 main APIs for working with themes:

useTheme is a composable that allows us to get information about the current theme and will enable us to modify the existing theme.
v-theme-provider is used in the <template> section of your Vue files to modify the theme of all of its children.

Updating the theme of our application

Updating the theme of our application is straightforward with Vuetify 3. Let's customize our application's primary and secondary colors. In the vuetify.ts file, modify the themes section to contain the following styles:

import { createVuetify } from 'vuetify'
import 'vuetify/styles'

const vuetify = createVuetify({
  theme: {
    themes: {
      light: {
        background: '#FFFFFF',
        surface: '#F2F5F8',
        primary: '#6200EE',
        secondary: '#03DAC6',
        error: '#B00020',
        info: '#2196F3',
        success: '#4CAF50',
        warning: '#FB8C00',
      },
    },
  },
})

In this example, we're defining a custom 'light' theme. If you want to use a dark theme, or any other named theme, you can add those as additional properties within the themes object. For example:

themes: {
  light: { /* ... */ },
  dark: { /* ... */ },
}

And... That's it! By changing the various config options in the vuetify.ts file, you can modify how your application looks and feels to match your brand. If you'd like to learn more about themes and all the options you can provide, please check out the official Vuetify documentation.

Conclusion

In this article, we've gone through the concepts of layouts and theming in Vuetify 3. We've seen how layouts can reduce code duplication, and provide consistency across your application. We've looked at how Vuetify's theming features allow you to customize your application to match your brand's visual identity.

Understanding and utilizing these features effectively can significantly enhance the development experience and the end user's interaction with your application. Remember, a well-structured and visually appealing application not only attracts users, but also retains them. Happy coding!

This Dot is a consultancy dedicated to guiding companies through their modernization and digital transformation journeys. Specializing in replatforming, modernizing, and launching new initiatives, we stand out by taking true ownership of your engineering projects.

We love helping teams with projects that have missed their deadlines or helping keep your strategic digital initiatives on course. Check out our case studies and our clients that trust us with their engineering.

About the author(s)

Allan M. Jeremy
Allan Jeremy is a self-proclaimed polymath, entrepreneur and Senior Software Engineer at ThisDot Labs. He is an AI and crypto enthusiast that loves to learn most things tech and business as well as sharing what he learns.
@theallanjeremy @AllanJeremy

Getting started with Vitepress

Getting started with Vitepress to create your blog site Have you heard about Vitepress, but you have not checked it out at it yet? Well, in this article, we are going to cover the basic setup and share what all the fuss about this new fantastic static site generator. If you are looking for something that would allow you to quickly create a static site with Markdown support, search, Light/Dark theme, advertisement, navigation, and much more, then Vitepress is what you are looking for. Suppose you want some proof of Vitepress's power without having to invest any further time, I suggest you head over to the main Vitepress site (vitepress.dev) and experience what Vitepress can do, as the official site is built on Vitepress! What is Vitepress Vitepress is a powerful Static Site Generator powered by Vite mainly used for Documentation and Blogs with the default theme, and open to customization to be used for anything you may need it to with custom themes and theme overrides.. Vitepress power comes from its low learning curve, powerful configuration settings, and the ability to easily customize it. For example, internationalization is built-in, Theme toggling is built-in and even full-site searches require a single line in the config to be set up. What makes Vitepress so powerful is its extensive configuration and the fact that it can be customized by overriding the existing theme, creating your theme, or simply enhancing pages with custom Vue code. Prerequisites To successfully run the following demo, you will need: - Node.js version 18 or higher. - Terminal for accessing VitePress via its command line interface (CLI). - Text Editor with Markdown syntax support. - VSCode is recommended, along with the official Vue extension. Create your project To create the project, we will follow the steps shown in the official Getting Started guide. If you want to set up a Vitepress project quickly, run the following steps: - Create a new folder mkdir vitepress-tutorial - Access the folder cd vitepress-tutorial - Install Vitepress npm add -D vitepress - Run the Wizard npx vitepress init - Answer the questions: - Where should VitePress initialize the config? - Site title - Site Description - Theme - Do you want Typescript support? - run npm run docs:dev - Enjoy your site. After you run the above steps, your Vitepress will be ready and running as shown below What is available out of the box The site comes fully set up with enough to get you started. Let's see what features are available within the software: - Navbar: The site comes with a Navbar that already includes links to our blog pages - Light/Dark theme: Out of the box theming - Home page: Basic Homepage layout - Blogs: Two different blog posts with sidebar navigation All of the above is available with just 4 files! Let's move forward and see how to customize our app. Overriding the homepage It is time to modify our site by accessing its folders. What you will probably notice when opening the site, is that Vitepress follows a very simple file structure, in fact, a new installation just includes 4 extra files on top of the expected package.json and node_modules. Let's update our homepage to make it more unique. Because Vitepress follows a "file-system based router" we can find this file within the root of the project within a file called index.md. This file will be accessible at "/" or "/index.html" of your site. The content of the file is the following: ` As you can see, the file has no code in it, and it is just driven by configuration, or more specifically in this case Markdown frontmatter, that is a set of configurations accepted by markdown files that help you set up your options such as title, description, og:image. We will describe frontmatter in more detail later in the article. Before we jump into modifying the configuration of the file, you should know that Vitepress has a very extensive and well-detailed documentation site where you can find help if you are stuck or would like to learn more. In this case, we are overriding the "home" page, so the documentation can be found here: Home Page Default Theme configuration. If you read the current file within the homepage, you will notice that it defines a "layout" of "home". This layout displays a main header with CTAs and a set of feature blocks. There are three different layouts available in the Default theme: "home", "doc" and "page". The title and description have already been set from the information we provided from the installation wizard. But the rest is just a basic boiler template. Let's see what we can change: 1) Add a hero image. This image can either be externally sourced or saved within the repository. ` 2) Update the action buttons. ` As shown above, Action buttons have two themes "brand" or "alt" and can accept internal or external links. Vitepress is clever enough to set the external links to open in a new tab and set the rel="noreferrer". 3) Change the feature blocks: Features blocks are great for engaging with the user and telling them what makes your site special. This accepts an icon and some text, so let's change ours with the following: ` The homepage is now completed and updated and it should look like this: Please note that what we did on the homepage is just changing the markdown front matter of the "home" layout. What this means is that if you want to, you can easily customise the page further by either adding more blocks to the layout file or actually by writing and styling the rest of the page as normal. Site configuration In this step, we are going learn about the main site configuration and how we can use it to customize our site. The configuration file can be found in the .vitepress folder under the name of "config.mjs". Just like the homepage layout, the configuration used in the preset file is self-explanatory: ` This file is very important and you are probably going to have it open at all times as it is going to be responsible for the layout of the sidebar navigations of your site. In this section, we are going to learn how to use the Vitepress configuration file to achieve the following: - Modify the sidebar navigation - Enable Search - Add Favicon to your site Modify the sidebar navigation The sidebar is the component displayed on the left-hand side of the blog pages. This is not automatically generated, but it is manually set in this file. You can have more than one navigation, so, for example, you could specify sidebar navigation that shows in pages that have "/blog/" within their path and another one for all markdown pages that have "/tutorials/". Let's see how to implement this: ` With the above code, there will be 2 different sidebars. One will just show if the URL includes "/blog" and the other will be displayed if the path includes "tutorials". Clicking on the above items will give a 404 error as we do not have any pages in that specific location. Still, we can easily fix the issue by creating the two folders "blog" and "tutorial" and creating the required files within these folders in our case are "index.md" and "one.md" for the blog and "index.md" and "two.md" for tutorials. The sidebar has further settings like the ability to create a nested tree or create collapsable menus. You can learn more by checking out the the official documentation on default theme sidebar. Enable Search No documentation or blog site is complete until a search is fully implemented on it. Luckily for us, enabling a site-wide search is extremely simple with Vitepress. Vitepress supports two different search types: a full-text search using minisearch and Algolia based search. In this tutorial, we are going to enable the full-text search. This is fully built-in and requires no external accounts. To enable search, we need to add a "Search" parameter within our themeConfig and set the provider to "local". We can add this right below the socialLinks. ` With just a simple config change, our site will now have a full site search working as shown below: The official search documentation has further information about the look and functionality of the search. Add Favicon to your site Even if the site configuration is very extensive, there are times when you will need to add something within the site-wise page that is not available. In this section we are going to learn how to add specific attributes to the of our site, and specifically how to add a favicon. To add custom values to the head, we are going to use the "head" properties available with the Vitepress configuration. The "head" configuration is an array that accepts an array with the element type (eg. link, script, meta), and an object including all the attributes for that specific element. So for example to replicate the following HTML: ` we would define the following head config: ` We can use this technique to set up metadata and even load fonts or Google Analytics. More info in the site-config head Writing your post In the last section of this article, we are going to learn how to actually write a blog post and also learn how to customize the pages with JS and styles. Writing your first page In the previous section, we created a couple of markdown files, but they are currently empty. Let's see how to create beautiful documentation using the built-in feature of Vitepress. In this section, we are going to work on the file stored in /blog/index.md. This file can be accessed in your browser by accessing "http://localhost:5174/blog/index.html". Blog Frontmatter Every file needs to have a frontmatter defined. This is used to define basic information on the page, such as the title, description, and more. For best SEO results, it is best practice to always define a title and description for a new page. We can do this by adding the following code at the top of our file: ` Frontmatter in Markdown files are delimited by the "---". In the above code, we set our title and description. Vitepress frontmatter supports further config like lastUpdates, sidebar, outline, and more. You can find info on the frontmatter-config documentation. Frontmatter has some global configuration, such as title and description, but also "layout specific" settings that are just available on specific layouts. This is clearly explained in the documentation. Blog Markdown Now that our post frontmatter is set, it is time to write the content of it. This is done using a very extensive markdown engine. Let's start with the basics and write a heading with some text and a link as shown below: ` After saving, our development environment will show the following results: Let's add a couple of headings and a table of contents to our document using [[toc]] to the top of our page: ` The above will produce an unordered list with all our links. The last feature that I want to share about the Vitepress markdown engine is the code editors. The markdown engine used in Vitepress offers extensive features when it comes to code rendering. Features available are "code highlight", "code focus", external snippets loading and much more. The full list of features can be found in the markdown docs. Let's implement a simple code snippet with a line of code focused. This can be achieved by adding "// [!code focus]" at the end of our row. Let's give it a try: ` The output of this will be: Customize your blog with Vue In this last section, we will learn how to customize our code by adding js logic, style, and external components. Before we begin, it is important to understand that when you use the default template of Vitepress, your pages are going to be rendered with Vue. This means that we can expand the individual page's functionality by rendering other vue components and/or writing logic and styles directly on the page. To better explain this concept, we are going to create a team page. Create a file called team.md within the root of our repository. This file will be accessible on "http://localhost:5174/team.html" and will be just a simple Markdown file. First, we set up the frontmatter as before. In this case, we have to specify an additional config called "layout". This will ensure the page has no style or components loaded such as sidebar or aside. ` Then we will have to create our team variable, just like a normal Vue component; we can do so by defining a script setup tag and defining the constant there. ` In the above code, we have imported the VPTeamMembers component from the vitepress/theme and defined an array of members. The values used in the members array are hardcoded, but as you may expect, you can load this information directly from an API. We now have to use the "members" variable within our file. We can do so by writing normal JavaScript. The markdown file will evaluate the JavaScript and render it, so in the following example it will render a specific component. ` Before we move forward we need to define some style as the page is unstyled since we have loaded the layout of "page". Just like we did with the tag, we can load a tag and update our styles: ` The completed file will look like this: ` The file above now includes: - A frontmatter that specifies a "page" layout - A script tag that loads an external component and defines a variable - Styles to make the page pretty - Markdown with a custom component The completed team page would render the following: Conclusion Vitepress is an extremely flexible static site generator. Its default theme provides you with everything you need to get started quickly. The ability to load external themes, enhance the current theme, and or write custom code within your page makes this tool extremely powerful. In future articles, we will discover what components are available within the Default Theme and see how you can make the most of your Vitepress site but keep on coding....

Dec 21, 2023

12 mins

VueViteVitepress

Nuxt DevTools v1.0: Redefining the Developer Experience Beyond Conventional Tools

In the ever-evolving world of web development, Nuxt.js has taken a monumental leap with the launch of Nuxt DevTools v1.0. More than just a set of tools, it's a game-changer—a faithful companion for developers. This groundbreaking release, available for all Nuxt projects and being defaulted from Nuxt v3.8 onwards, marks the beginning of a new era in developer tools. It's designed to simplify our development journey, offering unparalleled transparency, performance, and ease of use. Join me as we explore how Nuxt DevTools v1.0 is set to revolutionize our workflow, making development faster and more efficient than ever. What makes Nuxt DevTools so unique? Alright, let's start delving into the features that make this tool so amazing and unique. There are a lot, so buckle up! In-App DevTools The first thing that caught my attention is that breaking away from traditional browser extensions, Nuxt DevTools v1.0 is seamlessly integrated within your Nuxt app. This ensures universal compatibility across browsers and devices, offering a more stable and consistent development experience. This setup also means the tools are readily available in the app, making your work more efficient. It's a smart move from the usual browser extensions, making it a notable highlight. To use it you just need to press Shift + Option + D (macOS) or Shift + Alt + D (Windows): With simple keystrokes, the Nuxt DevTools v1.0 springs to life directly within your app, ready for action. This integration eliminates the need to toggle between windows or panels, keeping your workflow streamlined and focused. The tools are not only easily accessible but also intelligently designed to enhance your productivity. Pages, Components, and Componsables View The Pages, Components, and Composables View in Nuxt DevTools v1.0 are a clear roadmap for your app. They help you understand how your app is built by simply showing its structure. It's like having a map that makes sense of your app's layout, making the complex parts of your code easier to understand. This is really helpful for new developers learning about the app and experienced developers working on big projects. Pages View lists all your app's pages, making it easier to move around and see how your site is structured. What's impressive is the live update capability. As you explore the DevTools, you can see the changes happening in real-time, giving you instant feedback on your app's behavior. Components View is like a detailed map of all the parts (components) your app uses, showing you how they connect and depend on each other. This helps you keep everything organized, especially in big projects. You can inspect components, change layouts, see their references, and filter them. By showcasing all the auto-imported composables, Nuxt DevTools provides a clear overview of the composables in use, including their source files. This feature brings much-needed clarity to managing composables within large projects. You can also see short descriptions and documentation links in some of them. Together, these features give you a clear picture of your app's layout and workings, simplifying navigation and management. Modules and Static Assets Management This aspect of the DevTools revolutionizes module management. It displays all registered modules, documentation, and repository links, making it easy to discover and install new modules from the community! This makes managing and expanding your app's capabilities more straightforward than ever. On the other hand, handling static assets like images and videos becomes a breeze. The tool allows you to preview and integrate these assets effortlessly within the DevTools environment. These features significantly enhance the ease and efficiency of managing your app's dynamic and static elements. The Runtime Config and Payload Editor The Runtime Config and Payload Editor in Nuxt DevTools make working with your app's settings and data straightforward. The Runtime Config lets you play with different configuration settings in real time, like adjusting settings on the fly and seeing the effects immediately. This is great for fine-tuning your app without guesswork. The Payload Editor is all about managing the data your app handles, especially data passed from server to client. It's like having a direct view and control over the data your app uses and displays. This tool is handy for seeing how changes in data impact your app, making it easier to understand and debug data-related issues. Open Graph Preview The Open Graph Preview in Nuxt DevTools is a feature I find incredibly handy and a real time-saver. It lets you see how your app will appear when shared on social media platforms. This tool is crucial for SEO and social media presence, as it previews the Open Graph tags (like images and descriptions) used when your app is shared. No more deploying first to check if everything looks right – you can now tweak and get instant feedback within the DevTools. This feature not only streamlines the process of optimizing for social media but also ensures your app makes the best possible first impression online. Timeline The Timeline feature in Nuxt DevTools is another standout tool. It lets you track when and how each part of your app (like composables) is called. This is different from typical performance tools because it focuses on the high-level aspects of your app, like navigation events and composable calls, giving you a more practical view of your app's operation. It's particularly useful for understanding the sequence and impact of events and actions in your app, making it easier to spot issues and optimize performance. This timeline view brings a new level of clarity to monitoring your app's behavior in real-time. Production Build Analyzer The Production Build Analyzer feature in Nuxt DevTools v1.0 is like a health check for your app. It looks at your app's final build and shows you how to make it better and faster. Think of it as a doctor for your app, pointing out areas that need improvement and helping you optimize performance. API Playground The API Playground in Nuxt DevTools v1.0 is like a sandbox where you can play and experiment with your app's APIs. It's a space where you can easily test and try out different things without affecting your main app. This makes it a great tool for trying out new ideas or checking how changes might work. Some other cool features Another amazing aspect of Nuxt DevTools is the embedded full-featured VS Code. It's like having your favorite code editor inside the DevTools, with all its powerful features and extensions. It's incredibly convenient for making quick edits or tweaks to your code. Then there's the Component Inspector. Think of it as your code's detective tool. It lets you easily pinpoint and understand which parts of your code are behind specific elements on your page. This makes identifying and editing components a breeze. And remember customization! Nuxt DevTools lets you tweak its UI to suit your style. This means you can set up the tools just how you like them, making your development environment more comfortable and tailored to your preferences. Conclusion In summary, Nuxt DevTools v1.0 marks a revolutionary step in web development, offering a comprehensive suite of features that elevate the entire development process. Features like live updates, easy navigation, and a user-friendly interface enrich the development experience. Each tool within Nuxt DevTools v1.0 is thoughtfully designed to simplify and enhance how developers build and manage their applications. In essence, Nuxt DevTools v1.0 is more than just a toolkit; it's a transformative companion for developers seeking to build high-quality web applications more efficiently and effectively. It represents the future of web development tools, setting new standards in developer experience and productivity....

Dec 1, 2023

8 mins

VueNuxtJSDevToolsJavaScript

Avoiding Burnout for Remote Teams: A Software Engineer's Guide

Pull up a chair, my fellow coders, team leads, and everyone working from a desk in their pajamas. Let's talk about something that's been buzzing around like an annoying fly we've been trying to swat: burnout. Yeah, we all know what I'm talking about. The long hours, the lack of sunlight (my plant is getting a better tan than me - just kidding, I don't have a plant), the never-ending to-do list, and the work-life balance hanging by a thread. If you're nodding along, then you're in the right place. In this piece, we'll navigate the maze of remote work and uncover ways to keep that nasty burnout at bay. And I promise there won't be any code debugging here, just some light-hearted yet meaningful advice coming your way. Ready to dive in? Awesome, let's get started! Setting Clear Boundaries Working from home has its perks. No commute, comfortable attire, and flexible hours. But let's get real. The downside is that work can become a 24/7 gig if you aren't careful. My living room turned office, turned dining room, makes me feel like I'm always on duty. So how do we fight this? We do what we do best. We set some boundaries. Defining a workspace is essential, even if it's just a corner of the room. This physical boundary tells your brain "I'm in work mode now." Trust me; your brain will thank you for it. Next comes the schedule. I'm not talking about planning every minute of your day, but having a structured work schedule is crucial. Have a defined start time, breaks, and, most importantly, a shutdown time. And let me tell you, this shutdown time is non-negotiable. Like the last slice of pizza at a party, you don't touch it, and I've got to admit, I struggle with it, but I am working on it. Asynchronous Communication With a team spread across the globe, synchronicity is a luxury we can't afford. We've got people working from their night to match our day, and that's just not fair. What can we do about this? Embrace asynchronous communication. Let's do away with the pressure of immediate responses. People can respond in their time, respecting their work hours. And let's be honest, most of our communication doesn't need instant answers. Time differences are not villains but part of our remote work reality. Results Over Hours A common misconception about remote work is that "the more hours I work, the more productive I am." Well, that's as far from the truth as I am from my next vacation. The focus should be on results, not hours clocked in. Set realistic goals and trust your team to manage their time effectively. This trust is essential for a remote team. After all, we don't have someone peeping over our shoulder, making sure we're working. Or at least I hope not! Mental Health Support Mental health: the elephant in the room. Why do we tip-toe around it? Stress, anxiety, and burnout are real, and they're here. It's high time we address them. Resources like Employee Assistance Programs, mindfulness apps, and virtual fitness classes are excellent support systems. But they're not magic potions. They need regular utilization, and we need to make our team comfortable with seeking help. Let's make it our strength, not a weakness. Regular Breaks Do you know what's the quickest way to burnout? Working without breaks. I know we've all been guilty of it at some point. But let's change that. Taking breaks is not a luxury; it's a necessity. Short walks, quick exercises, or just stepping away from the screen can do wonders. I even tried the Pomodoro technique, and it's a game-changer. Another thing you could do is schedule lunch breaks in your calendar so your colleagues know when not to try to reach you. You can additionally set your focus times in your calendar so that you can maximize your time in flow state without interruptions. Prioritize Effective Communication Communication. It can make or break a remote team. Without physical cues, messages can be easily misinterpreted. Open, transparent, and empathetic communication is the solution. Regular check-ins and feedback sessions also help keep things running smoothly. After all, we're a team, and teams need to talk! Training and Development Boredom is a silent killer in remote work. And the best defense is learning. Offering training and development opportunities enhances skills and breaks the monotony. Who would want to learn something other than a new language or skill? Plus, it aligns with our long-term career goals. It's a win-win situation. Time Off I can't stress this enough. Time off is essential! We need to recharge, relax, and rejuvenate. Encourage your team to disconnect during their time off fully. Trust me; the world will only end if we check our emails for a few days. I tried it, and I'm still here! Empathy and Flexibility Last but not least, empathy and flexibility. Everyone's situation is different. Let's show understanding for those juggling childcare, living in different time zones, or dealing with personal issues. Let's be leaders who are empathetic and flexible. Conclusion In the world of remote work, prevention is better than cure. And the prevention of burnout comes with boundary setting, asynchronous communication, focus on results, mental health support, regular breaks, effective communication, continuous learning, time off, and empathy. With these in place, we can navigate the remote work culture while keeping our sanity intact. So let's dive in, shall we?...

Jul 31, 2023

4 mins

Software Engineering

Roo Custom Modes

Roo Custom Modes Roo Code is an extension for VS Code that provides agentic-style AI code editing functionality. You can configure Roo to use any LLM model and version you want by providing API keys. Once configured, Roo allows you to easily switch between models and provide custom instructions through what Roo calls "modes." Roo Modes can be thought of as a "personality" that the LLM takes on. When you create a new mode in Roo, you provide it with a description of what personality Roo should take on, what LLM model should be used, and what custom instructions the mode should follow. You can also define workspace-level instructions via a .roo/rules-{modeSlug}/ directory at your project root with markdown files inside. Having different modes allows developers to quickly fine-tune how the Roo Code agent performs its tasks. Roo ships out-of-the-box with some default modes: Code Mode, Architect Mode, Ask Mode, Debug Mode, and Orchestrator Mode. These can get you far, but I have expanded on this list with a few custom modes I have made for specific scenarios I run into every day as a software engineer. My Custom Modes 📜 Documenter Mode I created this mode to help me with generating documentation for legacy codebases my team works with. I use this mode to help produce documentation interactively with me while I read a codebase. Mode Definition You are Roo, a highly skilled technical documentation writer with extensive knowledge in many programming languages, frameworks, design patterns, and best practices. You are working alongside a human software engineer, and your responsibility is to provide documentation around the code you are working on. You will be asked to provide documentation in the form of comments, markdown files, or other formats as needed. Mode-specific Instructions You will respect the following rules: * You will not write any code, only markdown files. * In your documentation, you will provide references to specific files and line numbers of code you are referencing. * You will not attempt to execute any commands. * You will not attempt to run the application in the browser. * You will only look at the code and infer functionality from that. 👥 Pair Programmer Mode I created a “Pair Programmer” mode to serve as my personal coding partner. It’s designed to work in a more collaborative way with a human software engineer. When I want to explore multiple ideas quickly, I switch to this mode to rapidly iterate on code with Roo. In this setup, I take on the role of the navigator—guiding direction, strategy, and decisions—while Roo handles the “driving” by writing and testing the code we need. Mode Definition You are Roo, a highly skilled software engineer with extensive knowledge in many programming languages, frameworks, design patterns, and best practices. You are working alongside a human software engineer who will be checking your work and providing instructions. If you get stuck, ask for help and we will solve problems together. Mode-specific Instructions You will respect the following rules: * You will not install new 3rd party libraries without first providing usage metrics (stars, downloads, latest version update date). * You will not do any additional tasks outside of what you have been told to do. * You will not assume to do any additional work outside of what you have been instructed to do. * You will not open the browser and test the application. Your pairing partner will do that for you. * You will not attempt to open the application or the URL at which the application is running. Assume your pairing partner will do that for you. * You will not attempt to run npm run dev or similar commands. Your pairing partner will do that for you. * You will not attempt to run a development server of any kind. Your pairing partner will handle that for you. * You will not write tests unless instructed to. * You will not make any git commits unless explicitly told to do so. * You will not make suggestions of commands to run the software or execute the test suite. Assume that your human counterpart has the application running and will check your work. 🧑‍🏫 Project Manager I created this mode to help me write tasks for my team with clear and actionable acceptance criteria. Mode Definition You are a professional project manager. You are highly skilled in breaking down large tasks into bite-sized pieces that are actionable by an engineering team or an LLM performing engineering tasks. You analyze features carefully and detail out all edge cases and scenarios so that no detail is missed. Mode-specific Instructions Think creatively about how to detail out features. Provide a technical and business case explanation about feature value. Break down features and functionality in the following way. The following example would be for user login: User Login: As a user, I can log in to the application so that I can make changes. This prevents anonymous individuals from accessing the admin panel. Acceptance Criteria * On the login page, I can fill in my email address: * This field is required. * This field must enforce email format validation. * On the login page, I can fill in my password: * This field is required. * The input a user types into this field is hidden. * On failure to log in, I am provided an error dialog: * The error dialog should be the same if the email exists or not so that bad actors cannot glean info about active user accounts in our system. * Error dialog should be a red box pinned to the top of the page. * Error dialog can be dismissed. * After 4 failed login attempts, the form becomes locked: * Display a dialog to the user letting them know they can try again in 30 minutes. * Form stays locked for 30 minutes and the frontend will not accept further submissions. 🦾 Agent Consultant I created this mode for assistance with modifying my existing Roo modes and rules files as well as generating higher quality prompts for me. This mode leverages the Context7 MCP to keep up-to-date with documentation on Roo Code and prompt engineering best practices. Mode Definition You are an AI Agent coding expert. You are proficient in coding with agents and defining custom rules and guidelines for AI powered coding agents. Your specific expertise is in the Roo Code tool for VS Code are you are exceptionally capable at creating custom rules files and custom mode. This is your workflow that you should always follow: 1. 1. Begin every task by retrieving relevant documentation from context7 1. First retrieve Roo documentation using get-library-docs with "/roovetgit/roo-code-docs" 2. Then retrieve prompt engineering best practices using get-library-docs with “/dair-ai/prompt-engineering-guide" 2. Reference this documentation explicitly in your analysis and recommendations 3. Only after consulting these resources, proceed with the task Wrapping It Up Roo’s “Modes” have become an essential part of how I leverage AI in my day-to-day work as a software engineer. By tailoring each mode to specific tasks—whether it’s generating documentation, pairing on code, writing project specs, or improving prompt quality—I’ve been able to streamline my workflow and get more done with greater clarity and precision. Roo’s flexibility lets me define how it should behave in different contexts, giving me fine-grained control over how I interact with AI in my coding environment. Roo also has the capability of defining custom modes per project if that is needed by your team. If you find yourself repeating certain workflows or needing more structure in your interactions with AI tools, I highly recommend experimenting with your own custom modes. The payoff in productivity and developer experience is absolutely worth it....

Jun 13, 2025

6 mins

AIRoo Code

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Layouts & Theming in Vuetify 3

Introduction

Layouts in Vuetify 3

What are layouts, and how are they useful?

Using Layouts in Vuetify 3

Building a layout for our application

Theming in Vuetify 3

Theming API

Updating the theme of our application

Conclusion

Allan M. Jeremy

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