I was recently tasked with rewriting the base CSS for an inventory/project management system, creating a set of reusable components designed to match, using an open/close approach. These were based on a pretty strict specification provided by one of our designers, who unfortunately left.
The implementation went well, but I’ve run into a bit of a problem. Quite often the team members make changes directly to the base class in the new base CSS file, rather than extending it, creating a new one, or using each system area’s dedicated stylesheet file.
One of the more recent changes involved removing a grid-gap property from a rule from the base CSS, affecting a lot more than the single UI element the team member was working on.
Should I approach the team about this?
I haven’t mentioned anything yet, but have noticed our QA team putting in more bugs about UI elements looking odd
You can keep bringing it up. But, in my exp, if you dont have anyone high up that can support your perspective, it’s just gonna be an uphill battle. And is likely just going to make the other devs unhappy with you.
It’s unfortunate but most devs dont really like anything that’s going to cause them more work (e.g. more code reviews, higher quality changes, looking at the bigger impact of their changes etc).
If you don’t have someone higher up —maybe the manager of the managers of those problematic engineers—I’d just make more tests around the areas that are breaking and require those tests to pass before merging code changes. Devs may not like to work harder, but they damn sure dont like seeing a bunch of red X’s when they open a PR lol 😃