Figma > Component library “ghost changes”

Description

Over time, a number of components in the UI kit have unexpected changes awaiting publish. This issue tracks investigating probable cause, and determine a path forward. As we don't know the cause, or impact of these changes, publishing without thought could cause disruption and downtime for GitLab team members.

These unexpected changes have been dubbed 'ghost changes' 👻

Investigation

Visual regression testing method and detailed report

CleanShot_2024-01-22_at_18.08.32

  1. Create new Figma file that uses 📙 Component library
  2. Copy a component from the library and paste to your new file, this component shows the 'changed' version
  3. Run visual regression plug in to establish baseline
  4. Figma will prompt that component updates are available, applying the update will change the component to the (older) published version of the component
  5. Apply 'updates'
  6. Run visual regression plug-in to compare ghost version to published version

Resolution

Testing was unable to identify any regressions or concerns caused by these ghost updates.

Proposal 1: Mid-milestone publish, perhaps naming it 16.8.1 or otherwise to note it is a 'special' release. Doing so allows us to remove all ghost changes and have confidence in future updates.

Proposal 2: Publish at end of milestone. Single update for consumers, but we should retest before publish to make sure any other milestone changes haven't affected these components.

Decision: Proceed with proposal 1.

Edited by Dan MH