Sharing the Load: Ensuring Consistent Social Media Buttons in Custom Themes

When developing themes for a platform, maintaining consistency across all variations can be a tricky balancing act. This post details a recent fix in the landing page project where a social media share button was inadvertently omitted from specific theme configurations.

The Issue

The devlog-ist/landing project, which provides customizable landing pages, includes several themes with custom headers. During a recent update to include a LinkedIn share button, the update was applied to the mobile menus across all themes. However, the desktop navigation in some custom themes (nan, retro, corporate-nan, and corporate-retro) was overlooked, resulting in an inconsistent user experience.

The Solution

The fix involved adding the LinkedIn share button to the desktop navigation within the custom header themes. This ensured that users would have consistent access to the share functionality regardless of the theme they selected or the device they used.

To illustrate the concept, consider a simplified example of how a theme might conditionally render a share button:

<nav>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="example.com">Home</a></li>
    <li><a href="example.com">About</a></li>
    <!-- Conditional rendering of the LinkedIn share button -->
    <li class="linkedin-share">
      <a href="#">LinkedIn Share</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</nav>

In the corrected themes, the linkedin-share list item was added to the desktop navigation, mirroring its presence in the mobile menu.

The Takeaway

When implementing new features, especially those related to user interface elements, it's crucial to verify their presence and functionality across all themes and layouts. A systematic approach to testing and QA can help prevent inconsistencies and ensure a unified user experience.