What are statuses and what do they mean?
Work on any new component in the Forma 36 library is a process during which the team exercises the API of the component and tests it for various use cases. As a result, Forma 36 may have a different status during this process, which could be important for end users who decide to use a specific component in their project. Take a look at the overview:
| Status | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Alpha | This component is subject to major changes and is for experimentation purposes only. Not recommended for use in production software. |
| Beta | This component is ready for use, but it may contain some bugs. Use in production software with caution. |
| Stable | This component is ready for use and will not undergo any major changes. Recommended for use in production software. |
| Deprecated | This component has been deprecated and is not supported or recommended for use. Read more about |
How to use components in the beta version?
Forma 36, like many open-source libraries, greatly benefits from the feedback provided by early adopters. We encourage our users to try out components as soon as possible, but the recommendation is always beta and stable - This is when the component is already tested, and we know that most of the significant issues are already fixed.
As an example, we can use the new Datepicker component. If you would like to try it out in your codebase in a beta stage, you can simply:
npm add @contentful/f36-datepicker@beta
or
yarn add @contentful/f36-datepicker@beta
As soon as the component is released in a stable version, we announce it as a changelog entry. You can then update your project to use the stable version instead of the beta.