[ARCHIVED] UX design patterns for Office Add-ins

Note: This repo is archived and no longer actively maintained. Security vulnerabilities may exist in the project, or its dependencies. If you plan to reuse or run any code from this repo, be sure to perform appropriate security checks on the code or dependencies first. Do not use this project as the starting point of a production Office Add-in. Always start your production code by using the Office/SharePoint development workload in Visual Studio, or the Yeoman generator for Office Add-ins, and follow security best practices as you develop the add-in.

This repository provides sample implementations in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript of common UX design patterns for Office Add-ins.

When designing Office Add-ins, the UX design of your add-in should provide compelling experiences that extend Office. For example, your add-in should provide a first-run experience, a first-class UX experience, and smooth transitions between pages, among other things. Providing a clean, modern UX experience increases user retention and adoption of your add-in. This repo has UX resources for developers that implement:

• Common UX design patterns based on best practices.
• Office Fabric components and styles.
• Add-ins that look like a natural extension of the default Office UI.

For overview information and the types of UX design patterns available, see UX design pattern templates for Office Add-ins.

Important: After customizing these design patterns to meet your requirements, be sure to test your add-in on all platforms where your add-in will be available. These UX design patterns were tested using Office 2016 and Windows 10.

Using the UX design patterns

You can use the UX designer specifications as a guide when you create your own UX design, or you can add the source code directly to your project. To add the source code:

1. Clone this repo.
2. Copy the assets folder, and the code folder for the individual pattern you choose to your add-in project.
3. Incorporate the individual pattern into your add-in. For example:
   • Edit the source location or add-in command URL in the manifest.
   • Use the UX design pattern as a template for other pages.
   • Link to or from the UX design pattern.

Known issues

• Running some code files outside of an add-in project throws a JavaScript error.
  • Resolution: Ensure you add these files to an Office add-in project.
• After converting these design patterns to a Single Page App (SPA), all sections of the HTML page become top-aligned and overlaps each other.
  • Resolution: When converting from HTML additional wrapper DIVs may be added. Ensure that the height of these additional DIVs are reset properly. For example, if a parent DIV is set to a height of 100%, a child DIV has no height, and a grandchild DIV is set to 100%, you need to set the child DIV to 100% to layout the sections properly.

Additional resources

• Best practices for developing Office Add-ins
• Office UI Fabric. This project uses version 2.1.0 or higher.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation 2016. All rights reserved.