figlet-ui/IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md

# Figlet UI - Implementation Plan

## Project Overview

A modern, feature-rich web UI for generating ASCII art text using figlet.js with 373 fonts from xero/figlet-fonts (.flf format). This project aims to be the best figlet web interface, significantly improving upon existing solutions like TAAG.

**Tech Stack:**
- Next.js 16 with static export
- React 19
- TypeScript 5
- Tailwind CSS 4
- figlet.js for ASCII art rendering
- Fuse.js for fuzzy search
- Lucide React for icons
- Docker deployment with nginx

## Key Features & Improvements Over TAAG

### Superior Font Management
- **373 fonts** from xero collection (all .flf FIGlet fonts)
- Visual font preview cards
- Fuzzy search with intelligent matching
- Font categories and tags (3D, block, script, retro, etc.)
- Favorites system with localStorage
- Recently used fonts
- Random font discovery

### Better Export & Sharing
- One-click copy to clipboard
- Export as PNG/SVG images
- Export as HTML with styling
- Shareable URLs (text + font encoded)
- Download as .txt file
- Generate code snippets (JS, Python, Bash)
- Markdown-ready code blocks

### Enhanced UX
- Live preview as you type
- Debounced updates for performance
- Dark/light mode toggle
- Keyboard shortcuts (/, Esc, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+K)
- Command palette for quick actions
- Mobile-optimized layout
- Smooth animations and transitions
- Character counter
- Width constraint preview

### Modern UI Design
- Clean, minimalist interface
- Responsive layout (mobile-first)
- Better typography and spacing
- Smooth transitions
- Loading states
- Empty states
- Error handling

## Implementation Phases

### Phase 1: Project Setup ✅
- [x] Initialize git repository
- [x] Add GitHub remote origin
- [x] Create Next.js 16 project with TypeScript
- [x] Configure Tailwind CSS 4
- [x] Install dependencies (figlet, fuse.js, lucide-react)
- [x] Set up project structure (app/, components/, lib/, types/)
- [x] Configure static export
- [x] Create initial commit

### Phase 2: Font Management System
- [ ] Clone xero/figlet-fonts into public/fonts/
- [ ] Create font loading service
  - [ ] List all available fonts
  - [ ] Load fonts on-demand (lazy loading)
  - [ ] Cache loaded fonts in memory
- [ ] Build font metadata system
  - [ ] Extract font characteristics (height, width, style)
  - [ ] Categorize fonts by style tags
  - [ ] Generate font preview data
- [ ] Create font types and interfaces

### Phase 3: Core Figlet Engine
- [ ] Implement figlet.js wrapper service
  - [ ] Initialize figlet with custom fonts
  - [ ] Handle font loading errors
  - [ ] Provide type-safe API
- [ ] Create real-time rendering hook
  - [ ] Debounced text input (300ms)
  - [ ] Handle multi-line text
  - [ ] Optimize re-renders
- [ ] Add text validation and sanitization
- [ ] Implement character width calculations

### Phase 4: Main UI Components
- [ ] Build main converter interface
  - [ ] Text input area (textarea)
  - [ ] Live preview display (pre/code block)
  - [ ] Font selector component
  - [ ] Options panel (alignment, width, etc.)
- [ ] Create font selector with search
  - [ ] Visual font preview cards
  - [ ] Fuzzy search implementation
  - [ ] Category filters
  - [ ] Sort options (name, recent, popular)
- [ ] Build responsive layout
  - [ ] Desktop: side-by-side layout
  - [ ] Mobile: stacked layout
  - [ ] Tablet: adaptive layout

### Phase 5: Search & Filters
- [ ] Implement Fuse.js integration
  - [ ] Configure fuzzy matching
  - [ ] Index font names and metadata
  - [ ] Real-time search results
- [ ] Add category filtering
  - [ ] Style tags (3D, block, script, etc.)
  - [ ] Font size filters
  - [ ] System filters (metric/imperial)
- [ ] Create search UI
  - [ ] Search input with icon
  - [ ] Keyboard shortcut (/) to focus
  - [ ] Clear button
  - [ ] Results count

### Phase 6: Export & Sharing
- [ ] Copy to clipboard functionality
  - [ ] One-click copy button
  - [ ] Success feedback
  - [ ] Clipboard API with fallback
- [ ] Export as image (PNG/SVG)
  - [ ] Canvas rendering for PNG
  - [ ] SVG text rendering
  - [ ] Download with proper filename
- [ ] Shareable URLs
  - [ ] Encode text + font in URL params
  - [ ] Base64 compression for long text
  - [ ] Auto-load from URL on page load
- [ ] Code snippet generation
  - [ ] JavaScript/Node.js example
  - [ ] Python example
  - [ ] Bash/CLI command
  - [ ] Copy individual snippets

### Phase 7: User Preferences & History
- [ ] Favorites system
  - [ ] Mark fonts as favorite (heart icon)
  - [ ] Save to localStorage
  - [ ] Quick access to favorites
  - [ ] Favorites filter
- [ ] Recent fonts
  - [ ] Track last 10 used fonts
  - [ ] Save to localStorage
  - [ ] Display in font selector
- [ ] Conversion history
  - [ ] Save recent conversions
  - [ ] History panel/sidebar
  - [ ] Re-apply previous conversion
  - [ ] Clear history

### Phase 8: Keyboard Shortcuts & Command Palette
- [ ] Implement keyboard shortcuts
  - [ ] `/` - Focus search
  - [ ] `Esc` - Clear/close
  - [ ] `Ctrl/Cmd + C` - Copy result
  - [ ] `Ctrl/Cmd + K` - Open command palette
  - [ ] `Ctrl/Cmd + D` - Toggle dark mode
  - [ ] `Arrow keys` - Navigate fonts
- [ ] Build command palette
  - [ ] Search commands
  - [ ] Quick actions
  - [ ] Recent commands
  - [ ] Keyboard hints

### Phase 9: Dark Mode & Theming
- [ ] Implement theme system
  - [ ] Light/dark mode toggle
  - [ ] Save preference to localStorage
  - [ ] System preference detection
  - [ ] Smooth theme transitions
- [ ] Update color variables
  - [ ] Dark mode color palette
  - [ ] Ensure WCAG contrast ratios
  - [ ] Theme-aware components

### Phase 10: Mobile Optimization
- [ ] Responsive breakpoints
  - [ ] Mobile (< 640px)
  - [ ] Tablet (640px - 1024px)
  - [ ] Desktop (> 1024px)
- [ ] Touch-friendly UI
  - [ ] Large tap targets (44px min)
  - [ ] Swipe gestures (optional)
  - [ ] Mobile font selector (bottom sheet)
- [ ] Performance on mobile
  - [ ] Lazy load fonts
  - [ ] Optimize image exports
  - [ ] Reduce bundle size

### Phase 11: Advanced Features
- [ ] Font comparison mode
  - [ ] Side-by-side preview
  - [ ] Compare 2-4 fonts
  - [ ] Toggle comparison view
- [ ] Random font generator
  - [ ] Shuffle button
  - [ ] Exclude recently used
  - [ ] Lock text while changing font
- [ ] Text alignment options
  - [ ] Left, center, right
  - [ ] Custom width constraints
  - [ ] Auto-fit to viewport
- [ ] Multi-line text support
  - [ ] Preserve line breaks
  - [ ] Line-by-line rendering
  - [ ] Vertical spacing options

### Phase 12: Performance Optimization
- [ ] Web Workers for rendering
  - [ ] Offload figlet rendering
  - [ ] Non-blocking UI updates
  - [ ] Progress indicators
- [ ] Lazy loading
  - [ ] Font files on-demand
  - [ ] Virtual scrolling for font list
  - [ ] Intersection Observer for previews
- [ ] Bundle optimization
  - [ ] Code splitting
  - [ ] Tree shaking
  - [ ] Dynamic imports
  - [ ] Minification

### Phase 13: Accessibility & Polish
- [ ] WCAG 2.1 AA compliance
  - [ ] Keyboard navigation
  - [ ] Screen reader support
  - [ ] ARIA labels and roles
  - [ ] Focus indicators
  - [ ] Color contrast
- [ ] Error handling
  - [ ] Font load failures
  - [ ] Network errors
  - [ ] Invalid input handling
  - [ ] User-friendly messages
- [ ] Loading states
  - [ ] Skeleton screens
  - [ ] Progress indicators
  - [ ] Smooth transitions
- [ ] Empty states
  - [ ] No search results
  - [ ] No favorites yet
  - [ ] No history

### Phase 14: Docker Deployment
- [ ] Create multi-stage Dockerfile
  - [ ] Stage 1: Dependencies (node:22-alpine)
  - [ ] Stage 2: Builder (pnpm build)
  - [ ] Stage 3: Runner (nginx:alpine)
- [ ] Configure nginx.conf
  - [ ] Static file serving
  - [ ] Gzip compression
  - [ ] Cache headers
  - [ ] Security headers
- [ ] Add health check
- [ ] Create .dockerignore
- [ ] Build and test image
- [ ] Document deployment

### Phase 15: SEO & Meta Tags
- [ ] Add comprehensive metadata
  - [ ] Title, description, keywords
  - [ ] OpenGraph tags
  - [ ] Twitter card tags
  - [ ] Favicon and app icons
- [ ] Generate sitemap
- [ ] Add robots.txt
- [ ] Structured data (Schema.org)
- [ ] Performance optimization
  - [ ] Lighthouse audit
  - [ ] Core Web Vitals
  - [ ] Image optimization

## Technical Architecture

### Component Structure
```
components/
├── converter/
│   ├── TextInput.tsx           # Main text input
│   ├── FontPreview.tsx         # ASCII art preview display
│   ├── FontSelector.tsx        # Font selection with search
│   ├── FontCard.tsx            # Individual font preview card
│   ├── OptionsPanel.tsx        # Conversion options
│   └── ExportButtons.tsx       # Export/copy actions
├── search/
│   ├── FuzzySearch.tsx         # Search with Fuse.js
│   ├── SearchInput.tsx         # Search input component
│   └── FilterPanel.tsx         # Category/tag filters
├── ui/
│   ├── Button.tsx              # Reusable button
│   ├── Input.tsx               # Reusable input
│   ├── Card.tsx                # Card container
│   ├── Badge.tsx               # Tag/badge
│   ├── Tabs.tsx                # Tab navigation
│   ├── Dialog.tsx              # Modal dialog
│   └── CommandPalette.tsx      # Keyboard command UI
└── layout/
    ├── Header.tsx              # App header
    ├── Footer.tsx              # App footer
    └── ThemeToggle.tsx         # Dark mode switch
```

### Service Layer
```
lib/
├── figlet/
│   ├── figletService.ts        # Figlet.js wrapper
│   ├── fontLoader.ts           # Font loading logic
│   ├── fontMetadata.ts         # Font info/categorization
│   └── fontCache.ts            # In-memory font cache
├── search/
│   ├── fuzzySearch.ts          # Fuse.js integration
│   └── searchConfig.ts         # Search configuration
├── export/
│   ├── clipboard.ts            # Clipboard operations
│   ├── imageExport.ts          # PNG/SVG generation
│   ├── codeGenerator.ts        # Code snippet generation
│   └── urlSharing.ts           # URL encoding/decoding
├── storage/
│   ├── favorites.ts            # Favorites management
│   ├── history.ts              # Conversion history
│   └── preferences.ts          # User preferences
└── utils/
    ├── cn.ts                   # clsx + tailwind-merge
    ├── debounce.ts             # Debounce utility
    └── validation.ts           # Input validation
```

### Type Definitions
```typescript
// Font metadata
interface FigletFont {
  name: string;
  path: string;
  style: FontStyle[];
  height: number;
  width: number;
  preview?: string;
}

type FontStyle = '3d' | 'block' | 'script' | 'retro' | 'small' | 'banner' | 'decorative';

// Conversion settings
interface ConversionOptions {
  font: string;
  text: string;
  horizontalLayout?: 'default' | 'fitted' | 'full';
  verticalLayout?: 'default' | 'fitted' | 'full';
  width?: number;
  whitespaceBreak?: boolean;
}

// Export format
type ExportFormat = 'text' | 'png' | 'svg' | 'html' | 'code';

// User preferences
interface UserPreferences {
  theme: 'light' | 'dark' | 'system';
  defaultFont: string;
  recentFonts: string[];
  favorites: string[];
  history: ConversionRecord[];
}

// Conversion history
interface ConversionRecord {
  id: string;
  timestamp: number;
  text: string;
  font: string;
  result: string;
}
```

## Design System

### Color Palette
```css
/* Light mode */
--background: 0 0% 100%;
--foreground: 0 0% 3.9%;
--primary: 0 0% 9%;
--muted: 0 0% 96.1%;
--border: 0 0% 89.8%;

/* Dark mode */
--background: 0 0% 3.9%;
--foreground: 0 0% 98%;
--primary: 0 0% 98%;
--muted: 0 0% 14.9%;
--border: 0 0% 14.9%;
```

### Typography
- **Headings**: System font stack
- **Body**: System font stack
- **Mono**: Monospace (for ASCII art display)

### Spacing Scale
- Tailwind CSS 4 default scale (0.5rem increments)

## Performance Targets

- **First Contentful Paint**: < 1.0s
- **Time to Interactive**: < 2.0s
- **Lighthouse Score**: > 95
- **Bundle Size**: < 150KB (gzipped)
- **Font Load Time**: < 100ms per font

## Browser Support

- Chrome/Edge (last 2 versions)
- Firefox (last 2 versions)
- Safari (last 2 versions)
- Mobile Safari iOS 14+
- Chrome Android (last 2 versions)

## Future Enhancements

- [ ] Custom font upload (.flf files)
- [ ] Animated ASCII art support
- [ ] Batch text generation
- [ ] API endpoint for programmatic access
- [ ] Browser extension
- [ ] PWA support with offline capability
- [ ] Multi-language support (i18n)
- [ ] Font editor/creator
- [ ] Collaborative sharing
- [ ] ASCII art gallery

---

**Project Start Date:** 2025-11-09
**Target Completion:** TBD
**Version:** 1.0.0