Hello everyone, I have been exploring the “Retool jenkins.io Success Stories” project and wanted to share my understanding and proposed approach before starting any contribution.
From my understanding, the current Success Stories platform needs both tech-stack modernization and UI/UX redesign. The existing system (based on older React/Gatsby setup) needs to be upgraded to a modern stack, while also improving the overall user experience — including the landing page, story pages, geospatial map visualization, and the story submission workflow.
My proposed approach
I am thinking of approaching this project in the following phases:
1. Codebase & Architecture Understanding
-
Explore the current repository and understand how stories, map data, and pages are structured
-
Identify dependency issues and outdated packages
2. Tech Stack Modernization
-
Upgrade React and dependencies to latest versions
-
Evaluate migration to Vite + modern React (hooks, functional components) for better performance and maintainability
3. UI/UX Redesign
-
Redesign:
-
Landing page (clean, modern, storytelling focus)
-
Story detail page (better readability and layout)
-
Map visualization (interactive + intuitive)
-
-
Focus on accessibility, responsiveness, and performance
4. Geospatial Visualization Improvements
-
Improve map rendering (possibly using modern libraries like Leaflet / Mapbox)
-
Better clustering and interaction for story locations
5. Story Submission Workflow
-
Redesign submission flow (based on helpdesk issue context)
-
Make it more user-friendly and structured
-
Possibly integrate validation and preview before submission
6. Performance & Accessibility
-
Optimize loading times (lazy loading, code splitting)
-
Improve accessibility (ARIA, keyboard navigation)
Tech stack I plan to use
-
React (latest)
-
Vite (for faster dev/build)
-
TypeScript (for maintainability)
-
CSS / Tailwind (or similar) for UI
-
Leaflet / Mapbox for geospatial visualization
Clarification
I would like to confirm if I am going in the right direction with this approach.
Also, if there are any preferred tools, design guidelines, or specific parts of the codebase I should focus on first, I would really appreciate your guidance.
If there are any resources or past discussions related to the current architecture, UI decisions, or map implementation, please share them so I can better understand the existing system before contributing.
I’m very interested in working on this project and looking forward to contributing meaningfully.
Thank you!