Dont be a thin opionionless wrapper over `mdc-web`

This library started as a thin opinion-less wrapper over mdc-web. Which meant that we were just a declarative preact layer above whatever mdc-web ships.

Also this was my personal decision because mdc-web was/is a great lib to build modern web apps. They had extensive set of UI components, all served separately which was superb for perf. They had gestures and every thing and seemed the perfect fit.

Overtime however they have jumped over many breaking changes due to

a.) because they never said to be stable b.) because may be they are prepping for material 2.0

In past I have tried to stick as close to mdc-web as possible because frankly I never wanted to be an author of a gigantic UI lib alone, that too when our weekly downloads are ~600ish. But now we have a decent set of contributors to the lib

Now I see the frustrations of going through breaking changes every now and then(renamed components, renamed props etc etc) and also mdc-web has decided to remove gestures from the lib. I always wanted this lib to be a tool for modern web and without gestures its a no go.

Ideally I would want to keep this lib based on but not restricted to mdc-web.

We need to have gestures and a stable developer experience if not available by mdc-web, and also should polyfill any super obvious components if not available, say spinner.

But before I push the entire codebase on this journey I’d like to ask and see what the core team members think

a.) is it worth the time with the https://github.com/material-components/material-components-web-react getting more mature?

b.) does every one still feel enthusiastic and have enough free cycles to go over a major pmc2.0 release?

If it turns out that this all might not be worth it, I’d be happy to retire this repo in favor of material-components-web-react and make sure it works with preact so that the users of our lib are not left in limbo.

[prateekbh]

Ok let’s rip this thing open and make it better. Here’s a few things I’d want to do.

• create a project and clear tasks for 2.0
• make this a monorepo and lerna
• release the current update in hand
• write a public blog post about the change
• stop further updates till 2.0 unless super important
• decide a goal for increase in average installs per week.

[YePpHa]

I think we should go forward with this. Even though it might take a lot of work. I think it will be worth it in the end.