What is Polaris?
The Polaris Design System is a design framework made by Shopify. It helps create consistent, accessible, and efficient e-commerce experiences. It offers a set of ready-made components, styles, and design rules. These help developers and designers create interfaces that match Shopify's brand and user needs quickly.
The Evolution and Versions
V1.x - V3.x Versions (2017-2019)
The initial versions of Polaris focused on providing a consistent design language and component library for Shopify.
V4.x - V5.x Versions (2019-2021)
This was a major update, introducing new features and improvements, including new components and design patterns, better accessibility support, performance optimizations, and code cleanup.
V6.x - V8.x Versions (2021-2022)
These versions added modern features and improvements. They included new components and design patterns. There was better TypeScript support, performance boosts, and code refactoring.
V9.x - V10.x Versions (2022-2023)
A significant milestone, focusing on updates to the design language and improvements to the developer experience. It introduced a new and simple visual design. It also included useful components like Modal and Toast, along with extra tools.
V11.x - V12.x Version (2023 still in use today)
The latest version, featuring advanced components like DataTable and Chart to meet complex business needs. Accessibility support was further improved to ensure compliance with the latest WCAG standards.
You can briefly review its history through the web page: Shopify Polaris Changelog.
What Products Built with Polaris
Polaris is the main design tool for the Shopify ecosystem. It is used in Shopify's core products like Admin, POS, and the Mobile App. Third-party developers also use it in their applications.
Shopify Admin: Shopify's backend management system used for managing stores, orders, products, and customers.
Shopify Mobile App: Shopify's mobile application that allows merchants to manage their stores via mobile devices.
Shopify POS (Point of Sale): Shopify's point-of-sale system designed for offline retail scenarios.
Shopify App Store: Shopify's app marketplace where merchants can browse and install third-party applications.
Applicable industries for reference
Shopify Polaris is a design system for e-commerce. Its design principles and flexible components can be used in many industries. Below are the industries where Polaris is suitable.
E-commerce: Polaris is Shopify's main design system. It is made for e-commerce platforms. It works well for online stores, order management, and product displays.
Retail: Applicable to offline retail scenarios, such as POS systems, inventory management, and customer relationship management.
SaaS: Polaris's component library and design principles are ideal for building SaaS platform management interfaces, especially for scenarios requiring complex forms and data visualization.
Logistics: Great for order tracking, inventory management, and supply chain tools. Polaris's table and form components work well with large datasets.
Platform Support and Use Cases of Polaris
Supported Platforms
Polaris Design System is designed to support various platforms, ensuring a consistent and scalable user experience across different environments:
Web: Polaris is used to create websites that work well on different screen sizes and modern browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
Mobile: The design principles and component library of Polaris work well for mobile web apps. They can also be used with React Native.
Desktop: Designers optimize Polaris components and design language for desktop web applications, ensuring usability and consistency on larger screens.
Embedded Apps: Polaris supports the development of embedded applications within the Shopify ecosystem, allowing seamless integration into Shopify Admin.
POS: The Polaris component library is great for creating Point of Sale (POS) systems. It works well with both touchscreen devices and desktop setups.
Use Case Scenarios
A Guide and Template for Polaris
Style Template File for Motiff
Effective Use of the Color System
Shopify Polaris's color system makes sure text is easy to read and colors are clear to understand. It uses colors like green for success and red for errors to give quick feedback. The design maintains the same colors across all parts, works in both light and dark modes, and allows customization to match a brand. This system keeps things simple, useful, and friendly for everyone.
Typography Hierarchy and Readability
Shopify Polaris's typography system ensures readability and usability through a clear hierarchy and accessible design. It uses consistent font sizes, weights, and spacing to make text easy to read and well-organized. The designers create the line heights and contrast for better readability, especially for long text.
The system is flexible. It can match different brands while showing personality and tone. This creates a professional and user-friendly experience.
Icon Design Principles
Shopify Polaris's icons are simple, clear, and consistent, making them easy to recognize and use. They look the same across all designs, work well with text for better understanding, and stay clear even on small screens. Each icon has a purpose, helping users navigate and interact easily.
Pajamas Components Templates
A-B
C-G
H-P
R-S
T-Z
Accessibility in Polaris
Polaris prioritizes accessibility to ensure all users, including those with disabilities, can use Shopify’s products equally. It follows WCAG 2.1 AA standards and ARIA guidelines to make interfaces easy to perceive, operate, and understand.
Key practices include maintaining color contrast, using semantic HTML, supporting keyboard navigation, and screen readers. Teams ensure accessibility through clear guidelines, documentation, and code examples for developers.
Other Resources
Shopify Polaris Changelog: The official release notes documenting version updates for Polaris.
Shopify Engineering Blog: A place to share important Polaris updates through detailed articles.