The Unsung Design System Strut
The reasons for supporting open-source tools are only compounded when working with design systems
Open-source projects have always been the unsung heroes of the developer community. I feel confident to say that every website has benefitted from open source in some way. But I believe that strut bears even more weight when used within a design system.
Imagine a design system, if you will, that uses a single open-source tool. That tool wasn't just used once; it was used by all your design system developers, all your developers consuming the design system, and all your customers using all your websites across your portfolio.
What appears like a single use of a tool is, in fact, hundreds of thousands. As you can see, the benefits are only compounded in the context of design systems.
One of the best examples I can recall is Nordhealth's ongoing support of Eleventy, which powers Nord Design System and the main marketing website. So far, Nordhealth has donated over $15,000 to support their ongoing work. This is huge and allows the Eleventy development team to focus on improving their open-source tool, which will enhance Nordhealth's websites.
If you have the opportunity, I would seriously consider reviewing the tools and dependencies you use and seeing how you or your company could donate back to them.
