@mailmarc/react-course-viewer

A powerful React component library for creating interactive learning courses with markdown content. Build engaging educational experiences with section-based navigation, progress tracking, achievements, and celebration effects.

Features

✅ Section-based Navigation: Proper course structure with sections and lessons
✅ Dynamic Content Loading: Load markdown files from docs folders
✅ Progress Tracking: Persistent progress with localStorage
✅ Achievement System: Built-in achievements for course milestones
✅ Keyboard Navigation: Arrow keys, Space, Enter support
✅ Touch Gestures: Swipe navigation on mobile devices
✅ Theme Support: Light/dark/system themes
✅ Responsive Design: Works on desktop and mobile
✅ Accessibility: WCAG compliant with focus management
✅ TypeScript: Full type safety and IntelliSense

Installation

npm install @mailmarc/react-course-viewer
# or
yarn add @mailmarc/react-course-viewer
# or
pnpm add @mailmarc/react-course-viewer

Quick Start

1. Basic Usage

import { CourseViewer, CourseLoader } from '@mailmarc/react-course-viewer';

function MyTrainingPage() {
  const [course, setCourse] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    const loadCourse = async () => {
      const loader = new CourseLoader();
      const course = await loader.loadCourse(COURSE_CONFIGS.dmarc);
      setCourse(course);
    };
    loadCourse();
  }, []);

  if (!course) return <div>Loading...</div>;

  return (
    <CourseViewer
      course={course}
      onComplete={(cert) => handleCourseComplete(cert)}
      theme="light"
      autoAdvance={true}
    />
  );
}

2. With Loading States

import { DMARCCourseExample } from '../components/ui/CourseViewer';

function LearningPage() {
  return <DMARCCourseExample />;
}

3. Custom Course

const customCourse = {
  id: 'security-basics',
  title: 'Security Basics',
  description: 'Learn fundamental security concepts',
  version: '1.0.0',
  sections: [
    {
      id: 'intro',
      title: 'Introduction',
      slug: 'intro',
      order: 1,
      lessons: [
        {
          id: 'what-is-security',
          title: 'What is Security?',
          slug: 'what-is-security',
          content: '# What is Security?\n\nSecurity protects your data...',
          duration: 5,
          order: 1,
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
};

<CourseViewer course={customCourse} />

CourseViewer Props

Course Data Structure

Course Type

interface Course {
  id: string;                    // Unique course identifier
  title: string;                 // Course display title
  description: string;           // Course description
  version: string;               // Course version
  sections: Section[];           // Course sections
  metadata?: {
    author: string;
    difficulty: 'beginner' | 'intermediate' | 'advanced';
    estimatedHours: number;
  };
}

Section Type

interface Section {
  id: string;                    // Unique section identifier
  title: string;                 // Section display title
  slug: string;                  // URL-friendly section name
  description?: string;          // Optional section description
  lessons: Lesson[];             // Lessons in this section
  order: number;                 // Display order
}

Lesson Type

interface Lesson {
  id: string;                    // Unique lesson identifier
  title: string;                 // Lesson display title
  slug: string;                  // URL-friendly lesson name
  content: string;               // Markdown content
  duration?: number;             // Estimated reading time (minutes)
  tags?: string[];               // Topic tags
  order: number;                 // Display order within section
  canMarkComplete?: boolean;     // Whether lesson can be marked complete
}

CourseLoader

The CourseLoader class handles loading markdown files from the filesystem and converting them into course data.

Configuration

const courseConfig = {
  id: 'my-course',
  title: 'My Course',
  description: 'Learn amazing things',
  version: '1.0.0',
  docsPath: '/docs/learning-centre',  // Path to markdown files
  sectionsConfig: [
    {
      id: '01-introduction',
      title: 'Introduction',
      order: 1,
      lessons: [
        {
          id: '01-intro-basics',
          title: 'Basics',
          fileName: 'basics.md',           // Actual markdown file name
          duration: 5,
          order: 1,
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
};

const loader = new CourseLoader();
const course = await loader.loadCourse(courseConfig);

Built-in Configurations

import { COURSE_CONFIGS } from '../components/ui/CourseViewer';

// DMARC course with proper docs structure
const dmarcCourse = await loader.loadCourse(COURSE_CONFIGS.dmarc);

Progress Tracking

Progress is automatically saved to localStorage and includes:

• Current section and lesson position
• Completed lessons list
• Time spent per lesson
• Earned achievements
• Course start and last access times

// Access progress data
const progress = {
  courseId: 'dmarc-expert-course',
  currentSectionIndex: 2,
  currentLessonIndex: 1,
  completedLessons: ['lesson-1', 'lesson-2', 'lesson-3'],
  achievements: [{ id: 'first-step', name: 'First Step!', ... }],
  timeSpent: { 'lesson-1': 5, 'lesson-2': 3 },
  startedAt: new Date(),
  lastAccessed: new Date(),
};

Navigation

Keyboard Shortcuts

• → or Space: Next lesson (if current lesson is complete)
• ←: Previous lesson
• Enter: Mark current lesson as complete
• Esc: Menu (future feature)

Touch Gestures

• Swipe Left: Next lesson (if current lesson is complete)
• Swipe Right: Previous lesson

Section-Based Navigation

Unlike the old flattened approach, the new CourseViewer shows:

Section 2: SPF (Safe Postman Friends) - Lesson 3 of 4

Instead of:

Lesson 7 of 15  ❌ (old flattened approach)

Achievements

Built-in achievements are unlocked automatically:

• 👶 First Step: Complete your first lesson
• 📬 Quarter Master: 25% course completion
• 🦸 Halfway Hero: 50% course completion
• 🚀 Almost There: 75% course completion
• 🎓 Course Expert: 100% course completion

Theming

The component supports three themes:

<CourseViewer theme="light" />   // Light mode
<CourseViewer theme="dark" />    // Dark mode  
<CourseViewer theme="system" />  // Follow system preference

CSS custom properties can be overridden:

.course-viewer[data-theme="custom"] {
  --course-primary: #your-color;
  --course-background: #your-bg;
  /* etc. */
}

Package Structure

@mailmarc/react-course-viewer/
├── dist/
│   ├── index.js           # CommonJS bundle
│   ├── index.esm.js       # ESM bundle
│   ├── package-index.d.ts # TypeScript definitions
│   └── styles.css         # Component styles
├── src/
│   ├── index.tsx          # Main CourseViewer component
├── types.ts               # TypeScript types
├── CourseLoader.ts        # Dynamic content loading
├── useProgress.ts         # Progress tracking hook
├── CourseViewer.css       # Component styles
├── examples.tsx           # Usage examples
└── README.md              # This documentation

Markdown Content Setup

1. Copy docs to public directory:

   cd frontend/public && cp -r ../../docs/learning-centre docs/

2. Or use the provided script:

   cd frontend/public/docs && ./copy_docs.sh

3. Docs structure should match config:

   public/docs/learning-centre/
   ├── 01-introduction/
   │   ├── what-is-dmarc.md
   │   ├── why-email-authentication-matters.md
   │   └── dmarc-vs-spf-vs-dkim.md
   ├── 02-spf/
   │   └── spf-basics.md
   └── ...

Migration from Old CourseViewer

The new CourseViewer fixes several issues from the old implementation:

✅ Fixed Issues

1. Flattened Lessons: Now shows proper section-based progress
2. Static Content: Now loads actual markdown files dynamically
3. Hard-coded Course: Now supports any course configuration
4. Poor Progress Display: Now shows "Section X - Lesson Y of Z"

🔄 Migration Steps

1. Replace import:

   // Old
   import CourseViewer from '../components/CourseViewer';
   
   // New  
   import { CourseViewer } from '../components/ui/CourseViewer';

2. Update usage:

   // Old (static course)
   <CourseViewer course={LOADED_DMARC_COURSE} />
   
   // New (dynamic loading)
   const [course, setCourse] = useState(null);
   useEffect(() => {
     const loadCourse = async () => {
       const loader = new CourseLoader();
       const course = await loader.loadCourse(COURSE_CONFIGS.dmarc);
       setCourse(course);
     };
     loadCourse();
   }, []);

3. Add loading states:

   if (!course) return <div>Loading course...</div>;

Browser Compatibility

• ✅ Chrome 90+
• ✅ Firefox 88+
• ✅ Safari 14+
• ✅ Edge 90+
• ✅ Mobile browsers

Accessibility Features

• ✅ Keyboard navigation
• ✅ Focus management
• ✅ ARIA labels
• ✅ Screen reader support
• ✅ High contrast themes
• ✅ Reduced motion support

Performance

• Bundle size: ~50KB gzipped (component only, excludes peer dependencies)
• Rendering: Optimized with React.memo and useMemo
• Content loading: Lazy loading of markdown files
• Progress tracking: Debounced localStorage updates

Contributing

To add a new course:

1. Create markdown files in your project's public/docs/ folder structure
2. Use MarkdownCourseLoader to load markdown-based courses
3. Or use CourseLoader for programmatic course creation
4. Extend the Course, Section, or Lesson interfaces for custom features

License

MIT © 2025 Sheridan Computers Limited